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I know most of you who've got an iPhone probably already know these things, but just in case (and to boost my postcount! >_>), here's some things I've found that has increased my enjoyment of owning an iPhone.
Also, I think this merits a new post, but if the powers that be feel it belongs in the "Who Bought an iPhone" thread, I won't be offended if it gets merged.
Zooming
The usual Stretch (zoom in) and pinch (zoom out) is pretty nifty and works in nearly all applications. But, for a webpage say, you can double tap in the area you'd like to zoom in on and it'll enlarge the portion appropriately. Say there's a column with paragraphs of text. Sometimes it can be annoying to stretch the screen just right to get all the text in the viewing area (lengthwise). Double tap will zoom in enough to keep the length of text visible on screen. You can even rotate the iPhone and the zoom will adjust appropriately.
Blank Web Page at Safari Startup
I'm weird in that I wouldn't really want my last session to load when I start up Safari again (unless I was just switching out to do something else). Unfortunately, it's not possible to bookmark the untitled page. However, you could open a new tab/window by tapping the far right bottom icon, then tap on New Page. Finally, tap on the icon again, slide back to the original page and tap the "x" on the upper left. That'll leave you with a blank page when you go Home from Safari. When you start up Safari again, it'll automatically bring up your boomarks.
Yeah, it's a little convoluted but just in case, there's that. You could also create a new page before starting your surfing. That's a little faster.
Finger Tap Registration
I've encountered moments where my taps aren't registering. I think it's because I tap too fast. If you're having problems getting something to do something (like tapping on a phone number/web site address), then pause for a second when your finger touches the screen.
And btw, finger nails don't work. My co-worker's wife was having problems because of that.
Deleting Mail
So... everyone using the Mail client probably already encountered the wonderful, swipe tap frustration when dealing with multiple emails that you want to delete. While it's not as quick as a bulk delete option, you can open an email (I've only started from top to bottom so not sure if bottom to top will work), click the trash can, then the next email will load and you can click the trash can again. I believe as long as you have "Ask Before Deleting", in Settings > Mail, set to off, you can delete email with one tap. 50 taps is much easier to stomach than 50 swipe and taps.
Optimizing Battery life
The final piece is good advice to for battery management but mainly addresses potential problems people are facing. There are currently quite a few who are experiencing problems with charging their battery.
Hopefully I can say I was one of them. I didn't do a full charge when I first got my iPhone (it had like 90% battery life) and I used it for hours on end. After it got about half full, I charged it with my Macbook Pro and had it charging over night. Next morning it was full charge, but after all day of playing with it (co-workers mostly, honest!) the battery drained pretty fast. Thinking the direct wall outlet would charge the iPhone faster, I hooked it up. After 4 hours or so, the battery was at about 80% charged but wouldn't go higher.
Searching the net, I came across the above link. I ended up restoring my iPhone to factory settings then reloading the current backup. After that I did nearly a full drain (~20% battery life) and hooked it back up to the wall outlet. This time, I turned off Wi-Fi (I don't currently use the Bluetooth so it's always off). Battery icon got to full and after several hours of youTube-ing, music listening and web browsing, the battery is still going strong.
If you're experiencing problems with the battery icon or charging or both, try follow Apple's guidelines first before restoring your iPhone to factory settings, because although most of the info is backed up, you'll still have to reset some things. Most notably, your voicemail greeting.
I think the main thing is turning off Wi-Fi (Settings > Wi-Fi) when charging. I didn't know it did enough drain to have such an impact on the battery charge (especially connected to an outlet).
If you have any tips or tricks, I'd love to hear them. Finding more ways to use the iPhone is pretty neat. It's a phone I enjoy using. Even if most of the time, I'm not making calls. XD
Oh! Anyone interested, there are iPhone Workshops going on at Apple Stores. You can register for the workshops online, but I think you can easily just walk in and check it out. One of the Apple Store employees in Ala Moana mentioned that a workshop was going on but I couldn't check it out after I bought a case.
Also, I think this merits a new post, but if the powers that be feel it belongs in the "Who Bought an iPhone" thread, I won't be offended if it gets merged.
Zooming
The usual Stretch (zoom in) and pinch (zoom out) is pretty nifty and works in nearly all applications. But, for a webpage say, you can double tap in the area you'd like to zoom in on and it'll enlarge the portion appropriately. Say there's a column with paragraphs of text. Sometimes it can be annoying to stretch the screen just right to get all the text in the viewing area (lengthwise). Double tap will zoom in enough to keep the length of text visible on screen. You can even rotate the iPhone and the zoom will adjust appropriately.
Blank Web Page at Safari Startup
I'm weird in that I wouldn't really want my last session to load when I start up Safari again (unless I was just switching out to do something else). Unfortunately, it's not possible to bookmark the untitled page. However, you could open a new tab/window by tapping the far right bottom icon, then tap on New Page. Finally, tap on the icon again, slide back to the original page and tap the "x" on the upper left. That'll leave you with a blank page when you go Home from Safari. When you start up Safari again, it'll automatically bring up your boomarks.
Yeah, it's a little convoluted but just in case, there's that. You could also create a new page before starting your surfing. That's a little faster.
Finger Tap Registration
I've encountered moments where my taps aren't registering. I think it's because I tap too fast. If you're having problems getting something to do something (like tapping on a phone number/web site address), then pause for a second when your finger touches the screen.
And btw, finger nails don't work. My co-worker's wife was having problems because of that.
Deleting Mail
So... everyone using the Mail client probably already encountered the wonderful, swipe tap frustration when dealing with multiple emails that you want to delete. While it's not as quick as a bulk delete option, you can open an email (I've only started from top to bottom so not sure if bottom to top will work), click the trash can, then the next email will load and you can click the trash can again. I believe as long as you have "Ask Before Deleting", in Settings > Mail, set to off, you can delete email with one tap. 50 taps is much easier to stomach than 50 swipe and taps.
Optimizing Battery life
The final piece is good advice to for battery management but mainly addresses potential problems people are facing. There are currently quite a few who are experiencing problems with charging their battery.
Hopefully I can say I was one of them. I didn't do a full charge when I first got my iPhone (it had like 90% battery life) and I used it for hours on end. After it got about half full, I charged it with my Macbook Pro and had it charging over night. Next morning it was full charge, but after all day of playing with it (co-workers mostly, honest!) the battery drained pretty fast. Thinking the direct wall outlet would charge the iPhone faster, I hooked it up. After 4 hours or so, the battery was at about 80% charged but wouldn't go higher.
Searching the net, I came across the above link. I ended up restoring my iPhone to factory settings then reloading the current backup. After that I did nearly a full drain (~20% battery life) and hooked it back up to the wall outlet. This time, I turned off Wi-Fi (I don't currently use the Bluetooth so it's always off). Battery icon got to full and after several hours of youTube-ing, music listening and web browsing, the battery is still going strong.
If you're experiencing problems with the battery icon or charging or both, try follow Apple's guidelines first before restoring your iPhone to factory settings, because although most of the info is backed up, you'll still have to reset some things. Most notably, your voicemail greeting.
I think the main thing is turning off Wi-Fi (Settings > Wi-Fi) when charging. I didn't know it did enough drain to have such an impact on the battery charge (especially connected to an outlet).
If you have any tips or tricks, I'd love to hear them. Finding more ways to use the iPhone is pretty neat. It's a phone I enjoy using. Even if most of the time, I'm not making calls. XD
Oh! Anyone interested, there are iPhone Workshops going on at Apple Stores. You can register for the workshops online, but I think you can easily just walk in and check it out. One of the Apple Store employees in Ala Moana mentioned that a workshop was going on but I couldn't check it out after I bought a case.
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