Iphone Newbie! Have some questions!

[boweveljoe]

Hello everyone! I currently have a BlackBerry Tour and am looking into getting an iPhone 4. I have messed with a friends quite a bit and have some questions!

1.Best way to get contacts/sync contacts with iPhone. I noticed the MobileMe, but I was curious if there was a free app that worked much like the Google Sync works with my BB to send over Calender and Contact info.

2.Contacts picture. Is there a way to sync your contacts with Facebook/LinkedIn and use that photo for your contact (like BB) That way I dont have to go into my contacts and give them a picture one by one

3. GPS Program. I am with Sprint so I get to use the Navigator for free. I know Android has its own free GPS program, what is the iPhone alternative?

4.Saving e-mails/attachments (documents). I was trying to help said friend out by saving a document to the iPhone but we could not figure out how to do it? She was trying to save her resume on her phone to send to potential jobs. Maybe there is a way to save that specific e-mail in a folder on her phone to give her quick easy access to FWD it?

5.Google Voice. I love the BB app, even though it is pretty horribly integrated. Does the iPhone have an app for this, or an equivalent? Is there one on the horizon soon to be released?

Thats all I can think of for now. I am in love with this device. Everything but the popup notifications. Wish it had tiny icons somewhere to show you all your notifications instead of making you stop what you are doing (I have a 3rd Gen iPod Touch).

Thanks in advance for the help!

 

[Slyfi]

1. Google accounts work with iPhone also and every time you sync with iTunes (in windows) it syncs contacts with outlook

2. download the face book app and you can get their pictures on your phone pretty easily. (tutorial here)

3. the Maps program (pre-installed) powered by google works pretty well and the Waze app is a free turn by turn

4. using a Gmail account (again in mail app) or an account that support exchange you can move e-mails into folders and you can FWD them at anytime

5. there is a google app for iPhone that you can use for GV but I recommend the GV Mobile+ app

 

[boweveljoe]

What about downloading the documents? Say your resume? Is there a way to download Word Documents, Excel sheets, etc and save them and then attach them to other e-mails?

I am a recruiter so I am constantly having to view reports in Excel and edit/view resumes and tinker with them.

Also, so you are saying that there is not an app that is able to sync contacts on the fly? The only way is plugging the phone into a computer?

 

[Alli]

For documents, I recommend Documents to Go. There are several alternatives including Dropbox that work well with documents.

You don't need to plug your iPhone into a computer at all for syncing contacts - just use Google, the same as on a Blackberry or Android. It's automagic. (Not sure why SlyFi mentioned Outlook.)

 

[boweveljoe]

Thanks for the help so far!

I am curious, as far as your itunes account, how many devices can it span across? 1 iPhone, and 1 iPad? 2 iPhones, 1 iPad?

Do all apps you pay for carry over to multiple devices or only certain ones? Say i purchase Documents to Go and Angry birds. If my wife and I both had iPhones would we both be able to use the same iTunes account and purchased apps?

Thanks for the great answers so far!

 

[iquinn]

Thanks for the help so far!

I am curious, as far as your itunes account, how many devices can it span across? 1 iPhone, and 1 iPad? 2 iPhones, 1 iPad?

Do all apps you pay for carry over to multiple devices or only certain ones? Say i purchase Documents to Go and Angry birds. If my wife and I both had iPhones would we both be able to use the same iTunes account and purchased apps?

Thanks for the great answers so far!

You should not have any issues sharing an iTunes account on your computer. That said you may run into an issue trying to share one iTunes account when it comes to the devices themselves. IMHO it is better to have sperate iTunes accounts even if you can't share paid apps. Plus for Face Time calling you will both need your own iTunes account and Apple ID to use facetime.

 

[Alli]

iTunes gives you license to share purchases with up to 5 devices. I know several couples and families who share one iTunes account so that they don't have to purchase the same apps.

@iquinn - doesn't the FaceTime issue only affect iPod Touch users?

 

[anon(4698833)]

hmmm...this post has a strange undertone to it...a very slight, but distinct trolling smell...

Subscribed for future developments...

 

[boweveljoe]

Troll smell to it? I am a blackberry user and I am doing research on the iPhone to see if the transition would be worth it and able to fit all of my needs? I am not here hating on anything or trying to bait anyone. Just looking for honest answers and solutions for what I need the phone to do. What is this? Crackberry.com? Whaaat? The BB is NOT the greatest device ever created!?!! HERESY!

 

[anon(4698833)]

I never accused, i just said the aroma was there...the questions you asked were the typical things people bring up to try and question the iPhone's legitimacy.

Having looked at a hundred million billion threads that are anti-iphone (apple products) across the web, yours had some of those keys in it.

Carry on.

 

[kevmiami#IM]

Bought mine yesterday!

Lots of questions (just started reading manual); not ready to jailbreak just yet:
- What app/how do I get it to display message/subject when an e-mail comes through (always dark).
- Is there an easier way than sliding lock; kind of a pain.
- Took a couple of pictures with flash and there was round reflections (from hard case?).
- Not sure purpose closing applications with double press.
- Any way to make sure mute means mute - very embarrassing.
- Any way to turn springboard horizontal?
- What are the correct settings to sync some music and also drag/drop music (seems to be ignored).
- Really a pain to have BT and Tethering buried in General settings - anyway to short cut?

Couple of observations:
- Love, Love glass; Pre scratched terribly.
- Love being able to retrieve deleted voice messages - thank you baby jesus.
- Say what you want about iTunes and Apple; it frigging works!
- My photos sync properly out of Photoshop Elements - no Drama
- I can convert a movie CloneDVmovie into iPhone format and it just works - NO DRAMA!!
- Ringtones were a little tricky, but not too bad (will never give up my Hang'em high theme).
- Feels very, very slim compared to my Pre, but a little wide for my smaller hands.
- The AGF case/belt clip from AT&T is ingenious ("secret" button on clip slides up and clip functions as kickstand).
- Only so/so happy with Belkin stand and Car Kit; may be going back to Apple store; hope BT stereo kit works well (find out tonight).
- Now for the unbelievable!!!! The Palm BT keyboard which never worked on my Pre - IT WORKS on my iPhone!!!!!!! TO COOL!!!!!!
- TomTom app is very cool: Street names and displays heads-up view of complicated interchanges - so cool (always been a TomTom fan though).
- Wish search would look in notes area; Pre just sucked on this end - there would be contact on my phone, I couldn't find (POS).
- Great to have my Bejeweled, PowerOne calculator and SplashID back too! Been using SplashID for years - but they suck as a company - lied to us for months about finishing sync capability on Pre.

After 36 Hours, I'm totally stoked; will have to give it a couple of weeks to see how real usage works out; miss my real keyboard, but will give it time.

Cheers, Kevin.


_______________________________

Sharp Zaurus (Great) ->HP Jornada (Sucked) ->Sony Clie T615 (Fantastic) ->Treo 650 (Very Good)->Treo 755p (Very Excellent) ->Palm Pre (What a POS) -> iPhone 4-32 (Off to great start). Almost going to miss my 5yrs & 39wks on Treo/Pre Central - New beginnings

 

[Alli]

- What app/how do I get it to display message/subject when an e-mail comes through (always dark).

Not sure what your question is here.

- Is there an easier way than sliding lock; kind of a pain.

Nope. Not without jailbreaking.

- Took a couple of pictures with flash and there was round reflections (from hard case?).

Could be from the case, being able to see the photo would help.

- Not sure purpose closing applications with double press.

Double press of home button takes you to a list of the most recently used apps and allows you to quickly switch back to them.

- Any way to make sure mute means mute - very embarrassing.

It's a hard switch. When it's on you can see the red dot under the switch.

- Any way to turn springboard horizontal?

Nope, not even with jailbreaking.

- What are the correct settings to sync some music and also drag/drop music (seems to be ignored).

You can manually manage music, but you're stuck with iTunes - you can't drag/drop to the device.

- Really a pain to have BT and Tethering buried in General settings - anyway to short cut?

You can do this with a jailbreak app called SBSettings.


- Great to have my Bejeweled, PowerOne calculator and SplashID back too! Been using SplashID for years - but they suck as a company - lied to us for months about finishing sync capability on Pre.

Bejeweled was the first app I bought when I got my first iPhone. Love it! Have a look at Ascendo DataVault - I'm biased, but I went to work for the company because I loved the product!

 

[lawls]

You should not have any issues sharing an iTunes account on your computer. That said you may run into an issue trying to share one iTunes account when it comes to the devices themselves. IMHO it is better to have sperate iTunes accounts even if you can't share paid apps. Plus for Face Time calling you will both need your own iTunes account and Apple ID to use facetime.

I myself have three iDevices hooked up to my iTunes account (old iPod, iPhone, iPad) and it works fine. Just make sure you get the right kind of apps (eg iPad apps won't work on iPhone) and as for sharing paid apps, you can do that. Just plug your iPhone into the computer when someone ekes is signed into iTunes and hit transfer purchases. You will need to know their password for any future updates though.

 

[kevmiami#IM]

- I guess I'm looking for some sort of "notification" app. When the phone is on the Belkin Charging stand, the phone appears off completely - no image or notifications of any kind. If on mute, I never know I have received an email (Pre had a white button which would glow). Doesn't seem to be anything available, odd.

- Photos; I suppose I should just take two shots with/without case and compare. I think the light is bouncing around the hole on the case (at&t branded AGF - which I love - built in kickstand - clever!). Will have to research posting photos another time; it wants a url.

- I understand the double press, works well; but is hard to understand which apps are really closed and which are really running in the background. It seems to log everything you run, so after a while, it doesn't save any time over just picking from main screens.

-I understand the hard switch, but it is a "selective" mute (Pre was this way, until they changed it - thank you), it does not mute everything - if you accidentally start a movie, it plays sound (oops).

- I've been a big itunes fan, even before I had an ipod. But I want to drag & drop within itunes and sync some music. It shows a section in itunes for music manually added, but the music did not show up on the phone. I assume I don't have the right combination of check boxes on the Summary page of itunes.

- It's great to be back to a platform with good apps; all the developers abandoned Palm (I don't blame them). Has to be a good phone first and then have lots of great apps - very happy so far.

- Is there a setting app which will allow searching the "File as" field in the contacts? This was a big phone issue for me with the Pre as well. The field is coming across in the sync from Outlook, but search does recognize (e.g. File as: Mom) - search of Mom comes up blank.

- Thanks for all the help - always fun exploring new OS and hardware. Cheers, Kevin.

 

[Alli]

The one area where the iPhone still fails totally is notifications. You'll have to turn on the screen and check for badges (the little numbers on top of the applications).

Very little actually runs in the background on iOS, most of the apps simply sit in a "saved state." It's not a concern on this platform like it was on WinMo or Android.

The hard mute switch mutes notifications - no phone calls, no text messages, no mail. I frequently need to play video or audio, but don't want to be interrupted with notifications. If you don't want audio, don't play audio? (How can you accidentally start a movie?)

There are several tutorials in various threads that explore manual syncing - worth doing a search if it's giving you problems.

Try the universal search, it finds nearly everything. It's to the left of your home screen.

 

[iquinn]

@iquinn - doesn't the FaceTime issue only affect iPod Touch users?

Now that you mention it I think that your are right.

 

[kevmiami#IM]

- High spirits crushed again Universal search did bring up more stuff, but not contact with text in "File as" field - bummer.

 

[boweveljoe]

Alli-

My friend had a Moto Droid with Verizon and just moved into a new house. Apparently he moved to one of the places in America where Verizon does NOT have service!

So, he had to go with ATT, and now has an iPhone. He said he definitely misses his widgets and the little notifications.

Since they now have one of the Palm Pre guys on staff maybe they can get a nice smooth notification system set up instead of those popups you dont read half the time because you are just trying to get them off the screen so you can get back to what you were doing

 

[boweveljoe]

If i got a Microcell hooked up to my DSL at home, would it use data from the 2 gig data plan? Or would it count that as wifi?

I know with the femtocell you can get the $20 a month unlimited talk, just not sure what it does about data.

Thanks guys!

 

[Iphone4life1]

hey guys I am a 4 month newby to Iphone and I have a question I have 1000 text messages on my plan and I am about to go over my 1000. Is there a way I can turn off receiving any more messages so AT&T do charge me an additional 10dollars? Helppp thanks