Here’s the thing about a $600 cell phone: You want to get your money’s worth.
If all you’ve done with your iPhone is make calls, surf the Web a little, and
amuse yourself snapping pics of your kooky friend Mike, we’re here to tell you
that you’re not pushing the phone to its limits.
You could be making international calls using Skype for a fraction of the
cost. Or playing games for free. Or fixing a stuck slider or uncooperative Wi-Fi
connection. Or uploading photos directly to Flickr. If these possibilities don’t
entice you, we’ve got 22 more ways you can get the most out of your iPhone. And
we’ve got them right here.
1. Unstick a Stuck Slider
If your iPhone’s slider ever gets stuck - as in, it simply refuses to do
anything when you try to slide it, usually because you want to wake the iPhone
up to use it - here’s a fix from iPhone Atlas: Press the Home button once before attempting to
move the slider for the first time.
2. Make Skype Calls
Up-front disclaimer: We are not talking about free Voice-over-IP (VoIP) Skype
calls here. We’re talking about making SkypeOut calls, which are not free but
can drastically reduce the cost of making international calls on your iPhone.
(SkypeOut rates average about 2.1 cents a minute.) The secret sauce is SoonR (free beta), which is
actually much more than just a Skype-on-iPhone enabler. SoonR also lets you
access Apple Mail files, mailboxes, and contacts. It also lets you grab
documents from your Mac for viewing on iPhone, including PowerPoint
presentations.
Until someone hacks the iPhone for free Skype calls, you can get deep
discounts on international calls using SoonR and SkypeOut.
3. Know Where to Go for the 411
Lucky for you, the world has gone iPhone crazy. That means there are a lot of
excellent sources of info on the latest iPhone developments out there on the
Web. Bad news: There’s a lot of crap, too. Besides MacLife.com, here’s a
shortlist of our favorite iPhone info sites:
> iPhone Atlas (www.iphoneatlas.com)
> Gizmodo’s iPhone coverage (gizmodo.com/gadgets/iphone)
> The
Unofficial Apple Weblog’s iPhone page (www.tuaw.com/iphone)
> iPhone Alley (www.iphonealley.com)
> iPhone Freak (www.iphonefreak.com)
> modmyiPhone.com (www.modmyiphone.com)
4. Play Games
You know what they say about all work and no play. Not that the Web surfing
you’re doing on your iPhone is all work-related, now is it? Games - most of
which are free - are starting to pop up for the iPhone, and we’re sure there
will be more where those came from. For now, launch the Safari browser on your
iPhone and visit these sites:
> MacMost’s collection of iPhone games, including classics like
Solitaire and Minesweeper (free, macmost.com/iphonegames)
> myNuMo has four iPhone games, including iWhack - a
whack-a-mole knockoff where the mole has been replaced by a headshot of
Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer - and blackjack (free,
www.mynumo.com/iphone/fun4iphone.htm)
> iGiki’s games - which include Hangman and Canyon Crawl -
aren’t free, but they’re only a buck a pop, and might what you need if you’re
already tired of the freebies (99 cents per game or game pack for 99 days,
igiki.com/i/Arcade_Gikis_.html)
> PopCap’s Bejeweled (free, static.popcap.com/iphone)
Add bling to your iPhone playing Bejeweled.
5. Beat a Shortcut to Your Fave iPhone Apps
Handy iPhone apps like Leaflets (free) and Applists (free) put most iPhone apps at your fingertips, but
if you want to build your own list, just collect the apps you use most into the
same bookmarks folder in Safari on your Mac. Then when you sync your iPhone
next, in iTunes, be sure to check “Sync Safari bookmarks” on the Info tab, under
Web Browser.
6. Take Self-Portraits
Because the iPhone camera’s shutter button is a “soft” (that is, onscreen)
button, it’s a bit tricky to take self-portraits with it since you have to turn
the phone around so you can no longer see the button. The solution: With the
camera feature selected, place your finger on the camera icon and turn the phone
around so you’re facing the lens. Smile real pretty and let go of the shutter
button. You’ll hear the telltale click - you’ve just taken a self-portrait.
7. Rehang the Wallpaper
If you’re up for a bit o’ iPhone hacking, you can take any image you find
anywhere on the Web and turn it into custom wallpaper (see this YouTube video
for details: tinyurl.com/2ecfbg).
But there’s a much easier way: Download 320-by-480-pixel images for free from
a variety of online sources, saving them all in the same folder on your Mac. In
iTunes, with your iPhone docked, select your iPhone, click the Photos tab,
select the radio button next to “Sync photos from,” and then from the drop-down
list, select “Choose folder.” Browse to the folder you created, then click Apply
in the lower-right corner. Finally, on your iPhone, go to Settings >
Wallpaper > Photo Library to hang your new wallpaper.
Darth Vader as iPhone wallpaper, as interpreted by an artist at
Gizmodo.com.
8. Say NO to Magnets
The iPhone has a few enemies. One of the archest (besides tech-loving
muggers) is the magnet - especially those that lurk in places you’d least expect
them. Like iPhone cases with lids that snap down magnetically, for example. If
you can tell an iPhone case uses a magnetic closure of any kind, don’t buy it.
We’ve received firsthand reports of iPhone deaths directly attributable to
magnets. There’s nothing like killing a $600 device with a $20 piece of
pleather.
9. Reveal Secret Features
When Apple released the first firmware update for the iPhone on August 1, it
did so with little fanfare, and attributed most of the updates to security
fixes. The Wall Street Journal’s Walt Mossberg discovered a few new
non-security-related features on his iPhone after the update, including:
> Greater capacity in the Phone module’s Favorites list
(was 20, is now 50).
> Ability to automatically blind carbon copy (BCC)
yourself on all emails sent, where previously your only option was to CC
yourself, which alerted your recipients to what you were up to.
> Compatibility with some car adapters and external
speakers originally created for the iPod.
For more iPhone and tech tidbits, visit Walt’s blog at mossblog.allthingsd.com.
10. Ditch the Camera Altogether
If you know you’ll never use the iPhone’s camera, you can remove it
altogether. (If you work for or with certain government agencies, your iPhone
may actually be contraband on their property because they don’t want you taking
any secret photos of the goings-on.) iResQ will remove your iPhone’s camera for $99. Meanwhile, the
hands-on folks at iFixit.com have a DIY
camera-removal guide (oddly titled “Installing Camera”).
All you need to extract the iPhone’s camera are a few basic tools,
including a metal spudger, and a steady hand.
11. Get the Official Mod Tool
If you’ve already had to send your iPhone back to Apple for warranty repair
or replacement, you might have discovered something different about the
replacement iPhone. First off, it comes in a much thinner box. Second, it comes
complete with the official iPhone SIM card removal tool: a paper clip. Yes,
Apple actually supplies a paper clip with all replacement iPhones, along with
instructions for using it to open the SIM card slot and insert your card.
(Thanks to the guys at InsanelyGreatTees.com for tipping us off about this!)
12. Find Wi-Fi Hotspots
JiWire makes it easy to find the nearest hotspot on your iPhone - so you can
rescue yourself from the slow-moving hell that is AT&T’s EDGE data service.
Surf to iphone.jiwire.com
on your iPhone and fill in your location info. If you’re a cheapskate like us,
check the box for “Search free hotspots only.”
13. More Wi-Fi Performance Tips
Apple has a potentially useful collection of Wi-Fi-related iPhone tips in a
regularly updated knowledge-base article on its website. Suggestions include fixing problems like paid Wi-Fi
connections that drop off suddenly, weak Wi-Fi signals, and Wi-Fi connections
that revert to EDGE due to issues with WEP passwords or wireless routers that
use MAC address filtering as a security measure.
14. Kill GSM Buzz
If you experience a buzzing sound using an iPhone cassette adapter for your
car stereo, such as Monster’s iCarPlay - which claims to be iPhone compatible
but doesn’t appear anywhere on Monster’s website, www.monstercable.com -
Gizmodo offers a low-tech solution: aluminum foil. Yep, just take a little bit
of Reynolds Wrap and wrap it around the cable closest to the iPhone. This
eliminates the need to switch to airplane mode - which is a viable solution, but
sends incoming calls to voicemail.
If you really want to amuse your friends, try twisting the foil
around the iPhone cable into the shape of a swan.
Remember our tutorial on 
I feel naked. I go someplace and all I have with me is my
iPhone.
Yes, it sucks that Apple did not include an instant message client
on the iPhone. Inexcusable, really. But there are some workarounds which, I
expect, will improve over time.
One cool thing about any phone — it doesn’t have to be an iPhone —
is that you’re mobile and you can read email or update social networks anytime,
anywhere. The iPhone sports two excellent Web apps — 
Creating Word and Excel documents on the fly is so 2000. Who needs
them anymore when you’ve got Web-based apps iZoho and gOffice (not to be
confused with Google Docs)? When I need to whip off a Word doc or spreadsheet, I
can it do it via 
