*** The Ultimate iPhone Guide ***

This is a guide to help anyone looking to buy an iPhone 3G S. Most of the information in this thread applies to the 2G and 3G iPhone too.

Unfortunately this guide is only written for OS X users, however most of it applies to Windows users too. Please feel free to contact me if you would like to add your own Windows guides and I will happily add it to this thread.

If you feel there is something I have written wrong or that I should add something, email me here and I will sort it.


Contents

• iPhone 3G S FAQ
• How To: Activate Your New iPhone
• How To: Install Apps Using The App Store
• How To: Create Custom Ringtones
• Tips And Tricks
• How To: Get Photos Off Your iPhone And Onto Your Computer
• How To: Set Up MobileMe
• How To: Convert Videos To Play On The iPhone 3G S
• How To: Reset Your Wireless Settings If You Change Phones

FAQ

Q. So, what's new on the iPhone 3G S, compared to the iPhone 3G?

A.


Q. Where can I buy an iPhone?

A. You can buy an iPhone from either, Apple, o2 or The Carphone Warehouse.

Q. What are the available tariffs, how much does the phone cost and how long is the contract for?

A. The contract is for 18 or 24 months pay monthly. The tariffs are as follows:



Q. Is the iPhone 3G S available on PAYG?

A. Yes, the prices are as follows:





Q. How old do I have to be to own an iPhone?

A. You must be 18 or over to buy the iPhone on contract, or 16 or over on PAYG.

Q. I have an iPhone V1, can I upgrade to the iPhone 3G S

A. Yes, you can. You will need to pay the full price and start a new contract though.

Q. I have an iPhone 3G, can I upgrade to the iPhone 3G S

A. Yes, you can, although you will have to pay to end your contract early (pay the rest of the months left) and buy the phone. There is currently no option to upgrade for free like last year.

Q. What happens to my old iPhone if I buy the iPhone 3G S?

A. You keep it. You can either give it to someone, or sell it.

When you give it to someone, they can start up their own contract on it, or use an existing contract.

Q. I am already with o2, can I upgrade my contract to the iPhone one?

Yes, but again you will need to start a new contract or be at the end of your current contract to upgrade.

When you do this, you just insert your old SIM into the iPhone. Make sure your SIM is 3G enabled though.

Q. I am with a different mobile network, can I move to o2 and keep my number?

A. Yes. You will need to ring up your service provider and get your PAC number.

Please note, PAC codes are only active for 30 days.

Q. What's is a credit check?

A. A credit check simply is a check on your credit history. Providing your credit history is good, you will be able to take out a contract. If you have a bad credit history, and therefore fail the credit check, you will be unable to take out a contract.

Q. I've got my iPhone 3G S, how do I activate it?

A. Please see here.

Q. My iPhone says 'No Service' at the top right, why is this?

A. The 'No Service' message is the message you get while your new SIM is being activated through O2's Gateway. This can take up to 72 hours for the SIM to be active.

Whilst you are waiting for the SIM to be active, you can use any O2 SIM card in the iPhone to make/receive calls.

Q. Can I get 3G in my area?

A. See here, and type in your postcode/telephone number to find out if you can get 3G in your area.

Q. What is the standard warranty on the iPhone 3G S?

A. All iPhones come with a 1 year limited Manufacturers warranty. If your iPhone experiences technical issues within a year of purchase, then the product must be returned to the point of purchase with a valid till receipt or other proof or purchase to enable repair, replacement or refund as appropriate.

Q. My iPhone is broken, how do I get it repaired?

A. You can take it to an Apple Store, o2 store or Carphone Warehouse store. Your best option is to take it to the Apple Store, they offer the best service and it doesn't matter where you bought it from either. They wont need proof or purchase for a replacement. Simply book an appointment with a 'genius', take your iPhone in and in most cases it will be swapped on the spot for you.

Q. Where can I find additional information about the iPhone?

A. Here

How To: Activate Your New iPhone


First things first, make sure you have downloaded and installed the latest version of iTunes. Also, make sure you put your SIM card into the iPhone.

1. Take your iPhone out the box and plug it into your Mac or PC.
   
   
2. iTunes will launch itself, and open up the activation screen.
   
   
3. You will be required to fill in some personal information.
   
   
4. Once this is done, you will be able to sync your contacts, music, mail, videos, applications etc.
   
   
5. Your iPhone may say 'No Service' at the top right where 'O2-UK' should be. Don't worry as this is perfectly normal and may take up to 72 hours to activate at this current time. (To 'force' the iPhone to search for network coverage you will need to restart it every so often, or keep re-inserting the SIM).
   
   
6. You will know when your iPhone 3G S has been activated, as you will receive 3 text messages from O2. A welcome message and two other message containing your log in details.
   
   
7. Whilst waiting for it to be activate, you can still use all the other features of the iPhone.

How To: Install Apps Using The App Store

To do this, you must first have an iTunes account. Anything bought from the App Store is charged to your card registered to your iTunes account.

1. First, open the App Store. In this example I am going to install 'Remote'.
   
   
2. Click 'Remote' to bring up information about it:
   
   
   
   
   
   
3. To download the app, click the 'Free' button. (For apps that cost, you click the price):
   
   
   
   
   
   
4. It will change to say 'Install'. Press that to install it:
   
   
   
   
   
   
5. You will be prompted to put in your iTunes password:
   
   
   
   
   
   
6. The app will start 'Loading':
   
   
   
   
   
   
7. Then start 'Installing'. While it is doing this, you can open other apps, or go on the internet, back on the app store etc. It will keep downloading in the background.
   
   
   
   
   
   
8. Once installed, it will stay on your springboard. You can move it using the move icons function:
   
   
   
   
   
   
9. To delete apps, you need to remove it from iTunes. When the phone next syncs with it, it will remove it. You can also remove applications by holding down your finger on the icon, then pressing the little 'x'. Although if the app is on iTunes, it will automatically be added back to your iPhone when you next sync it.
   
   
   

How To: Create Custom Ringtones

OS X

First of all, the quickest way is to use Audiko, however if you like the old fashioned way, read on.

*Make sure you have GarageBand installed.

1. Open GarageBand and click on 'Create a new music project'.
   
   
2. Get rid of the piano that is in there by default.
   
   
3. Drag the song that you want to create a ringtone from into GarageBand.
   
   
4. You now need to make the clip 40 seconds or smaller.
   
   
5. In this bar, press the arrows on the blue display until it shows 'TIME', and then click the 'View/Hide the Track Editor' button:
   
   
   
   
   
   
6. Highlight the area of the song you want to delete by using your mouse, then pressing the backspace button on your keyboard:
   
   
   
   
   
   
7. Next, you want to add the song to iTunes. So go to Share > Send Song to iTunes, change the information if you want to. Make sure you 'Compress Using: AAC Encoder':
   
   
   
   
   
   
8. It will now be in a new playlist in iTunes.
   
   
9. Using Finder, locate this file. It will be a .m4a file. In this example, it is located in Home > Music > iTunes > iTunes Music > Bob Marley > Exodus.
   
   
10. Right click the file and select 'Get Info'.
    
    
11. Under where it says 'Name & Extension' rename the extension from .m4a to .m4r and press enter. When this dialogue pops up, press 'Use m4r':
    
    
    
    
    
    
12. Drag the .m4r file out of the folder and on to the desktop.
    
    
13. Double click the file that is now on the desktop (Fully close iTunes first, or this wont work).
    
    
14. The file will get added to iTunes under 'Ringtones':
    
    
    
    
    
    
15. Plug in your iPhone and select the 'Ringtones' tab tick the boxes to sync ringtones:
    
    
    
    
    
    
16. Once they have synced, on your iPhone go to Settings > Sounds > Ringtone to use the ringtone you have just made. The ringtone you made will be located under 'Custom':
    
    
    

Tips And Tricks

If you have anything you would like me to add, or I have missed, email me.

• Re-arrange icons on the springboard - To re-arrange your home screen icons, simply hold your finger down on the icons and they will wiggle. You can now move them around the screen and onto other pages. To save them, click the 'Home' button.
  
  
• Magnifying to edit text - To edit some text, hold your finger on the text you want to edit and a magnifying gass will pop up. You can move this around with your finger to choose the insertion point for text.
  
  
• Automatic text corrections - When you are typing, and make an error, the iPhone will suggest a correction to you. To use the correction press the space bar on the iPhone keypad, to decline the correction press the little 'x' in the corner of the correction.
  
  
• Double Tap - Use to zoom in to what ever you want to see closer in Photos, Google Maps and Safari.
  
  
• Save an image in Safari - To save an image to you iPhone from Safari, hold down your finger on the image you want. After a couple of seconds a menu will pop up saying 'Save Image', 'Open Link' and 'Cancel'. These will get saved in your camera roll.
  
  
• Screen shots - You can now take screen shots with the 2.0 firmware. To make a screen shot, hold down the 'Home' and 'Sleep' buttons together for 2 seconds, then release. The screen will flash to indicate you have taken a screen shot. These will get saved in your camera roll.
  
  
• Delete - To delete emails, text messages and videos from your iPhone, slide your finger from left to right on it and click delete.
  
  
• Force quitting - Hold down the 'Home' button for 6 seconds to force quit a program that has frozen.
  
  
• Reset - If the iPhone freezes and locks up, press and hold the 'Home' and 'Sleep/Wake' button switch for eight seconds.
  
  
• Earbud Cord Switch - Pinch once to answer incoming calls, hold pinch for a couple of seconds to send the call to voicemail.
  When listening to music, or watching videos, pinch once to pause/play the music or video. Also when listening to music, double pinch to skip to the next song.
  

How To: Get The Most Out Of Your Battery

To get the most out of your battery, turn off functions that you are not using, or functions that you cannot use, such as Wi-Fi and Bluetooth and 3G. Most of these features can be turned of from the iPhone 'Settings' menus as follows:

Turn of 3G - Settings > General > Network > Enable 3G.

Turn of Wi-Fi - Settings > General > Network > Wi-Fi.

Turn of Bluetooth (Off by default) - Settings > General > Bluetooth.

Turn of Location Services (will disable geo-tagging etc) - Settings > General > Location Services.

Reduce brightness, use 'Auto Brightness' - Settings > Brightness.

Reduce the interval of Auto-checking email - Settings > Fetch New Data > Fetch.

Turn off the Equalizer - Settings > iPod > EQ.

How To: Get Photos Off Your iPhone And Onto Your Computer

This is an OS X guide.

Adding Photos To iPhoto

1. First, plug in your iPhone to your Mac.
   
   
2. Open iPhoto (If you haven't got it to automatically open when a camera is connected).
   
   
3. Your iPhone will show up under 'Devices', and will show the photos you have taken.
   
   
4. From here you can import your photos and move them into albums.
   
   

Adding Photos Using Image Capture

I personally prefer using Image Capture to put my photos onto my Mac. I can add them to iPhoto afterwards if I want to, or move them into folders easier.

1. First, plug in your iPhone to your Mac.
   
   
2. Open Image Capture (If you haven't got it to automatically open when a camera is connected).
   
   
3. Selecting 'Automatic Task' will give you options to change the sizes of the photos and other options:
   
   
   
   
   
   
4. Clicking 'Options' will enable you to select whether you want to delete the photos after importing them, and much more:
   
   
   
   
   
   
5. Choose where you want to download your photos to, and click 'Download All' or 'Download Some...' to launch a window.
   
   
6. Finally, click 'Download' to download your photos.

How To: Set Up MobileMe

Apple said:

MobileMe automatically pushes new email, contacts, and calendar events to your iPhone, Mac, and PC. So your devices always stay in perfect sync.

Click to expand...

Setting up MobileMe is very simple.

1. Too push Contacts, Bookmarks, Calenders and Mail to your iPhone, go to System Preference > MobileMe. Tick the boxes for what you want to sync:
   
   
   
   
   
   
2. Be sure to select 'Automatically' sync.
   
   
3. Next, open up iTunes and plug in your iPhone. Select to sync you MobileMe mail account. Be sure to press 'Sync'.
   
   
4. On your iPhone, go to Settings > Fetch New Data > And turn 'Push' on:
   
   
   
   
   
   
5. Next, go back to 'Settings' and click on 'Mail, Contacts, Calenders':
   
   
   
   
   
   
6. You will now need to add your MobileMe account. Click 'Add Account' then choose 'MobileMe'.
   
   (If you MobileMe mail account is already synced with your iPhone, press your account name under 'Accounts' and select what you would like to 'push' to your iPhone account)
   
   
   
   
   
   Enter your details:
   
   
   
   
   
   And then click 'Save'.
   
   
7. You will be presented with this screen:
   
   
   
   
   
   
   Choose what you want to 'push' to your iPhone, then click 'Save'.
   
   
8. Calenders, Emails, Contacts and Calender information will now be pushed between your Mac, iPhone and MobileMe online account, which can be accessed here.

How To: Convert Videos To Play On The iPhone 3G S

In this example, I am using this video.

OS X

First, you will need to download and install ffmpegX (Free)

1. Open ffmpegX:
   
   
   
   
   
   
2. Drag the video file you want to convert to the part that says 'Drop file here'.
   
   
3. Select where to save the video.
   
   
4. Choose 'iPhone' from the 'To' drop down list:
   
   
   
   
   
   
5. Click 'Encode'.
   
   
6. Wait for the video to encode. This may take a while, depending on how large the video is:
   
   
   
   
   
   
7. When the video has finished encoding, the window will change:
   
   
   
   
   
   
8. Now to add this converted video to your iPhone.
   
   
9. Drag the video into iTunes.
   
   
10. Click the 'Movies' tab, to see the video.
    
    
11. Next, plug in your iPhone and click on your iPhone under 'Devices' in iTunes.
    
    
12. Click the 'Video' tab.
    
    
13. Tick 'Sync Movies' then tick the box of the video you just added:
    
    
    
    
    
    
14. Finally, click 'Apply' and the video will sync to your iPhone.
    
    
15. Watch the video on your iPhone by clicking iPod > Videos: