I just got an iphone!! Now I have questions.

[propita]

My blackberry was having problems keeping a charge--everything has such planned obsolescence nowadays--and as an upgrade it was "only" $99. I know the next model is supposed to be out soon, but...well, Hubby wanted to get it for me and I have a hard time saying "no" to him when he wants to buy things for me. (Which is why I don't ask for much--he'll buy it for me, and I don't want to be greedy)

So, tell me some of things I can do, remembering that I can't REALLY play with it until after the Bar.

How do I download itunes? Where do I get it from?

Where do I find apps? Only on the phone itself? what are some good ones? What free ones are good?

How long does the charge last? How long does the battery last?

Hubby got me a humongous protective case (Otter case?). Looks way cool, but now it's HUGE and won't fit in a lot of those nifty radio/chargers.

Nice, though. Looking forward to using it a lot.

 

[kimc]

iTunes is already installed on the phone. It has a purple icon. You can sync with your computer and play your music with the iPod app which is the orange icon next to the Safari on the bar on the bottom of the screen. You can download apps from App. Store. Some I've downloaded that I like are urbanspoon (Can't decide where to eat? Shake your phone and a local restaurant will be suggested) and Now Playing (move reviews along with local listings). Another one called Mark the Spot will notify AT&T when you lose a connection, etc. Handy to have but hopefully you won't need to use that often!

Enjoy your new toy.

 

[backstept]

it's the best phone I've had
I highly recommend the Kindle app
also Evernote is quite useful
some other apps I recommend are:
Opera Mini - Fast non Safari-based web browser with server side rendering for faster page loads
IMDB - beat your friends at movie trivia
NASA - cool info about current missions
Chorus - social app review and recommendation umm . . . app
NPR - stream NPR radio
ShakeItPhoto - take fake polaroids


mine is jailbroken so a lot of the increased functionality I have wouldn't really be of any interest to you if you don't plan on jailbreaking

 

[An Officer]

If you don't want to pay for your music and apps by card, you can buy yourself a prepaid itunes gift card (available in most major music and media stores and even some supermarkets), and you just pay by entering the code and setting a password, and you're then able to conduct all future purchases with simply the password - very quick and simple. They've made it extremely intuitive and user friendly. It sends you an email to help you keep track of what you've paid for and what your current balance is - very handy when you want to set yourself a limit in how much you spend, so you don't go crazy with it. Enjoy! Your life is going to be much easier and more fun with an iphone!

 

[Small White Car]

Download iTunes for your computer here.

Set up an online store account with a credit card. Once you do that, plug your phone in and sync the phone with your iTunes account.

At that point you can get apps on iTunes on the computer OR through the App-store on the phone. When you plug your phone into your computer the apps you've bought in either place will copy to the other place.

Battery life depends on a million factors. Just wait and see what you get.

Apps to get:

Facebook (If you use Facebook)

Tweetie 2 (If you use Twitter)

Dropbox (free app, then sign up for a free account here and also download their free PC or Mac software.) This one is very important! Gets your files from your PC to your phone.

myWireless (made by AT&T to tell you how many minutes you've used)

Bejeweled 2 and Flight Control are both fun games

Also, you can bookmark web sites as icons on your home page, so if you visit a website a lot, add it to your homescreen!

 

[Sakrysta]

Oh, the joy of apps! I have so many, all but one or two free! Here are some of the ones I use the most:

• AccuWeather.com - Better than the iPhone app, very useful.
• Twitterific - I've never used Tweetie (suggested above) but I like Twitterific a lot.
• Pandora - I would rather Napster had an app, but since it doesn't, Pandora is the next best thing.
• MyStuff - This one I paid for. It's a home inventory app that I'm using to catalog my books. I'm so excited to finally have a place to keep a list of all the book series I collect.
• Photobucket - Handy for getting pictures you take with your phone quickly to your Photobucket account.
• Redbox - I LOVE this app. I don't rent very often, but it's SO nice to be able to find the movie I like and reserve it so all I have to do is scan my card and pick it up. I'll be walking through a store and see, "Oh, that new movie is on DVD!" By the time I get to the front of the store, I've reserved it in the box in the lobby.
• Project365 - With this app you take a picture for every day. It's a fun way to keep up with what happens in your life each day. Of course, mine is full of pictures of my dog, but...
• Free Audiobooks - Hundreds of free audiobooks, mostly classics, but plenty to sample and enjoy.
• Virtuoso - Virtual piano! Not much good for actually playing piano, but great as a substitute for a pitch pipe!
• Classics - A bunch of public domain classic novels to read on your phone. Actually, I have several apps that have free books to read. Holmes, Shakespeare, 101 Classics...
• Barnes & Noble eReader - Got this to read a free e-book the other day. Like it so far.

I'm going to split out the games, because I have several:

• Tap Tap Revenge 3 - I am completely addicted to this game. It's like DDR/Pump It Up for your phone - you tap balls that slide down the screen in time to music. It is SO MUCH FUN!
• Angry Birds - This one's kind of hard to explain without you seeing it - you slingshot birds across the screen to blow up pigs. I paid for the full version of this. It's that much fun.
• Chain Rxn - It's sickening how addictive this little game is. These little balls float around the screen. You touch one place, in the path of the balls, and try to connect to as many as each level requires, and the points increase as the chain grows. The video below is for the desktop version of the game - I couldn't find an iPhone app demo. On the phone, you don't get the shadow around your initial tap.
• Ragdoll 2 Lite - Shoot ragdolls out of cannon at a target. Lot's of creative obstacles to overcome.
• Auditorium - I can't explain this one. Just watch the video:
• Unblock Me - Rearranging blocks to free a target block to go through the hole. Kind of a cross between a maze and a Rubik's cube. (Review below is lame - it's too easy to film reviews and upload them on YouTube, and I got tired of watching young boys stutter their way through explaining the game and settled on this one.)

I have a number of other games - Scramble 2, CashCabLite (limited trivia), reMovem, FlingFree, LineUp 2, a couple Word Searches, Search 60, Strategery. Depends on what mood I'm in how often I play them. Most often, I play Tap Tap if I'm in a place where I can use sound, and Chain Rxn if I have to be quiet, as you can turn off the sound effects for it and it doesn't take much concentration.

ETA: ACK! ALL MY YOUTUBE LINKS DISAPPEARED WHEN I EDITED THE POST!!! Phooey, I'm not looking all those up again. You guys know how to search YouTube. Bah...

 

[Small White Car]

[*]Twitterific - I've never used Tweetie (suggested above) but I like Twitterific a lot.

(I don't even know if the OP uses Twitter but, oh well, because I'm going to explain that:) Tweetie 2 costs $3 and Twitterific has both a free version and a $5 version.

The interesting thing, however, is that Twitter itself just bought Tweetie and the guy who writes it. What WAS going to be Tweetie 3 is instead going to come out as 'Twitter for iPhone' and be the official Twitter app. (Unlike Facebook, Twitter never had their own app before. They just let 3rd party companies make them.)

So my advice would be to buy Tweetie 2 for $3 and learn it. Because in a few months, the official Twitter app will come out and will (probably) be free. And at that point I'd guess that the official Twitter app will be the best choice. (Just an assumption!) So why not get used to using the program that will soon evolve into the official program?

Ok, that's way more thought than needed to go into this. Just thought I'd share.

 

[propita]

Thanks for app suggestions--and I'll read more suggestions. Naturally, I may not use them, but I'll read them.

And Small White Car, how'd you figure I don't twitter/tweet?

I'm curious, say I get an app, then decide I prefer a similar one more, or just don't want this one. How do I delete an app?

So far, my iphone needs re-charging at night. But as I've posted, Hubby got me a huge protective case, so it wouldn't fit in one of those nifty radio/alarm clock devices. Are there adaptors/extenders available for the chargers?

 

[Small White Car]

And Small White Car, how'd you figure I don't twitter/tweet?

Unlike Facebook, Twitter is still a pretty techno-geek kind of place. I'm just guessing that someone who resisted buying a smartphone for the last 3 years is also the type of person who is happy without Twitter.

As for apps, hold your finger on its icon 'till the icon wiggles. (Seriously.) Then you can tap the 'x' to erase it or just dragg it around to move it. Hit the home button to end 'wiggle mode.'

You can also arrange your home screen through iTunes, but if you're not at your computer, that's how to do it.

 

[propita]

Ouch! I didn't resist. I just wasn't affording. $99 upgrade's a good price. And this fall, Hubby's very interested in switching to Apple--desktop and laptop. He's waiting until I have time to mess with it. Right now I'm (supposed to be) studying for the Bar--I'm posting here instead. Bad propita!

 

[Sakrysta]

Yeah, charge time is pretty much daily, especially if you play with it, which I do all the time.

My app strategy has been to avoid paying for them at all. However, I've tried the lite version of a couple apps (Angry Birds, MyStuff), that have convinced me that the pay versions were worth it (.99 and 4.99, respectively). I already spend enough money for the privilege of having all my digital life at my fingertips, and you know, I do it gladly, because it's totally worth that $30 a month to me. But if I can avoid adding to my bill with random downloads that I really don't need, I'm going to do my best to do that.

Oh, and downloading/deleting apps, you can delete an app from your phone and add it back later from iTunes on your computer. And you can't delete the ones that come pre-loaded on your phone. I take the ones I don't use and just shove them to the far right icon screen.

As far as the case goes, you can always take it out to dock it in a radio and then put it back into the case when you want to take it with you. I just love that the phone has a decent enough speaker to listen to music or an audio book comfortably. I take it with me when I walk my dog so I can have something to listen to without earplugs, because I'm anxious about walking down the street without being able to hear what's around me.

 

[Ashu]

I need a phone upgrade and I'm not sold on the iphone. No particular reason why, I think i'd just prefer a blackberry

 

[Crusher Disciple]

Oh, the joy of apps! I have so many, all but one or two free! Here are some of the ones I use the most:

• Free Audiobooks - Hundreds of free audiobooks, mostly classics, but plenty to sample and enjoy.
• Classics - A bunch of public domain classic novels to read on your phone. Actually, I have several apps that have free books to read. Holmes, Shakespeare, 101 Classics...

Aw, kewl! I have Stanza for books, but nothing for audio books.

 

[T J]

The wife and I got ourselves iPhones a few weeks ago and cut the home phone land line... Never been happier, we LOVE our iPhones! One helluva sexy piece of tech!

Best feature, instant map in my hand, I'll never get lost again. I didn't have to get tom tom or some crap like that, it's included in my phone. Haven't had a cell phone in almost 10 years (analog no less!), needless to say there have been advancements.

Can't imagine Captain Kirk (original) with anything so advanced looking!

 

[STR]

Another one called Mark the Spot will notify AT&T when you lose a connection, etc. Handy to have but hopefully you won't need to use that often!

Enjoy your new toy.

1) GSM has some really nice diagnostics built into it. AT&T knows exactly when and how often you drop a call. Mark The Spot is a publicity maneuver that might make you feel like your bad experience matters to them, but it's pretty much ignored. At least that was the gist when I worked for the death star.

2) It's an Apple phone on AT&T. Neither is particularly good at holding connections, so expect to lose said connections often.

 

[kimc]

1) GSM has some really nice diagnostics built into it. AT&T knows exactly when and how often you drop a call. Mark The Spot is a publicity maneuver that might make you feel like your bad experience matters to them, but it's pretty much ignored. At least that was the gist when I worked for the death star.

Disappointing but hardly surprising I'm sorry to say. Thanks for the info...

 

[propita]

I tried to move an app icon, touch and hold until it wiggles, but it doesn't wiggle.

What's up? Is there a lock setting or something?

 

[Sakrysta]

That's weird. If you touch and hold any icon for about a second, they will all start to wiggle, and any of them that you can delete will have a little "x" in the top left corner that you can tap to remove them. If you want to move them, you just have to touch and drag them once they're wiggling.
[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IpObYiDjmHw[/yt]

 

[Robert Maxwell]

propita, given your worries about the Bar, maybe you should hand the iPhone over to hubby and have him figure some of this stuff out for you, so you can study and not be distracted by shiny gadgets!

 

[Crusher Disciple]

What does GSM stand for?