Tag: iPhone

I been meaning to get this post out for ages, and wanted to share a few of my iPhone tips and tricks. I often get stopped and asked about setting up a new iPhone and what cool apps to put on, so here is my 5 best tips & tricks

1. Get a US iTunes account

I have had a couple of requests from people asking me where to buy iTunes Vouchers, and after a whole lot of research, I have found that EvoPoints , iTunesUSA , Maximus Cards or WildTwig who accept PayPal are all fantastic !

I can undoubtedly say, that this is probably the most important thing that you can do when you have an iPhone. By having a US iTunes account, you are able to download all of the cool apps, compared to whats available on the crappy South African store. You can also buy songs from the iTunes store. Hows how to do it:

1. At the bottom of the screen in the iTunes store page, choose United States from the drop down. Make sure you are signed out of the SA iTunes Store if you have one
2. On the right of the US iTunes store you should see the Top 10 Free Apps. Select anyone one of these apps, and click get app. BE SURE TO SELECT A FREE APP, otherwise this will NOT work !!!!
3. You will now be asked if you would like to sign in with an existing account or if you want to create a new account. Click “Create New Account”
4. Go through all the steps required to create a new account.Tips:
   • When selecting your address you will need to put in a US physical address. There is validation done, so it needs to ensure you have a valid address. You can use Fakenamegenerator.com to generate an address & telephone number, or simply use the address of a fancy hotel in the US that you “own” :)

     Apple have recently implemented an address verification system on the address. My suggestion is to use a hotel address in Florida or a head office of some big shot corporate company in California. Google is your friend ;)

   • Use a valid email address, as you need to verify the account before you can use it. You will need to use a different email address to what you have registered to the South African store, otherwise it will shout at you.  A neat trick is if you use a gmail address, for eg. [email protected], you can also use [email protected] and you will still get the mail. Put a dot anywhere in your gmail address and you instantly have a new email address. Clever hey :)
5. When you get to the”Provide a Payment Method” of the signup, you are asked for payment details. Make sure you choose NONE on the right. Make sure you aslo have United states selected at the bottom



6. You now have a fully fledged US iTunes account, but only able to get free apps ? But wait, there is more. Buy a iTunes voucher, load it onto your account, and you can now buy all the cool apps as well. Go to EvoPoints , iTunesUSA , Maximus Cards or WildTwig who accept PayPal, and then you can buy vouchers which are emailed to you from the above site. Works a charm.

I have been using this method for ages now and have never had any issues. Leave a comment if you get stuck :)

2. Get some cool apps

Now you have the flashy new US iTunes store, some credit to spend, and now for the cool part. Some nice shiny new apps. I’m pretty sure that if you own an iPhone the first question you get asked, is what cool apps you got ??

Well here are 5 of my favorite apps:(Links below open iTunes)

1. Shazam (Free). This should be the first app EVERYONE downloads when firing up the iPhone for the first time. You know that time when you and your mates were dancing in that dodgy club at 2am, and suddenly they play that awesome song. You know that one. The one where you all go crazy and shout; “I LOVE THIS SONG !!!”. But what the FREAK is it called. Simple. Whip out the iPhone, let it listen for 10 seconds, and magically Shazam comes back and tells you, the name of the song, the artist. It also lets you view more info on the artist, as well as lets you tweet that you found THAT song. It has to be one of the most awesome apps available on the iPhone. Really. just get it.
2. Pano ($2.99). This has to be my most favorist photo taking app on the iPhone. It allows you to take up to 16 photo’s in sucession and then stiches them seamlesly together. Take a look at one of the pics I took yesterday of the new 2010 soccer stadium and surrounds in Durbs.

   

   If you would like to see more panoramics I have taken check out my Pano Photo set on Flickr, or check out the Pano Group on Flickr. Well Worth the money spent

3. Tweetie ($2.99) My most used app on my iPhone, allows me to keep my Twitter addiction in check. Simple to use, and loads all your tweets fast. Also provides support for multiple accounts. Definitely the best Twitter client out there on the iPhone. Well worth the money spent, I have tried them just about all. Trust me on this one.
4. Prowl ($2.99). With the advent of push notifications in iPhone OS 3.0, prowl is the ultimate push notification app. If you have a Mac, you should know all about the growl app that displays notifications when you have a specific task happening on your system. Prowl intergrates with growl and then pushes these notifications to your iPhone. So for example, if you are using Tweetie on your Mac desktop, you can set it to send you a push notification when you recive a direct message or a mention on twitter. You can also set up adium to alert you when someone is trying to chat to you. Really works awesome. Oh, and if you a Windows user, be sure to check out Growl for Windows, which allows you to do exactly the same thing. The twitter plugin for Windows is called Trowl, check it out. Awesome little app. If you want to be notified on almost anything, just get Prowl :)
5. Doodle Jump ($0.99) An insanely addictive little game, which I haven’t been able to put down for over a week. Must.Get.Highest.Score. (It’s THAT bad)

There are loads more apps I could recommend, but I promise I will try and do a seperate post sometime about some of the other gems I have come accross. If you got some suggestions, please feel free to leave them in the comments below.

3. Get MMS & Internet tethering enabled in South Africa

If you are a regular of my blog, you will know I did a post recentley about enabling MMS & Internet tethering. Go to this post, for step by step instructions on how to get it all up and running. Rumour has it that in OS 3.1 (Apparentley out in Sept) should fix this issue. YAY !!

4. How to Sync your iPhone with multiple computers

Apple have annoying feature that only allows you to sync your iPhone with 1 PC. I have an issue with that, cause that means I cannot add cool things onto my Phone when I am at work, because I sync all my stuff at home. Silly. But never fear. Follow this awesome tutorial below, and you will be clicking sync in no time.

How to sync your iPhone with multiple computers

5. Enable Emjoi Icons on your iPhone

Emoji Icons are all the rage in Japan at the moment, and allow you to put pretty pictures in your messages, which other iPhone users can see.

Pretty hey ? :P To do this, follow these simple steps

1. Install Spell Number from the iTunes App Store (it’s free)

2. Launch the app

3. Type 91929394.59 (Seriously !)

4. Press the Home button

5. Go to Settings > General > Keyboards

6. Select Emoji under Japanese

7. Delete the app (if you want) because the emoji icons will still be there

8. Now you will see a new icon next to your space key on your keyboard. If you choose this, it will open the Emoji Keyboard, and you can put your pretty icons in.

[Via iSmashPhone]

And thats a wrap folks !! If you have any other cool iPhone tips & tricks, please feel free to leave them in the comments. I am hoping to get another post our like this sometime.