iPhone Life - Best Apps, Top Tips, Great Gear

Use Google SMS to get information

By Anonymous (not verified)

If Internet connectivity isn’t available or is too slow on your iPhone, you can send SMS text messages to Google to quickly get information like sports scores, weather, word definitions, driving directions, and more. To do this, send a text to GOOGLE (466453) and use one of the following search types:

  • Sports: score cubs
  • Movies: movies 90004
  • Stocks: stocks appl
  • Flight information: flight aa 500

There are many more search types. Do a Web search on “Google sms requests” to find more.

Route calls to a different number

By Anonymous (not verified)

You have the option of having all the calls made to your iPhone routed to a different phone number, which could be useful if you are overseas or are in an area with no coverage for an extended period. To do this:

  • Make sure you are in an AT&T coverage area
  • Go to Settings >Phone >Call Forwarding
  • Turn Call Forwarding on
  • Enter the new number.

Your iPhone will no longer ring until you turn Call Forwarding off.

Adding names/phone numbers to Contacts list

By Anonymous (not verified)

If any name in the Recents list is not already in your Contacts list, you can add that person to the list by tapping on the icon of an arrow pointing right. Then, tap on the button labeled “Create New Contact.” If a name on the Recents list is already in Contacts, but has a new phone number, tap on the button labeled “Add to Existing Contact.” To change info in an existing contact, tap on a name in the All Contacts list and hit the Edit button.

When typing, you can move the cursor wherever you want in the text by holding your finger down on the screen until a “spyglass” appears (above). This magnifies the spot in the text where your finger is so that you can easily see the words and the position of the cursor. Drag your finger around the screen until the cursor is positioned where you want it. Then lift up your finger.

The iPhone and iPod touch’s keyboard has a built-in dictionary that predicts what words you are about to type. Using these predictions, the keyboard readjusts the size of the “tap zones” of letters, making the ones that you are most likely to type bigger and making the letters that are less likely to be typed smaller. The keys themselves don’t get bigger—just the tap zones.

Wired has a great guide on how to change your iPhone wallpaper. Maybe such a task is simple and self-evident to you, but if not, this tutorial tells you everything you need to know, complete with screen shots. But it goes beyond the basics, showing you how to use as wallpaper your own photos that you've taken, as wall as showing you how to Photoshop your own wallpaper. (As an aside, this how-to is a wiki, meaning that anyone can change it or add to it.

iTunes won’t let you sync the same content with more than one computer. However, you can sync different content with different computers. For example, you could set up your computer at home to only sync your music and videos in iTunes. You can then set up your work computer to only sync your contacts and calendar in iTunes. Maybe set up your laptop to only sync photos. This way, you can fill up your device with content from different places.

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