The gift-giving holidays have just wrapped up (no pun intended) and that means iPhone 4’s have been unwrapped all around the world this year. If this is your first iPhone, congratulations and welcome to the club (even though you are a bit late to the game). There are thousands of apps, customizations, and accessories to try, but where should you start? Here’s an IntoMobile list of the best ways to take advantage of your new iPhone.
1. Conserve battery life by turning off Push email
Battery life on the iPhone has been a problem since Apple first released Push email functionality. Turning off Push email significantly increases battery life. To do this go to Settings -> Mail, Contacts, Calendars -> Fetch New Data and toggle the “Push” setting to the “OFF” position.
Note: Push email and Push notifications are not the same thing. I constantly receive Push notifications from Twitter and Instagram without affecting battery life.
2. Get your voicemails converted into text and emailed using Google Voice
Unfortunately, if you are an iPhone owner, it is not possible (yet) to merge your AT&T (if you’re in the US) voicemail with Google Voice (GV). There’s a fantastic free GV app made by Google, but it only handles voicemails for your GV number.
To make Google your primary voicemail handler, sign up for GV and follow these simple instructions. Whenever someone calls your iPhone, he will hear your GV greeting, and the voicemail received will be immediately transcribed and emailed to you.
Note: I take no responsibility for Google’s transcription reliability. In fact, they can be quite entertaining sometimes.
3. Customize the hardware
Adding a cover to your iPhone is a great way to both protect it and make it unique. We all know that damage is inevitable, but with a product from Gelaskins or skinit you can keep your iPhone looking pristine. I have purchased several products from Gelakins for my various iPhones and Macbooks. It’s hard to match their quality and ease of installation. I’ve tried the cheaper competition and there’s no comparison.
If you are more interested in protecting your iPhone from dents, scratches and broken glass, check out IntoMobile’s iPhone cases roundup.
4. Change the Lock and Home screens
Apple provides some decent backgrounds, but there are apps that offer hundreds of options. My favorite is 640×960 Wallpapers for iPhone 4 ($0.99).
It’s important to know that your new iPhone 4 has a Retina Display which is a fancy way of saying it boasts 640×960 resolution – resulting in a pixel density that Apple claims is near the limit of the human eye’s ability to discern individual pixels. In other words, you shouldn’t see any “pixelation” on the Retina Display. Make sure apps you download offer these higher resolution images.
To set your Lock and Home screen:
- Save an image from the 640×960 app using the down arrow icon
- Go to the Photos app
- Select the photo you just saved
- Press the options icon in the bottom toolbar
- Press Use as Wallpaper
- Press Set
- Choose which screen you want to change (Lock, Home, or both)
5. Download Instagram to share your photos
The iPhone 4 has a 5-megapixel camera that takes beautiful HDR photos, and I’m sure you’ll be taking plenty of them. Sharing those photos on your various social networks can be a painful process. Fortunately, we now have a free app that makes sharing quick and simple: Instagram.
Instagram is arguably the hottest app in the App Store right now after acquiring over a million users in two months. It’s the first app I’ve used that elegantly combines photo sharing with Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, Tumblr, and Foursquare. (Yes I’m purposefully leaving Posterous off the list since I’m a Tumblr lover.) In fact, the photos you take with Instagram can now be sent to Foursquare thanks to its latest update that allows photos and comments. You can also alter your photos for fun with some built-in filters, but make sure you tell Instagram to save the original version.
So there you have it. Good luck with new your iPhone. By the way, the top image is actually an ornament you can purchase on Etsy for $10.