Have fallen worryingly in love with my iphone - anyone want to come and chat to me about theirs?

[worriermum]

I'm a total techno-dinosaur, so perhaps that explains things. But I got a hand-me-up from DSS of his old iphone and - WOW. I'm loving it - so sleek, so easy, so fun, so delightful to use after my sticky-key'd NOKIA. So far, one of the best things has been having Skype on my phone. So what do you do with your iphone, and how else shoudl I use mine ?

ps and HOW do I write notes on calendar dates in teh future ie not today?

Yes I'm also slightly in love with my Samsung Galaxy S. £30 a month with all you can eat internet and a zillion minutes and texts (or so it seems). I was also slightly in love with my Nokia E71 before that which I lost, but now I can't imagine how I managed without the touch screen. :)

I got dh the Touch for his Christmas (he, like me, is not a great mobile user and we currently pay barely £10 a month on calls between us).

He has had an Apple laptop for years (the smaller one, so that it can fit into a rucksack easily) which he loves.
He was a bit pissed off at me at first for having spent so much money - but my thinking was that he could get a feel for the Apple mobile technolgy without paying for a contract.

He absolutely loves it :). We're even thinking of changing our home broadband package to BT, so that he can get access to all the BT OpenZone/Fonezone wi-fi hotspots.

As long as he is in a wi-fi zone, he can use it like a phone with Skype (and there are other packages like Fring).

He also uses it as an Internet radio - the only problem is that that eats up the battery life. I bought him a wee gadget recently from Sainsbury's which is a little FM radio transmitter (cost £15.99), which means he can get any radio in the house (or the car) to sync with and play what is on the Touch - whether that is his iTunes collection, or one of the radio stations he has accessed over the Internet.

juju if you both have a 'mobile me' account this is very easy with iphone/ipad/mac calendar (it syncs with them all) . We have exactly the same issue (not helped by shift work) and the ability to share our calendars but display on one calendar (different colours for my work, my home, his work, his home stuff) is fantastic - and saved a lot of arguments.

PLease, please could someone explain how you close an app without deleting it? When you press the little square button on the phone (front centre) to go out of an app, does that not close it? Am confused - and concerned re. high bills when go abroad. What else do I need to close/do if I go abroad? THanks

Also what is the advantage of Skype over Facetime (iphone 4)?

Am struggling with Facetime - often doesn't work - not sure if to do with Wifi signal or network restrictions but is frustrating. BUt don't really know if Skype would be better.

I read this thread this morning. Didn't post but was nodding in agreement.

Then, this afternoon I dropped the bugger on the bathroom floor face down and now the screen is all smashed! Fuck! Still works but leaves tiny shards of glass in my fingers so far from ideal.

I will hopefully be able to claim for a new one in a couple of weeks but will I have to download/pay for all my apps and music again? And will I have to start Angry Birds again? Was on Ham 'em High, nearly finished, total disaster!

What happens with Angry Birds when it wont let you onto the next stage? I have the basic one but have got through it all.

Download Comic Relief and Children in Need Official Videos - 4 year old granddaughter loves them. Actually her favourite is Gorillaz. LOL Also downloaded some childrens apps like Postman Pat and Thomas the Tank Engine, plus tangram puzzles.

Have folder on my iPhone marked with granddaughter's name for her-size games.

Jacey that is exactly what happened to mine!!!
Fortunately I was due an upgrade - got 3GS free on 24month contract £35 per month.

I've never paid for a phone - not after I've seen how much they depreciate (although iphones do hold their value the best)

Jacey - meant to add, can you try a screen protector? Might save your fingers!

here's another tip - don't forget to turn it to aeroplane mode ('airplane mode') while your toddler is playing with it.
stops accidental phone calls / emails!!

I would love a mobile phone that I can use the internet on. I'm not interest in apps or games like angry birds, but like to use the internet (mumsnet, tesco, ebay etc) and email. Is it worth me getting the iphone or would anotehr phone like the HTC be as good for the internet? And I like the idea of reading books on it - is it too small or is it OK for reading books on? Has anyone here tried the Samsung Galaxy?

there's a nifty trick whereby you shake it side to side and it 'undoes' what you've just done. can't remember the details but off to play to figure it out. i know it works for messages....

yep typed up a load of nonesense in messages, shook it side to side and an option to delete typing comes up. asked dh and he said it works on most apps.

Been reading this thread to spot good app suggestions! I use Things as my task manager - simple, good user interface, and has a repeating task option for things that need to be done weekly, fortnightly, etc,

I also use mSecure to keep passwords and other information securely (eg passport numbers) - it has good encryption. PocketMoney is what I use to track my spending. And Bejeweled is the main game I play on it!

I use my iPhone on pay as you go so it's very cheap to run, but then you do have to fork out £££ for it in the first place.

Nb those who have bust screens - you can get them fixed at ukipodrepairs.co.uk (I think it is).

I would reccoment installing Find My iPhone.

anonymousbird i think i love you !!

enjoying errands lots. better that ip3 notes dont know about ip4.

im loving my iphone3 but have just found out can upgrade on a 2 year contract for just £40 a month, curently pay £42 and the iphone 4 will only cost me £50.00

to upgrade or not to upgrade, dh says new iphone coming out in june?

Anonymous, early on in this thread someone recommended Toodledo for tasks. I've downloaded it and I'm very happy with it.

What's Facetime? And Prettybird, what's Fring? Is it also a Skype-style app ? I'm desperate to improve the quality of my international calls.

Loopyloo, I can only speak for the iphone 3. No, you dont close an app when you hit the 'home' button in the centre. I now know, from the lovely MNers on this thread, that you have to double click that button twice and then all your open apps appear at the bottom of your screen, with a little sort of 'no entry' sign over them. If you touch the no entry sign you turn the app off.

I've been advised to turn off everything when abroad, especially data roaming (go settings, general, network and then take it from there). Hope that's useful. Please will you explain 'Facetime' to me?

Hey, have just seen that this thread has made it into Discussions of the Day. Can I divert from my iphone to share breathlessly that this is my FIRST EVER thread to achieve such glory?? [overcome with modest delight emoticon]. Have I made the MN hall of fame??

I'd like to thank my iphone, the Toodledo app, DP for standing by me even as I download new apps, the wonderful posters on MN, the..[Worriermum steps down from podium now overcome with emotion]

I have an iphone 3 at the moment and love it. I got it on a 24 month contract in September 2009 so that's due to expire this year and I was wondering what to do next? The deals on the iphone 4's all look to be loads more expensive than the £35 (dropped to £25 now) a month (with phone costing £70) that I paid with the iphone 3. They look more like £40 a month and a wedge of cash for the actual phone? BUT if I sign up to a low 12 month contract again on the iphone3, it will no doubt break (as my friend's ond just has!) and I will be stuck!

What are you all doing at the end of your iphone 3 contracts?

ok stupid question I know...

but once I have downloaded all the whizzy apps that people have recommended on here - is there an easy way of getting them to download onto my iphone?

currently I look at the list of apps on my PC (on itunes) and I then have to work my way through them, select the new ones (using control key held down to make it easy to do multiple selections of odd ones here and there) and then drag over to the iphone option in my devices list and wait for them to sync.

Other than sorting the apps by genre or alphabetically by i-device the app works on, is there any way to sort the apps - particularly by those that have been just downloaded so I don't have to go searching through for them?

Or is there a nice easy 'sync with all new apps' option hidden away somewhere (she says hopefully)?

current favourites on my phone are word scramble (bit like boggle), toobz, and move it. plus lots of the others mentioned here for the sensible stuff like lists and getting organised (or trying to at any rate...)

In itunes there is the option on the 'apps' page to automatically sync new apps, just make sure it is ticked.

i love this thread,

I use my BT FON hot spot finder for wireless all the time.

BTW, there has been a bit of theme in here of what runs down your battery fast. Ones i can remember are:

Lots of apps running (guilty as charged - I had no idea you could or should turn them off!)

Constantly seeking data (now turned off also)

Using Maps as a GPS

What else can you add to this list? I am intrigued, as my one (and only) bugbear with my iP4 is that it's battery life seems to be rubbish, but I suspect it may be more about how I use it/don't use it.. tips gratefully received.