The iPhone is spectacular in many aspects. You can’t imagine anything better for playing music, video, browsing web on a phone or personal device. Despite all that excitement, it needs work in certain applications. One of them is iPhone notes, that enables you to jot down pieces of information. iPhone notes is very handy to use, easily accessible, gives a list of your notes and a nice full screen when you edit it.

But one thing what it does not offer is synching your notes with a PC, so it is not a dependable source of keeping information. If your phone crashes for any reason, all your notes information is lost. Moreover, you can not transfer you notes from desktop to iPhone!! The application also does not give you a way to sort, categorize, or search. As notes pile up, it’ll be difficult to find the information you need quickly.

There are several applications with which you can easily synch your notes, we will look into a few of them

1. Using Contacts:
   

   

   It is one of the simplest and fastest workaround I have encountered. You would know that each contact has a notes field. So all you need to do is create a fake contact and paste any info you like in the notes field for that contact in Address Book. That way after a sync you will have all that information on your PC. You can use your contact notes offline and synchronize them whenever you like.

2. Using Email Drafts:
   

   

   It is the same as the first workaround. Just, access your mailbox, compose a new mail, paste any info you like in the notes field and save it as a draft. Very simple indeed. Now you notes will be synchronized next time you sync your mails.

   Idea: Establish an email account used only for Notes.

3. iphonenotes: Note: For Mac OS X only and requires a Jail Broken phone.
   This is a great application for Mac OS users for synching their notes. I assure you that you will love using it. You just need to install a binary on your Mac machine and connect your iPhone and PC to the same network, rest is done by iphonenotes.

   

   iPhone Notes is a universal Mac binary (meaning it will work with both PPC and Intel Mac versions) that allows you to easily backup your iPhone’s notes on your computer. It also allows you to view the notes, edit (change,add and remove them), and then save them back to your iPhone.

   You can find out more about the program on its official website

4. Noter:Noter is a online based application that allows you to use an advanced notes program both online and offline. Here is a brief snapshot of how it works. You sign up for a Noter account, then log in to Noter by pointing your mobile Safari browser to noter.dbelement.com. Load the Noter client onto your iPhone - allowing them to make/edit notes at will. The finished notes can by synchronized to the server, which can in turn be synchronized to other users’ Noter clients. It’s a great tool to manage your notes easily.
   

   

   Noter application can be used for offline use too. Once it’s loaded, notes can be added quickly. This gives a faster speed of entry. It also has a pretty cool search option.

   You can find out more about the program on its official website

5. EverNote:Evernote lets you remember anything that you want using your iPhone. You can jot down stuff that you need to take for vacation, save lovely pictures when you’re out with friends, or capture an interesting quote from a conversation. You name it and Evernote is there to organize that information for you and more importantly the information is easily accessible and searchable at any time, the only two things that are missing in iPhone Notes application.EverNote is a wonderful application for collecting, storing, and organizing practically any kind of information you can throw at it. You can store text notes, snapshot notes and voice notes. The snapshot and voice note are very handy when you do not want to type lengthy note using iPhone’s virtual keyboard. Your note is automatically uploaded to your Evernote server via WiFi or 3G/EDGE. So, you can refer them back whenever you need.
   

   

   To get started, you need to sign up an account. The service is free and upgradable to a premium account with larger upload allowance. You will first need to get EverNote from iTunes app store (link given below). The user interface is quite simple and intutive.

   

   It has an excellent search function (can supposedly find words in pictures too), and can be used on a variety of platforms. You can also organize notes into notebooks. Notes can be tagged with arbitrary text. They can also be organized with a “Saved Search” based on either a query or a tag.

   

   Getting back to syncing, the Evernote desktop client syncs with the servers every hour by default. But it can be set to sync every 30, 15, or 5 minutes, or even manually if you so desire. If you create a new note but need to run out the door and have that note accessible while mobile (more on that in a minute), simply hit the sync button and you’re good to go.

   You can find out more about the program on its official website

Thats’ all I could compile up. If you are using or know something better, please let me know. Enjoy!!

Apple uses MP4 part 14, and there are several other MP4 standards. Hence, only those converters customized to convert video to Apple supported mp4 format work perfectly well with all range of iPods and iPhones. The best, among the great variety of converters available, is Videora iPhone Converter. And not only iPhone but it supports all iPod formats. You can download it from here.

To Convert a Video, just follow the steps below.

Once downloaded, install the software and run it.

In the Settings tab, you can select your device, for example: iPhone 3G , and tweak other settings if you like.

Next click Convert.
1) go to Power Mode
2) Click on “One Click convert”

Select multiple files if you like and click Open

Once you have clicked on Open, all files are automatically added to “Conversion Queue” and conversion of First file begins.

Once a file is done converting, iTunes opens up automatically and the converted file “.mp4″ is added to Movies section in you Library.
Next time you Sync, the file will be transferred to you iPod or iPhone

Please leave a comment, if you run into some trouble !!

I will show you how to set up accounts on your iPhone for two famous email services, Gmail and Microsoft Exchange.

IMAP Gmail on iPhone

To set up your Gmail account on iPhone, just go through the following steps:

1. Enable IMAP support in settings for Gmail.
   • Sign in to Gmail
   • Click settings at the top of the page.
   • Click Forwarding and POP/IMAP.
   • Select enable IMAP
   • Save Changes

   and you are done.

2. On your iPhone home screen, tap Settings

.

3. Tap Mail, Contacts , Calenders

.

4. Tap Add Account



5. Tap Other



Note: If you are using software update 1.1.3 or later, tapping the Gmail icon will automatically configure IMAP. However archiving and deleting will work differently.Tapping Thrash button on any message will move the message to the Gmail thrash folder, where it will be permanently removed in 30 days.

Warning: If a message has any other labels, the message will also be deleted from its corresponding IMAP folders on your iPhone.If you’re running version 1.1.2 or earlier, tapping the Gmail icon will configure POP.

6. Enter the following settings:
   • Make sure IMAP tab is highlighted.
   • Incoming mail server

     Host Name is imap.gmail.com
     User Name is your full Gmail address, including @gmail.com.

   • Outgoing mail server:

     Host Name is smtp.gmail.com
     User Name is your full Gmail address, including @gmail.com.

     

7. Tap Save

and You are done. That was pretty straight forward, or was it not!! You can check your Advanced settings by tapping Settings > [your IMAP Gmail Account] > Advanced. You can also change your IMAP folder preferences here. Go back to Mail to check out your new Gmail Account. You can add any number of Gmail Accounts following the same procedure.

Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync on iPhone

As mentioned above, ActiveSync also pushes data from Microsoft Exchange server to your iPhone. So, you don’t have to poll the server every 5 minutes (say) to check for new messages. As soon as something changes on the server, it will automatically send out an update on your lovely iPhone. Moreover, ActiveSync can also synchronize your contacts as well as calender events.

How can you set up your iPhone for Exchange? Read on to find out!!

Here’s the quick how-to for getting Exchange up and running on your iPhone. Note that this works on any iPhone with the version 2.0 software - the iPhone 3G comes with this out of the box, but original phones will need to be upgraded.

Note: You can have only one Exchange account on your iPhone. So disable any current Exchange IMAP account before you continue.

1. Upgrade your phone to iPhone OS 2.0 if necessary.
2. Follow Steps 2, 3 and 4 above to reach the Add Account Menu.
3. Tap Microsoft Exchange



4. You will get the Exchange form as shown below.
   • Enter your email address (e.g. nkg@mail2web.com) in the Email box.
   • Enter your Exchange username in the Username box.
   • Enter your password in the Password box.
   • Ask your Exchange server administrator if you are unsure of the domain. If you are unable to view your folder list, or unable to send or receive email, leave the domain field blank.



5. Tap Next.
6. The iPhone will now try to automatically discover your Exchange server using Microsoft’s Autodiscovery service. If it fails, it will warn you that it couldn’t validate your account and the following screen is shown. Then, you will have to manually enter your server name in the window. Contact your administrator if you are not sure of the server name.



After successfully making a connection to the Exchange server, you may be prompted to change your device passcode to match whatever policies may have been set on your server.

7. Tap Next.
8. Here you can select what all you want to sync.



Remember you can not sync Contacts and Calendars from both Exchange and iTunes! You must choose one or the other! And the iPhone will overwrite your old entries when you enable this! But the good news is that you can still sync your iPhone wirelessly with MobileMe services.

Note: By default email for last 3 days is synchronized. To synchronize more, go into Settings, then Mail, Contacts, Calendars, select your Exchange account, and tap on Mail days to sync.

9. Tap Save.

Now go back to your Mail. You should see your new exchange account appear, and it will show up your email messages in a few moments. Bingo!! You are done.

Press & Hold For Alternate Characters

Keep holding any letter, and you get a popup of various versions of the character (i.e. to type España with the “ñ” simply hold “n” and simply slide/release to the appropriate character).

Automatically capitalize and add apostrophes

The iPhone automatically capitalizes certain words (”I” when you type “i”). It also automatically adds apostrophes (”I’m” when you type “Im”).

Double tap space bar for a period

While typing, we often need to type a “.” . In such a case you need to press “123″ to get to the numbers and symbols page where the period is. You can just , double tap the space bar at the end of a sentence, which will automatically enter a period followed by a space.

Tap the bottom corner to navigate home screens

You can switch pages, just by tapping the bottom right/left corner, when on your home screen, instead of swiping your finger across the screen.

Move “dock” icons

Well this one stares in your face, and still you dont know it. The 4 icons located on the grey bar at the bottom of your iPhone - Phone, Mail, iPod, Safari - are movable, just like the rest of the icons. Just press and hold the icons, then drag them while they are shaking. Press the home button when you’re done. You can put any 4 icons on your dock.

In the screenshots, note the difference between pic 1 and 2.

Take out your SIM card during backup and sync

While backing up and syncing your iPhone, it is generally better to take your SIM card out. Why?  Lets say you are the end of the time consuming backup, and suddenly you get a call. This renders the whole backup useless !

So if you need to backup, take your SIM out , put it in a old cellphone ( so that you are not disconnected ), Backup your phone , put the SIM back in. And dont worry, this does not damage your phone at all.

Double tap a column on Safari to fit-to-page

When browsing the Internet in Safari browser, double tap anywhere on the screen and Voila! the text fits according to your iPhones screen. This is extremely useful for reading blogs, newspapers etc.

Manually select the icon image for a bookmarked webpage

One of iPhone’s features, is a bookmark straight on your home screen. How? When you are browsing a website on your iPhone’s Safari browser and want to add its icon to your home screen, press the plus sign and select “Add to Home Screen”.

The image in the icon, however, is a screenshot of the page you were on. But if you want the icon to look a specific way, zoom in on a particular item on the page. Whether you want the website’s logo, or some picture on the page, simply zoom in on that part of the page before you press “Add to Home Screen”.

Note: This doesn’t work with all websites. Popular sites like Google have special icons for the iPhones home screen.

Go to your website of choice                 Zoom in on your favorite part.

Press the + sign and choose                     Name the bookmark appropriately
Add to Home Screen.                                       (Digg - Apple)

Now that exact part of the webpage is displayed in your icon.

Scroll to Top of Page

Scrolling down a long webpage and need to get to the top ? You dont need to scroll back up, just tap the “top bar” the one with Time , and you get to the top of webpage and it also brings up the URL bar.

A Bigger Keyboard

Well one of the issues people have, is with the small size of keyboard. But very few know, that there’s a Landscape Keyboard in iPhone too. The catch , however is, it only opens up in Safari. Whenever you are using a keyboard in Safari, just rotate the iPhone to the Horizontal and the webpage adapts to the landscape mode and a bigger keyboard appears.

Drop Down Menu in Safari

When it comes to Apple, nothing is left ugly. For example, even the drop down menu that appears in some web pages, is an absolute delight to see. You have to flick through a wheel type object, and tap the one to select.

Domain Resolution

You dont need to type “www” or the “.com” , just enter the name and press Go. For instance, for www.cnn.com just type “cnn” in the URL box. Note: Your search engine must be set to Google, not Yahoo.

Domain Suffix - [On firmware 2.0 only]

Apart from the .com button in Safari, you can also get  “.net, .edu, .org” buttons too. Just keep holding the “.com” button and you soon get a extension of “.net” , “.edu” , “.org” buttons.
Note: Rather than lifting and pressing, slide your finger from .com to .net/.edu/.org .

Click & Hold URL’s

In Safari, hold a link to see the URL and site name.

Make a Call Directly from Safari

In Safari, if you find any number, you would like to call, just tap the number and iPhone will dial it for you . Similarly if you find any numbers or URL’s embedded in your SMS’es you can just tap and the iPhone will dial it or open the browser respectively.

Mark email as Unread

On the outside, it appears as if there is no way to mark the read messages as unread. But infact there is one. While you view a message, just click Details -> Mark as Unread and its done.

Recover Unsent Emails

If you try to send an email, when you dont have network access, it appears as if the message is discarded. But it isnt so. Instead a temproary Outgoing folder is created, and the message is saved there. Whenever you get network access the next time, the iPhone will send the message for you and the folder once empty is deleted.

Save Any Image from Safari

If you need to save images in Safari, simply press and hold the image. A menu will appear asking “Save Image” or “Cancel”. Once the image is in your camera roll, you can set it as your wallpaper.

Delete Emails

You can do both “bulk deletes” and “individual deletes” when browsing email. Forbulk delete, simply click Edit, check off the desired emails, and then choose delete or move. For a single email, simply “cross it out” by swiping your finger across the email, then press delete.

Your iPhones headphones have a multi-function button!

The iPhones native headphones have a button on the microphone. If you squeeze the microphone together, the button gets pressed.

The buttons functions:
While Calling

(1) Press once to answer a call
(2) Press twice to send the call to voicemail
(3) Press once to hang up a call

While call-waiting
(1) Click once to hold current call and switch to new call
(2) If you hold for 2 secs and release, it ignores the new call

No Call
(1) Press once to activate iPod and play song
(2) Press once to pause song
(3) Press twice to skip to next song

Soft Reset

If your iPhone hangs up, you can do a soft reset. Just Press and hold the Home button and the Sleep button to restart your iPhone. A white light will flash, the screen will shut off and then turn back on. Keep holding until the screen turns back on.

Take a Screenshot

Hold the home button and click the sleep button. You get a screenshot of your iPhone. The screen will flash white and the screenshot will be stored in your camera roll.

Set Parental Controls

To set Parental Controls, just go to Settings, General, Restrictions.

Change the 4 dock items in Music Menu

By default, the 4 items in the music menu dock are Playlists, Artists, Songs, Videos, and More . But you can change them . Just go to More->Edit . In this menu just drag and drop the items you want in their respective positions. And you’re done.

Fast Forward/Rewind Music & Video

Press and hold the skip forward/back arrows to fast forward or rewind rather than skip tracks. Also, press on the album art to manually FF/rewind.

Double Tap Home Button

In middle of any application, just double tap the home button . You can set it as a shortcut to your phone’s favorites. Go to Settings->General->Home and check the phone favorites option.

Or It can bring up a small screen through which u can play/pause music, change tracks , fast forward or rewind as described above, open the now playing window, or close the music. Go to Settings->General->Home and check the iPod Controls option.

Delivering on Nokia’s vision to provide the best total music experience possible, the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic will be among the first devices to support Comes With Music, Nokia’s groundbreaking service which offers one year of unlimited access to the entire Nokia Music Store catalog.

Among the many features it offers some of the most prominent ones are the variety of input methods: stylus, plectrum and finger touch support for text input and UI control (alphanumeric keypad, full and mini qwerty keyboard, handwriting recognition). You can use the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic to connect to mobile broadband using WLAN or HSDPA (3.5G). Supported WCDMA frequencies depend on the region where the device is available. You can also find directions and locations with the integrated A-GPS and included maps. Also the phone introduces the ‘Media Bar’, a handy drop down menu that provides direct access to music and entertainment, web and online sharing all at once.

To check out some Video Reviews on Iphone v/s Nokia 5800

Nokia 5800 v/s iPhone 3G

The light sensor (for dimming the backlight) is great for saving power, but its use is nothing compared to the the other two sensors, which steal the show. It automatically adjusts the display’s brightness to the appropriate level for the current ambient light, thereby enhancing the user experience and saving power at the same time.

The proximity sensor, which prevents you from accidentally interacting with the screen while the iPhone is pressed against your ear, switches off the display at about 0.75-inches away; the screen switches back on after you pull away about an inch. It detects when you lift iPhone to your ear and immediately turns off the display to save power and prevent inadvertent touches until iPhone is moved away.

The orientation sensor also worked well enough. Although you can’t turn the phone on its head, when browsing in Safari you can do a 180, jumping quickly from landscape left to landscape right. The iPhone does get confused sometimes due to odd angles, but on the whole performs very well. Its also well known as the accelerometer and finds use in many applications.

In the new iPhone 3G , this proximity sensor has been upgraded for better performance. The third sensor that had been rumored a lot , in fact is a second proximity sensor to compliment the one that was in the first generation iPhone. Apparently the previous sensor did not turn off the display as often as it should have (when a face was placed against it) and this new pair of sensors is expected to perform better. The iPhone 3G includes an array of three sensors (two proximity sensors, one ambient light sensor) in a J shape to the left of the ear speaker, moved from their original locations above and to the speaker’s right.

Also there has been lot of problems regarding the same. People face dial someone , or hang up, mute or disconnect a call . Or there have been problems of LCD not switching on after the call. To address such problems a new sensor was added, but still there have been a lot of issues. The major reason for such kind of problems is the cover used. The case or cover inadvertently covers up the proximity sensors in many cases , which lead to above mentioned problems. To solve such a problem, it is best to buy products custom made for iPhone 3G.
Some of the covers which do well with the iPhone proximity sensors are the iSkin Revo, the Switch Easy Color Case or Inspiretech Apple iPhone 3G Polycarbonate case.

The iSkin revo case for iPhone 2G, available here , is about the best you can do for an iPhone case. It offers excellent protection of your iPhone while still providing access to the buttons and ports. The included privacy screen film with anti-glare is a nice addition, and the embedded anti-microbial protection offers a little piece of mind against germs.

The SwitchEasy Colors Case available in a variety of colors works well too. For $15, this case offers clean design, superb protection, and a strong array of color options. It works well with iPhone 3G and has no issues with the proximity sensors and  thus is highly recommended. You can get it here on Amazon.

Also there is the Inspiretech Apple iPhone 3G Polycarbonate case. You can get it here on Amazon. It features high quality polycarbonate case , custom made for iPhone 3G , provides all protection and does not interfere with any sensors too.

To prevent any problems with your iPhone 2G and 3G, make sure your case or cover does not cover up the sensors, which leads to lot of problems.

Official iTunes way

iTunes version 7.7 or later supports a feature which allows to sync Google contacts with your iPhone. All you got to do is just provide your Google login credentials to iTunes and iTunes will do the rest for you. Let me go with the traditional step-by-step How to Instructions to sync your google contacts with the iPhone.

Sync Steps

1. Connect your iPhone to the PC and iTunes should automatically fire up
2. Choose your iPhone from the iTunes device list
3. Browse to the contacts section of the Info tab in iTunes
4. Choose Google Contacts in the configuration option. This step slightly varies in iTunes(WIndows) and iTunes (Mac)
5. Configure your Gmail/Google Username and Password and click OK/Apply
6. Click Sync and you are done. Your Google contacts will sync with your iPhone next time.

Windows

Mac

Pitfalls

• Google contacts uses the e-mail address as an unique identifier and multiple contacts with the same e-mail will create problems during sync.
• Gmail automatically adds all the contacts with whom you have corresponded to the Google contact list. So you have to consider cleaning up your Google contacts before doing a sync.
• You cannot configure which set of google contacts you need to sync with your iPhone. iTunes blindly syncs all your contacts from the google account. Even the ‘most contacted‘ group is synced.

Mac OS Address Book Way

You can also sync your google contacts with your iPhone via Mac Address book application. All iPhones sync with the Mac Address book by default. So if the Mac Address book application is able to sync with the google contacts, it can automatically move the google contacts to your iPhone.

Mac OS X 10.5.3 and above supports this feature.

Config Steps

1. Go to Address book menu
2. Choose Preferences
3. check Synchronize with Google
4. Input your Google account and password and you are done.

Other Ways to Sync

There are also other ways to sync your google contacts with your iPhone over-the-air.

• Plaxo is an over-the-air sync solution that helps you have your contacts in sync across Outlook, Google, Yahoo, Thunderbird, AIM, and Mac’s Address Book
• Funambol is an over-the-air sync service that allows you to have your contacts in sync across various platforms.

For techies

People may be interested to know that the sync software communicates with Gmail’s contact info using the Google Data APIs. You can read more about how this works in Google Data APIs and Objective-C.

Outlook

You can sync your iPhone contacts with Microsoft Outlook Express,Microsoft Outlook 2003 and 2007. You should have a full version of the software for the sync to work. The sync may not work with trial versions of outlook.

iTunes

The usual iTunes software acts as an interface between Outlook and the iPhone and so iTunes software is mandatory to sync contacts between iPhone and Outlook. Better update your iTunes software to version 7.7.1 or later which is supposed to have fixes for all the issues relating to outlook synchronization.

Steps to Sync

1. Connect your iPhone to your PC and iTunes should automatically fire up.
2. Browse to the iTunes Info Tab
3. Configure iTunes contacts sync with Outlook appropriately and click Apply
4. Click Sync button

Only a certain contacts group in outlook can be synchronized with a particular group of contacts in the iPhone. By default all the contacts are synced with the iPhone.

Exception

The iPhone 3G can’t sync over the air with an Exchange server and also sync to a desktop outlook setup.

Reset Sync History

Supposed you buy a new phone and would like to reset your sync history in iTunes so that next time you sync your new iPhone via iTunes it will replace the contacts in the iPhone with one in the computer.

This can be configured in the Advanced section of the Info tab in iTunes software.

The most standard headset available for iPhone is Apple’s own iPhone Bluetooth Headset. It is a nominal accessory and does not come with a lot of features. It works well to about 10 meters specifically with iPhone 3G. It lets you handle all iPhone calls through wireless. It is compact and lightweight Bluetooth Headset. You also get an iPhone Bluetooth Travel Cable for convenient syncing and charging. It costs $99 in all. You can get it at the Apple Store. The lithium-ion battery delivers up to 5.5 hours of talk time and up to 72 hours of standby time.

Jabra’s Bluetooth products are generally quite good and reliable. One of Jabra’s best iPhone Bluetooth Headset is the Jabra Bluetooth Headset for iPhone 3G. This Jabra Bluetooth headset lets you get on with your talking and keep both hands free. This headset is so light and comfortable that you’ll hardly notice you’re wearing it. And its design is so functional, you’ll rarely ever have to touch your mobile phone. The best part is that it never needs charging. It will let you talk for up to 8 hours and will stay on standby for six months on just one AAAA battery. If you have never used a headset before, you will also find its also one of the easiest to operate! Best of all, Jabra provides superb quality, comfort, and functionality, all in a single attractive design.

The best of the lot, however is by Gomadic. It was rated the Best Choice by Gomadic. Apart from all the standard features it also uses Digital Noise Reduction , Digital Signal Processing technologies to give you the best possible sound quality. Also a one touch redial and flexible ear hook for both the ears make it very user-compatible. It sports a 10 hour talk time and can be charges using the tip exchange port with any standard charger.

I have mentioned the products available above, but generally getting a new accessory to work is most important and sometimes the toughest part to understand. So let me go Step by Step on pair and unpair routine.

• To use a device you first need to pair it to your iPhone. Pairing also helps disambiguate, as iPhone can be connected with only one Bluetooth device at a time. The paired device is one through which you can get the calls routed by default. This can be done by first making your device discoverable according to the instructions you have received with the device.
• Then from your iPhone Home screen go to Settings > General > Bluetooth and turn Bluetooth on. iPhone searches for nearby Bluetooth devices. Choose your device and enter a passkey or PIN number, if needed.  The instructions that came with the headset or car kit should tell you how to get the passkey.
• To route calls through your device, you must make a connection between the iPhone and your device to have iPhone use it for your calls.

• When iPhone is connected to a Bluetooth device, all outgoing calls are routed through the device by default. Incoming calls are routed through the device if you answer using the device, and through iPhone if you answer using iPhone. In cases where your car kits offer the feature, your contacts list maybe transferred to the car kit and you can start a call by looking up a contact on the car kit’s display.

• Another option to route calls through iPhone, is to first answer the call and then tap on AUDIO on iPhone. Choose iPhone to hear calls through iPhone, choose Speaker Phone to hear calls through the speaker phone, or choose a connected Bluetooth device.

• To stop using the device, there are a few ways to stop using a headset or car kit and go back to hearing calls through iPhone. You can either turn Bluetooth off, or move the device out of range, or go you can unpair the device by going to Settings > General > Bluetooth, from the home screen and select the device and tap Unpair.
  

Obviously the Bluetooth takes up battery, and so if you don’t have a charge point nearby you can look at Battery Extenders or Rechargeable Batteries for iPhone.

Other important Bluetooth products include the Car Kits and Stereo Adaptors. Bluetooth Car Kits by Parrot are the best of the lot. One such Kit suited for the iPhone 3G is Parrot 3200 LS.

This car kit helps place and receive calls in comfort and safety, without ever touching your mobile phone. Plus you get the benefits of a large, 160 x 128 color screen that supports 262,000 colors. It is a necessity these days when there are laws against using cellphone in cars.  The Parrot 3200 LS wirelessly connects with all Bluetooth phones on the market and offers effortless synchronization with information on your phone. The display of the 3200 LS provides the same visual information and functions as your mobile phone, such as caller ID, carrier signal strength, or last calls received, on a unit that can be clipped in the ideal position for the driver to see. And thanks to the big color screen, you can even view pictures of incoming callers. A large control knob easily adjusts the volume while also offering fast navigation of the unit’s menus and options.

The screen unit has easy-to-navigate menu options just like your phone, and your mobile phone book is wirelessly downloaded to the car kit. Calls can be dialed either through the screen, or by using voice-recognition speed dialing (up to 150 names can be programmed into the voice recognition system). According to your phone’s model and firmware, most features are accessible from the hands free console, including one-touch redial, dual call, and auto-answer.It is designed to automatically mute the radio during use. Incorporating high-quality sound, the unit’s speaker phone includes both echo cancellation and noise reduction technology. The device also features polyphonic ringtones, multi-user use for up to five phones, private conversation mode, and much more. Since this car-kit is installed by hard-wiring to the existing car stereo, professional installation is highly recommended.

Another Car Kits include Parrot’s GPS enabled Kit or a comparatively cheaper Parrot CK3100.

The iPhone Bluetooth Adaptors/ Transmitter, is very helpful if you want to listen your iPhone music somewhere else possibly without a headset or cables. There are various cheap and expensive products available in this category.

The Satechi Bluetooth Audio Transmitter gives you High quality sound reproduction with SRS WOW HD (world’s first), Easy pairing mode with Auto Connection algorithm, and supports Bluetooth Ver 2.0. Supported audio profiles include  A2DP, AVRCP.

If you are looking for similar products, you can check out here.

Also iPhone is not capable of any other Bluetooth information exchange. In short, it means that you cannot sync your iPhone via Bluetooth or Wireless, a feature common in almost all Bluetooth enables phones. So we hope, the next iPhone software update or possibly the next iPhone would address this issue.

In iPhone 3G, if GPS is available, the iPhone displays a blue GPS indicator. But if you’re inside — without a clear line of sight to a GPS satellite — iPhone finds you via Wi-Fi. If you’re not in range of a Wi-Fi hot spot, iPhone finds you using cellular towers. And the size of a location circle tells you how accurately iPhone is able to calculate that location: The smaller the circle, the more accurate the location.

The GPS feature is also integrated with Google Maps, that means you may never be lost. You may find your location, get directions, and see traffic — all from your phone. Maps on iPhone 3G combined GPS, with the Multi-Touch interface , makes user experience wonderful. You can also search for locations, or places. Like if you need the nearest Pizzeria, just search Google Maps for Pizza and tap! you get the nearest one.

The GPS-powered location inputs can be used by applications to innovate and utilize through them. For example, Take a photo with the camera, and iPhone can geo tag it with GPS location information. That way, when you share photos online, friends and family can see where every snapshot was taken. And you can shop the App Store for GPS-enabled applications such as mobile friend finders or interactive city guides.

Disadvantages

• The Google Maps, are downloaded as and when you browse a location, and are not generally stored. Hence, data charges, might shoot out.
• Though the Iphone, actively switches on and off the GPS chip, as used, still when active for a long time, it might be a big drain on the Battery. You might look out for Battery Extenders or Rechargeable battery.

The iPhone location feeds have been used in a lot of application and over 300 apps use the location look ups. Over 50 apps out of these, can be found in Navigation Category, so the GPS feature is being actively used. Still there is no TomTom for iPhone currently. TomTom says they have a working app but Maps by other 3rd party application developers are still not allowed it seems. Obviously, a TomTom app with GPS would be the icing on the cake for Apple.

So, some of the apps that have become really popular are GPS tracker, Traffic Info, Speedometer etc. Some other interesting apps include CamsAhoy and G-phone.

InstaMapper GPS Tracker: InstaMapper is a free real-time GPS tracking service. The object you track is a moving dot on the Google Map and positions are updated as often as every 5 seconds. It can store up to 100,000 positions per device — enough for several months of 24/7 tracking.  You can map your positions and upload them to your Facebook too.

TrafficInfo: It gives normal traffic info using the ZIP code or you can find local traffic reports using Yahoo Traffic Services.  From any incident on the Traffic Info app you can click and it will directly take you to  the location in Google Map.

Speedometer: It is an entertainment app basically and uses GPS data to give you your Current Speed. You can also get average speeds for specific times etc.

G-phone: G-Map can show you the way wherever you go, even with no Wi-Fi connection or in dead zones up in the mountains, out on the ocean, or even in an airplane. G-Map is a stand-alone electronic map. So once it’s downloaded, you can freely search your location and get directions without an internet connection, anytime, anywhere, even when you’re on the move and can also provide detailed information of the searched location such as address and phone number.

The website says it will be available by mid December and pricing has not yet been disclosed. But this is one app you can use for all your traveling needs. On the negative is the, the massive Map database would take 700MB+ of space , so you can be out of space pretty soon.

Cams Ahoy: It utilizes the GPS capability of iPhone and can provide alerts when a photo enforcement device such as speed cameras or red lights cameras are approaching. This one is specifically amazing for Europe, which is swarmed with speed cameras and thus there are many databases documenting where they are down to the centimeter. Cams Ahoy comes pre-programmed with over 22,000 camera locations

Thus, with GPS apps tracking and mapping is made much more easier, and adds a new edge to iPhone experience!