iPhone Life - Best Apps, Top Tips, Great Gear

The iPhone is covered by a one-year limited warranty that covers it against defect, but not misuse. So, for example, if you bounce it off the wall or throw it on the ground, you’re responsible for the damages. In addition, if you hack the device, open up the case, or make unauthorized repairs, you void the warranty. You can extend the iPhone limited warranty for an additional year for $69 ($59 for the iPod touch).

Battery replacement kits with instructions and tools are available for both the iPhone and the iPod touch. This approach is usually less expensive than sending the device in to Apple or AT&T, but if you do it yourself, you’ll void your warranty. A Google search will help you find instructions.

According to tests by Apple, an iPhone with a fully charged battery will provide up to 8 hours of talk time, 250 hours of standby time, 6 hours of Internet use, 7 hours of video playback, and 24 hours of audio playback. An iPod touch with a fully charged battery can play music for up to 22 hours and video for 5 hours. There are certain things you can do to improve the battery life:

Safari’s built-in Google search bar (tap the Address bar in Safari to bring it up) has the ability to give you specific information instead of Web page matches. For example, you could type in a movie name followed by your zip code (such as “Kung Fu Panda 80024”) to get local show times and nearest theaters. Other examples of useful information searches are as follows:

The recently-released iPhone 2.0 OS allows 
iPhone users to capture screen images and save them in the Photo application. Say, for example, that you want to capture a screen image of a new game you just downloaded from the App Store. Do the following:

You can search on and play YouTube videos on your iPhone or iPod touch, but trying to watch YouTube videos over AT&T’s EDGE network can be agonizingly slow, and may not be doable at all. If possible, limit your YouTube watching to only those times when a Wi-Fi connection is available, which will make it a much more enjoyable experience.

Some videos on the iPhone or iPod touch have horizontal or vertical black bars bordering the screen. This is because the original composition of the movie or video is too wide or narrow to fill the screen. If you want to have the video fill your entire screen, simply double-tap anywhere on the screen, and the video image will zoom in slightly and magnify the screen so that there are no black bars. Double-tap on the screen again to return the screen to its original configuration.