iPhone Atlas

(Credit: Apple Inc.)

Some iPhone Atlas readers, and posts on Apple's Discussion boards, have reported additional problems--some large, some small--after upgrading to iPhone OS 3.0 or the iPhone 3GS. The following procedures will solve a number of the reported problems.

• Reset your iPhone by holding down the Sleep and Home buttons until the Apple logo appears.
• Restore your iPhone: In iTunes, click the Restore button under the Summary tab. Restoring the phone will erase contacts, calendars, photos, and other data on the phone, but will restore automatically backed-up information including text messages, notes, call history, contact favorites, sound settings, widget settings, etc.

Yet, even after performing these steps additional issues have persisted. For more detail, read on.

Sound issues
Though listed on discussion boards here and here, I've also heard sound distortion when making a call, listening to the other phone ringing, and receiving an incoming SMS text message at the same time. The second sound, Glass (my SMS tone), has a buzzing noise as it plays.

An theAppleBlog report has mentioned an audible whine on recorded iPhone 3GS videos. There does not appear to be a fix for this at this time, so I'm hoping that Apple addresses it via a software update.

Here's the video from theappleblog.com Web site and a direct link to the isolated sound here.

A suggested short-term workaround is easy enough to implement; some people might even learn to live with the problem. Prior to recording a video, either plug in your headphones or manually place the iPhone into "silent" mode by moving the ring selector to vibrate. The entire post is worth reading as it includes more examples and the steps to recreate the problem on the iPhone 3GS.

Wrong or "changing" icons
Apple's discussion boards here, here, and here are reporting a problem that I've encountered as well. In my case the problem occurs when I remove apps from the iPhone using the delete feature in Springboard and then install new apps.

The newly installed apps can inherit the icons from the apps that were deleted from the same location. This is a known bug documented under Apple Bugfix 6906853. The only fix that I've been able to find is to reinstall the apps affected by the bug and hope it does not happen again. Hopefully, Apple will get this really annoying bug fixed soon.

Last week we covered a number of other issues with iPhone OS 3.0 and the iPhone 3GS. Check it out for additional troubleshooting advice.

Tell us about your iPhone OS 3.0 or iPhone 3GS upgrade problems in the comments.

A number of complaints regarding the iPhone 3GS' battery have surfaced on Apple's discussion board since the handset's June 19 launch. Given Apple's promises of a faster and longer lasting iPhone, it's understandable that 3GS users, particularly those who have made the jump from the previous models, have higher expectations.

Preliminary battery testing on our iPhone 3GS review model showed positive results, but we won't know the whole story until CNET Labs finishes its tests. Until that time, I can offer tips on making your iPhone battery last. They can be used individually or in combination to best suit your own needs. Some of these ideas are even recommended by Apple and some of them we've mentioned on iPhone Atlas before.

Reset iPhone
In addition to resolving signal strength problems, resetting an iPhone can fix a faulty battery indicator and end applications that are improperly consuming the battery. Hold down the home and sleep buttons simultaneously until you see the white Apple logo indicating that your iPhone has restarted.

Restore with original settings
You can restore your iPhone by launching iTunes and selecting the Restore option on your iPhone's Summary page. This process will erase your iPhone's software and data, including all settings. You can restore them later via iTunes.

Drain the battery completely
Instead of charging it midway through a battery drain, add more juice only after the battery dies completely. A full drain may reset circuitry that prevents a full charge from occurring, despite indication of a full charge.

Force quit applications
If an application quits unexpectedly and you begin to notice poor battery life, relaunch the application, then force quit it by following the directions in this post. This can eliminate problematic or hung processes that might be draining the battery.

Lock your iPhone
Make sure that your iPhone goes to sleep automatically when not in use. You always can press the Sleep/Wake button, but even better is the Auto-Lock feature in the General section of the Settings menu.

Auto lock screen

(Credit: David Martin)

Applications
Apps that keep the display from dimming or shutting off and that prevent your iPhone from sleeping can reduce battery life. This is particularly true for apps that use location services and push notifications. You can turn off Location Services in Settings > General menu. You'll have to deactivate Push Notifications for each app individually, also in the Setting menu.

App Push Notification settings

(Credit: David Martin)

Location Services toggle

(Credit: David Martin)

Push and Fetch

(Credit: David Martin)

Toggle e-mail account on/off

(Credit: David Martin)

Delete e-mail account

(Credit: David Martin)

Airplane mode
Even it you're not flying, use the airplane mode while listening to music, watching a video, working in your favorite productivity app, or whenever you don't want to be disturbed. Also, since constantly seeking a cellular connection also drains the iPhone's battery, the airplane mode is useful if you're in an area with poor cellular coverage.

Airplane mode

(Credit: David Martin)

Reset network settings
Restarting your phone will delete any stored Wi-Fi passwords, DNS settings, and more. And in some cases it also can resolve signal strength issues. Find it in Settings > General > Reset > Reset Network Settings.

Reset network settings

(Credit: David Martin)

Turn off Wi-Fi and/or Bluetooth
Be sure to turn off these features when not in use. Go to Settings > Wi-Fi and set Wi-Fi to Off. Go to Settings > General > Bluetooth and set Bluetooth to Off.

Toggle Wi-Fi

(Credit: David Martin)

Toggle Bluetooth

(Credit: David Martin)

Turn off 3G
The iPhone's 3G radio consumes a lot of juice so turning if off will save power. Go to Settings > General > Network and toggle Enable 3G to Off. You'll be able to make and receive calls and access some data while 3G is off, though your iPhone will run on the slower EDGE or GPRS 2G network.

Enable/Disable 3G

(Credit: David Martin)

Adjust brightness
Dimming the screen definitely can extend battery life. Go to Settings > Brightness and drag the slider left to lower brightness or right to increase brightness until you reach your desired settings. Turning off the Auto-Brightness settings also will help.

Brightness settings

(Credit: David Martin)

Turn off the equalizer
Just like on the iPod, this feature can reduce battery life. Go to Settings > iPod > EQ and select Off. Yet, since EQ settings in iTunes migrate to the iPhone, you'll have to override those settings and set the iPhone to Flat. Go to Settings > iPod > EQ and select Flat.

iPod EQ settings (Credit: David Martin)

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iPod EQ options (Credit: David Martin)

More help
If you're worried about your iPhone 3GS being defective, according to HardMac there is Apple's Procedure for Users Experiencing Short Battery Life with the iPhone 3G S. Also, if you're still experiencing severe battery problems after trying some of these tips, it might be time to take a trip to your local Apple Genius Bar.

Personal experience
So far, my personal experience has been that my iPhone 3GS lasts a bit longer than the iPhone 3G, particularly after I tuned the iPhone 3GS' features to meet my personal needs. Yet, it still doesn't last more than a day with heavy use, unlike other smartphones.

One typically intense day started at 100 percent battery capacity at 5:00 a.m. The battery then dipped to 80 percent at 9:30 a.m., 64 percent at 12:30 p.m., 39 percent at 3:30 p.m., and 25 percent at 6:30 p.m before showing the 20 percent battery warning at 8:30 p.m. With my iPhone 3G, I used to get that warning prior to 6:30 p.m. And after tweaking my iPhone 3GS using the tips below, the battery showed 49 percent capacity after 15 hours of heavy use. That's not bad for smartphone battery performance.

Are you experiencing problems with your iPhone battery? Got some tips to share that might help conserve battery life? What kind of activities do you do on your iPhone that deplete the battery faster? Let us know in the comments.

(Credit: Apple, Inc.)

• Reset your iPhone by holding down the sleep and home buttons until the Apple logo appears.
• Restore your iPhone: In iTunes, click the Restore button under the Summary tab. Restoring the phone will erase contacts, calendars, photos, and other data on the phone, but will restore automatically backed-up information including text messages, notes, call history, contact favorites, sound settings, widget settings, etc.

However, some issues chronicled below persist:

Visual Voicemail wasn't accessible by many users from their iPhone 3G S after restoring from a previous model's backup. Users are required to reenter their voicemail pins when prompted by the iPhone 3G S. If you've forgotten your pin, you can reset it by taking the following steps:

• Log onto AT&T myWireless
• Click on Phone/Device
• Click on Reset Voicemail Password
• Press the Submit button

A text message is sent to your phone with a new Visual Voicemail password.

Passwords previously saved for numerous applications were reported lost in the transfer to the iPhone 3G S. Users had to reenter passwords for a number of apps, including (but not necessarily limited to) AIM, LogMeIn, Loopt, MySpace, Palringo, Sirius XM, Tweetie, and Wallet. (Wallet's database had to be recovered from MobileMe). The password recovery problem is likely attributable to the hardware change from a previous iPhone to the iPhone 3G S.)

Compass has to be reset periodically when it struggles with interference, which happens often enough that iPhone 3G S users are complaining about it. Apple offers some information about calibrating Compass on its Web site, as well as in a support document, iPhone 3G S: Re-calibrate Compass. These explain that the recalibration isn't always necessary; sometimes you need to just ignore the recalibration messages while Compass self adjusts.

Compass calibration message

(Credit: David Martin)

The iPhone 3G S' Oleophobic screen coating is rumored to be incompatible with screen protectors, so we called several Apple stores to investigate and were told this isn't true. The sales associate said that we could come into any Apple store and purchase a screen protector for the iPhone 3G S. Protectors for the 3G should also work on the 3G S.

Duplicate Contacts are being reported by a number of users on Apple's discussion boards. We stumbled upon a nice explanation for and solution to this problem in this article: "About duplicate contacts and calendars on iPhone [OS] 3.0," via Mac OS X Hints.

Find My iPhone remembers all your devices, including the old iPhone that you just turned off when you upgraded to a new handset last weekend. MobileMe does not appear to support a mechanism that will allow you to remove the tracking of an iPhone or iPod Touch from Find My iPhone. We contacted Apple through MobileMe support via online chat and asked about this.

According to Apple tech support, removing a device from the list involves sending the device a Remote Wipe command. MobileMe will then attempt to send this command for up to two hours and if unable to contact the selected device, it is deleted from Find My iPhone. This information is contrary to the Apple support document, "MobileMe, iPhone OS 3.0: Troubleshooting Find My iPhone and Remote Wipe" which states:

Previously-owned iPhone/iPod Touch appears at me.com/account
If your iPhone/iPod Touch was configured with your MobileMe account, it may still appear when you log in to www.me.com/account, even if you no longer possess the iPhone/iPod Touch. Currently, a device is removed from your account page list only after it is successfully wiped. This article will be updated as more information becomes available.

Note: we think the last sentence points out that Apple is aware of this bug in Locate My iPhone and will announce a fix later. Following the advice given in the online chat wasn't successful. Nearly 12 hours later, the old iPhone 3G status is still pending a remote wipe in our test. We hope Apple will release a fix for this through the MobileMe Web site.

Wi-Fi connectivity and signal strength complaints have also cropped up after the iPhone OS 3.0 update: some users complain that their phones drop them from Wi-Fi unexpectedly, others that they can't connect at all. Some users have been able to resolve their connectivity problems by going to Settings > General > Reset > Reset Network Settings, while others complained that this simple fix does not work. In the latter case, a restore might be necessary.

Settings > General > Reset

(Credit: David Martin)

Troubleshooting tips

Force Quit has changed in iPhone OS 3.0 for the iPhone 3G S but remains the same for older iPhones that do not support Voice Control. In order to force quit an application, you must:

• iPhone 2G/3G: Press and hold the Home button for a few seconds until the app quits. (Valid for iPhone OS 1.0, 2.0, and 3.0.)
• iPhone 3G S: Press and hold the Sleep/Wake button until the "Slide to power off" screen appears, then press and hold the Home button until the app quits (usually within 6 seconds).

Apple has recently updated the following support documents that might also be useful if you encounter problems with your iPhone:

• "iPhone Basic Troubleshooting"--some iPhone basic troubleshooting tips.
• "Troubleshooting applications purchased from the App Store"--Try the following troubleshooting steps on your iPhone or iPod Touch in order to resolve an application's issue.
• "Troubleshooting iPhone and iPod Touch contact and calendar syncing via USB on Windows"--If you're having difficulty syncing your contacts or calendars to iPhone or iPod Touch with iTunes for Windows via USB, this article can help. Note: this article does not apply to wireless syncing with Exchange ActiveSync or MobileMe.

Some users also might consider following the Apple iPhone Troubleshooting Assistant before calling AppleCare or visiting the local Genius Bar.

Tell us about your iPhone OS 3.0 or iPhone 3G S upgrade problems in the comments.

This tip will help you to enter the domain suffix portion of e-mail addresses faster in iPhone's Mobile Mail app. (If you've used Mobile Safari with it's handy .com key, this tip may sound familiar.)

In order to quickly select a domain suffix on the Mail app, first press and hold the period key. Mobile Mail then presents you with a pop-up list of domain suffixes to choose from, including .com, .org, .edu, and .net. You may even see some foreign domains--.de for Germany, for example--if you have international keyboards turned on.

For more tips on the Mobile Mail app, check out our older posts: "How to change your iPhone e-mail signature" and "Two quick ways to delete iPhone e-mail."

The iTunes Store rarely listed free items until the debut of the iTunes App Store. Now, you'll find thousands of free iPhone and iPod Touch apps there, none of which require a credit card to download--a nice change for anyone loathe to hand over private card information.

(Credit: Apple, Inc.)

Apple has released a new technical bulletin that gives explicit details on how to create an iTunes Store account without a credit card, entitled, surprisingly enough, Create an iTunes App Store account without a credit card.

The bulletin's instructions are straightforward, but just remember that you need to have opened and be in the App Store before creating the account.

Try the Edit button to select multiple messages for deletion.

(Credit: Rick Broida)

I was like you once. After fetching my e-mail, I'd open a message I wanted to delete, tap the trash-can icon, go back to the in-box, open another message, tap the trash-can icon, and on and on.

Then I discovered a killer shortcut: From the in-box, just swipe your finger across the message you want to trash, and then tap the shiny red Delete button that appears. Talk about a time-saver!

You can wipe multiple messages even faster by tapping the Edit button in the top-right corner of the screen, tapping each e-mail you want to mark for deletion, and then tapping the lower-left Delete button.

By the way, if the Mail application isn't showing you enough of each message to decide whether you can pitch it without opening it, there's an easy solution: Head to Settings, Mail, Contacts, Calendars, then tap the Preview button in the Mail section. Two lines is the default, but you might want to bump it up to three or four so you can see more of each message.

Got an e-mail tip of your own to share? Share your wisdom with us in the comments.

Shiny and glossy just like the iPhone itself is Fring, a relative newcomer to the VoIP-plus-IM communicator scene. Crowning itself the first true mobile VoIP solution for Apple's dream phone, Fring works with Skype, SIP, MSN Messenger (Windows Live Messenger), ICQ, Google Talk, Twitter, and Yahoo, though some of those services are clearly chat-only. CNET Executive Editor Tom Merritt shows you how to get started with Fring on your jailbroken iPhone in this Quick Tip video. If you like the program, you can still recommend Fring to friends who have to make do with merely Symbian, UIQ, and Windows Mobile phones (review).

If you have ever wondered just how much to tip your server after a restaurant meal, this iPhone app is for you. Simply enter the total cost, use a five-star rating system to rate your service, then select the number of people (if you're splitting the cost). We like this app, but question whether people will pony up $1.95 for a 3-month subscription to use it. Register with Kudit to get a 15-minute free trial.

iPhone Link:
http://www.kudit.com/applications/tipcalculator/

Web site link
http://www.kudit.com/