The Independent Guide to the iPhone 3GS

The iPhone is the most remarkable mobile on sale today. It’s more a portable computer than a cellphone, with its own operating system, built-in applications and a whole world of developers writing exciting, useful, fun and innovative tools for you to install. It also looks great. Its sleek lines have been refined over three revisions, so that what started out as a tablet-like aluminium and glass block is now a gently curved device that feels as good in your hand as it looks. The only thing that’s missing is a comprehensive instruction manual, and that’s where The Independent Guide to the iPhone 3GS comes in. Split into two sections, we cover both the iPhone itself (and its operating system and built-in applications) and the third-party apps you can download from…

It is time to say hello to the iPhone, the most remarkable communications device ever produced. This sleek metal-and-glass creation is a landmark event in a journey that began with Alexander Graham Bell’s invention of the telephone in 1876. Who could ever have believed back then, when there were only two heavy handsets in existence, that one day we would be walking around with so much power in our pockets? For the iPhone is not simply a telephone. It is the best of everything rolled up in one tiny shell: the perfect portable address book, a peerless hand-held browser, and the handiest mobile music player all rolled into one. In fact, despite the various attempts of Nokia, Sony, Creative and Samsung, it seems to be the only gadget produced so…

The iPhone is not a regular mobile phone. An iPod-cellphone hybrid, it is a fully-featured hand-held computer, and one that in its second edition, 3G-compatible form and later, is heavily subsidised by the network operators to tempt you into signing up for a monthly contract. That is why the pay-as-you-go version is so much more expensive. Times have changed However, many buyers of the first iPhone took one home without ever intending to sign up with the O2 network contract, realising that if they could find a way to crack the iPhone’s software protection – which supposedly stopped it working if you didn’t sign up – they would have bought themselves something that looked like an iPod touch and cost about the same, but was massively more powerful. Better still,…

The initial purchase price of the iPhone is by far the smallest part of thecost. More pricey, in the long term, is the contract. First you need to decide which phone you want to buy: the iPhone 3G or the more recent 3GS. The 3G was left in the line-up to give a sub-£100 entry point for all contracts. If you don’t want to buy on a pay as you go basis, you have the option of either 24- or 18-month contracts, defined by the number of bundled call minutes. These range from 600 to unlimited, with two packages offering 500 texts (and a third offering unlimited). 600 minutes cost £34.26 a month; 1200 cost £44.05 a month, and unlimited minutes cost £73.41. If you only want to sign up…

Where have all my buttons gone? The most immediate difference between the iPhone and a regular mobile is the lack of a keypad. This is both a blessing and a curse, the latter being that there is no tactile feedback for sight-impaired users. This also means you can easily slip and press more than one virtual button at once and that when you are holding the phone at arm’s length to take your own picture, you have no idea where the shutter button is, because it is drawn on the screen, which is facing away from you. However, for the vast majority of users, and those less egotistic than the serial self-portrait takers, it is an excellent implementation, and a few minutes spent getting used to the way it works…

Before we go any further, a word about security. The iPhone ha a voracious appetite for information. Contacts, addresses, bookmarks, notes, text messages… you name it, it will store it, and that’s an awful lot of information to fall into an identity thief ’s hands if you happen to lose your handset. Add an extra layer of security by applying the iPhone’s built-in locks, through Settings > General > Passcode lock (right). Tapping this will let you enter a four-digit code that will be demanded every time you or anyone else switches on the phone. With 10,000 combinations to choose from – assuming you count 0000 in your calculations – you should not pick something too obvious such as your year of birth, your anniversary or the last four digits…