I have been a happy iPhone user for about 10 days now. It didn't come easy. I waited on line for several hours (unnecessarily) and then had a big hassle getting it activated. But it was all worth it. The iPhone is a terrific web device and it's great to see that already it has spawned some outstanding apps
However, the iPhone doesn't go far enough by itself. You can make it go even further with these free undocumented techniques I have implemented over the past few days. It will turn your iPhone into a mobile nerve center that allows you to keep essential information at your fingertips. These tips can be used by themselves or in conjunction with the GMail Nerve Center techniques I wrote about in February.
Read on and share your tips too in the comments.
Turn Your iPhone into a Hard Drive Using a Free IMAP Account
Requires: An IMAP account, desktop mail program like Mail.app for OS X, Thunderbird or Windows Mail
If you have an IMAP mail account and a desktop mail program, you can turn your iPhone into a hard drive that stores Word and Excel docs, Powerpoint frames (in the form of Jpegs) or MP3 files. If you don't have an IMAP account you can get a free one from AOL. I have tested this successfully using Mail.app.
First, set up your IMAP account in your desktop app and on your iPhone. Then, create a folder in your account and call it @Files. Now, all you need to do to store a file on your phone is to send yourself a new message and attach the file to it. Then simply drag that file out of in into your @Files folder and it's ready to be accessed anytime. Even better, you can always ship it elsewhere via email. I tried to accomplish this using a draft email but it failed.
It gets better. You can also use this technique to send yourself MP3 podcasts without having to sync them through iTunes. Simply send then delete the message when your done. No mess.
Why IMAP? Because you have access it to the file from everywhere - the desktop, Web and iPhone. You can even set up a filter that automatically files away an attachment you email yourself into the files Folder by setting up the following criteria: from: (your email address), to: (your email address), has: attachment.
Turn your iPhone in to a Notebook
Requires: An IMAP account, desktop mail program like Mail.app for OS X, Thunderbird or Windows Mail
The iPhone has a decent note taking app. However it doesn't sync with the desktop. Enter IMAP. If you simply create notes in your desktop program and save them as draft they will show up in your draft folder on your iPhone. Then you can drag these to a @Notes folder either on the desktop, web iPhone. Again, like with files, the advantage here is that the note follows you everywhere.
Send Takeout Info to Your iPhone
Requires: Any email account, Google Reader
I do a lot of reading as part of my job. Often it can be overwhelming. A lot of this information comes from Google Reader that I come across while scanning my feeds. I don't have time at the moment to read the longer posts but I send them to what I call my "takeout" folder using this special technique.
First, I set up a special email address in Gmail labeled iPhone that I use to send stuff to my IMAP account. At the bottom of a Google Reader post you will see a link that says Email. Click on that link and type the word iPhone or your secret address. Then in your desktop mail program, set up a filter that sends any message with the phrase "Get started using Google Reader to easily keep up with all your favorite sites" into your @Reading folder. That's the viral tag Google puts on all of these messages. If you have an IMAP account all of your articles will be get filed for reading later on. The folder on your phone will look identical to the desktop and web.
Here's another similar tip. I send myself reference information like
train schedules to my IMAP account. I take these with an @Reference
subject. These all get filtered to my @Reference folder and sync to my
iPhone.
Last but not least, I do the same using Google Docs, where I keep my GTD lists. I click on the email this file link in Google Docs and add @Lists to the prefix. Then these messages get filtered to my @Lists folder in my desktop mail program and also on the iPhone. I also write docs on the iPhone and send them into Google for later editing.
Bookmark Mobile Sites and Regular Sites
Requires: Web browser that syncs your bookmarks to the iPhone
Although the iPhone browser displays regular web sites nicely, it really is only effective when you're in a wifi zone. So, I keep a folder of mobile sites that I use when using EDGE (for example bofa.mobi - my bank) as well as another for when wifi is available (bankofamerica.com). I keep the mobile ones in a special iPhone folder.
Ok, but what if your favorite web site - like a blog let's say - doesn't have a mobile site? Easy. Bookmark the RSS feed. It will load in the iPhone's reader much faster than it will if you loaded the normal page. If you're on wifi you can indulge in the full glory of HTML.
Build and Store an Arsenal of Bookmarklets
Requires: Web browser that syncs your bookmarks to the iPhone
Here's a little know fact - most bookmarklets work beautifully on the iPhone. So add a bunch to your browser and make sure they sync to the phone. Some of these add incredible functionality to your iPhone. For example....
* Search and highlight finds every instance of a word on a page and colors it yellow. The iPhone doesn't have a find in page button so this is the next best thing
* Flickr Search opens a Flickr search box and will whisk you off to find photos
* Wikipedia Look-up pops open a Wikipedia search box right on your iPhone
* TwitThis takes a link you're looking at and feeds it into Twitter. You need to be registered for the site
Most bookmarklets will work on your iPhone. Start with these. Also check out my Mini-Me pop-up bookmarklets too. They open up new browser windows.
Those are my initial tips so far. As I come up with others I will share them.
