iPhone Basics: Complete List of Commands for Voice Control

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

To take full advantage of Voice Control on the iPhone, it’s helpful to know all of the commands at your disposal. Below is a list of all voice commands for the iPhone.

Call Commands

Corrections

Apple describes these commands as used to “make a correction.” However, I’ve only found them to be able to cancel Voice Control after a secondary prompt, such as when it asks, “Home or Mobile?”

iPod Controls

Cancel Voice Control

Cancels (closes) Voice Control.

Other Info

To activate Voice Control, you can either hold down the iPhone home button or hold down the button on the iPhone headphones. For the best results, speak clearly with a slight pause between each command and use full names for contacts.

The default language for Voice Control is the same as in the iPhone general settings (General –> International –> Language Setting). If you would like to command Voice Control in a different language and impress your friends, you can change it in Settings –> General –> International –> Voice Control.

Voice Control works even when the iPhone is passcode locked. To change this, go to Settings and navigate to General –> Passcode Lock and turn Voice Dial off.

You can say “eight hundred” for phone numbers that contain “800.” This only works with the number 800, a common toll-free number. For all other phone numbers, you’ll have to speak each digit, as in “seven zero zero” for 700.

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How to Set the iPhone’s Sleep Timer

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

If you like to listen to the iPhone as you go to sleep, there is a sleep timer function that can automatically stop playing music or video after a set amount of time. The function is sort of hidden within the iPhone’s Clock app.

How to Set the iPhone’s Sleep Timer.

1. Open the Clock app.

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How to Rent Movies From iTunes and Watch Them on the iPhone

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

One of the lesser known features of the iPhone is the ability to rent movies in iTunes and watch them on the iPhone. Air travelers especially find this feature useful, as it means they can carry a movie wherever they go without those bulky mobile DVD players.

Renting a movie in iTunes costs $2.99 for a standard “classic” rental and $3.99 for new releases, with $0.99 weekly specials available.

How to Rent Movies in iTunes:

1. In iTunes, select iTunes Store in the left sidebar:

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How to Add Prefixes, Suffixes, Middle Names, Etc, to iPhone Contacts

You can add prefixes (Dr, Mr, Mrs, Ms), suffixes (Jr, III), middle names, and other information to any iPhone contact. To do this, there’s a special option called Add Field. The option can be hard to find though. Here are instructions on how to find it and how to add prefixes, etc, to contacts:

1. Open the Contacts or Phone app:

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Now that the iPhone 3G S is officially behind us, let me be the first–or at least one of the first–to announce the countdown to the next new iPhone. If history is any indication, it should show up right around this time next year.

Interestingly, even though the 3G S is technically Apple’s third-generation iPhone, some tech pundits were expecting the iPhone 3G S to be called the iPhone 4G. But you could also argue that the iPhone 3G S is more like the iPhone 3.5G, which doesn’t have the greatest ring.

There’s also a chance that in between the iPhone 3G S and iPhone 4G (or whatever it’s called), we might see a totally new branch of iPhone, something akin to an iPhone Mini or Lite.

I’m not sure Apple needs to answer to the smaller form factor of the Palm Pre, but there are some people out there who think the iPhone’s just a tad too big. And there are some people who want a physical keyboard, but don’t count on Apple slipping in a slide-out keyboard anytime soon.

Gizmodo and other blogs posted this concept art for the iPhone 4G before Apple announced the 3G S.

(Credit: Rodolphe Desmare)

All that said, I do think next year’s iPhone will feature a new design that also includes a new screen. Some mock-ups floating around have suggested the aluminum unibody design of the new MacBooks. That’s possible, but so are a host of other innovative industrial designs.

The point is, the next go-round, it’s probably not enough to just stick with upgraded internal components. Some significant cosmetic changes will be required to differentiate the generations and more easily entice upgrades by existing iPod owners. And I’m not talking matte vs. shiny finish.

Ultimately, however, it’s what’s inside that counts and consumers are always wanting faster, more powerful smartphones with more memory that somehow manage to be more energy-efficient and offer better battery life. There’s already talk of the next iPhone having a dual-core processor and better graphics chips that can deliver higher video resolutions and better still images when taking pictures (read Brooke Crothers’ story on new ARM chips here).

The question is whether Apple can continue to increase battery life at the same time. In fact, one big reason a lot of people are interested in upgrading from the 3G to the 3G S is because of the improved battery life.

Beyond the hardware, there are still features concerns to address (everybody has their wishlist) and more importantly, carrier and pricing plan issues. Someday, some other carrier, perhaps Verizon, which is preparing to build out a 4G network, will get the iPhone. And someone, maybe Apple, will declare that iPhone the iPhone 4G. Or maybe it’ll just be the 3G V. All I know is that come this time next year, we’ll most likely be seeing a new iPhone. And it will be here before you know it.

Comments? Aside from a carrier choice, what are looking for in a true 4G iPhone?

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When the iPhone OS 3.1 update rolled through town, it brought with it a handful of new features – but it also killed off one, not-so-official feature: unauthorized data tethering on AT&T.

Early this morning, the endlessly ingenious iPhone hacking community released Blacksn0w, a carrier unlock for the iPhone 3G and 3GS. Even if you have no need to plug in a different SIM card than what was originally intended, however, Blacksn0w still has its perks. Namely, it brings the aforementioned unauthorized data tethering right on back.

We’ve just walked through the process, and it went off without a hitch. If you’re interested in doing the same but don’t want to do it alone, we’ve thrown together a handy step-by-step guide, just for you.

Disclaimer: We are not your mom. We are also not the ones who made any of this stuff, nor do we recommend doing it. There have been reports of this process bricking (read: breaking) phones, though it seems to work just fine for everyone we’ve talked to. If your iPhone breaks, melts, or runs away, or if AT&T somehow figures out you’re tethering and charges you a million dollars per megabyte, it’s not our fault.

We’re seeing some reports on Twitter that some users are having issues with WiFi, GPS, or YouTube after unlocking with Blacksn0w. If you have any such issues, go to Settings > General > Reset> and hit “Reset Network Settings”. Once that’s complete, do a hard power cycle by holding the sleep/home button for a few seconds and then sliding the on-screen power toggle.

With that out of the way, lets begin. The entire process is drop dead simple, and should take roughly 10 minutes. This should work on both Windows and OS X. The steps below assume that you have not yet jailbroken your iPhone, and will walk you through that process.

1. Download BlackRa1n for either Mac or PC here.
2. Plug in your iPhone
3. Run BlackRa1n



4. Hit the “Make it rain” button to jailbreak your iPhone. Your iPhone 3GS will almost immediately reset, and will soon display a picture of iPhone hacker Geohot. The entire process should take about 45-60 seconds. Do not interrupt this process by unplugging the cable or tinkering with your iPhone.
5. Once your iPhone has fully booted: Congratulations! Your iPhone is now jailbroken.



6. Look for the Blackra1n icon on your iPhone’s homescreen. Open the Blackra1n app
7. Tap the label that reads “sn0w”, then hit the Install button in the upper right. This will unlock your phone for use on any SIM-compatible carrier, and reenable the IPCC hack required to enable tethering.. This part should take about 30 seconds.
8. Once the unlock is complete, open Safari. Navigate to:
   http://m.peacefulinsanity.com/Tether.mobileconfig
9. Hit the “Install” button in the upper right. Confirm the resulting prompt, alerting you that the file has not been signed. Allow the IPCC file to install, which will take about 10 seconds.
10. Close Safari. Hold the sleep and home button until your iPhone resets. This reboot may take a bit longer than normal.



11. When your iPhone resets, go into Settings > General > Network > Internet Tethering. If you can successfully switch the “Internet Tethering” slider to “On”: Congratulations! Everything seems to have worked as expected.

From here, tethering is a matter of following the on-screen instructions. Enjoy your jailbroken, tetherable iPhone 3G/3GS on OS 3.1/3.1.2! If you’ve gotten this far, we’d recommend installing Cydia (just open up blackra1n and tap the Cydia label). You should also consider allowing Cydia to record the signature hashes of your device once installed; be it that Apple patches this exploit in the next release, you’ll most likely need those to get back to a jailbroken state.

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