Top iPhone Tricks – Panorama Camera, Remote Control, and Voicemail Recovery…

If you are like most iPhone owners, you are surely on the lookout for ways to extend the functionality of your iPhone, here’s a list of the top iPhone tricks to unveil hidden features, or find new shortcuts to common tasks. This is understandable. When you have such a good phone, why not make the best use of it? Here we are discussing the top three how-to’s for your iPhone. We will see how to recover voicemail which you may have deleted accidentally, how to take panoramic photos with your iPhone by enabling a hidden feature, and how to convert that iPhone into a sort of magic wand remote control with which you can control your electronic appliances.

TIP #1: Voicemail recovery:

Have you ever deleted a voicemail or deleted one when you actually wanted to delete another? Next time that happens don’t sweat. Here is simple way to undelete that accidentally deleted voicemail.

1. Open the Phone app and tap Voicemail.

2. Go to the bottom of the list and tap on the item for Deleted Messages.

3. Now you have a list of deleted voicemail. Select the message that you want to undelete by tapping on it, and then tap ‘Undelete’. That’s it, your deleted voicemail goes right back to the inbox.

TIP #2: Make your iPhone the only remote that you will need with VooMoteOne:

There are many apps out there that allow you to use your iPhone as a remote control, but VooMoteOne meets the demands of the most demanding users. It comes as a kit with a clip-on external device and an app.

The setup wizard is quite straightforward and has a large database of devices. If you have an appliance that is not in the database, you can make it learn that device by pointing your remote at the LED receiver on the bottom of the VooMoteOne.

This app allows you great flexibility and customization like having a profile for each room with an icon for identification, or controlling multiple appliances with a single custom remote by combining their frequently used functions.

VooMoteOne gives you freedom from juggling with remotes, searching for the right remote, and having a supply of batteries to replace as they wear out.

TIP #3: How to enable the Panorama mode in the Camera:

Now here is a trick that is not officially documented, and has to be done with some care, so you may want to use your judgment whether you want to do it or not. With that caveat, here is how you do it:

1. Backup your phone in iTunes. You must download and install iBackupBot. You should not use iCloud backup here.

2. Open iBackupBot and the backup that you just created should be visible. Open it and it will show you a list of system files. Scroll down and find the file with title: Library/Preferences/com.apple.mobileslideshow.plist

3. Double click and open the file. If you get a pop-up asking you to register iBackupBot, click ‘Cancel’ to dismiss it. Scroll to the bottom of the file and locate the following entry:

<key>DiskSpaceWasLow</key>
<false/>

4. Just below that enter the following:

<key>EnableFirebreak</key>
<string>YES</string>

5. Now restore your phone from iBackupBot by clicking the restore button. You will not lose anything by doing this.

6. After your phone is restored, you should see a new ‘Panorama’ button when you tap options in your Camera app. Tapping on the Panorama button will give you access to the new functionality.

Once you start using it, you will realize why the function was hidden. It is still in development. It is very difficult to take a good quality photo even if you have a very steady hand.

With these simple but useful tricks, you can get more out of your iPhone. Those are the top three how-to questions asked by iPhone users these days, but with such an innovative device and its demanding users, you should expect that to be replaced by a new set of questions soon. The fun never stops with the iPhone.

5 Tips To Boost Your iPhone Battery…

In terms of functionality and user friendliness an Apple iPhone is one of the best phones money can buy. It is an absolute delight to use. If you are looking for ways to make this delightful experience last longer between recharges then here are 5 tips to boost your iPhone battery.

Before we go any further let us understand the difference between battery life and battery lifespan. Battery life is the number of hours the phone will run between recharges. Battery lifespan on the other hand is the number of years the battery will give reasonable battery life before you have to replace the battery. The battery life will keep going down as the battery gets older and wears out.

Your iPhone is a very efficient device. Apple puts in a great deal of effort in making the iPhone work optimally. It is very simple to use, but behind that simplicity is an amazingly complex computing device with many functions. Each of these functions consumes power and many of these functions are performed behind the scenes with no intervention from you. So it is easy to understand that battery life depends a lot on what functions are active on your iPhone. Besides this, battery life is also affected by operating conditions like temperature, strength of the signal, and the condition of the battery. Observing a few simple rules is all that is required to boost your iPhone battery, get good battery life, and extend the lifespan of your battery.

5 tips to boost your iPhone battery:

1. Keep the software of your phone updated. Apple engineers are working hard to improve your iPhone’s software and many of these improvements make the phone more energy efficient, thus increasing its battery life. Regularly updating your software means that you benefit from these improvements both in terms of functionality and battery performance.

2. Turn off unnecessary functions and optimize the functions which are active. The way your email is setup decides how many times the phone automatically checks for new mail. Remove or turn off auto checking unnecessary email accounts. Turn off push email unless you need to see every mail the moment it arrives. Check for mail manually. If you need automatic mail checking make sure that the interval between mail checks is not shorter than required.

3. Turn off location services when not required. Applications that use location services like maps consume battery power frequently. Turn off push notifications if you don’t need them.

4. Turn off unnecessary wireless connectivity. Keeping Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connectivity on all the time is not really required for most people. So switch these on only when you need them. However if you are frequently accessing the internet Wi-Fi consumes less power than using your cellular network. Bluetooth should be kept on only if you use it, and only when needed, for example, driving. You can also consider using flight (airplane) mode when you are in an area with bad or no coverage. With no coverage anyway the cellular functions are unusable, so why make the phone search for a non-existent network.

5. Lower the brightness of the display to a comfortable level, turn off the equalizer if you don’t need it, and lock your phone. Display brightness has a lot to do with battery life. Keeping your phone locked prevents it from activating unintentionally. You can consider auto locking your phone if you don’t use it frequently.

Those were the 5 tips to boost your iPhone battery life, now one more to improve the lifespan of your iPhone’s battery. Use your phone regularly and make sure that at least once every two months you allow it to completely charge and then discharge. That is, charge your phone to full and then allow it to drain fully. Apple recommends doing this once in a month, but if you feel that is too much then do it at least once in two months. Don’t take shortcuts to discharge the battery though, allow it to discharge with normal use.