iPhone Questions

OK, I'm about to order new phones for those in management at my business. I narrowed things down to the Blackberry Torch, the Samsung Captivate (AT&T's only Android phone) and the iPhone 4.

After a morning of playing with them at the AT&T store, the iPhone 4 won. The Torch would have won if Google would make an Adwords interface for it. They have them for iPhone, Droid, and Palm (wtf?!).

Before I pull the trigger though, I have a few questions to our Wordforgers who use iPhones (Alphaman, Elwood, Tex). I appreciate any time you take to answer these:

1. "Speed dial." There doesn't seem to be a way to do this! On my BBerry I just hold the key I've assigned to someone down, and it dials them. What is the equivalent of this on the iPhone? I read some folks use "links" as a workaround?
2. Remotely bricking the phone. I have always used apps that allow me to send a text to my phone that will brick it. Loss, theft, etc. I keep pretty detailed financial information on my phone (routing numbers, account numbers, pass phrases) that I cannot allow to fall into the hands of anyone other than my own.
3. Apple Care. Is this worth it? Do they honor this? What does it actually cover?

Also, I must make a confession: There is a bit of self loathing going on right now. Never thought I'd get an iPhone after making so much fun of them. The 4g seems a lot more "solid" than the previous versions did, and it did win in a test I gave it this afternoon.

Rather, it did not lock up, like the Captivate did, and it handled the adwords interface, which the Torch did not.

You can use voice dial as an alternative to speed dial. I don't know if the iPhone actually has a speed dial feature...

Ah, fantastic! I love voice dial. This solves my problem!

Here's a real question iphone users...

Are you embarrassed when people see your face grease smeared all over your screen?

1) There is voice dial. Another option is a list of favorites, that is the same thing as speed dial. Since you have to touch the phone icon to get the keypad you also get the favorites section at the same time.
2) Mobile Me from Apple allows for remote bricking and phone locator services.
3) You get one year free, then at any time during that year can buy the second year. I'd advise waiting until 11.5 months have passed to decide. I've had numerous mac products and two iPhones and never have had any problems that needed Apple Care. They do however, honor their warranties/Apple Care very well from friends who've used them.

I wash my face so there doesn't tend to be any greasy build up on my phone when I use it. Give that a shot, it may work for you too.

This is not a question just for iPhone users, but for phone users of all genres. Grease smear affects everyone.

Proper bathing is essential to prevent grease transfer to anything we come in contact with, but throughout the day, our bodies will produce grease, and if our faces touch phones, the phones will get greasy.

This is one of many reasons a blue tooth is a good idea. Also, do they not make screen guards for iPhones? I know they have made them for many smart phones over the years. You can clean them and when they finally get too dirty or when the edges of the guard becomes too dirty, remove and replace.

Saying this problem is unique to iPhone users sure was silly.

Apple Care will basically fix anything except a cracked screen and water damage. I always get it for laptops. Didn't for my iPhone 3G, and haven't regretted it.

So, just to make sure, Apple Care doesn't cover anything extra the first year, but extends the warranty to two years, and can be purchase at any time the second year?

Any possible warranties beyond that?

Apple Care is overpriced.

On my previous and current iPhone I use SquareTrade for complete insurance and warranty coverage that includes spills, breaks, drops, manufacturer defects, etc. for around $65 per phone (with 30% discount Promo Code from RetailMeNot).

Most repairs are done same day and if they can't repair it they replace it within 5 days.

http://www.squaretrade.com/pages/iphone-landing24

I submerged one of my previous iPhones in the ocean by accident and it was completely toasted. SquareTrade sent me a brand new iPhone no questions asked and they did it in 4 days total including shipping time.

SquareTrade is highly recommended by just about every major consumer protection and product group out there, but YMMV.

http://www.squaretrade.com/pages/

Submerged?!

Yeah, AppleCare is a warranty (you can purchase it any time during the FIRST year, not the second), and if the iPhone one works like a Mac one, you get additional telephone support with Apple Care (90 days->2 years support, 1 year->2 years parts and labor). SquareTrade and some others are insurance. AT&T's insurance is a terrible ripoff.

Never buy warranties

...why? Most are not a good deal, but there are some that pay for themselves almost every time.

dp...

1) iPhone has voice dial where you hold the home button and simply speak. This can be interfaced therough bluetooth devices too. I use my "Favorites" menu in the phone application mostly.

2) IIRC, this is an option for corporate/mobile me users. You'll need a mobile me accout to do this. Not only can mobile me brick the phone on demand, they can even track the phone if you loose it. I have not ever used mobile me so this is just me taking the advertising at it's word.

3) Yes. Apple Care has been a huge payoff for me as I've had over 5 iPhones to date. The only thing they don't cover to my knowledge is liquid damage and even then, I called an iPhone support operator and they allowed me to swap out my 3GC for a new one after I dropped it in the bath tub like a moron. They have a very flexible policies if you take reasonable measures like Apple Care.

Yes, there are screen protectors for iPhones, and AFASK, any BT headset should work with it as well.

Yeah, my bluetooth (Jawbone) has some really nice iPhone specific features. My iPhone sshould supposedly get here tomorrow.

dp...???

That's pretty quick for an iPhone 4.

I don't believe him.

If the warranty pays for itself, odds are you have a bad product, not a good warranty. Strictly IMHO.

Well... I'm typing on it now. I won't be activating the actual phone for a couple of weeks. Just wifi.

Wish there was an easy way to go to the tops and bottoms of web pages.

Just tap the bar at the top where the time/battery is displayed and you will jump straight to the top of the page.

Thanks! But what about getting to the bottom of a page?

I have another question. Is there an app specifically for gmail? I run one of my commercial mail servers through gmail and also a personal account. From what I'm seeing there is now way to set up a signature for each account - just one sig for all emails that to through the system. I need to have a sig for each account.

You can use Safari. gmail.com works fine, even offline to some extent.

Yes there is a gmail app. I have it and use it.

I use the Google App to get to my gmail sometimes but mostly, I use the Apple email app to have the gmail pushed to my iPhone.