The iPhone Virgin Blog

After a few days of using my iPhone 3G, I felt that it was not really safe to leave it without any password protection.

I did not think it was a good idea to leave so much private details exposed without any firewall.  After all, the iPhone does not only contain contacts and SMS information, but it has details of my blogs (I set up Wordpress App on it, which I will discuss in another post).  I also set up my email addresses with my passwords already for a one-touch access, so I would be totally uncomfortable with anyone who is not authorized viewing its contents!

I also had a long list of To-Do tasks and my Safari browser has saved bookmarks in them.  I certainly do not want anyone to access these information, although I have nothing much to hide.  No kinky pictures or what though, in case you are thinking along that line.  Haha.

I found the Passcode Lock function of the iPhone 3G which can do a basic job of password protecting it.  To activate the function, go to Settings –>  General –> Passcode Lock to set your four-digit passcode.

You can choose to turn it off anytime, or change to another passcode whenever you like.

Set the Auto-Lock to your desired time to put the phone to “sleep” after a period of inactivity.  The iPhone will prompt for the passcode to be entered before anyone can access the main menu.

At least if the iPhone is ever lost or misplaced (touch wood!), the next person who picks it up will never be able to use it while you are tracking the phone down with it’s unique IMEI identification number.

In my opinion, Passcode Lock is sufficient if you only require simple password protection, but it’s not flexible enough if you wish to customise the protection for certain apps.  I am looking for an utility that can allow me to protect the apps that I specify, especially my Wordpress and Email apps, yet allow my iPhone to be shared around (sometimes for photos or games).

That’s why I still guard my iPhone 3G like a hawk now, hehe, and avoid passing it around unnecessarily.  I hope others don’t misunderstand why I am so protective of it though.  Haha.

I’m sure you have heard of the recent news of a 9 year old boy in Singapore who wrote an iPhone app.

But in case you have not, read this article:

His free application “Doodle Kids” can be found under Free Apps at iTune Store.  I did not download it though as I hardly doodle.  I day-dream instead.  Haha.

But his success gives me the itch to write some iPhone Apps too.  I don’t hanker over the fame part, but I don’t mind the money (if this ever materialize and it is even worth US$0.99, LOL).

Well, I do have some programming background which may make it easier?  But where do I start from?  Anyone knows?

The boy had his father (a CTO of a local tech firm) for guidance and advice at least.  But I am feeling a little lost over this, so I may need to brain-storm or seek advice from those who have done it before.

And what kind of iPhone apps would you be wishing for?

Drop me some ideas will you?  Thanks!

This is for newbies to the iPhone 3G.

Guess the first question I asked when I first got my iPhone 3G?

I did not know when it was going to be fully charged!  Haha.

I tried to find some answers in the product booklet that came along with it, but I didn’t see any.

So I guess there should be some of you who might be wondering about this too?

It’s really simple actually.

When your iPhone 3G is charging, the battery indicator on the top right corner will show a “lightning” symbol.  (Sorry, the macro shot was kind of blur)

When your iPhone 3G is fully charged, the battery indicator will change to a “plug” symbol.

Well, just in case you wonder why my photos don’t look logical, I took them on different days lah.  LOL.

I am having fun exploring the apps on iTunes store.  Currently, I have not spent a single cent yet as I am looking into the free ones only.  Hehe.

Being a Singaporean iPhone user, one of my favourite local apps is The Straits Times App.

Sometimes, I am so busy that I don’t even have time to flip the newspapers at home, but with this app, I can browse news snippets on the go.  I like how awesome the graphics look on the iPhone too.  Great job SPH!

The front page shows the latest updates by the hour.  You can customize how many stories you want to show per category at Settings –> Straits Times.

You can alternate between news from “Top Stories”, “Singapore”, “Southeast Asia” and “Asia”.

You can also select specific categories to read at “More”.

The Straits Times App is only 0.2 MB in size and I think it is a worthy download for every Singaporean iPhone user.

With this app in hand, I did not even bother downloading iToday anymore.  LOL.

I am really glad about my decision to get my iPhone before Chinese New Year.  Haha.

It has proven to be my “life-saver” at such social events.  When I am really bored (especially when I follow Hubby to visit his relatives), my iPhone is my best companion!  It keeps me occupied with games and I can even surf or blog with it on the go if I want to.  When I am stuck on the sofa of someone’s home with the only option of staring at the TV while the rest are chatting, my iPhone is my biggest excuse of looking busy, especially when I don’t feel like participating in the conversation.

Call me anti-social or what, but what will I do without my beloved iPhone!!  LOL.

For the past few days, I have also downloaded some free APPS from iTune Store, although I have yet to try it all out.  Will share what I think about them here later.

I took some photos with my iPhone yesterday, and tried downloading them to my laptop to see how they look.

Initially, I thought iTunes will do the job of sync-ing my photos, but after the sync was completed, I did not see my photos anywhere on iTunes?  Probably I did not do something right, but I found another better and easier way to do it.

Well, my laptop is running Windows Vista, but this should work even if you are running Windows XP.  First, I opened the Computer window.  This usually shows information about my hard disk drives and devices with removable storage.  Under “Portable Devices”, I noticed “Apple iPhone” is recognized as an external device.

Then I double-clicked along this path:  Apple iPhone –> Internal Storage –> DCIM –> 100APPLE and I found my photos at this folder!  For the photos that I would like to download to my computer, I just did a simple copy and paste.

Surprised at how easy this is?  Hope this helps!

I couldn’t wait to bring my iPhone out, so my first priority was to get some protective cover for it.

Hubby and I headed down to Vivocity where I popped by Best Denki, Challenger and DG Lifestyle to check out what’s available.

After walking around, I finally settled on this INCIPIO iPhone 3G Feather Case in pink.  Nice?  The package cost me S$38 and includes the case, two sheets of screen protectors and a cleaning cloth, which I think is quite reasonable.

I like the case as it is really thin and light and it fits snugly on my iPhone.  Although it is a hard case, I am surprised the special polymer used in making the case gives it a smooth and nice touch (it feels a little like silicon actually, but not as rubbery).

This is how it looks after everything is completed.  Neat?

And yes, I bet you will like what you are going to hear next.  The case is slightly translucent (for my pink one) and does not hide the Apple logo totally.  I can still see a faint silhouette of the white “apple” shape and that made me extra happy.  LOL.

Now I can bring it out wherever I go!

I got my first iPhone without any hiccups yesterday morning.  Our delivery with Singtel was scheduled from 10 am to 1 pm, and the guy arrived at 10.05 am.  Guess we were lucky to be the first customer of the day.  Hehe.

These are the contents of my whole iPhone box set.  I got an 8 GB Black iPhone by the way.

It includes the iPhone, a power adapter, an USB cable, a set of earphones, a black lint cloth, a set of instructions and product information booklets in English/ Chinese, a tiny key-like thingy for inserting and removing the SIM card (remember to keep it safely!) and a sheet of Apple logo stickers.

Now that my iPhone is here, I will be looking for a case or skin to protect it from scratches.  Time for some shopping!

My first iPhone in less than 12 hours!  Yippee!

I am keeping my fingers crossed though.  There may be a 1% chance something might happen and the delivery would be delayed.  But if everything goes well, I will see my 8 GB Black iPhone tomorrow morning.

I can’t wait.  Hubby can’t wait.  Hehe.  We are both looking forward to it.

Well, I set up this blog specially for this first iPhone of mine.  That’s why I call this my iPhone virgin blog.  Frankly I still know nuts about iPhone, except for the times I played with the display sets at the Singtel showroom.  Haha.

Although I am not the first to own an iPhone in Singapore, but I think I am one of the few to be so “free” to dedicate a blog to it.  LOL.

So join me here as I blog about my experiences with my iPhone, the games and apps I will be downloading along the way, the discoveries I make (remember I am an iPhone virgin!) and my thoughts as a Singaporean iPhone user.

Stay around!