Which phone will you choose?

With so many smartphones on the market how do you know the iphone is the best one for you? Recent developments in the phone market mean you don't have to be a whiz kid to own a smartphone, anyone can use them, but how do you chose the right one for you?

Its so easy to stick with a make of phone you've used before but with so many smartphones out there the manufacturer you're used to may not be the best one for you i.e do you prefer touchscreen or a QWERTY keypad? Its often more than a decision when choosing a new phone, you may like the look of an iphone but not get on with a touchscreen or you may prefer a Blackberry that has the QWERTY keypad but the screen is a lot smaller and the keypad maybe too small for y our hands. Size and weight is also another thing you will need to consider. Bigger phones are often easier to use but can be cumbersome if you use them a lot.

You also have to think about how much memory and how big a processor you are going to need. Most processors range from 0.4GHz to 2GHz depending on what you use the phone for i.e if you are going to be using more than one function at once. However, you may think memory capacity is more important, this can either be built in as in the iphone or in the form of a removable memory card.

Beginning again with a second hand iphone

With a second hand iphone it`s important to wipe off all the old details and start afresh.

If you`ve bought a second hand iphone or are passing on your old device you need to make sure that you get back to the factory settings to start again, then your security will not be compromised. You are going to want to clear off all your old data either way. It`s important to keep or backup your old data so as not to lose any of it either.

So first of all transfer the content from the iphone to the computer.

This involves synchronizing your computer in order to manage your calendars, bookmarks and contacts from there. You can manage it using iCloud on the computer or through your iphone. It can be done through a remote wi-fi connection or a USB lead. It can also be done through iTunes on your computer.

Once all your data is backed up then you are ready to remove it from your iphone ready for the new user. Now click through Settings, General, Reset then Erase All content and settings.

Now the settings should be back to their original factory settings.

Next comes a page which says “Set up iPhone” it has three options typed below, they are:

 “set up as new iphone” “Restore from iCloud backup” and “Restore from iTunes”.

You need to follow the prompts to complete the process.

Some networks will require you to type in your iPhone visual voicemail password at this stage.

Cost of ringtone vibrations

Please note that with the ringtone vibration settings described below, you will have to pay around $1.5 for each vibration that you buy. They last approx 30 seconds each.

Changing your iphone vibration tone

             Hey guys this is probably something that every iphone user wants to do.

      How would you like to know who is calling just by the sound of the ring tone? 

      Here`s how to set up your phone for this:

1.       Click on settings and then on accessibility to enable this it. Custom vibrations will be shown as “off”, but you need to turn it on.

2.       At the top left of the page next to where it says accessibility, click the “general” arrow, the page will slide across. Then another arrow says “settings”, slide across again. Now scroll down to sounds and it will scroll right to another page. Now scroll down to “Vibration under vibration patterns and click again. It slides right and your click “create new vibration”.

3.       Now you are on a mainly blank page that you`ve been looking for with “New vibration” at the top and Play and stop buttons below. In the middle of the page it says in lighter writing “Tap to create a vibration pattern”. This takes you back to the main page where you can tap on contacts and go to individual contacts to assign an individual vibration.

4.        Lastly press edit in the top right corner and then “vibration default” .

5.       All that`s left is to “custom” and edit.

Transferring contacts directly

Instead of using a computer you can transfer only your contacts from one iphone directly to another. Use an app called “My Contacts” to backup your contact pictures as well as your contacts. It sends a vCard file which is then sent to the new phone using either Outlook, Mozilla thunderbird or just inside the Mac OS X alone.

Click the button to export the contacts images!

Click on the yellow button beneath then enter the Email address on the touchscreen keyboard that you want to send them to. When you are done press send.

Open the address book file on the new iphone under the received Emails section.

You can now simply import all if no merging is required or merge the contacts to avoid repetition.

If you have an old iphone that you no longer need then you can sell it, give it away or get it disposed of environmentally. Whichever, make sure that you remove your details from the device for security reasons.

Looking at it more closely

When you plug in the iphone it`s name should show up under the “devices” section of itunes on your computer. Then right click on it and a bar will come up with different options, choose the “backup” option and wait for it to process, it won`t take very long. That`s it for this part.

Now connect the new phone to the computer. Go to the itunes screen and choose restore, click on this. Next go to the section on the left of the screen called devices as you did before. Right click on the new iphone name, scroll down to “restore from backup”. A new window will appear in the middle of your screen giving you several options.  Choose to restore from “My iphone” by clicking that option on the drop down list and then click on “restore”.

Now you need to change the name that your data is stored under on the computer. Change the phone`s name under “Devices” to the new phone name, whichever name you have given it.

The last step is to synchronise the data on the new phone. Under itunes you will find a summary with four tick boxes underneath the main window. You need to tick the box for “manually manage songs and videos” & “sync only checked songs and videos” then click “ok” when the small window comes up above to confirm that you really want to do this. Lastly click on “Apply” in the bottom right corner of your screen. Voila.

Updating from an old iphone to a new one

When you don’t want to lose your old contacts transferring data accurately from one iphone to another can be hazardous.

You will need the help of your trusty computer for a process called backing up and restoring. I must admit that when I first heard the term backup I had no idea what it meant. It is simply this, the transfer of old data onto the computer hard drive. Restoring the information is straight forward and simply means taking it from the computer and loading it onto the new phone. Straight forward really.

So here we go. Use a lead to connect your old iphone to the computer for the transfer. Then backup the old iphone using the prompts so that you don`t lose all your saved information. Do this before you mess about with your new iphone. Now you are ready to restore this backed up data to the new iphone.

Don’t forget to have the latest iOS operating system running as this will make everything more efficient. Also ensure that you have the latest version of itunes on your computer and that it has also been “installed” as this is a separate operation!