How to Save Your Iphone / iphone 4 Battery Life

The iPhone 4 battery is supposedly 20% better than the 3GS and I still can’t go one full day without having to plug my iPhone in. I realized that I’m not the only one having this battery issue so I figured I’d post a few tips to maximize the iPhone battery life.

   1. Make sure you kill those apps that are running in the background for nothing
   2. Turn off wifi if you’re not using it (Settings > Wi-Fi and set Wi-Fi to Off)
   3. Turn off 3G if you don’t need it (Settings > General > Network and set Enable 3G to Off)
   4. Apple says Push can cause a 20% drop in battery life, but if you think yours is worse then it should be, the next step is to redo anything that involves Push,  or Turn off Push Notifications (Settings > Notifications and set Notifications to Off)
   5. Turn off Bluetooth (Settings > General > Bluetooth and set Bluetooth to Off)
   6. Turn off Push Email (Settings > Mail, Contacts, Calendars > Fetch New Data and set Push to Off)
   7. Fetch new data manually (Settings > Mail, Contacts, Calendars > Fetch New Data and tap Manually)
   8. Go through a full charge cycle each month (charge the battery to 100% and completely run it down)
   9. Turn off vibrate
  10. Auto-adjust Brightness (Settings > Brightness and set Auto-Brightness to On)

iPhone 4: FaceTime Video Calling Mini Review

One of the major features introduced with the newest iPhone 4 is the ability to have two way video calling, which Apple calls FaceTime. This new feature allows two iPhone 4 users to connect to each other through either the front or back cameras, over WiFi.
However, with the recent jailbreak release of JailbreakMe.com, users have been able to bypass that WiFi restriction and make FaceTime calls over 3G, anywhere, anytime.
Here are a few of my thoughts and discoveries while testing FaceTime over the past couple of days.

• There are two ways to start a FaceTime call:
  • Calling a contact on the phone, then tapping FaceTime
  • By tapping the FaceTime icon within a contact (this saves you money as your minutes won’t be used!):
  • 
• You can move your thumbnail screen icon to any corner of the screen during FaceTime. Just drag or flick to any corner.
• You can move between the front and back cameras by tapping the ‘camera’ icon.
• Rotating the phone to landscape will make you appear in landscape to your caller (Make sure portrait lock orientation is off).
• FaceTime calls run in the background when you press the Home button. Your screen pauses but audio continues. Just tap the top bar to continue.
• FaceTime missed calls appear in your Recent tab within Phone.
• Incoming calls show FaceTime on them.

Even though we’ve all had webcams on our PC and Mac computers, and apps such as iChat and Skype that enable video calling, nothing can top the simplicity of FaceTime. It’s so darn easy to initiate a call. One tap to start a video chat is nice, and it’s an awesome way to reconnect with old friends or network with new ones. I can only imagine the number of people with FaceTime capabilities in five years.

How to Use FaceTime Over 3G on iPhone 4: My3G

Have you tried FaceTime yet on your iPhone 4? One of the coolest features of FaceTime is that it does not use your voice minutes, since the requirement is WiFi.
You can also FaceTime your contacts by tapping the FaceTime icon in their contact profile. This saves you the initial call cost if you’re going to FaceTime with people overseas or in a long distance area. Sweet!
How to Use FaceTime Over 3G on your iPhone 4: Download My3G
Now that the “all iOS device jailbreak” is out of the bag with JailbreakMe.com (currently being slammed by traffic as of August 2nd, 10AM PST), you can now download a tweak to use FaceTime on your iPhone 4 over the 3G network. Here’s how to do it:
1. Jailbreak your iPhone 4 by going to JailbreakMe.com. Follow the instructions on screen. You can always restore if the jailbreak messes up.
2. Install “My3G” via RockYourPhone.com for $3.99, or purchase from the ModMyi repo via Cydia for $2.79 (down at the moment).
3. Once installed, it’ll allow you to configure FaceTime to work over 3G. Done.
Let me know how this works (unfortunately JailbreakMe.com is down at the moment). I’m excited to test FaceTime over 3G works with our fast networks in Canada. Have you tried this yet? Let us know!