Having lots of Gmail, Facebook Twitter, and LinkedIn Contacts on your iPad and iPhone is great, but how do you get them all into your Contacts app where you need them?

I get to use most of the newest devices and test out all the platforms in my job. My "go-to"  phone is the iPhone 4S, but there are features I see on other devices that I really wish were present in iOS. At the top of the list of wants is rich contact integration with my social networks.

WebOS had perhaps the most elegant approach with Synergy.   If you have a contact on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Gmail –- whatever -– just log in and you get a unified contact card with all that information. Doesn’t sound so hard, right?

Now, Android does this pretty well, Windows Phone does a great job with the People hub and QNX –- the OS on the BlackBerry Playbook (and the upcoming BlackBerry 10) -- does an amazing job at this contact integration.

So, why is it so hard for iOS to get this one important feature right? Well, we will have to let the boys and girls in Cupertino figure that one out. For now, there is a way to get all this information into the Contacts app... it just takes a little extra work.

Getting your basic information into Contacts

In the old days, you needed to connect your iPhone to your Mac or PC and then sync your contacts from your Outlook, Google or native contacts app on the computer. It was messy and often inaccurate. Now, fortunately, the majority of our contacts get “sucked into” the iPhone through some sort of cloud syncing.

How to get your iCloud Contacts onto your iPhone or iPad

If you don’t yet have your iCloud contacts on your iPhone, just go to your Settings app and then touch the iCloud tab. Just turn the Contacts switch to the ON position and all your iCloud contacts will be in sync with your iPhone, Mac, iPad, etc.

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How to get your Google Contacts onto your iPhone or iPad

If you use the standard Gmail setup (IMAP instead of Exchange, see below), getting your Google Contacts onto your iPhone or iPad isn't as easy as it should be.  When you typically sign into a Google account you can choose to sync your email, calendar and notes – but not your Google contacts. The easiest way to do this is either:

1. Export your Google contacts from the Google Contacts web app on your computer.
2. Import then contacts to your iCloud account.

1. Log into your Gmail account.
2. Choose Contacts.
3. Under the More tab, choose Export.
4. Choose which format to export all your contacts and where to save the file.

Export your Google contacts into a format that you can import into another app like iCloud

To import these contacts to your iCloud account for syncing:

1. Log into your iCloud account via iCloud.com and click on Contacts.
2. Click on the Settings gear and then choose Import vCard
3. Navigate to where the exported contact file is located and import it into iCloud.

If that is either confusing or a pain in the rear, the other option is to set up your Google account as an Exchange account which will wirelessly sync all your Google account data –- Contacts, Calendars, Notes, etc with your iphone.

1. Go to your Settings app.
2. Tap the Mail, Contacts, Calendars tab.
3. Under the listing of your accounts, touch the Add Account tab.
4. Choose Microsoft Exchange from the list of options
5. Put your Email address in the Email field (youremail@gmail.com)
6. Leave the Domain field blank.
7. Your Username should be your Email address.
8. Input your password.
9. Add a Description such as “Primary Gmail” or something like that.
10. Touch the Next button at the top right hand corner.
11. On the next screen, in the Server box, type: m.google.com
12. Choose Next.
13. On the following screen, simply turn ON or OFF the things you want to sync with your Google account. For our purposes, make sure that the Contacts tab is in the ON position.
14. Select Save and your Google contacts will now sync with your iPhone contacts.

How to get your Facebook Contacts onto your iPhone and iPad

Most of us have our contacts spread out over our various apps –- especially our social networking apps. I have lots of data for some folks in my Google account, but they are not Facebook friends. The reverse is often true as well. There is a way to get your Facebook contacts into your iPhone – you just have to dig a little to find it.

First off, make sure you have the latest version of the Facebook app downloaded from the App Store.

1. Start up your Facebook app and login into your account.
2. Tap the top left hand corner to get into your Facebook options and touch on Friends.
3. Tap the Action button (the one that looks like a Send key) in the top right hand corner.
4. Choose Sync Contacts from the list.
5. Turn the switch next to Syncing to the ON position – this will had (add?) your Contacts, profile pictures and links to your Contacts app.
6. Read the scary message from Facebook saying that all contacts from your device will be sent and stored by Facebook as subject to their privacy policy.
7. If you are comfortable with that, choose Sync Contacts in the lower right hand corner and your Facebook contacts will be integrated into your iPhone Contacts app.
8. If you want to replace the existing photos of your contacts with their Facebook pictures, turn the Replace photos switch to the ON position.
9. You should now see new category in the Contact information for Facebook contacts that says: Facebook and has a link to his/her Facebook page.

NOTE: This is not perfect, after doing this several times I still have some Facebook contacts whose Facebook page is not listed in their iPhone Contact card.

When it does work, just tap the Facebook address and you can launch their Facebook page right from the Contacts app.

How to get your Twitter Contacts onto your iPhone or iPad

For many of us, we follow people on Twitter who are not our “friends.” For others, we would like to have the Twitter information for our Contacts in case we do want to follow or Direct Message them. Fortunately, this is pretty easy to do.

1. First off, download the official Twitter app from the App Store.
2. Go to your Settings app and look for the Twitter settings.
3. Touch the Twitter tab in settings.
4. Touch the Update Contacts button to get Twitter information for your contacts put into their Contact cards.

NOTE: As with Facebook, there are some privacy concerns here. Twitter essentially takes all the email addresses and phone numbers stored in your Contacts app and cross references them against their database to get you the Twitter contact information.

How to get your LinkedIn Contacts onto your iPhone or iPad

LinkedIn may be where most of your professional contacts are stored. For many of us, this is yet another completely different list of contacts than those stored in Gmail or Facebook.  Fortunately, it is easy to get your LinkedIn data into the iPhone.

1. Download the official LinkedIn app from the App Store.
2. Start up the app and login into your LinkedIn account.
3. Touch the You icon – usually at the top right of the four icons.
4. Touch the gear in the upper right hand corner which is the Settings area for LinkedIn.
5. Touch the Download Connections tab and make sure that Download Connections is turned ON.
6. Touch the Download Now button to bring in all your LinkedIn connections into your iPhone.

NOTE: I experienced some interesting things when I did this; some of my contacts, which had their Facebook page link in the web page section of the Contact card, now had the LinkedIn page instead of the Facebook page.  The Contact photo changed according to which app I used last to sync contacts. In some cases, I really wanted the Facebook photo and not the LinkedIn one, so I had to go back and sync the photos from Facebook to replace the LinkedIn ones.

If at this point you are saying to yourself “this is way too complicated” you may be right, but it is the best way to get all this data into one place – Your Contacts app.

How to deal with multiple contact entries

iOS has the ability to link Contacts, so if you had more than one Contact for the same person, you could combine them into a unify view. However, it doesn't seem to work anymore (or was removed). Hopefully this get restored or fixed in iOS 6. Until then, you will need to go to your computer and go to the web site or app and merge the contacts that then sync with your phone.

Merging your Google contacts

If you sync your contacts via Google, the process of merging contacts is not too complicated.

1. Login in to your Gmail account
2. Across the bar at the top, click on More and then on Contacts
3. Once in Contracts, click on More and then scroll down to Find & merge duplicates.
4. Google will then go through your contacts and merge those that have the same name.
5. It is always a good idea to go and check to make sure it was done correctly – but overall this is pretty easy and seamless and will clean up your multiple entries for the same contact.

Merging your Mac address book

For Mac users, Finding and merging your duplicates in Address Book (Contacts under Mountain Lion) is quite easy.

1. Open up your Mac Address Book app.
2. At the very top, click on the Card menu and then scroll down to Look for duplicates and click.
3. You should then receive a message saying that “X number of duplicates were found.”
4. Click on Merge and the cards will be combined so you only have one contact card per individual in your Address Book.

NOTE: If you currently manage your contacts through the iCloud website, there is no way to merge your duplicate contacts from the Contacts app on iCloud.

Conclusion

So, after all this, you should have all your Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn contacts along side your Google or whatever other contacts you have on your iPhone. You can launch the Facebook page of your contacts; go to their Twitter page or LinkedIn page right from their Contact card.

This is not a perfect solution as we said at the outset. We wish that you could send a Facebook message or a Direct Message like you can from other platform Contact apps. We wish you could see status updates in the Contact app like the BlackBerry Playbook. Hopefully, these things will be on the horizon for us iOS users.

Do you have other thoughts about the Contacts app on iOS? Have you found other solutions for merging your data? Let us know in the forums.

Everything you need to know to get your mail, contacts, calendars, bookmarks, notes, and reminders syncing with iCloud

iCloud includes push email, calendaring, and contact services. That means whenever you get an email, it's immediately made available on all your devices. Whenever you make or change an appointment it shows up in your calendar on all your devices. Whenever you add or change contact information, its reflected in the contacts on all of your devices. You can access these services via the Mail, Contacts, and Calendar apps on your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad, via the iCloud.com website from any desktop browser, or through popular mail, calendar, and contacts apps on your Mac or Windows PC.

iCloud will also sync Bookmarks, Notes, and Reminders.

• How to set up iCloud Mail, Contacts, and Calendars
• How to enable or disable individual iCloud services
• How to access iCloud Mail, Contacts, and Calendars via the Web
• How to access iCloud Mail, Contacts, and Calendars, and more via Windows PC
• How to access iCloud Mail, Contacts, Calendars, and more via Mac

How to set up iCloud Mail, Contacts, and Calendars

If you didn't originally set up your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad with iCloud, or if you want to use a different iCloud account for Mail, Contacts, and Calendars than you do for iTunes purchases, for example, or you simply want to add an additional account to your device, here's how to get it working.

1. Launch the Settings app.
2. Tap on Mail, Contacts, & Calendars.
3. Tap iCloud.
4. Enter your iCloud (me.com) email address as the Apple ID and your Password.

How to enable or disable individual iCloud services

Whether you're setting up iCloud on your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad for the first time and want to choose which services are turned on and which are turned off, or you've already set it up but want to make some changes, it's easy to configure.

You can selectively choose to enable or disable Mail, Contacts, Calendars, Reminders, Bookmarks, Notes, Photo Stream, Documents in the Cloud, and Find my iPhone/iPod/iPad.

• Launch the Settings app
• Tap on iCloud
• Go down the list and toggle anything you want to enable to On, and anything you want to disable to off

Turning off an iCloud feature on your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad will remove the associated data from your device, but not from iCloud's servers. So, if you change your mind again, just repeat the process and flip the switch back on.

How to access iCloud Mail, Contacts, and Calendars via the Web

You can access iCloud Mail, Contacts, and Calendars, as well as Documents in the Cloud, and Find my iPhone/iPod/iPad from any Mac, Windows, Linux, Unix, or other PC with a modern web browser via:

• http://www.icloud.com

How to access iCloud Mail, Contacts, and Calendars, and more via Windows PC

To access your iCloud data via a Microsoft Windows PC, first you need the iCloud Control Panel for Windows Vista SP 2 or Windows 7.

Free - Download now

1. Click on Start to launch the Start menu.
2. Go to Network and Internet.
3. Go to iCloud.
4. Enter your Apple ID username and password.
5. Check mark the iCloud services you want to enable.

You can choose to turn on Mail, Contacts, Calendars & Tasks (Reminders), Bookmarks, and Photo Stream. The following software will then be able to access iCloud data:

• Mail: Outlook 2007, Outlook 2010
• Contacts: Outlook 2007, Outlook 2010
• Calendars: Outlook 2007, Outlook 2010
• Reminders: Outlook 2007, Outlook 2010
• Notes: Outlook 2007, Outlook 2010
• Bookmarks: Safari, Internet Explorer

How to access iCloud Mail, Contacts, Calendars, and more via Mac

iCloud is built into Apple's OS X 10.7 Lion for Mac, and will be even better integrated into the upcoming OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion.

1. Launch System Preferences.
2. Click on iCloud.
3. Check mark the iCloud services you want to enable.

You can choose to turn on Mail, Contacts, Calendars, Bookmarks, Photo Stream, Documents in the Cloud, Back to my Mac, and Find my Mac. The following software will then be able to access iCloud data.

• Mail: Mail, Outlook for Mac (via IMAP)
• Contacts: Address Book, Contacts (Mountain Lion)
• Calendars: iCal, Calendar (Mountain Lion)
• Bookmarks: Safari
• Photo Stream: iPhoto, Aperture

How to get more help with iCloud

If you still need help with mail, contacts, or calendars on your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad, or any other iCloud feature, head on over to our iCloud Forum and ask away!

• How to set up, back up, restore, and update using iCloud
• How to set up and use iTunes in the Cloud
• How to set up and use iTunes Match
• How to set up and use Photo Stream
• How to set up and use Documents in the Cloud
• How to set up and use Find my iPhone
• How to set up and use Find my Friends

Ally Kazmucha, Chris Oldroyd, and Gary Mazo contributed major sections of this guide.

Do you skip over adding someone to your contacts because you're too lazy to copy and paste their info from their email signature into a new contact? I do. All the time. But if you're a business person, the last thing you want is for people like me to leave you out of their address book -- that's where ContactMonkey comes in. ContactMonkey is a web service that creates a contact card for you that can be downloaded in 19 different formats for Mac, Windows, web, and mobile. It's simple, elegant, and free for individuals.

Before you start panicking, ContactMonkey is nothing like the ugly vcards of old. ContactMonkey is not an attachment, but a simple link to add to your signature. When clicked, the user is taken to an elegantly designed virtual contact card and a list of formats that they can choose from to download.

You can see my ContactMonkey card at http://contactmonkey.com/llofte.

Now, what if the person is viewing your contact card from an iPhone or iPad? Can they still download your information to be stored in Contacts? Yes! Well, sort of. To store your information, the person simply enters their email address and immediately receives an reply with a contact card that can be saved to Contacts. Granted, emailing isn't as elegant as we'd like, but it's a limitation imposed by iOS and this is a fairly smart and safe way to work around it. Users of other mobile platforms will be able to directly download your contact info into their device's address book.

Another feature of ContactMonkey is notifications. When your contact card is downloaded you receive an alert along with charts that break down your visitors' general location, browser, and time of download. You can also can also choose to make your information public or private, and available for indexing by search engines or not.

White-label

As previously mentioned, ContactMonkey is completely free for individual users. However, the web version of your card will feature ContactMonkey branding and the URL for your card with be http://contactmonkey/YourName. This is fine for the average user, but not exactly professional enough for companies or institutions. That's where ContactMonkey's white-label service comes in. With a white-label subscription, ContactMonkey will help you set up a subdomain so that the URL's of the contacts will look like http://contacts.yourcompany/YourName as well as customize the card profile pages to match your website.

A white-label subscription will only run your company $3 per user per month. Quite a steal if you ask me!

Sign up your company with ContactMonkey White Label for a chance to win a $100 iTunes gift card

Even more of a steal is that the first 150 iMore readers who sign-up their companies for a ContactMonkey white-label business account will receive their first 100 user licenses for free for life and have a chance at winning a $100 iTunes gift card. All you have to do is make sure you use this link (or the one below) to sign up!

Sign up for a free individual ContactMonkey account

Sign up for ContactMonkey White Label ($100 giveaway)

A bug found in iOS 5.0.1 may allow an unauthorized user to access your contacts, make phone calls, or use FaceTime on your passcode-protected iPhone. But stop panicking, this bug isn't easily reproduced -- it requires someone else to have access to your phone, with either no service or the sim card removed. Your average snoop won't find it worth their time.

To trigger the bug, someone must confuse the phone after receiving a missed call by one of two methods -- doing it while you have no network coverage or actively inserting and ejecting the SIM card. This will eventually lead to the iPhone unlocking to the phone app and allowing you to place phone calls. Once you hang up, you'll be locked out again.

It seems a bit silly as this process obviously needs to be performed numerous times, as shown in the demo video below, in order for it to confuse the phone. As long as you aren't leaving your iPhone unattended for long periods of time with shady people who actively carry around a SIM removal tool or paperclip, I don't see this becoming a popular way of hacking into someone's iPhone.

A similar bug was discovered a while back under iOS 4 which also allowed access to contacts, favorites, and voicemail on a locked device. Another recently discovered timestamp bug in iOS 5 allowed access to your camera roll.

No word yet on whether or not this specific issue is patched in iOS 5.1. If it isn't already, it probably will be before the public release of iOS 5.1.

Source: iPhoneIslam

What do some popular iOS apps to with your Contact data? Do they grab it without permission, transmit it without protection, and store it without regard to privacy? Or do they treat it right, with respect and responsibility? That's the question both Dieter Bohn of The Verge and Matthew Panzarino of The Next Web sought to answer today.

The reason for the sudden interest -- in a years old problem -- is because a popular app, Path, was discovered taking users Contact data without asking, and uploading it in an insecure way to their servers. It wasn't nefarious; as with other apps that do likewise, they were trying to provide a service -- match users with friends who are also users. They just coded first, asked questions never.

For more background, and the solution iMore would like Apple to implement, see our recent editorial: iOS 6 and privacy: How Apple should draw inspiration from Android for better app permissions

The Verge spent the day packet sniffing popular apps, basically running their own man-in-the-middle attack, to see if any Contact data was being transmitted and if so, how it was being handled. The Next Web received an assist from Tweetbot developer Paul Haddad, who ran his own, similar tests.

Of the apps found to be on the naughty list, or in the gray-zone, it sounds like the publicity will be causing swift updates.

Hit the links below to see the results.

Source: The Verge, The Next web

Like with Notification Center, Apple should look to and improve on what Google's done with Android to better keep our Contacts safe.

Earlier this week the internet got itself into a kerfuffle over Path, a small-circle social networking app for the iPhone, which took Contact information without asking and openly transmitted it to Path's servers. It's an important issue to be sure, one worth getting into a kerfuffle over, and Path eventually apologized and vowed to make changes. But Path was only one of many, many apps to act this way.

A couple of years ago there was a similar kerfuffle over Dragon Dictation when Nuance was transmitting Contact information to their servers as well. Nuance did this, it turns out, so that its server-side voice recognition services could better understand the names of your friends and family.

Path, it turns out, did this so it could notify you if your friends and family were already using, or started using, their service and offer to connect you in the app as well. (Though the "open transmission" part was concerning -- hashing or otherwise encrypting the data between iPhone and server would have been a good idea.)

It could have been any of a number of other apps in Path's place, however, if they'd been discovered first. Many of them are now updating, adding security if they weren't already, and custom-making request popups for user permission before transmitting Contact information. And that's a good thing. But it exposes a problem with the way Apple currently handles user privacy on the iPhone.

If an app, any app, even a built-in Apple app, wants to know your location, it has to ask for permission. If it wants to send you Push Notifications, it has to ask for permission. If it wants to access Twitter integration, it has to ask for permission. If it wants access to any of your personal information, however, like Contacts, it doesn't have to ask at all.

Apple should change that, of course. They should require that apps ask permission to access Contacts -- and Calendars, and any other personal data -- and insist any information be transferred in a secure manner, and never be stored permanently on a developer's servers.

Just like with Push Notifications back before iOS 5, however, their popup requester system doesn't scale. Right now, if you launch a new Twitter app for the first time and you get popup after popup, asking you to tap to approve Twitter account access, location, and Push Notification. Imagine when Contact access, Calendar access, and conceivably other information is added to the list. As the number of popups grow, the likelihood that a user will read and consider each one falls precipitously. They'll just start tapping through to get to their app.

Current iOS permission requests come via popups, which limits their scalability.

There's a school of thought that says inattentive users deserve what they get -- if they don't read, they abdicate their right to complain later. Apple doesn't usually subscribe to that school of thought, however. That's probably why they've kept permission requesters to a minimum for now.

Just like with Push Notifications, however, a better solution exists outside popups, and Android could once again be drawn upon for inspiration.

Android requires an app to list all the services it wants access to when you buy it

When you browse an app on the Android Market, whether via the web or in the Market app proper, there's a clearly defined place see what permissions that app will require. Arguably, Android presents way too many permissions and users might not bother to read them any more than they would a popup, but having them there as a permanent reference is invaluable.

Even on the web, Android Market presents you a list of permissions requested by an app

for iOS 6, Apple could do what they did with Notification Center in iOS 5, remove the cumbersome nature of popups, simplify Android's implementation, and, when an app launches, present a simple sheet of toggles allowing a user to pick and choose which ones they're willing to grant access to.

Mockup: What an iOS 6 "Permissions" sheet could look like, providing persistent access to information and toggles

Things like storage access are more noise than information, but Contacts and other areas that touch on personal information should absolutely be there.

Likewise, the permissions sheet could be kept available in the settings for the app (or in the general Settings.app), so users could easily change them at any time. Under special circumstances, if a service is absolutely required for an app to work -- for example, location is required for a photo editing app to access potentially geo-tagged photos in the Camera Roll -- then a popup could be generated explaining the situation.

For special circumstances, when an app absolutely needs a specific permission to function, a popup could then be used to inform the user.

Adding a list of permissions each app requires to the App Store, on device, in iTunes, and on the web would be a nice-to-have as well.

Path deserved the push-back they got for doing what they did with Contacts, but Apple deserves push-back for letting them do it in the first place.

Apple has shown a relentless drive to tackle the rough edges of iOS in recent releases, and as iPhones and iPads become more powerful and apps more sophisticated, privacy becomes one of the rough edges they need to get a handle on quickly.

They've used Privacy as a differentiator from the competition in the past, and Notifications and Location Services in iOS 5 are a huge leap forward when it comes to granularity and usability. Hopefully Apple brings it all together, and gathers up the loose ends like Contacts, in iOS 6.

Just a heads up -- if you send a contact via your iPhone 4S' built in sharing feature, you also share everything in that contact, including relationships set up by Siri. For many this may not be a big deal, but if you value your privacy or you don't particularly want or need a business partner, for example, knowing who your mom is or that playful nickname you have for your girlfriend, you might want to think twice before sharing an entire contact card in the future.

Perhaps Apple could constrain card sharing to common fields in a future iOS update. The odds of me actually wanting to share every detail in a card with someone is virtually nil, especially compared to the odds of me just wanting to share the basic details like email, phone, and address.

I run a company called PXLFIX locally and we specialize in iOS device repair, web development, and consulting. I rely on my iPhone everyday to not only keep my appointments and consultations straight, but as a tool to manage all aspects of my work life. Every iOS upgrade has made it easier and easier to stay organized. And where iOS fails, many third party apps have stepped up to the challenge quite well.

Client management

This is one of the most important aspects of my business. I need a way to sort through contacts and organize them efficiently. Fortunately iOS makes this task easy. I've made groups within my Mac address book that will sync across all my computers, iPhones, and iPads.

The ability to be able to send contact cards to clients and business partners is also extremely important. With my iPhone I can simply send a contact card via text or e-mail. I use contact cards not only to store ways to contact a client but notes that I may want to remember later.

Task Management

I've always depended on apps like Things or ToDo by Appigo to handle projects and task lists. Since the introduction of Reminders in iOS 5 my habits have changed a bit since Apple has made it even easier to handle tasks without the use of third party apps.

I'm also a die hard iCal user. I frequently use shared calendars and sync all of them across all my devices so I can access any of my information from any computer, iPhone, or iPad. I always had issues doing this back in my BlackBerry days. Either calendars never stayed synced or there was no easy cloud syncing option for Mac users. That's changed a bit since then but I still find that my iOS has offered better solutions than most other mobile platforms.

Working on the go

Besides using my iPhone for wireless hotspot tethering I have a tendency to need to work on the go or while traveling. Between my MacBook Pro, iPad, and iPhone this has never been easier. When it comes to web development I can use HTML and PHP editor apps on my iPad to make changes to client's websites on the go. I can also develop websites on my iPad and easily pick up where I left off when I get back to my office on my iMac.

I also use apps such as LogMeIn Ignition from my iPad and iPhone while on the go. If I ever forget to save a file to my Dropbox or Box.net account I can easily access it from anywhere as my iMac is always connected to the internet. Long gone are the days of forgetting files and documents or transferring them via physical media devices.

I can even balance our books and do our accounting functions on the go with QuickBooks mobile. So whether I'm in the office or traveling I always know where we stand and what's going on back at home.

Payment systems

As a small business we use Square in order to accept credit card payments from clients. The adapter will plug in to my iPhone or iPad and allow me to accept payments on location or from the office. As long as I have a wifi or cellular connection I'm good to go. This is extremely important considering the nature of our business and the need to sometimes take payments at a client's location instead of our own. This has never been easier with systems like Square or Intuit GoPayments for iPhone and iPad.

Overall workflow

We are a company that has instituted an all Apple eco-system. While our solutions may not work for everyone my iPhone is not only a device I enjoy using but one I heavily depend on to conduct business on an everyday basis. Everything from my reminders to my appointments to my client management and file systems can all be accessed and updated from my iPhone. And where there isn't a built-in iOS feature to meet my needs I've found third party apps that fill that gap.

My iPhone makes my life easier and more stress free on a regular basis when it comes to business. The best part is after the work day is over I can also use my iPhone for play. It really is an all around work and play device that I depend on in several ways each and every day.

As a side note, we will be offering mail-in repairs sooner rather than later. We also do Twitter and Facebook giveaways from time to time as well. You can check us out on our website or on Twitter and FaceBook in the mean time!

Wondering how to get Siri to better understand and pronounce your contact's names? Sometimes adding phonetic spelling will solve the problem. A good example of this is my name. Siri is pronouncing it as A-lie, as in the cake is a lie. Here's how to set up a phonetic spelling to a name.

1. You'll need to go into whatever contact card Siri is having trouble with. In this instance, I'm editing my own.
2. Next you'll need to tap Edit at the top of the contact card.

3. Scroll all the way to the bottom and click add field.

4. You will see two fields that allow you to add a phonetic first and last name. Fill them out. In this instance I put "Alley". This seems to make Siri pronounce my name correctly.

5. Once you are finished click Done to finish editing your contact card. You should now see the phonetic spelling of the name underneath the contact's actual name.
6. Try Siri again. Your name should be pronounced correctly now.

Has Siri had issues pronouncing any names for you? Did adding a phonetic spelling fix the issue?

Daily Tips range from beginner-level 101 to advanced-level ninjary. If you already know this tip, keep the link handy as a quick way to help a friend. If you have a tip of your own you’d like to suggest, add them to the comments or send them in to dailytips@tipb.com. (If it’s especially awesome and previously unknown to us, we’ll even give ya a reward…)

If you have used Siri to add a relationship on your iPhone 4S(http://www.imore.com/iphone-4s) you may be wondering how to go about removing it. Maybe you had someone labeled as a girlfriend or boyfriend and need to remove that relationship. While Siri can't remove relationships (yet) itself, we can walk you through how to do it manually.

When iOS adds relationships it simply remembers them via your own contact card. So we'll need to edit that.

1. First go into your Address Book and find your own contact card.
2. You'll want to tap Edit in the top right corner.

3. Now scroll down a little ways and you'll see a relationships section.
4. Simply delete whatever relationships you don't want anymore.
5. Scroll back up and click Done.

iOS should no longer remember those relationships. You can always use Siri or manually add relationships again anytime you want.

If you've synced your contacts with Facebook for iPhone, it's possible that all the information from your iPhone Contacts.app are now copied over to Facebook's servers. While that means you get Facebook profile pics when your Facebook using friends call you, it also may mean Facebook now has the personal numbers of your non-Facebook using friends, and that may not be okay with them, or with you. Luckily there's a way to take back what's yours (and theirs). Instructions after the break.

[BGR]

1. Visit facebook.com from a PC and log in
2. in the top-right corner of the screen, click on Account and then Edit Friends
3. In the menu on the left side of the screen, click on Contacts
4. Here, you will see that each and every one of your contacts in Address Book are listed along with their phone numbers… wipe the look of shock and disgust from your face
5. On the right side of the screen, click on the “this page” link
6. Follow the instructions on this page — you’ll have to disable contact-sync in Facebook’s mobile app if it’s enabled — and click the Remove button

I don't buy the shock and disgust part -- at some point you hit the sync button, after all -- but it is disturbing how quickly and opaquely big online companies can suck in other people's personal info. And if you know any other cases of Facebook, or any social network, holding information you'd rather they not hold, let us know and tell us how to remove it!

Tips of the day will range from beginner-level 101 to advanced-level ninjary. If you already know this tip, keep the link handy as a quick way to help a friend. If you have a tip of your own you'd like to suggest, add them to the comments or send them in to dailytips@tipb.com. (If it's especially awesome and previously unknown to us, we'll even give ya a reward...)

Google has updated Google Sync for iOS devices, a service that lets iPhone, iPad and iPod touch users sync with Google's Gmail, Calendar and Contacts via Microsoft's ActiveSync protocol.

Google Sync keeps your phone’s native mail and calendar apps in sync with your Gmail, Calendar and Contacts. Today, three new updates to Google Sync for iOS will allow you to:

• Search all your emails in Gmail, not just the emails stored locally by the iOS mail app.
• Accept, decline or edit calendar events from the iOS calendar app.
• Send email from the address you want. We recognize that some of you manage multiple email addresses from a single Gmail account.Gmail’s “Send Mail as” feature lets you send messages with another email address listed as the sender instead of your Gmail address, e.g. joe@altostrat.com instead of joe@gmail.com. Now the iOS mail app will respect these settings.

All of these are welcomed additions to Google Sync, specifically the ability to search all mail in Gmail instead of just what's stored on the device -- right from the native Mail app in iOS.

Let us know how these new features are working for you in the comments!

[Google Blog via Phonescoop]

There's some debate as to whether or not Apple will keep the MobileMe web apps, like Mail, Contacts, and Calendars around after the transition to iCloud. Some have heard no, that Apple will trash them and go 100% apps. Others have heard yes, that Apple will keep them around.

No one outside Apple seems to know for sure. For our part, TiPb has heard there will indeed be web apps in iCloud. At the very least, you'll need a way to access Find my iPhone, Find my iPad, and the forthcoming Find my Mac over the web. Apple has also poured significant resources into the SproutCore-powered Mail, Contacts, and Calendars app -- including a major update to Calendars recently -- and it's hard to imagine them flushing all that effort.

Whether Photo Stream will take over for Photo Galleries, whether Documents in the Cloud will replace the wishy-washy iWork.com, and whether or not the App Store and iTunes store get Web-to-Device push remains unknown.

Even if the native iOS and Mac apps are used far more often, having the web apps as backup is a pretty important feature. We expect Apple to clarify before iOS 5 launches and iCloud comes out of beta this fall.

Trying to figure out how to automatically dial an extension on your iPhone? If you're anything like me, you have quite a few friends and colleagues that have extensions to their phone numbers. Luckily, Apple built this feature right into iOS, and the iOS 4.3 update made it even better!

As we all know, you'll typically have to listen to some type of message or wait for the answering service to pick up before you can dial. Inserting a pause will allow the phone time to connect the call, then it will dial the extension. If you really want to, you could also add a few additional pauses if you'd like.

• Open your iPhone address book and click Edit on the contact you'd like to add an extension to.
• Tap the phone number you'd like to edit and the dial pad should pop up like the picture below

• After you've entered the regular phone number, tap the +*# key
• Tap Pause and you'll see a comma is inserted after the number (you may insert more than one pause if you'd like the iPhone to wait a bit longer before dialing the extension)
• Type in the extension number and tap done

Bonus tip: If you tap Wait instead of Pause, you'll get a hard break -- shown with a semicolon -- which means you need to hit the Dial button again for it to continue. This is handy if you don't know how long you'll need to pause for ahead of time.

You're done! Your iPhone now dials extensions on its own without you ever having to remember one again! If any of you try this, let us know how it worked for you in the comments!

Tips of the day will range from beginner-level 101 to advanced-level ninjary. If you already know this tip, keep the link handy as a quick way to help a friend. If you have a tip of your own you'd like to suggest, add them to the comments or send them in to news@tipb.com. (If it's especially awesome and previously unknown to us, we'll even give ya a reward...)

After sharing a tip on how to link Exchange and Mobile Me contacts, we were asked to cover how to link Facebook and LinkedIn contacts to your iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch as well. Done. Follow on after the break to see exactly what you can and can't link, and some cautions on what you might and might not want to link.

To link your Facebook and/or LinkedIn contacts to your iOS contacts you need to use the free Facebook and LinkedIn apps from the App Store. Chances are you already have them, but if not grab them first:

• Facebook [iTunes link]
• LinkedIn [iTunes link]

LinkedIn

1. Launch LinkedIn
2. Tap on Connections, middle icon on the left
3. Tap on Download All, top right menu bar icon
4. Read the warning. It says LinkedIn doesn't upload any of your contact info, only downloads contact info from LinkedIn
5. Tap on Download all new connections

Depending on how many connections you have in LinkedIn, it could take a while to download. Once it's done, your LinkedIn contacts should be new or updated in your Contacts app. You can tell by the LinkedIn icon stamped on the bottom left corner of any new or updated contact.

Facebook

1. Launch Facebook
2. Tap on Friends, top icon on the right
3. Tap on the action button, top right menu bar icon
4. Tap on Sync Contacts
5. Toggle the Syncing slider to ON
6. If you want to sync pictures too, toggle the Replace photos slider to ON
7. Read the warning. It says Facebook will upload all your contacts to Facebook.
8. This scares the $#!+ out of me, so at this point I personally hit Cancel. If you and your friends are okay with this, however...
9. Tap Sync Contacts

Again, depending on the size of your contacts, it may take a while to sync. Once it's done, your Facebook contacts should be available as new or updated entries in your Contacts app.

Note: If a you're the friend of a colleague at work and they have a party picture up as their Facetime profile pic, hilarity might ensue the next time you get a business email from them...

Tips of the day will range from beginner-level 101 to advanced-level ninjary. If you already know this tip, keep the link handy as a quick way to help a friend. If you have a tip of your own you’d like to suggest, add them to the comments or send them in to dailytips@tipb.com. (If it’s especially awesome and previously unknown to us, we’ll even give ya a reward…)

Using both MobileMe and Gmail, or Google Accounts and Exchange, or any mix of multiple accounts on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch and curious how to reduce the clutter by linking them into a single, unified entry? It's easy to do, provided the contacts meet a few simple formatting criteria. We'll show you how, after the break!

Let's say you have a colleague who's also a friend. You have his home contact information syncing with MobileMe and his business details syncing in Exchange. It's handy to keep them separate in theory but it's annoying to have them that way on your iPhone or iPad in practice. Here's how you can link the contacts to unify the entry:

1. Make sure you've set up more than one account on your device
2. Make sure the accounts are setup to sync contact
3. Make sure both accounts have the same contact (i.e. if the contact is only in one account, even if it's duplicated in one account, you can't link them -- you have to have the same contact in two or more different accounts)
4. Make sure the first and last name is identical names. Edit to remove minor variations if you have to (i.e. initial vs. first name).
5. Select the first of the two contacts
6. Tap edit
7. Scroll to the bottom
8. Tap Link Contact (iPhone) or the silhouette icon (iPad)
9. Select the second contact
10. Tap link
11. That's it, they're linked!

You now have a single, linked contact and Unified Info will be shown on the top bar to remind you when you view it.

If you want to unlink a contact:

1. Select the unified contact you want to unlink
2. Tap edit
3. Scroll to the bottom
4. Tap the red circle
5. Tap the read unlink button to confirm
6. And they're unlinked

Bonus Tip: If you have one account set up on your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad, and then add another, iOS will automatically link any accounts that have identical names -- so you may already have linked accounts.

If you have any other cool contact tips to share with us, drop them in the comments!

Tips of the day will range from beginner-level 101 to advanced-level ninjary. If you already know this tip, keep the link handy as a quick way to help a friend. If you have a tip of your own you'd like to suggest, add them to the comments or send them in to dailytips@tipb.com. (If it's especially awesome and previously unknown to us, we'll even give ya a reward...)

Switching to the Verizon iPhone, or any iPhone, from BlackBerry or Droid (or another Android phone) and curious how to transfer your data over? We've already told you how to switch from AT&T iPhone to Verizon iPhone, but crossing platforms can seem like a bigger headache. It isn't. There's lots of services available to help you transfer data from one device to another. Keep reading for some simple suggestions that can make the process of going from BlackBerry or Droid/Android to the iPhone just a little easier for you.

There are two main ways to move all your data over to iPhone: desktop sync via iTunes and cloud sync via Google, Yahoo!, Exchange, etc.

iTunes

If you want to move your music, TV shows, movies, photos, and other media over to your new iPhone and you already use iTunes on Mac or Windows PC then it's pretty easy.

1. Just plug the dock cable into your iPhone and into your PC and your iPhone will show up in iTunes.
2. Go through the tabs and choose what information, media, and photos you want to sync.
3. Press sync

You can sync multiple iOS devices (if you already have an iPad or iPod touch) with one iTunes library or set up multiple iTunes libraries to keep things extra neat and tidy.

Google Sync

Here is a way to use Gmail or Google Sync to transfer your data. If you're already using a Gmail or Google Account to sync your mail, contacts, and calendars, this process is dead simple. Just make sure you've done a sync on your current BlackBerry or Android device.

1. On your new iPhone tap Settings and go to Mail, Contacts, Calendars.

2. You'll need to add your new account to your iPhone. Simply tap the new account and then Gmail option.
3. If you want full push, you can also set Gmail up as Exchange as well. Visit Google's Exchange page for instructions on setting up this way.
4. After your account is verified, you can simply choose to sync what items you would like to sync by turning those options On.

5. If a message pops up asking what you'd like to do with the data, choose to replace your iPhone data.

Yahoo! Sync

To perform a sync with Yahoo!, you are essentially going to repeat the same steps you would for Google sync (see above), except you'll choose Yahoo when you choose your new account type. All the options should be identical when it comes to syncing contacts, calendars, and email accounts.

Exchange and Hotmail

If you're using Exchange at work, and/or Windows Live Hotmail at home, again the instructions are the same as above just choose Exchange ActiveSync as your account type. (If you have problems with a work account, check with your IT department for the proper settings)

Transferring contacts and calendars from your computer with iTunes

If you don't use any Google, Yahoo!, Exchange or any online service and you're just looking to transfer your contacts to your iPhone, you can do that too. Whether you have Windows or Mac, you can transfer contacts from your current smartphone to your iPhone pretty easily.

1. Plug your old device into the computer and sync them with either Outlook, Exchange, or Mac Address book. This process is pretty easy but varies from device to device, so you may need to refer to your specific device instructions in order to do this. If you still have an issue doing this, head on over to the Verizon iPhone Forum for some expert switcher advice and help.
2. Once your contacts are already on your computer, you can plug your new iPhone into your computer.
3. Open iTunes and click the Info tab under your iPhone sync settings.
4. You will see a Contacts option. Select that and choose what contacts you would like to be synced to your phone.

5. Click sync and wait for iTunes to do its thing. When complete, your contacts should now be on your new iPhone.

Note: You may have noticed iTunes has native options to configure Yahoo! or Gmail sync. You are more than welcome to use these options as well. They are just as easy. You can also choose to sync calendars via iTunes as well. Use whatever process is going to be more convenient for you on an ongoing basis.

Transferring photos from your old device to your new iPhone [PC users]

1. Simply sync or transfer the photos from your old device into your photos on your Windows PC. Whether you choose to do this with your actual device, or from removable storage like an SD card is your choice.
2. Plug your new iPhone into the computer and open iTunes and navigate to the Photos tab.
3. Navigate your way to where you save your photos to your PC when choosing what photos to sync and make sure to choose the pictures you'd like on your phone.
4. Click sync and wait for iTunes to finish. Your photos should now show up in the Photos app on your iPhone.

Transferring photos from your old device to your new iPhone [Mac users]

1. Plug your old device into your Mac and open iPhoto. (If iPhoto doesn't recognize your Android or Blackberry, simply transfer the pictures from the removable storage in your device, if you have that option.)
2. Your device should show up in the left navigation pane of iPhoto.
3. Name your album and import the photos. Alternately, you could select just the photos you'd like on your new device if you want.

4. Open iTunes and go to the Photos tab. Select the albums or events you'd like to sync to your new iPhone.

5. Click sync and wait for iTunes. After the sync is complete, you should see your new Photos in your Photo app on your iPhone.

Next steps

The iPhone is a pretty easy device to transfer data to. Once you've gotten all your data from your other device into a cloud service or on your computer, it should be easy as pie. If you guys have any issues doing any of this, feel free to check out the TiPb Verizon iPhone Forums for answers to many questions.

For more on using your new Verizon iPhone, check out our iPhone Starters Guide.

Tips of the day will range from beginner-level 101 to advanced-level ninjary. If you already know this tip, keep the link handy as a quick way to help a friend. If you have a tip of your own you'd like to suggest, add them to the comments or send them in to news@tipb.com. (If it's especially awesome and previously unknown to us, we'll even give ya a reward...)

Verizon Wireless has released VZ Transfer into the App Store, allowing Verizon iPhone users to restore contact information from Verizon's Backup Assistant service to their newly purchased iPhone 4.

This application is only for Verizon wireless users. Download the free application to transfer your contacts from your Backup Assistant device to your new device. All your contacts will be transferred to your new device with in minutes.

Verizon Backup Assistant is a service that lets users backup their contact information from their phone to the cloud, which includes import/export options with online editing abilities. Users who have used this service on previous devices would be able to download VZ Transfer and restore contact information to the iPhone.

Transferring contacts can often be a pain, so it's good to see Verizon putting out something that will make it a little easier for Verizon iPhone users to get their device up and running with all of their contacts in place.

Will you be using VZ Transfer after you grab your Verizon iPhone on February 10th? Let us know in the comments!

[Free - iTunes link via @daveizzle]

Have multiple email accounts set up on your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad and not sure how to set the right one up as your default? If you're replying, it should behave and reply from whatever email the person contacted you through. But what about when you compose a new email? Having to toggle between mail accounts can be annoying if you have to do it constantly.

If you typically send most of your emails through one mail account, click through to see how to make that account your default one.

This process should work the same on iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad but I'll be using iPhone screens for this example.

1. Launch Settings from your homescreen.
2. Tap Mail, Contacts, Calendars.
3. Scroll down a bit and you'll see a Default Account option.

4. Tap Default Account and choose the account you'd like your phone to use as the primary account.

You're done! Your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad should now default to whatever mail account you've specified. Give it a try and let us know if it made emailing a better experience for you. And if you have any other email tips, leave them in comments!

Tips of the day will range from beginner-level 101 to advanced-level ninjary. If you already know this tip, keep the link handy as a quick way to help a friend. If you have a tip of your own you'd like to suggest, add them to the comments or send them in to news@tipb.com. (If it's especially awesome and previously unknown to us, we'll even give ya a reward...)

Do you want to save a location that you've found on Google Maps? After searching for a place on Google Maps, you can save the results to Bookmarks or Contacts so you can easily come back to it later. Stay with us after the break and we will show you how.

Start

1. First, Search for the location in the search box.
2. When you find the location you want, select the ' > ' icon
3. At the bottom, select 'Add to Bookmarks'
4. Type in a 'location name'
5. Click Save.

To find the location later.

1. Select the ' book ' icon in the search box.
2. Select Bookmarks

You can also save a location to a contact for later viewing.

1. After selecting the ' > ' icon on a location.
2. Select 'Add to Contacts'
3. Here, you can either 'Create a new contact' or 'Add to existing contact'
4. Select the Contact, you want to save the location to.

To find the location later.

1. Select the ' book ' icon in the search box.
2. Select Contacts, and select the contact you want to view.

BONUS TIP: If you press and hold on any spot on the Map, you will 'drop a pin', which you can then save as a bookmark or to your contact.

Tips of the day will range from beginner-level 101 to advanced-level ninjary. If you already know this tip, keep the link handy as a quick way to help a friend. If you have a tip of your own you’d like to suggest, add them to the comments or send them in to dailytips@tipb.com. (If it’s especially awesome and previously unknown to us, we’ll even give ya a reward…)

Want to know how to add an additional phone number to an existing contact? Ever run across a situation where someone texts or calls you from a new or second number and you want to save it? Why bother trying to remember the number, or manually trying to add it to the existing contact, when there's a much easier way to do it. We'll show it to you after the break!

Add a number from Recent Calls

1. Tap the Phone app
2. Tap Recent Calls
3. Tap the blue arrow next to the number you want to save
4. You'll see a call info screen, at the bottom you see an option to Add to an existing contact, choose that option.
5. Your address book will pop up, scroll through and tap the contact you want the number to save to.
6. Change the type of phone or number if you like, and tap done!

Add a number from a text message.

1. Tap Messages
2. Scroll to the top of the conversation.
3. Tap add to contacts
4. An option will pop-up, select Add to existing contact
5. Scroll through your address book when it pops up and select the contact you'd like to add the number to
6. Make any changes you'd like and tap done!

These are 2 ways you can easily save additional contact numbers for one person without having to manually enter them. If you have any questions, or know any better ways, leave them in comments!

Tips of the day will range from beginner-level 101 to advanced-level ninjary. If you already know this tip, keep the link handy as a quick way to help a friend. If you have a tip of your own you'd like to suggest, add them to the comments or send them in to news@tipb.com. (If it's especially awesome and previously unknown to us, we'll even give ya a reward...)

Heading out to family and friends for the holidays and curious how to easily find their addresses in the iPhone, iPod touch, or Maps app? Well here is a great tip to make navigating a little bit easier, and we'll show it to you after the break!

If you are like me you don't memorize anyone's contact information anymore. You simply enter their phone number, email address, website, and address into your contacts list on your iPhone and then, whenever you need it, you just tap on it. Luckily Apple ties iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad Contacts into the other apps, like Maps!

First, if you haven't done so yet, make sure you've entered address information for the Contacts you will be visiting. Then:

• Open the Maps application
• Select Directions on the bottom menu
• Select the Start box and choose "Current Location"
• Select the End box and start typing in the contacts name
• Select the contact once it appears
• Let it load and click on Start at the top right

Bonus tip: If you're in Contacts, you can tap right on the address to switch to Maps and see where they're located.

Now you can be on the way to your destination without having to type in the address manually. Let us know if you plan to use this feature as you hit the roads this holiday season.

Daily tips will range from beginner-level 101 to advanced-level ninjary. If you already know this tip, keep the link handy as a quick way to help a friend. If you have a tip of your own you'd like to suggest, add them to the comments or send them in to dailytips@tipb.com. (If it's especially awesome and previously unknown to us, we'll even give ya a reward...)

When you sync contacts from more than one source (i.e. Exchange and MobileMe, on-device and Google Sync, etc.), and there are duplicates, rather than showing the same contact twice iOS 4 will instead create a single, linked contact. This works on any iOS 4 device, including iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, recent iPod touch, etc.

When you look at a linked contact, the header will show Unified Info at the top so you know it's linked. At the very bottom of the contact it will show you the source of the links (i.e MobileMe, Google). Tapping on the source lets you see the original, non-unfied info from just that source.

If you don't like the idea of your contacts being linked, you can tap edit and hit Unlink. If iOS 4 missed linking a contact that ought be linked, tap edit, scroll down to the bottom, tap Link Contact and choose the contact you want linked.

[Thanks T.J!]

So how's iOS 4 Active Sync working for you? iOS 4 allows multiple ActiveSync accounts, meaning iPhone users can finally have their work Exchange setup alongside Google Sync, for example.

I've got both Exchange (2003) and Google Sync (Google Accounts) set up on both an iPhone 4 and an iPhone 3GS, and both mail and calendar are working fine (I don't sync Exchange contacts, never mind the mess that is Google contacts -- I use MobileMe for that).

Some users over on the Apple Support forums aren't having as much luck. Calendars in particular seem to be giving them problems where they weren't under iOS 3.x.

I did notice that, on my iPhone 3GS, the first time I added the second ActiveSync account the phone got hot and the battery started to drain so I deleted it, rebooted, and added it back and it hasn't happened again -- battery life has been surprisingly good.

What's your experience with ActiveSync under iOS 4?

[discussions.apple.com, thanks Sagar!]

Rumor has it Apple could be increasing their Facebook integration for iPhone OS 4, perhaps to include contact sync and messaging support for end users and Facebook Connect for developers.

Apple's relationship with social networks has been tentative at best, with Mac OS X 10.6 and iPhoto 09 offering rudimentary integration for things like photo tags. The Facebook app on the iPhone has done some contact syncing (initially with funny to off-putting results), but nothing thus far as hinted at Palm webOS or Microsoft Kin level integration.

Business Insider cites only a "source", and coming as it does with Facebook once again in the eye of the user-privacy storm, it's sure to be met with mixed reaction. Here's why it might just happen:

Some 34.2 million people were "active users" of the Facebook iPhone app in the last month, according to Facebook. That's about a little more than a third of all the iPhone OS devices -- iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad -- out there. And it's almost 10% of Facebook's 400 million users.

It's one of the rare instances where Apple is way behind the consumer curve. They don't "get" social media (perhaps their hyper-secretive corporate culture doesn't allow them to) but they're slowly and painfully realizing that if they don't do something, they lose an element of user tie-in, and Apple certainly "gets" user tie-in.

[Business Insider]

AppleInsider is adding to the multitasking rumors we've been hearing for a while now, saying iPhone 4.0 will finally extend the same benefits to 3rd party apps that Apple's own Mail, Phone, and iPod apps (among others) enjoy.

Using a key combination, such as the double Home click that now triggers Spotlight or Camera (or whatever you choose in Settings), the current app would zoom out and you'd get a grid view of all running apps, similar to Mac OS X's Exposé feature. Tap an app, it zooms in, and you're good to go. How many apps will be allowed to run at once, and whether or not multitasking will work on older, RAM-starved iPhone 2G and iPhone 3G devices is unknown. (iPhone 3GS has double their RAM, and we're hoping the 4th gen iPhone doubles that again for buttery smooth multitasking).

Whatever the implementation, Apple has a to make sure the new functionality is enough for power users but not too confusing for the mainstream. Apple's success to date has largely been based on their ease of use as much as their ecosystem so keeping that is key.

Also mentioned again is the Universal Inbox Steve Jobs "confirmed" previously, where you can see all new email messages in one view and not have to tap into and out of each account (if you have work, home, school, or any combination of multiple emails).

Lastly, they claim Apple will allow you to pin contacts to the Home Page for speed dialing, much as you could previously pin web page icons for speed browsing. Just tap the husband, wife, friend, or partner's picture and you're off an dialing.

We still have no idea when we'll see iPhone 4.0, but we're keeping our fingers crossed for a post-iPad beta launch and a typical summertime release. Right, Apple?

The Apple patents keep on rolling out and today the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office accepted Apple’s filing for a patent that would allow for contact icons to be placed on the home screen, along with the ability to invoke apps, retrieve and display contacts information, or dynamically display related information all tied to an individual contact.

"The icon can also be used to invoke one or more applications that are personalized to the contact. The icon can be modified to display information related to the contact. In one aspect, an icon associated with an entity can be temporarily displayed on the mobile device based on the proximity of the mobile device to the entity."

This is pure speculation on our part but it's possible you will see this patent come to life in the upcoming iPhone OS 4.0. Hopefully when January 27th comes we all will see what is in store for the future of the iPhone OS.

Now please excuse me while I go add a few more contacts on the home screen of my Moto Droid, since it's been doing that for a while.

One more screen shot after the break!

[Via Redmond Pie]

Not sure if this is new to Beta 4, or if it appeared earlier in iPhone 3.0, but it's the first we've seen of it so we're passing it along. What is it exactly? Simply go to Contacts, pick a name, and then swipe to call up the red "Delete" button that we all know and love from Email and other, previous apps going all the way back to iPhone 1.x.

Nice way to speed up removing unwanted or outdated information. Thanks Apple!

(And thanks Adam for the tip!)

Peeps by msbaylor. (Visit the thread for video and more pics. For more Forum Reviews, see the TiPb iPhone App Store Forum!

Peeps is a new and interesting way to view your contacts- by their pictures!

When you first open the application, all you contact are loaded into the app. For me it only took about 5 second to import all 150 or so contacts.

After that you'll see a screen that has about 9 of your contacts pictures and their names are listed below them. You can scroll up and down to see your contact via their pictures. If you tap on a picture you will be able to see your contact's info. Also within the multi-contact screen, you can create a new contact via the app by tapping on the “+” in the upper-right corner.

By tapping the “Peeps” button in the upper-left-hand corner you will be able to view your groups and to create them as well.

In the screen shot below I created “Mi Peeps.” Since I don't have a whole lot of contacts with pictures, I began to create a list of contacts that do have pictures. I also accidentally added someone that didn't have a picture, If you need to remove a contact from a group, tap and hold on the contact's picture and you will have the option to delete the contact, remove contact from group or cancel.

In creating the group of your choice, you can either select contacts from your existing Address book or create a new one.

While viewing you contacts, if you turn you iPhone on it's side, then you can view you contacts in an “cover-flow” format as your would on you iPhone's iPod.app. Just like in the iPod.app when you tap on the abum cover, you receive a playlist of that album, well in Peeps, when you tap the photo, you get all there contact information. This is a neat adaptation from the iPod.app.

I however, found that the screen turned back from the cover-flow with the slightest tilt out of “landscape” view.

[Editor's note: Since Apple has not made the CoverFlow API public, Peeps built a home-made version to emulate the functionality, which caused some confusion and delayed the release of the app]

Overall

I think this an interesting app especially if you have a lot of contacts with pictures, if you are like me and only 5% or so of your contacts have pictures, then this application is probably not for you. For people that do have a lot of contact pictures, I think this will be a “cool” way to casually flip trough your contact and show your friends, but, I don't think it will be of great use in the event you need to call one of your contacts, especially if you are in a hurry.

I'd really like to see adjustments made to the accelerometers in viewing contacts in “cover-flow.” After writing this review once and then speaking with the Peeps support, I found out a little more about the app than before. So and information screen explaining how to display and edit contact would be a nice feature to have. At $1.99 I recommend this app for people with lots of photos in their address book. It also seems to be a nice way to update the photos of a contact a bit quicker than going through the contacts one-by-one in the Address book.

Pros:

• Cover-flow viewing of contacts
• Easy and quick setup
• Create your own groups.

Cons:

• Viewing in Cover-flow is fickle

TiPb Forum Review Rating

[Peeps is available from the iTunes App Store.]

The Reviews of the Android G1 Phone on T-Mobile are out and the verdicts are generally as follows: Partly Cloudy¹, but forecasting big things to come. We're not going to try to hit every point just yet, but there's one point where this "Sidekick for Grownups" has what appears to be a real advantage over everybody else: dead-simple cloud setup.

So compared to the iPhone, just how good is the setup on the G1? The answer is: Depends on whether or not you're a Gmail type of person.

Yeah, "depends" isn't exactly a clear answer, so follow us after the break for a bit more on whether the G1 is PIM Push Paradise compared to MobileMe's Mechanized Movement of information.

(¹Sorry, could help myself with that pun)

Android vs. iPhone for Gmail Users

Gmail and the G1

With the G1, you simply punch in your Google credentials and wait a few and boom, you have push Gmail, Push Contacts, and Push Calendar. If you're already a Gmail lover, this is pretty much la creme de la creme. The Gmail client on the G1 is getting very high marks, works just like Gmail on the web, and is generally tops.

Unfortunately, the other two parts of Gmail's Sync -- Contacts and Calendar -- aren't as hot. Engadet notes that what Google does to your contacts is a crime: it mucks them up by first being difficult to work with on their web-based contact manager and mucks them up double-time by automatically adding email addresses of people you've sent mail to more than a couple times.

The result (and I know this from personal Google Contacts Syncing experience) is your address book pretty much becomes a hellacious mess. Your only options are to either be eternally vigilant about the state of your contacts or to just let the darn thing go and hope that you can search through it fairly quickly.

The calendar app on the G1 is also getting mixed reviews, as folks are finding it better for viewing than they are for data entry. In this sense, it's not all that different than the iPhone.

Gmail and the iPhone

We'll start this with a caveat -- we're not going to count Google's excellent iPhone-centric web interfaces here, just the native stuff. Although I still think that the G1 won't stop Google's iPhone fixation and that means continued iPhone support and improvements, we want to compare (ahem) apples to apples.

Up until the introduction of the G1, the best mobile email client for Gmail has been the iPhone -- bar none. Gmail's famously wonky IMAP rarely gives the iPhone fits (though it certainly does happen from time to time) and the iPhone's rather clever method of only loading a folder when you enter it (and only loading the most recent 25 at that) mean that it doesn't suffer from the tragic "All Mail" problem). In all -- Gmail on the iPhone is great.

Except, that is, if you're looking for push email.

Pushing Gmail to the iPhone is basically an invitation to suffering because there are only three email systems that push email to the iPhone: Yahoo!, MobileMe and Exchange. If you want your Gmail pushed, you need to forward a copy of all messages to a Yahoo!, MobileMe or Exchange account and then set that up on your iPhone. There are then nasty hacks to get your "from" address right, but still no good way to deal with folders/labels.

Now -- contacts and calendars are also a world of fun. If your stuff lives in Google, you are going to need to find solutions to sync them to your desktop. Once that happens, however, you're golden as you can set up MobileMe on both PC and Mac to push the info out to your smartphone. It's not an ideal, direct-push solution, but it works pretty well for most people.

On a Mac, you can sync the address book directly to Google (with the above-mentioned pain) and for Calendar you need to use something like the excellent Spanning Sync software for calendars.

On a PC, check out OggSync for calendars. For Contacts iTunes itself will let you sync to Google.

In both cases, where you really need to start is at our how-to article " Switching to iPhone: How To Move Your Contacts, Calendar, Email, Bookmarks, and Photos to the iPhone"

So as you can see by the length of this section, if your data lives in Gmail, the G1 is a lot better.

Advantage: G1

Android vs. iPhone for MobileMe or Exchange Users

MobileMe or Exchange and the G1

Okay, we've said it before and we'll say it again: one huge advantage the iPhone has is that while Google loves the iPhone and provides a huge number services for it, the G1 gets nothing in return from Apple. So, in a way, every iPhone user gets the best of both worlds (four worlds if we count Exchange and Yahoo!). That's a pretty compelling competitive advantage. 

So, if your data lives in MobileMe or Exchange/Outlook and you want to get it onto the G1, things are going to be dicey for awhile. There is no default sync client out yet, though 3rd parties like Funambol are creating ways to sync In the short term, here are your options of you don't want to just switching everything over to Gmail:

With email you have two choices:

1. Forward to Gmail for Push, but use Android's IMAP email program (yes, it's separate from the other email client) to send. You may also be able to use the G1's Gmail program to send if the Gmail program works with Gmail's "Send As" feature (we don't know yet).
2. Just settle for Android's IMAP email program for both receiving and sending. In this case, you're giving up push email.

So that's not ideal. For contacts and calendar, you're actually going to be in the same boat that iPhone users are in with regard to Gmail -- namely finding a way to sync your desktop information up to Google so you can sync it down to the G1.

MobileMe or Exchange and the iPhone

Despite the well-known early issues with MobileMe, everything's pretty-well shaken out now. You enter in your sync information, you wait a tic, and boom, everything from Email to Contacts to Calendar is sync'd and pushing.

Now, setting up either MobileMe or Exchange on the iPhone isn't as simple as the one-time process on the G1, but it's still pretty straightforward. Once again, TiPb has your back:

1. How to Set up Exchange ActiveSync on the iPhone
2. How to set up MobileMe on the iPhone.

Advantage: iPhone

Android vs. iPhone for Everybody Else

What, no push email solution for you? Love Yahoo? Love Hotmail? What's the over/under in this competition?

Everybody else and the G1

Basically your best options for email are the ones we laid out for MobileMe or Exchange and the G1: Use the G1's sub-par IMAP email client or forward stuff to Gmail. To sync the other stuff, find a way to sync it from your desktop to Google as described above in the Gmail and the iPhone section.

Here's the notable thing with the G1, though: since it's a completely open platform, there's no reason that Yahoo or Microsoft or, well, or anybody couldn't create push and sync solutions for the Android Platform. It's entirely feasible that Yahoo could create a version of Yahoo Go! for Android that would seamlessly sync your email, contacts, and calendar the G1. It hasn't happened yet, but don't be surprised when it does. (Though we won't hold our breath waiting for Apple to develop a MobileMe solution for the G1...)

Everybody else and the iPhone

Here the situation is also not great, but it's pretty good. Yahoo users can get their email pushed out to the iPhone, everybody else can just set up email manually. Those folks won't have push, but thankfully the iPhone's email client is pretty good.

For contacts and calendar, well, you're either going to have to sync manually via iTunes or buy into MobileMe or Exchange in some way.

We're going to call this one a Tie with a possible KO in the future if Android sync apps come out. Syncing desktop to Google can be a pain for some whereas the iPhone at least gives you the option of wired sync.

Advantage: Tied (for now)

Conclusion

For Google-lovers, the G1 clearly offers better cloud and sync. For MobileMe and Exchange, the iPhone clearly wins out. If you want the trifecta of Google and Exchange/MobileMe goodness, the iPhone also has that edge. For the rest, it's a bit of a (ugly) tie, but the way things look platform-wise the G1 has more potential there. In all, the best way Apple can close that potential gap is to open up the iPhone to more syncing solutions from other companies. We're not holding our breath. We are holding out a little bit of hope, though: if Andoid really does take off, Apple just might feel compelled to respond by opening up their platform.

One last footnote: Why do Apple and Google hate ToDo and Notes? Back when Palm invented the Palm Pilot, Personal Information Management (PIM) was a 4-legged table: Contacts, Calendar, ToDo, and Notes. While we're more than happy to see that Email has been added to that equation, when are we going to get those forgotten PIM essentials on modern platforms?

[Note: This a a Wait-A-Thon post! Comment on this post -- or any post tagged "Wait-a-Thon" -- for your chance to win a $100 iTunes Gift Card! Note that you must post with a valid and real email address so we can send you your prize -- no switching!]

More and more people are switching to the iPhone. They’re switching from Palm and Windows Mobile and Blackberry smartphones to the iPhone. They’re switching carriers to get the iPhone. And now that the next-gen iPhone 3G is all but upon us, and more and more regions are announcing their plans and pricing, the switching is only going to get faster and more furious.

To celebrate the switchers, those who dare to phone different, the iPhone Blog wants to help you get your content off your old, perhaps restrictive and outdates systems, and onto your shiny, new iPhone.

We've already gone over how to move your music, movies, and other media to iTunes, so now it's time to get with the data: contacts, calendars, and email.

Read on to find out how!

This article assumes you’re switching from another smartphone, like Blackberry, Windows Mobile, or Palm, and are new to the iTunes + iPod (and iPhone!) ecosystem. It also assumes you're a dedicated Windows user or someone who just recently switched from Windows to the Mac and needs to transfer content to an iPhone.

Since longtime iPod (and Mac) aficionados will almost certainly already be using iTunes and the typical Mac applications, your iPhone will sync your content via iTunes the same as it would any other iPod. And, hey, if you’re a Linux (or any other *nix) user, I figure you’ve kept your content open from the get-go, and already know 18 different ways to get it onto your unlocked, jailbroken iPhone hax0red with Open Moko anyway...

"Push" First: Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync and Apple MobileMe

With iPhone firmware 2.0, everything changes. Why lead with this? Because if you intend to use either Exchange and/or MobileMe with your iPhone, you can read this section and you're pretty much done. (Or at least you can skip ahead to photos at the end -- though be sure to download iTunes anyway for your media). With Exchange and MobileMe (billed as Exchange for the rest of us), iTunes data sync is eliminated, cables are eliminated, and intermittent syncing becomes a thing of the past. With these "push" solutions, everything is automagically updated wirelessly (via WiFi or EDGE/HSPA cell network). Change something in Outlook and a few seconds later, your iPhone will show the same changes. Tweak some data on your iPhone, and a few seconds later, MobileMe's website will show the same tweak.

(Not using ActiveSync or MobileMe? No worries. Skip to the next section and we'll start setting up iTunes for local sync!)

So, to simply and easily set up most of your syncing using iPhone 2.0: tap Settings, tap Mail, Contacts, and Calendars (Just Mail if you're doing Exchange on iPhone 1.x), tap Add Account, and then select the type of account you would like to add.

Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync

ActiveSync makes its debut with iPhone 2.0, and doesn't function on the older, 1.x firmware, so if you intend to use it, make sure you have an iPhone 3G or have updated your original iPhone (2G) to the latest firmware as of July 11, 2008. To setup Exchange ActiveSync, tape the logo for it. If you're using Exchange 2007 on the back end, you may be able to automatically set up your account. If you can't, or are using an old version of Exchange -- or just in general due to the complex and fussy nature of setting up an Exchange account in general -- you're best practice is to check with your Exchange administrator (or hosted service provider).

Apple MobileMe (formerly .Mac)

MobileMe, Apple's replacement for .Mac and it's "Exchange for the Rest of Us". It will sync, wirelessly, over the air (OTA), contacts, calendars, mail, and photos between the iPhone and your Mac (with the aforementioned Address Book, iCal, Mail.app, and iPhoto) and/or PC (with Outlook). MobileMe will debut on July 11, 2008 alongside iPhone 3G and the 2.0 firmware, and should "just work" once you enter in your MobileMe username and password (previous users of .Mac will keep the same credentials, and will be able to use either user@mac.com or user@me.com interchangeably).

Local Sync: Getting iTunes

What Data Does iTunes Sync?

If you already have your data in Outlook, you're good to go for the iPhone. If you have it in another application, or scattered among a few applications... well, we'll get to that in a moment.

On the Mac side, iTunes "just works" with Apple's default applications, Address Book, iCal, Mail.app, Safari, and iPhoto, or with Microsoft's Entourage. Since sync services, contacts, calendaring, etc. are all "CoreServices" handled at the OS level, once you check the appropriate boxes in iTunes, the automagic process is almost transparent. You can even sync to Microsoft Office Entourage (Outlook's ugly step-sibling on the Mac side) by syncing Entourage with the default apps via CoreServices.

Similarly, if you don't have your data in these Mac apps yet, or have it scattered elsewhere, we'll also get to that in a moment.

Now let's break it down...

Syncing Your Contacts

These three protocols are all supported from directly within iTunes. If you have your contacts in one of them, simply choose the appropriate program from the drop-down in iTunes and your information will be moved right over to your iPhone.

From Apple OS X: Address Book, Yahoo! Address Book, and Google Contacts

On the Mac version of iTunes, you can check both Apple's Address Book and Yahoo! Address Book if you so choose. (I keep things simple -- and fear duplicates -- so I recommend picking one and sticking with it.)

If you're running OS X Leopard 10.5.3 or later, you can also sync your Gmail Contacts with your iPhone, using a more round-about method: launch Address Book, select Preferences from the Address Book menu, and check the box next to Synchronize with Google. Once set up, this will sync your Google Contacts to your Address Book, and then iTunes will sync them from Address Book to your iPhone.

From Everywhere Else: Thunderbird, Windows Live, Google Contacts

If you have your contacts in anything other than the above-mentioned programs or services, you'll have to move them over before you can sync them with the iPhone. Many programs/services allow you to export CSV files or vCards, including: Mozilla Thunderbird, Microsoft Windows Live, and Google Contacts.

Once you've got your export file, simply import the contacts back into Outlook, Address Book, Yahoo! Address Book and you're golden.

Syncing Your Calendar

For reasons known only to Apple and Microsoft, Outlook is your only calendar/event choice for syncing with the iPhone. (The drop down is so far only a merciless tease at options yet (maybe never?) to come).

From Apple OS X: iCal

Like Windows, OS X provides only one option for calendar sync: iCal (and not even a drop down to tease more.) Check it and go.

From Everywhere Else: Google Calendar, Windows Calendar, etc.

Many popular Calendar programs are compatible with the iCalendar format, which allows you to publish and/or subscribe from one program (and even platform) to another. Using this feature, you can try to move your data over your iPhone. Here's an example using Google Calendar:

You can subscribe to Google Calendars through Outlook on Windows, or use the Google Calendar Sync utility. Unfortunately the iPhone thus far doesn't reliably sync from anything besides the Outlook default Calendar, which means the subscribed Google Calendar doesn't get moved over unless you use a commercial product like the Paul Thurrott referenced SyncMyCal.

For Mac users a one way (Google to iPhone) work-around involves subscribing to your Google Calendar. From Google Calendar: Click on the Calendar Settings drop down, click on Private Address, and click on iCal to generate a private address for your Google Calendar especially designed for iCal. Copy the URL and open iCal. Inside iCal: Select the Calendar menu and click on Subscribe, then paste in the Private Address you copied from Google Calendar. Next time you sync, iCal will feed your Google Calendar to your iPhone. For bi-directional sync (Google to iPhone and iPhone to Google), there's the commercial Spanning Sync, and you can try the demo before you buy.

Theoretically, you could also try exporting and importing XML, CSV, or another cross-program file, although in my experience this often requires a vast amount of work (and Googling, and message board begging...)

Syncing Your Email

Two options for Windows users, the ubiquitous Outlook and Windows Mail (which I believe is an "upgrade" to the horrible Outlook Express rather a desktop version of the far superior WIndows Live Mail -- tsk tsk to both Apple and Microsoft).

From Apple OS X: Mail.app

Still only one choice from Apple OS X users, however: Apple's default mail client, the eponymous Mail.app. Again, just one checkbox, to keep with the ultra simple groove. (Usability over options is a mantra).

From Everywhere Else: Google Gmail, Yahoo! Mail, AOL, Microsoft Live/Hotmail, etc.

Yahoo! Mail can be setup as an IMAP email account on your iPhone, which means your Yahoo! Mail folders on your iPhone will exactly match your folders on Yahoo!'s website and vice versa. Also, Yahoo! provides "push" email for the iPhone, meaning changes to one will be reflected automatically and near-instantly in the other, just like Exchange ActiveSync and MobileMe (but without the calendar and contacts sync).

You can also set up your Gmail account, including the new Gmail IMAP service which works like Yahoo! Mail -- but without the "push" -- keeping your web, local client (i.e. Outlook, Mail, etc.), and web-based views synchronized at user-definable intervals (manually, every 10 minutes, etc.).

Unfortunately, since they don't (to the best of my knowledge) surface any open, standard protocols like IMAP or POP, Microsoft Live/Hotmail accounts can't easily be synced with the iPhone. Your options include signing up for a Yahoo! or Gmail account and manually moving the messages over to your new, IMAP-happy account, or you can try this free solution and see if it works for you.

For any ISP mail, you can simply set up the iPhone as a POP (or IMAP if they offer it -- much better!) client.

Syncing Your Bookmarks

iTunes supports syncing over all your bookmarks from Internet Explorer (hopefully the much more secure and standards friendly IE 7, right?) and Windows Safari (Apple's own browser). Hierarchies will be preserved, so think about how you'll use your booksmarks both on the desktop and the iPhone, and organize a good middle ground.

From Apple Mac OS X: Safari

No choices here. Check Safari and move along.

From Everywhere Else: Firefox, Opera, etc.

If you're using Firefox, Opera, or another Firefox-like (Mozilla Gecko powered), or Safari-like (Apple WebKit powered) browser, is to try and import your bookmarks into Internet Explorer or Safari (export first via HTML if you have to).

If you want to keep using Firefox (or another browser) for desktop use, there's no way to keep your bookmarks synced, unfortunately, but you can delete the IE or Safari bookmarks (since you're not using them) and re-import a fresh, updated set whenever you like.

Syncing Your Photos

For Windows users, the procedure to sync photos to the iPhone is as simple as it is non-powerful. Put all the photos you want to sync in a folder (or hierarchy of folders if you want to separate them out, e.g., Family, Friends, Birthday, etc.) and then select that folder in iTunes.

From Apple Mac OS X: iPhoto and Folder Sync

For Mac users, in addition to the folder sync described above, you can also chose to sync from Apple's iPhoto application, either your complete library, or from selected sub-libraries.

From Everywhere Else: Yahoo! Flickr, Facebook, Google Picasa, etc.

If you keep your photo collection online (i.e. Flickr, Facebook, Photoshop Express, Windows Live, etc.), you're going to have to target a desktop backup, or download the photos you want on your iPhone to a local directory. Put all the photos you want to sync in one folder, and make sure you note down the location of that folder (e.g. iPhone Photos). This will be the folder you target inside iTunes as described above.

For Picasa, make sure you organize all the pictures you want on your iPhone into one folder, or a hierachy of folders, and then that will be the folder your target from inside iTunes, also as described above.

Wait! Help! My Data is Stuck On My Phone!

From the Original iPhone (iPhone 2G) to iPhone 3G

Apple provides excellent directions for upgrading to the iPhone 3G.

From RIM Blackberry, Windows Mobile, and Palm Treo (Windows Mobile OS)

Blackberry's are data monsters. Data -- all of it, all now, all the time -- is the only reason for a Blackberry. It's why RIM invented the Blackberry. Windows Mobile, whether running on a Motorola, Samsung, HTC, Palm, or whatever device, is made to integrate with other Microsoft products like Exchange, ActiveSync, and Outlook/Entourage. (Note: Always make sure you have the latest/greatest firmware, patches, updates, etc. from your phone carrier and platform provider).

From a Blackberry or ActiveSync perspective, pretty much all business users will have an Exchange server of one kind or another available to them. Just use ActiveSync on your new iPhone 2.0 and you're good to go. (Check with IT if you have to, especially for the settings information).

If you don't have a business Exchange server but you do have access to a Windows computer with Microsoft Outlook on it, sync your Blackberry to Outlook, then Outlook to your iPhone.

For Mac users, check out Markspace, which provides a variety of phone-specific syncing solutions especially for the Mac. They're not free, but the time and effort they'll save you are well worth it. (I used to it get my data off a Palm OS Treo 680 into the default Apple apps and it worked seamlessly).

If you don' have any of the above available to you, try a hosted Exchange service, even temporarily. Sync your Blackberry data to that, then ActiveSync it to your new iPhone, and cancel the hosted Exchange service.

From Palm OS Treo

Palm OS (Garnet) Treo's can work similarly to the above if you have ActiveSync installed (or download it from Palm's website -- warning, direct file link!) and access to an Exchange server (business or hosted). 

Similarly if you have access to Outlook. If you're stuck in Palm Desktop, you'll first have to find your Palm install CD and go through the setup again, choosing Outlook instead.

(Mac users, see Markspace, above).

From a Feature Phone

If you don't have a smartphone, but are coming instead from a standard consumer feature phone (candybar or flip phone from Nokia, Motorola, Samsung, etc.) and have data on there you really don't want to retype, you can try looking for a data transfer kit that matches your phone. These vary widely in form, availability, and functionality, and will cost you money and time, but if you have both check out Howard Forums or even Google. Search and ask around. Be key word specific (i.e. "transfer data nokia model# outlook". Best of luck, and please share what you find in case others are trying out the same.

Conclusion

Well, there they are, my tips and tricks for getting your data off the old and outdated just in time for your brand new iPhone 3G/2.0. But try as I might, I know our readers — the real data ninjas — have a whole host of sneaky black magic all their own.

What are your best tips and tricks? Drop a comment and let us know!

Updating yesterday's story about .Mac getting the push-email treatment in iPhone 2.0, TUAW's tipsters are back with this little gem:

According to our anonymous tipster, .Mac will undergo a complete revamp that will coincide with the iPhone 2.0 launch (which everyone expects to occur at WWDC 08).

Again with the asking and receiving, eh?

Rumored highlights for the updated .Mac include full wireless (cell + wifi?) calendar, contacts, and email (an Apple Exchange anyone?) and .Mac support for -- you guessed it! -- Windows.

First El Jobso gives PC users a cool glass of iTunes and iPhone, and now a possible consumer-centric push service.

Did I mention how June can't come fast enough yet?