How to Scroll Up Fast on an iPhone

So just a quick little post today.  Just wanted to let everyone know about a cool little feature that helps page usability on the iPhone.

If you are every scrolling down a long list or webpage on the iPhone (or other iDevice) there is a fairly simple way to scroll back up to the top of the page.

All you have to do is tap the top of the page on your iPhone.  Check it out in the image above to see what I mean.  All you need to do is tap where the arrow is pointing, and it will actually scroll the entire way back up to the top of the page.  This can be a real timesaver if your looking at a webpage that is seemingly endless.

Hope it helps some people!

Apple posts record numbers for Q2 2012

Apple announced today their Q2 2012 earnings this year and they most certainly did not disappoint.  They posted a quarterly revenue of $39.2 billion and quarterly net profit of $11.6 billion.  This is nearly double their Q2 2011 earnings of $24.7 billion of revenues and and $6.0 billion of net profit.

During this quarter, which ended March 31st, 2012, Apple sold an impressive 35.1 million iPhones and an incredible 11.8 million iPads.  Even more impressive is that the new iPad was only available for sale for roughly 2 weeks of the quarter.  That’s nearly 350,000 iPhones sold per day!

While their Mac and iPod categories saw less strength, they were more than held up by their iPhone and iPad sales which continue to dominate the market.  If we see more of this in the future, Apple will surely begin to tower over the competition.

How to Restore Your iPhone From a Backup

There are  a few cases in which being able to restore your iPhone can be a valuable thing to know. Take for example, if your iPhone was stolen, or you accidentally deleted a funny video off of your iPhone, or maybe you even accidentally erased the whole iPhone!  Either way,  it is pretty easy to restore your iPhone to its previous state provided that you made a backup (to learn how to create a backup see here).

The First thing you’ll need to do is to plug your iPhone into the computer with your backup on it and turn on iTunes.

Secondly, in iTunes, under devices, find your iPhone.

Right click on this iPhone and click “Restore from Backup”.

Select the proper backup from the selection of previous backups and click ok.

iTunes will go through and restore your iPhone so that it is the exact state of your old iPhone.

Enjoy!

Erase Your iPhone and Restore to Factory Settings

There are a few different reasons why you may want to restore your iPhone to its factory settings.  One of the main reasons would be if you were selling the iPhone.  If you are selling your iPhone it is a good idea to erase all of your data to ensure data security.  When you sell your iPhone to the iPhone Antidote (see here), we securely erase all of the data, but some other companies or other methods of selling your iPhone may not be as secure.

Follow the directions below to erase all of the data on your iPhone and restore it back to it’s factory settings.

First, turn your iPhone on and go to settings.

Next, go to General.

At the bottom of the General screen you should see an option for reset, click this.

Now click “Erase All Content and Settings”

This will erase everything on your iPhone and restore it back to it’s factory settings.

Thanks for reading!

How to Lock Your iPhone Screen from Rotating

Have you ever been lying in bed, using your iPhone to browse the internet, and you turn over just to have your iPhone’s screen flip sideways?

Apple created a feature in the iOS software to enable the iPhone to switch perspectives if you were to tilt the iPhone over.  This can be really helpful if you actually want the perspective to be rotated, but it can be quite annoying if you are laying down or are otherwise horizontal.

Rest assured, however, there is an easy way to fix it.  If you would like to temporarily disable the screen rotation, follow the steps below.

First, hit the home button twice to bring up the bottom menu.

Then, slide the menu to the right (to view what is to the left) and click the circular logo with the arrow on it once.

This will change the circular logo to include a lock logo inside of it.

Once you have done this, you will be able to lay in bed and read on your iPhone without any worries about the screen changing its rotation.

Enjoy!

How to Take a Screenshot on Your iPhone/iPod/iPad

Something most people tend to miss out on with their iDevices is the ability to take a screenshot. This can be really helpful in a variety of different situations. You can take pictures of your text messages, your call log, different websites you are on for later viewing and pretty much anything else you can think of.  It can also be a really helpful way to zoom in and crop pictures that may already be on your iDevice.

The gesture is quite simple to do, all you need to do is:

Press the Home (round button) and the Lock (top button) button at the same time.

Hope this helps someone!

What to Do if You Drop Your iPhone in Water

The worst has happened.  Your iPhone has gotten wet, and as with all electronics and water, you fear the worst; your iPhone is broken.

This horror story has happened too many times, but if your quick and on the ball, you can possibly prevent your iPhone from damage.  Follow the instructions below to help fix your water damaged iPhone before it is too late.

• First, take your iPhone out of the water!

• Turn your iPhone off immediately!  Water and electricity do not mix well, and if there is anything you can do to help preserve your iPhone it is to make sure it is off immediately.

• If your iPhone fell in any type of salt water, beer, soft drinks or anything else, put your iPhone in fresh water to clean off any of the previous liquid.  A quick rinse should be fine, do not go overboardwith useless water damage.

• Get a ziploc bag and put uncooked rice or silica gel in it (the packets that come in shoeboxes and beef jerky packets to keep them free of moisture) and place the iPhone and the rice/silica gel inside the plastic bag.

• Keep your iPhone in this bag for 48 hours, or AT LEAST 24 hours.

• Take your iPhone out and turn it back on.  Hopefully if you were fast enough your iPhone will work perfectly again!

How to Replace Your Cracked iPhone 4 Back Glass

So you broke the back on your iPhone 4?  That is a bummer.  But don’t fret, it is not really as bad as it may seem.

With a couple of steps you can make your iPhone 4 or 4S look just like new again.

1) Go to eBay.com and search iPhone 4 (or 4S) Back Glass.  You should be able to find them for around $15-20.  Make sure it includes screwdrivers.

2) Once you receive your new iPhone 4 Back Glass, go ahead and take the old glass off of your phone and swap to the new glass as shown below.

3) Now your iPhone looks just like new!

Repair Steps

a) Unscrew the two screws at the bottom of your iPhone using the screwdriver that was included with your iPhone Back Glass (as shown below)

b) Slide the back of the iPhone glass up towards the top of the iPhone, which will release the back off of the iPhone.

c) Place your new iPhone glass against the back of the iPhone where the old glass was located and slide it back down to lock it in place.

d) Using the screws you previously unscrewed, screw the new back glass back into place

Enjoy!

How to Get Out of Your Sprint Contract without Paying an Early Termination Fee

Have you been itching to leave Sprint, but you are still on contract?  As it turns out, their terms and conditions have changed recently, and this may mean that you can get out of your Sprint cell phone contract without paying the dreaded early termination fee (or ETF).

This is applicable for people on family plans and have a discount applied on their account.  Basically what Sprint has done is that they have decided that only the first line of your family plan will be able to have a discount (not the additional plans), whereas previously, they did give this discount.  Since this discount will raise most people’s plans prices each month, there are opportunities to get out of your contract without paying the ETF.

Call the Sprint Consumerist Hotline (703-433-4401) and tell them that you would like to cancel your service because of the increase on your bill regarding your discount on your family plan lines.  Make sure to mention that since this is an increase of your bill on your contract, that you do not need to pay the early termination fee.  They should know about this, and if they do not, ask to speak to a manager.  This will be valid as long as they are made aware within 45 days of the change.  Make sure you have a new carrier to port your number to after you cancel your Sprint service.

Enjoy your savings and don’t worry about paying any of the dreaded ETF!

How to Create a Backup of your iPhone

Although it is fairly easy to do, there are still a lot of people that would not entirely know how to create a backup of their iPhone.  Here is a quick guide in case you find yourself unsure of how to create a backup.

•  Plug your iPhone or iPod into your computer
• Load iTunes
• Find your iPhone or iPod on the left side under the Devices section of iTunes
• Right Click on your Device
• Click Backup