Giving and Using iPhone this Holiday Season

iPhone is an Internet and multimedia enabled smartphone designed and marketed by Apple Inc. iPhone is more than just a phone. It combines three devices in one: a revolutionary mobile phone, a widescreen iPod, and a breakthrough Internet device. See, hear, play everything that entertains you on one really great iPhone.

Part I. Taking iPhone as a gift
Christmas is coming, and sometimes the stressful search for the perfect Christmas present for family and friends. If the people on your list are into gadgets, you'll be sure to give iPhone as a gift this oliday season.

People who will love the iPhone
* College students. If you've got a child in college, they've got a cell phone (which you're probably paying for) and might have/want an iPod. Why not combine the two?
* Movie fans who watch a lot of video may want great battery life offered by the iPhone.
* People on the go - with a phone, music player, and always-on Internet access, the iPhone is a terrific tool for someone always out and about.
* Game lovers. With the App Store, the iPhone has a library of terrific mobile games.

iPhone 3GS – the perfect choice of gift
The iPhone 3GS is the new hottest gadget since its launch. It takes the second-generation iPhone 3G as its base and adds fine-tunings and a few major new features for video recording, voice control and giving you a storage of up to 32GB! The major changes to the iPhone 3GS come in the areas of performance and media. The 3G S performs much faster than the 3G, with Apple claiming an overall two-fold increase in speed. One other nice feature that's been tacked on the video tool is video recording and editing. You can grab and cut video in-phone without having to offload anywhere else. Well, it’s clear that iPhone 3GS should be a perfect gift choice for the gadget-lover on your holiday shopping list.

Part II. I just got an iPhone ... Now what?
OK, you're the proud owner of a fancy new iPhone. Not only is the iPhone a great holiday gift, it's also a very useful mobile device. You're really going to enjoy it. You may be asking yourself, though, where do I begin? Even if you've had an iPod in the past, the experience of setting up and using the iPhone is a bit more involved. Below you'll find most useful in the early stages of activating and using your iPhone.

Unlocking and activating iPhone
In order to being using your iPhone, you have to activate it using iTunes or PwnageTool. Though George Hotz has finally come up with Mac version of BlackRa1n jailbreak on Oct. 14th, 2009, BlackRa1n requires you to update your iDevice to OS 3.1.2 and then jailbreak it. PwnageTool, on the other hand, creates a custom firmware which preserves your Baseband from updating so that you may unlock your iPhone later if you want to. iFunia's iPhone column gives the step-by-step guide on iPhone activation with PwnageTool to get you started using it right away!

Syncing iPhone and iTunes
Once you've activated your iPhone, you'll be forwarded to the sync management page to manage iPhone syncing and content. The iPhone will automatically begin syncing your phone with the contacts, calendars, web bookmarks, and email accounts it finds on your computer. You can choose to accept whatever it finds or you can customize what gets synced. Music, podcast, movie syncing does not happen automatically the first time you connect the iPhone to iTunes. As such, you have to specify what you want to sync and then resync. The iPhone can also sync its photos with your iPhoto library. When you're done chosing all your settings, click the sync button at the bottom right to resync the iPhone with iTunes and all your content will be in place.

Getting holiday video and DVD movies onto your iPhone
Besides enjoying iTunes movie on the go, you will surely take some video and collect big DVD libraries this holiday. Video converter and DVD Ripper software can help you convert video – DVDs, TV shows, video clips – from their native formats to a format that will be supported by iPhone on Mac, including Snow Leopard. There are many programs such as Handbrake and iFunia DVD Ripper Pro for Mac can do this, ranging from free to those that cost $20-$40. They vary in output quality, so try a free download and then make the right choice.

Here is a step by step guide about how to rip DVD movies to iPhone MP4 format(Take iFunia DVD Ripper Pro for example), you could draw inferences about other cases from one instance.

Step 1. Download iFunia DVD Ripper Pro for Mac, install and run

Step 2. Select the titles you'd like to convert
A movie DVD usually has several titles. The shorter titles on the DVD are usually the video backgrounds used in the DVD menu screens and DVD extras like movie trailers. Unless you are a graphic artist, you probably don't want to convert these titles.
* Movie: If you are ripping a movie, the longest title is usually the main feature.
* TV Shows: If you are ripping a DVD containing TV shows, you should see a list of several titles all about the same length.

Step 3. Edit videos: crop, trim, add special effects or add watermark
Wanna add a personalized watermark on the output video files? You may add a text watermark or an image logo using iFunia DVD Ripper Pro for Mac. Just select the titles/chapters you'd like to add watermark, then click the button 'Edit' to open video editing window. If you want to crop DVD movies or add some special effects, click the first two tabs.

Step 4. Change the output settings to convert videos with best quality
In the Destination-Setup section of the interface, choose the right preset for your iPhone device in the Convert-to drop-down menu. You can also change the output settings to make the video look the best on iPhone. Here I set the output video format to 'iPhone MPEG-4 (640*480) Video (*.mp4)', Video Codec as 'H.264', Resolution as '640*480', Bitrate as '768', Frame Rate as '30', Audio Codec as 'AAC' by default.

Step 5. Start converting DVD movies
Now you may click the big button "Start" to begin converting DVD movies onto your hard disk. The Convert progress bar shows you how much of the convert process is completed. Once the convert is complete, iFunia DVD Ripper Pro will place on your Mac a new version of your movie that will play on the iPhone. Double-click the new file and play it to make sure it looks as you expect.

Transfering video from iPhone to computer
This holiday, you will surely play with video recording feature from iPhone 3GS. You may prefer getting videos over to your new Mac and viewing the video at full quality, rather than compressed / monkeyed with for YouTube. To import videos quickly from iPhone 3GS to a Mac, first connect your iPhone to your Mac with its USB (sync) cable, and launch the Image Capture app, choose where to download videos or pictures to, and then click Download. You can also import 3GS videos via the iPhoto app, simply connect your iPhone 3GS to your computer and open your photo management program. Import photos in your normal way. Coming along with the still photos will be your video.

Well, there's a lot more to learn when iPhone comes to more advanced use, of course, but the things above are what you're likely to need to know in the first days or weeks of having a new iPhone. Take advantage of the great gift and spread some cheer this holiday season!

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