Getting stuff into your iPhone with iTunes

The way you get music, videos, movies, ringtones, other applications, your address book, calenders, phones, etc, into your iPhone is through Apple's free software called iTunes (you must have versions 8.2 or higher to work with your iPhone 3GS) for Mac and PC. Think of iTunes as the gateway between your computer and your iPhone.

Mac: iTunes comes preinstalled, so you've already got it (just make sure you have the latest version by launching iTunes, and then going under the iTunes menu and choosing check for updates). just launch iTunes (if it doesn't launch automatically), and it uploads any music, videos, photos, etc, you have in iTunes right into your iPhone.

PC: You'll need to go to Apple[dot]com/ itunes and download the latest version of iTunes to manage and sort all your music, videos, movies, etc.(including anyting you buy from the iTunes Store), and you'll use it to choose what actually gets uploaded into your iPhone.

Putting your iphone to Sleep

This is a great way to conserve battery life when you're not actively using any of the iPhone's functions - just press the Sleep/ Wake button on the top once (even though your iPhone is asleep, it will still receive calls and text messages as if it were awake). You'll hear a little click sound and your screen will go blank. While your iPhone is in this Sleep mode, the buttons on the screen are deactivated, so if you pit it in your pocket(or purse), it won't accidentally come on and start playing a song, or a video, or doing anything that would waste battery time. To wake it from sleep mode, you can either tap that button again, or press the home button on the bottom canter of your iPhone (just below the screen). When your iPhone wakes, the screen is still locked (Just in case you awakened it accidentally). To unlock the screen, just press your finger lightly on the gray button with the right-facing arrow on the bottom left on the screen, slide it to the right, and the home screen appears. Now, your iPhone is very careful to conserve battery power, so if you're not actively doing something with it, in about 45 seconds it dims the brightness of the screen (to save battery power), and then about 15 seconds later, if you still haven't done anything. it puts itself to sleep.

Turning your iPhone On and Off

To turn on your iPhone, press the sleep/ wake button at the top of the iPhone (Shown circled here in red on the left). After a moment, the apple logo will appear, and then you'll get the unlock screen. Slide the arrow button to the right to unlock your iPhone and get to the home screen, Which is pretty much your main jumping off point to all the different things the iPhone can do. If you want to turn your iPhone completely off(you won't be able to use any iPhone functions), just press-and-hold the Sleep/ Wake button for a few seconds until the red Slide to Power Off button appears. TO shut down, Just take your finger, press lightly on that red button, and slide it to the right. Your screen will turn black, you'll see a small round status icon for just a moment, then your iPhone will power off.

iTips: Canceling the Shutdown
if you get to the "power down" screen and then decide you didn't want to actually turn off your iPhone after all, just tap the cancel button and it will go back to the screen you were on. If you do nothing for about 30 seconds, that will also cancel the shutdown.