I have in my possession a nugget, a secret bit of iPhone information that’s so valuable, such a headache- and time-saver, that I don’t know what to do with it.

One voice in my head says, “Hoard it! Keep it a secret until your book is published! If you reveal it, it’ll be all over the Net in hours, and all your competitors’ books will have it, too.”

But another voice says, “But this information is too good to keep quiet. Plus, you didn’t discover it yourself. And besides, you’re not gonna starve, either way.”

Eventually, the second little voice prevailed. I’m going to share with you the solution to one of the most annoying things, if not THE most annoying thing, about typing on the iPhone:

The punctuation keys and alphabet keys appear in two different keyboard layouts.

So every time you want to type a period or a comma, it’s a three-step, awkward dance: (1) Tap the “.?123” key in the lower left to summon the punctuation layout. (2) Type the period. (3) Type the ABC key in the lower left to return to the alphabet layout.

Imagine how excruciating it is to type, for example, “a P.O. Box in the U.S.A.”! That’s 34 finger taps and 10 mode changes!

And therefore imagine how thrilled I was to receive an email from reader Andrew McCallum, containing a method of typing a period or a comma with only a SINGLE finger gesture.

The iPhone doesn’t register most key presses until you *release* your finger. But Andrew discovered that the Shift and Punctuation keys register their taps on the *press-down* instead.

So here’s what you can do, all in one motion:

1. Touch the “.?123” key, but don’t lift your finger as the punctuation layout appears.

2. Slide your finger a half inch onto the period or comma key, and release.

Incredibly, the ABC layout returns automatically. You’ve typed a period or a comma with one finger touch instead of three. In fact, you can type ANY of the punctuation symbols the same way.

This makes a HUGE difference in the usability of the keyboard.

Thank you for this wonderful tip, nice find nevertheless. I love typing on my iphone so much more!

er.. could you tell me iphone got programe for watch video yet? my iphone dt have it...
:((

Thats very handy, thanks for sharing that.

nice!!! tks a million

very informative... thank you...

Nice tip thanx mate!

great tip mate :good2:

awesome one DUDE, REP to U

Sounds like the rep should go to Andrew McCallum, but this "nugget" (and many, many more "nuggets") is already in Erica Sadun's book, "Taking Your iPhone to the Max" from Apress. Erica Sadun is iPhone god(dess) [Only registered and activated users can see links]

Thanks for the tip.
There's also a different fast way to type a period. Just tap the space bar twice. You can't do it too slow or it will just insert 2 spaces. Tap it fast twice and a period will be inserted.

nice tip.. thanks ..!!

happy you figured it out dude, but this is old news :)

1. Double tap space bar for a period -

When typing on your iPhone, double tapping the space bar at the end of a sentence automatically enters a period followed by a space. No need to press "123" to get to the numbers and symbols page where the period typically resides. I use this trick daily and it heavily increases my typing speed (especially when texting).

Spacebar1


Spacebar2


2. Tap the bottom corner to navigate home screens

When on your home screen, try tapping the bottom right/left corner to switch between pages instead of swiping your finger accross the screen.

Home_navigation_tip


3. Take out your SIM card during backup and sync -

We've all experienced it. You're backing up and syncing your iPhone, and the hour long back up is nearly complete. Then all of a sudden you get a phone call, and the whole back up/sync is null and void.

To avoid this happening, simply start the backup/sync, then pull out your SIM card. Do not worry, this does not damage your phone at all. Put it back in once everything is complete. This way, your backup won't get interrupted.

This tip is also useful if you need to make a phone call while your iPhone is backing up/syncing. Since unlocking your phone cancels the process, just take out your SIM card, pop it in your old cell phone, and call away.


4. Move "dock" icons

You'd be surprised how often this tip is overlooked. The 4 icons located on the grey bar at the bottom of your iPhone - Phone, Mail, iPod, Safari - are movable, just like the rest of the icons. Just press and hold the icons, then drag them while they are shaking. Press the home button when you're done. You can put any 4 icons on your dock.

In the screenshots, note the difference between pic 1 and 2.

Dock1


Dock2


5. Automatically capitalize and add apostrophes

The iPhone automatically capitalizes certain words ("I" when you type "i"). It also automatically adds apostrophes ("I'm" when you type "Im").

Type_tip_1


Type_tip_2


6. Double tap a column on Safari to fit-to-page

When browsing the Internet on your iPhone's Safari browser, double tap any column, word, or picture to fit it's width to your iPhone's screen. This is extremely useful for reading blogs.

The first screenshot is the page when it firsts load. The second screenshot is the page once the main text was double tapped.

Width_tip1


Width_tip2


7. Manually select the icon image for a bookmarked webpage

This one's a little more confusing. When you are browsing a website on your iPhone's Safari browser and want to add its icon to your home screen, press the plus sign and select "Add to Home Screen".

The image in the icon, however, is a screenshot of the page you were on. So if you want the icon to look a specific way, zoom in on a particular item on the page. Whether you want the website's logo, or some picture on the page, simply zoom in on that part of the page before you press "Add to Home Screen".

Note: This doesn't work with all websites. Popular sites like Google have special icons for the iPhone's home screen.

Bookmark1

Go to your website of choice.


Bookmark2

Zoom in on your favorite part.

Bookmark3

Press the + sign and choose Add to Home Screen.


Bookmark4

Name the bookmark appropriately (Digg - Apple).

Bookmark5

Now that exact part of the webpage is displayed in your icon.


8. Your iPhone's headphones have a multi-function button!

You'd be surprised how many people don't know that the iPhone's native headphones have a button on the microphone.

Just squeeze the microphone together, and the button gets pressed.

The buttons functions:

In call...

o Press once to answer a call
o Press twice to send the call to voicemail
o Press once to hang up a call

Out of call...

* Press once to activate iPod and play song
* Press once to pause song
* Press twice to skip to next song

V Nice.........
Thnx....

Great! Thanks for sharing, I didn't know this!!
Regards

nice tip, very informative.

Thx a lot, very useful

Nice share mate. THanks

Slick stuff! Amazingly helpful! Thanks.

thanks for this. it's much easier now

Great Tips....Thanks

Best share ever! THanks! :urtheman:

thanks dude nice tip...

Thanks mate. Hats off to u and ur friend.

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I have also come to know that after pressing . if u press space it automatically brings u to alphabet keyboard. That's a very useful thing to know too.

Very nice tip. Thanks