After quite some time with my last phone Palm Treo 650 I now have an iPhone 3GS. Why so late? Why anyway? I think the perspective of a pda "veteran" and long time user of mobile data might be interesting for some. Especially the high class iPhone has some disadvantages one wouldn't expect. Some are correctable and some not, yet. Following you will find some information about the iPhone 3GS which might be interesting while using.
Bluetooth
| Profile | Short | Usage | Sample Products |
|---|---|---|---|
| Advanced Audio Distribution | A2DP | Audiotransfer | Audioplayer, Headphones, Micro |
| The Advanced Audio Distribution Profile supports the transmission of stereo audio data between two devices, e.g. between a pc and a headset. There are two different roles within this profile - one unit is the source (A2DP-SRC) and the other one the sink (A2DP-SNK). | |||
| Audio Video Remote Control | AVRCP | Audio/Video Remote Control | PC, VCR, DVD-Player |
| The Audio Video Remote Control Profile enables mobile
Bluetooth devices to act as a remote control for audio- or video devices. Instead of a simple remote
control unit the controler may also be a pc, mobile phone or pda. There are two different roles
within this profile - one unit is the controler (AVRCP-CT) and the other one the target (AVRCP-TG).
AVRCP support in the iPhone is limited to pause/play/stop prior to iOS 4.1 | |||
| Hands Free | HFP | In car telephony | Phone, Hands free kit |
| The Hands Free Profile supports the use of a car kit. It manages the communication between a car kit and a mobile phone via Bluetooth. There are two roles in this profile. The car kit is called HF-Unit while the mobile phone is called HF-Audio Gateway. | |||
| Headset | HSP | Headset voice output | Headset |
| The Headset Profile supports the usage of wireless headsets, e.g. sound input and output for a mobile phone or VoIP calls with a computer. The possible quality is only sufficient for speech. For music the A2DP profile is used. There are two roles in this profile. The headset is called Headset-Headset while the opposite unit is called Headset-Audio Gateway. The Headset Proile uses services of the Serial Port Profile (SPP). | |||
| Human Interface Design | HID | Inputs | Keyboard, Mouse, PC |
| The Human Interface Device Profile supports the wireless
use of input devices like mice, keyboards or joysticks. There are two roles in this profile. Input
devices are called HID-Client and receivers as HID-Unit. HID support was introduced to the iPhone in iOS 4.0. | |||
| Personal Area Networking | PAN | Network connection | Access Point |
| The Personal Area Networking Profile supports networks in personal areas. Through these ad-hoc networks up to eight devices can exchange data. Devices like harddisks, internet access or printers may be used like in local networks (lan). There are two different roles. A PAN-Access Point can provide a network access to other Bluetooth devices which are called PAN users or act as a master in a PAN group. This network can consist of up to seven PAN users via a PAN-AP. Two PAN users may otherwise connect directly with each other without a PAN-AP. | |||
| Phonebook Access Profile | PBAP | read phonebook | Phone, Car Kits |
| The Phonebook Access Profile supports read access to a mobile phone's phonebook for other devices. | |||
The Bluetooth implementation in the iPhone is quite rudimentary and only supports the
profiles mentioned above. Here you will find 
Infos about all Bluetooth profiles.
Calendar
The Calendar in the iPhones looks great at first sight but lacks some major features while using:
- No feature go to date
- No weekly view
- No calendar week shown
- Calendar invitations received via e-mail (ICS) can not be applied to the calendar
- One can not invite other persons
- Tasks from iCal are not synced
- The category colors are not synced from iCal
- Appointments can not be moved by drag & drop
- No copy & paste
- In the monthly view every day with an appointment is shown with a grey point instead of the correct category color
- While adding an appointment the category may be chosen. Afterwards this is not changeable (works since iOS 4.0)
- Birthdays are not taken from the address book and shown in the calendar (works since iOS 4.0)
Birthdays
As the iPhone calendar does not show birthdays stored within the
address book before iOS 4.0 one can use 
Occasions. This app also features
additional features like reminding of birthdays, anniversaries, infos about the age and other
details.
Notes
The very simple Notes app in the iPhone has nearly no functions.
Notes can only synced with Apple Mail and are not password protectable. As an alternative I use Notebooks which adds a lot of
other features and syncs via WebDAV or SyncDocs with the computer.
Ringtones
In iTunes switch import prefs to AAC stellen. Then right click on a song and select a maximimum 30 seconds long range in options by changing th "start at" and "stop at" values. Afterwards one can right click on the song and select "Convert selection to AAC" in options. The selected range is saved to a file with the extension .m4a. This file is then renamed to the extension .m4r which is Apple's extension for ringtones. If this file is double clicked it is imported into iTunes and copyied to the iPhone at next sync.
Voicemail
If you don't use your iPhone in an Apple approved mobile network in your country but for example with Vodafone Germany the voicemail key in the telephone app is not assigned at first. You can do this by entering the digits *5005*86*5500# and hitting the green phone symbol where 5500 is the number of the Vodafone voicebox.
Screenshot
A screenshot can be taken by holding the home button and clicking the on/off key at the same time. The produced JPEG picture is saved in Photos and transmitted at next sync.
Net monitor
The net monitor can be activated by entering *3001#12345#* (green handset).
Tethering
Using the iPhone as a data modem via usb or Bluetooth is called Tethering by Apple. This may be activated since iOS 3.1.3 for unlocked iPhones.
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