iMail: Letters to the editor and publisher of iPhone Life magazine.

Missing ManualUnless otherwise indicated, all responses are from Rich Hall, Managing Editor of iPhone Life (rich@iphonelife.com).



Need a basic book to help with the iPhone 4


Please would you be so kind to recommend a basic book for the iPhone 4. I am not very savvy.


Arthur E. Martin

iPhone Life
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Thanks for your question, Arthur. There are a variety of good books out there, and an Amazon.com search on "iPhone 4" will lead you to them. I like the Missing Manual series of books by David Pogue, and his iPhone: The Missing Manual is a great reference and an enjoyable read. Make sure you get the 4th edition of the book, which covers the iPhone 4. It has a 5-star customer rating on Amazon.com. 

Todd Bernhard, Todd@ToddBernhard.com

Thanks for keeping me informed


I have every issue of iPhone Life and am a subscriber to this great magazine. I would like to say how much I've enjoyed your Buyer's Guide issue. It has everything covered! I look forward to every issue you produce and plan to be a subscriber for as long as you plan to keep publishing. I had an iPod touch until last month when I got an iPhone 4. Thanks for all you've done to keep me informed and able to make good decisions when making purchases of apps, phones, and accessories. 


Steve Baust

AppleCare Protection Plan does extend phone support

I was looking through your most recent issue, iPhone Life Buyers Guide, and noticed an error. The description for the AppleCare Protection Plan stated that it does NOT extend the complimentary phone support, which is incorrect. The APP extends both phone support and the hardware warranty out to two years from the date of purchase.

Mike Eveland

Abbreviated URL's used in iPhone Life magazine take you to App Store listings


AllowI've been reading through the wonderful iPhone Life Buyer's Guide, but can't figure out the codes associated with each app. For example, iBird Pro is mentioned on page 79 of that issue. Below the title, you list the price ($29.99) and the code app2.me/256. This doesn't seem to match anything on your website; nor does it apply to items in the App Store, as far as I can tell. I know that I can search the App Store by the name of the app, but I assume that the code is a shortcut reference that might save me time. Thanks for an excellent periodical—but please solve this mystery for me!

Sorry to have confused you. The "code" you refer to is an abbreviated Web address. Enter it into your Web browser and it will take you to the app's listing in the App Store. Note: After you enter it in the address window, a screen will pop up, asking you if you want to allow this to happen. Click on the "Allow" button.

A little explanation is in order: Every app in the App Store has a direct link that will take you to it from a Web browser, but these links tend to be long and unwieldy. For example, the direct link associated with iBird Pro looks like this: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/ibird-explorer-pro/id308018823?mt=8.

In our experience, when we put a long link like that in the magazine, readers tend make mistakes entering it into a browser and don't find the app they are looking for. We use a web address shortening service that assigns a shorter, easier to enter URL to the product.

Thanks much for you e-mail. 

Issue: 
January-February 2011
Department/Section: 
Regular Departments
TOC Weight: 
2