iPhone™ 3GS Portable Genius: Also covers iPhone 3G

Chapter 5. How Can I Take Control of Syncing My iPhone?

Your iPhone can function perfectly well on its own. After all, you can use it to create your own bookmarks, e-mail accounts, contacts, and appointments; you can download music and other media from the iTunes store; and you can take your own photos using the iPhone's built-in camera. If you want to use your iPhone as a stand-alone device, no one can stop you, not even Steve Jobs himself (we think). Yes, you can do that, but we're not sure why you'd want to. With all of the iPhone's great synchronization features, tons of that useful and fun content on your computer can also be shared with your iPhone. This chapter shows you how to master syncing your iPhone and your Mac or Windows computer.

Connecting Your iPhone to Your Computer 104

Syncing Your iPhone Automatically 104

Syncing Your iPhone Manually 107

Syncing Information with Your iPhone 108

Syncing Media with Your iPhone 119

Connecting Your iPhone to Your Computer

In an ideal world, your iPhone and your computer would be able to converse back and forth using some sort of wireless connection. That day may come, but for now we're stuck in a world of wires, which means you need to make a physical connection between your iPhone and your computer to do the syncing thing.

You've got a couple of ways to make the connection:

• USB cable. Take the USB cable that comes with your iPhone and attach ...