Contacts

There is nothing more annoying than duplicate and incomplete contact information on your phone, especially now that people are relying on Siri to access their contacts for various reasons. Smart Merge is an iPhone application that promises to clean up your messy Contacts app.

The app will hunt down duplicates in your Contacts app so you can merge them into one. Smart Merge also allows you to backup your contacts, sync your contacts between multiple devices, and locate incomplete contacts without a names or phone number. The name of the app also suggests you can merge your Facebook and Linkedin accounts.

The iPhone Contacts app provides several labels for numbers, such as main, mobile and work to identify different lines. What if you need to add a label not included in the list, to identify multiple mobile lines or a land line for a contact?

You can add a custom label to any number by tapping the Edit button while viewing the contact. Touch the label to the left of the phone number. Scroll down to the bottom of the list of labels, and tap Add Custom Label. Enter the custom label text and touch Save.

Developer Jeff Broderick has come up with an easy way to call someone by turning their contact info into an app icon on your iPhone's home screen. The QuickContact web app eliminates the need for you to search through your contact list for frequently called friends and family. Just add the contact info of a person you call frequently, and QuickContact will create a shortcut for them on your home screen.

You can choose from 15 pre-made app icons or upload your own for a simple one-touch messaging solution. The app requires access to your device's Settings and that you enter the information for all of your contacts. Broderick says the process is safe and no information is saved, but use it at your own risk.

Rumors have surfaced online that Apple and its partner AT&T Wireless have ceased to offer the iPhone 4 without a two-year service contract. Speculation on the issue has blamed the policy change on everything from an impending Verizon iPhone to AT&T greed. These reports would be informative except for one thing, the rumor is not true.

Both AT&T and Apple offer the iPhone 4 without a contract at no-commitment pricing. However, these deals are not available online. AT&T representatives have verified that the iPhone 4 can be purchased without a contract in person, from either an AT&T Wireless retail store or an Apple Store. To have an iPhone purchased online and shipped to your residence or place of business, a two-year contract is required.

Sometimes waiting for automated phone menus and dialing extensions can be a real drag. Luckily, the Apple iPhone has an easy way to automatically dial extensions when needed.

All you need is the contact you're trying to reach and the relevant phone number and extension you'd like to add to the contact information.

Currently, this isn't a feature that is available on the iPhone (as of firmware 1.1.4), but it has been rumored to be part of the coming iPhone 2.0 upgrade.

For now, you'll just have to do things the old fashioned way.