A few years ago, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella was giving a demo of the then, new Office suite for mobile. He pointed out all the Microsoft apps on the iPhone and quipped that it was an iPhone Pro.
Nadella made the classic mistake of techies of every stripe: he regarded the tech as the pro instead of the person using it. There may never be a piece of hardware called he iPhone Pro. But the world is full of iPhone professionals. And you might already be one of them.
Another word frequently used to describe both the tech and the person using it is power. We sometimes divide tech users into the categories of “power user” and “casual user”. The difference between the two is subtle.
You don’t have to know how to use every feature of a device to be a power user. You don’t even have to use most of the features. You could probably be considered a power user even if you know a subset of features that increase your utility, and that most other people don’t know about. If you want to go from a casual iPhone user to an iPhone pro, here are a few tips that will help you get there:
Become a Better iPhone Photographer
The difference between a person who takes a few casual snaps and a photographer is massive. Yet going from one state to the other can happen in less time than you think. In the article, iPhone Photography Tips and Tricks, you will find clear advice on how to elevate your iPhotography game.
You can get a lot more from your iPhone photos by learning to manually adjust the settings. You can adjust focus by touching and hold a particular spot on the screen. This also tells the software what part of the image at which the exposure should be aimed.
But you can go much further. A few updates ago, Apple made manual camera settings available for third-party developers. It is trivially easy to find inexpensive iPhone camera apps that allow you to manually adjust ISO, exposure, and aperture. One of the best pro tips is to use third-party apps to unlock pro settings.
Save Videos
By now, you have come to realize that there are a few restrictions on what you can do with your hard drive. But the restrictions are probably not as bad as you think. With the right software from the App Store combined with the right services, you can not only watch streaming online video, in some cases, you can download it.
YouTube downloaders exist for iOS because there are a lot of legitimate reasons a person might need to download instead of stream. You might be planning a presentation and don’t want to rely on wifi for a critical part of your presentation. Whatever your reason, the iPhone is the right tool for the job. The pro tip is that you can save video, not just watch it.
Listen to ebooks
If you want to be an iPhone Pro, learn this pro accessibility trick: Don’t just read ebooks in iBooks. Let the iPhone read them to you. This also works with the Kindle app. Follow these steps:
- Go to Settings, General, Accessibility, Speech
- Toggle Speak Screen
- Select Voices based on your language and preference
- Open your ebook reader and go to the page you want reading to begin
- Swipe down from the very top of the screen with two fingers and enjoy.
The reading will begin at the top of the page, and continue until you stop it. There will be a special set of controls on the screen to control the reading. It will continue to read the book even when you turn the screen off. It will even turn the pages for you in the background so that when you stop the reading, you can pick up where it left off. This little accessibility feature also works on web pages, documents, and just about anything else where text can be found.
A power user is a person who is empowered to get the most out of there tech. Be empowered by using manual settings to improve your iPhotography. Don’t just watch videos. Save them. And when your eyes have had enough, let the iPhone read to you
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