Recently, we’ve received quite a few emails from Telecom customers who have had issues sending or receiving emails from their iPhones or who aren’t sure what server addresses to use for SMTP etc. If you’re one of those experiencing issues with Xtra email on your iPhone, there’s an uber-simple solution that you’d be forgiven for overlooking. Details after the ‘read more’.

Because Telecom’s Xtra service is tied up with Yahoo! and their email is now handled on the Yahoo! Mail platform, iPhone owners can simply add their Xtra email accounts as a Yahoo! Mail account.

To add your account this way, first go to Settings –> Mail, Contacts, Calendars, tap ‘Add account’ and then ‘Yahoo! Mail’.

In the next screen you only need to enter your Xtra email address and password, and everything else you might normally expect to be asked such as server addresses etc will be taken care of for you behind-the-scenes.

The big advantage to setting up your account this way (apart from the sheer simplicity of it and the lack of error messages) is that Yahoo! Mail for iPhone actually uses IMAP technology instead of the standard POP3 that you would be using if you…

Every week we receive dozens of emails from people who are considering buying an iPhone from overseas, or who currently live overseas and are moving to New Zealand with an existing iPhone, and they want to know whether or not said device will work here in New Zealand. Unfortunately, the answer is almost always ‘no’, but read on for the full lowdown.

New Zealand is lucky in that it is one of only a handful of countries in the world where the iPhone can be purchased outright and unlocked. By outright I mean free of any term contract and by unlocked I mean that it is not restricted for use on any one particular network. Once purchased through either Apple’s Online Store or via Vodafone, you are free to connect your iPhone to any compatible network anywhere in the world.

In the USA (which is where most of you ask us about getting them from), it is a very different situation. There, the iPhone is exclusive to the AT&T network and every iPhone sold in the US is locked to that network only. Even if you pay for the mobile outright and don’t enter into…

Every day we receive lots of emails from people who have bought either a new iPhone 3GS or 3G, or have bought an original iPhone via Trademe or eBay, and they are confused as to which networks they can use it on or whether it’s unlocked or can do this-or-that. We’re not surprised, it’s certainly not easy trying to get your head around it all, particularly if you’ve only just started looking and are trying to size the lay of the land. To help you understand the differences between each of the three models, how they work with each of the main three networks here in New Zealand and to help you pick the phone that’s right for you, we’ve put together a handy comparison guide. Hit the ‘Read More’ link to view the guide on-screen or to download a printable PDF.

Click the image below to open a full-sized copy of the guide:

– Download PDF copy of comparison guide

We get a lot of questions via email from our readers so we have decided to set up a new section called “Ask iPhonewzealand“. These are emails we get from our readers asking us how to do something. They may be easy, or more long winded, but if you have a question for us you’d like answering use our contact form to get in touch.

1st Edition:

Hi Guys, quick question – how do you get the battery % indicator displayed to the left of the battery charge icon? Is this available on a Vodafone iPhone? I’ve seen it in many screenshots but I suspect these were screenshots of XT & 2 degrees IPhones

Cheers, Tony

This is actually a question we get asked a lot and as our iPhone Basics section goes to show not everyone is aware of this.
It’s not a hack nor do you have to do anything special to switch it on, however it is located in a rather obscure place.

To get the percent display go to Settings –> General –> Usage and you’ll see the On/Off switch for this option right at the top.

Easy as that.…