I got mine a little while ago, and I like it a lot, but there’s a lot to learn. Fortunately, iPhone is a pleasure to use, so it’s not a frustrating experience (yet).
First (of what I’m sure will be many) question:
How do I reorder the contact list so that my contacts are grouped by first name, and not by last name?
Go to Settings, then “Mail, Contacts, Calendars”, then scroll down to the Contact section and it has Sort Order and Display Order, each of which can be “Last, First” or “First, Last”
Whatever you do - dont sync with google contacts. I did last night and lost 6 months of valuable contacts and calendar info 
Hmmm… is that what this warning refers to?
[quote]During Sync setup, the iPhone will delete your contacts and calendar information. Please back up your data:
PC instructions - Mac instructions. [/quote]
google.com/mobile/apple/sync.html
You don’t seem to be the only one with this problem: groups.google.com/group/Gmail-He … 29b779f2b2
Coincidentally I used to work for a mobile phone company beginning with M and part of my job was to help people sync their phone contacts with their computer. You wouldn’t believe how many desperate people called up after having deleted hundreds of contacts. Not very nice phone calls those.
[quote=“Maoman”]I got mine a little while ago, and I like it a lot, but there’s a lot to learn. Fortunately, iPhone is a pleasure to use, so it’s not a frustrating experience (yet).
First (of what I’m sure will be many) question:
How do I reorder the contact list so that my contacts are grouped by first name, and not by last name?[/quote]
Here’s a link to a pdf user’s guide for your phone:
manuals.info.apple.com/en/iPhone_User_Guide.pdf
You will find the answer to your question on page 112.
marboulette
[quote=“irishstu”]
Hmmm… is that what this warning refers to?
[quote]During Sync setup, the iPhone will delete your contacts and calendar information. Please back up your data:
You don’t seem to be the only one with this problem: groups.google.com/group/Gmail-He … 29b779f2b2
[/quote][/quote]
I did it step by step following the instructions. Backed up the iphone contacts to google via iTunes and then synced the iPhone with google using Microsoft exchange.
All of my contacts and calendar data is gone… And to make matters worse, now the iPhone wont let me make custom fields for contacts or assign pictures to them. That was one of the coolest features!
I feel your pain re: the support call centre job. Last year I worked for the social security department of the Australian government. I was a ‘help desk’ advisor for pensioners trying to use the government website. It was a frickin nightmare :s
Thats why I love my prehistoric clamshell Motorola cellfone. It does absolutely NOTHING except make and receive fone calls and sms. No camera, no way to link to anything. 
Perfect.
Drop proof too and more importantly idiot proof.
[quote=“pubba”][quote=“irishstu”]
Hmmm… is that what this warning refers to?
[quote]During Sync setup, the iPhone will delete your contacts and calendar information. Please back up your data:
You don’t seem to be the only one with this problem: groups.google.com/group/Gmail-He … 29b779f2b2
[/quote][/quote]
I did it step by step following the instructions. Backed up the iphone contacts to google via iTunes and then synced the iPhone with google using Microsoft exchange.
All of my contacts and calendar data is gone… And to make matters worse, now the iPhone wont let me make custom fields for contacts or assign pictures to them. That was one of the coolest features!
I feel your pain re: the support call centre job. Last year I worked for the social security department of the Australian government. I was a ‘help desk’ advisor for pensioners trying to use the government website. It was a frickin nightmare :s[/quote]
Wait… you did a backup? Can’t you recover that?
Well apparently my contacts were backed up to the google server. Itunes requested my google password etc.
But nope. Not one contact survived…
I kinda understood that the first time I sync’d my google calendar and contacts, that it would replace any existing data on the phone. This was fine with me, as my google information was the most up to date.
After the first sync, it works both ways seamlessly.
Thanks Marboulette for the first answer (and the link). Now, on to my second question. The default info for names is First Name and Last Name. How do I add Middle Name to the default, so that I don’t have to take the added steps of going down to the “Add an extra field” tab, selecting Middle name, etc.?
I’m using the following system in my contact book: First Name: Michael Middle Name: Smith Last Name: (Sandman)
It appears in my contact list as Michael Smith (Sandman), which is very helpful, because I know so many Forumosans primarily by their user names!
PS Sandman’s name isn’t really Michael Smith.
In the questions category…
I have a unlocked jailbroken 3G on 2.0. Can I upgrade to 3G service with Chunghua and will it work? Will Chunghua help me bring the phone up to date?
I have had over 10 PDA phones, and this is by far the best. Writing in Chinese, Pinyin, and English works great. gFlash is a nice flashcard application although not enough sets for Chinese study. Dianhua is great for looking up Chinese characters and meanings. fring is cool to stay in contact via MSN, skype, etc. All of these are free by the way. Facebook application is smooth and quick.