When it comes to keeping your contacts, events, music and photos up to date, there is only one trick: synchronising your iPhone with your computer. And it’s a very simple procedure.

The iPhone wasn’t the first device on the market to incorporate a music player, email client, calendar, contact list and email into a mobile phone, but it is certainly one of the best. One of the biggest reasons it manages to do all of these jobs so well is due to its incredibly intelligent software: iTunes.

Where most smartphones fail is their computer software, but not in the case of the iPhone. For anyone who has owned an iPod in the past, you’ll quickly come to realise that when it comes to the iPhone, actually only manages the music you put on your device. Other programs manage all of your contact details, calender appointments and photos. iTunes simply facilitates the data transfer between these programs and your iPhone every time you synchronise them.

For Mac users:
If you’re a Mac user, the choices are simpler. Apple defaults photo management to iPhoto, contact management to Adress Book and Calendar with iCal.

For PC users:
PC users must specify a contacts app from either Yahoo! Address Book, Outlook Express, Outlook and Windows Address Book. Photoshop Albums or Photoshop Elements from Adobe can also manage your pictures.

What next?
Once you have made your synching preferences, simply authorise iTunes to automatically sync data every time you dock your iPhone with your computer. This will maintain that all your information is always up to date.

Jailbroken iPhones, beware!
If you’ve jailbroken your iPhone, be careful when it comes to synching. If iTunes were to automatically update the firmware, you might find yourself with a rather attractive paperweight.

Another alternative to manually synching your iPhone to your Mac or PC is called Mobile Me.