iPhone For Dummies

How to Master the iPhone’s Multitouch Screen

The Apple iPhone has no physical keyboard or keypad buttons, so you have to use a virtual version of buttons and controls that appear on-screen for the tasks at hand. The figure shows standard options; the list tells you how to maneuver through iPhone's Touchscreen icons, buttons, and connections.

• Flick a finger to scroll through music, pictures, e-mails, contacts, and more.

• Tap against the screen to open applications, play songs, choose photos, and so on.

• Pinch and unpinch to enlarge Web pages and pictures, or make them smaller. The actions involve placing your thumb and index finger against the screen. Then, keeping the thumb in place, drag your index finger to pinch or unpinch accordingly.

• Trust the virtual keyboard. The Touchscreen provides visual suggestions and corrects mistakes on the fly.

• Correct errors by holding your fingers against the screen to bring up a magnifying glass that lets you position the pointer in the precise spot you want to edit.

How to Make a Call on Your iPhone

You have several options for making a phone call from your iPhone. First tap the Phone icon on the Home screen, then tap on one of these icons:

• Contacts: Scroll through the list of Contacts until you find the person you want to call. Tap the person’s name and then tap the appropriate phone number (such as home or mobile).

• Favorites: The iPhone equivalent of speed dialing, or the list of people (and the specific numbers) you call most often. Tap the listing and iPhone dials.

• Recents: Tapping the Recents icon displays the iPhone call log. Recents houses logs of all the recent calls made or received, as well as calls that you missed. Tap anywhere on a name to return a call.

• Keypad: Manually dial on a virtual touchtone keypad.

• Voice Control: Press and hold the Home button or the center button on the wired headset, and then say “call” or “dial” followed by either the name of someone in your Contacts or a phone number.

• Voicemail: Through visual voicemail, you can listen to voicemail messages in any order you want, not just in the order in which messages arrived. To play back a voicemail, tap the name or number in question. Then tap the tiny play/pause button that shows up to the left of the name or number. Returning a call is as simple as tapping the green Call Back button.

What You Can Do with Your iPhone Contacts

You access your address book by tapping the Phone icon on the Home screen of your iPhone. Some of the things you can do with contacts in the Phone application include the following:

• *Create a new contact: Tap Contacts at the bottom of the screen, and then tap the + button in the upper right. Enter the contact information, and then tap Save.

• *See contact info from the Favorites, Recents, or Voicemail screen: Tap the right arrow next to the message. The contact’s information appears. Tap the contact’s phone number or e-mail address to contact the person by phone or e-mail.

• *Add a caller to your contacts: Tap Recents or Voicemail, and then tap the right arrow next to the person's number. Tap Create New Contact, enter the contact information, and then tap Save.

• *Add a contact after dialing a number with the keypad: Enter the number on the numeric keypad, and then tap the icon that’s a little + with a person on its right, in the lower-left corner of the screen. Then either tap Create New Contact and enter the contact information, or tap Add to Existing Contact and choose a contact. After you’re finished, tap Save.

What to Do When Your iPhone Acts Up

Most of the time your iPhone behaves itself, but every so often it causes you problems. Here’s a quick review of things you can try if your iPhone misbehaves.

Start with the first tip — they get more drastic as they go on.

1. Restart it. Press and hold the Sleep/Wake button, and then slide the red slider to turn it off. Wait a few seconds. Press the Sleep/Wake button to turn it back on.

2. Force any frozen applications to quit. Press and hold the Home button on the front of the iPhone for 6 to 10 seconds. Then restart it (see Step 1).

3. Reset it. Press and hold the Sleep/Wake button while you press and hold the Home button at the same time. This forces your iPhone to restart.

4. Reset iPhone settings. Tap the Settings icon on your Home screen, and then tap General, Reset, and Reset All Settings. Resetting iPhone settings won’t erase your data, but you’ll probably have to change some settings afterwards.

5. Restore it. Connect your iPhone to your computer as though you were about to sync. Then select the iPhone in the iTunes source list and click the Restore button on the Summary tab.

   This erases all of your data and media, and resets all your settings.

   Because your data and media (except photos you’ve taken as well as contacts, calendar events, and On-the-Go playlists you’ve created or modified since your last sync) still exist on your computer, you shouldn’t lose anything. Your next sync will take longer, and you will have to reset any settings you’ve changed since you got your iPhone. But your media and data files shouldn’t be affected.