Tap
You’ll do a lot of tapping on the iPhone’s on-screen buttons. They’re usually nice and big, giving your fleshy fingertip a fat target. You can’t use a stylus, fingernail, or pen tip; only skin contact works.

Drag
When you’re zoomed into a map, Web page, email, or photo, you scroll around just by sliding your finger across the glass in any direction—like a flick (see below), but slower and more controlled. It’s a huge improvement over scroll bars, especially when you want to scroll diagonally.

Slide

In some situations, you’ll be asked to confirm an action by sliding your finger across the screen. That’s how you unlock the phone’s buttons after it’s been in your pocket, for example. It’s ingenious, really; you may bump the touch screen when you reach into your pocket for something, but it’s extremely unlikely that your knuckles will randomly slide it in just the right way.

You also have to swipe to confirm that you want to turn off the iPhone, to answer a call on a locked iPhone, or to shut off an alarm. Swiping like this is also a great shortcut for deleting an email or text message.

Flick
A flick is a fast, less controlled slide. You flick vertically to scroll lists on the iPhone. You’ll discover, usually with some expletive like “Whoa!” or “Jeez!,” that scrolling a list in this way is a blast. The faster your flick, the faster the list spins downward or upward. But lists have a real-world sort of momentum; they slow down after a second or two, so you can see where you wound up. At any point during the scrolling of the list, you can flick again (if you didn’t go far enough) or tap to stop the scrolling (if you see the item you want to choose).

Pinch and Spread

In the Photos, Mail, Web, and Google Maps programs, you can zoom in on a photo, message, Web page, or map by spreading.

That’s when you place two fingers (usually thumb and forefinger) on the glass and spread them. The image magically grows, as though it’s printed on a sheet of rubber. Once you’ve zoomed in like this, you can then zoom out again by putting two fingers on the glass and pinching them together.

Double-Tap
Double-tapping is actually pretty rare on the iPhone, at least among the programs supplied by Apple. It’s not like the Mac or Windows, where doubleclicking the mouse always means “open.” Because the iPhone’s operating system is far more limited, you open something with one tap. A double tap, therefore, is reserved for three functions:

• In Safari (the Web browser), Photos, and Google Maps programs, doubletapping zooms in on whatever you tap, magnifying it
• In the same programs, as well as Mail, double-tapping means, “restore to original size” after you’ve zoomed in.
• When you’re watching a video, double-tapping switches aspect ratios (video screen shape)

Two-Finger Tap
This weird little gesture crops up only in one place: in Google Maps. It means “zoom out.” To perform it, you tap once on the screen with two fingers.

• The charging/syncing cable. When you connect your iPhone to your computer using this white USB cable, it simultaneously syncs and charges. The original iPhone came with a white desktop dock, which you could use instead. (The same cable plugged into that dock instead of straight into the iPhone.)
• The AC adapter. When you’re traveling without a computer, though, you can plug the dock’s USB cable into the included two-prong outlet adapter, so you can charge the iPhone directly from a wall socket. The one that comes with the iPhone 3G is especially tiny and compact.
• Finger Tips. Cute name for a cute fold-out leaflet of iPhone basics.
• A screen cloth. This little pseudo-suede cloth wipes the grease off the screen, although your clothing does just as well.
• A SIM eject pin. The iPhone 3G comes with a tiny, laser-cut, stainless silver tool that you can push into the SIM hole. (Missed yours? It’s attached to the black cardboard of the inner box “shelf.”) Apple couldn’t stand the thought of your using some ugly bent paper clip to pry out that card.

What you won’t find in the box (because it wouldn’t fit) is a CD containing the iTunes software. You’re expected to have a copy of that on your computer already. In fact, you must have iTunes to use the iPhone. If you don’t have iTunes on your computer, you can download it from www.apple.com/itunes.

On the back of the iPhone, the camera lens appears in the upper-left corner. On the original iPhone, the rest of the back is mostly textured aluminum; on the iPhone 3G, it’s shiny hard plastic, in black or white. Cellphone signals have a hard time going through metal, which is why Apple switched to plastic. (All told, there are ten different radio transceivers inside the iPhone: four each for the standard GSM frequencies; three for the three 3G frequencies; and one each for Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and GPS.)

Praise be to the gods of technology this phone has a silencer switch!
This little flipper, on the left edge at the top, means that no ringer or alert
sound will humiliate you in a meeting, a movie, or church. When you move
the switch toward the front of the iPhone, the ringer is on. When you push it
toward the back, exposing the orange dot, the ringer is off.

No menus, no holding down keys, just instant silence. All cellphones should
have this feature.

Below the silencer, still on the left edge, is the volume control—an up/down
rocker switch. It works three different ways:

• On a call, these buttons adjust the speaker or earbud volume.
• When you’re listening to music, they adjust the playback volume.
• At all other times, they adjust the volume of sound effects like the ringer
  and alarms.

Either way, a corresponding volume graphic appears on the screen to show
you where you are on the volume scale.

Having a Home button is a wonderful thing. It means you can never get lost.
No matter how deeply you burrow into the iPhone software, no matter how
far off track you find yourself, one push of the Home button takes you all the
way back to the beginning.

Sounds simple, but remember that the iPhone doesn’t have an actual Back button or End button. The Home button is the only way out of some screens.

The Home button has four other functions, depending on how and when you
push it.

Here we go:

• Wakes the phone. One push wakes up the iPhone if it’s in Standby
  mode. That’s sometimes easier than finding the Sleep/Wake switch on
  the top edge.
• Opens your speed-dial list. Two quick pushes on the Home button
  take you directly to your Favorites list (page 49). That’s a great shortcut,
  because it lets you jump from any software program on the iPhone to
  the phone-calling list without having to go Home first.
• Opens your iPod. Two quick pushes on the Home button can, instead,
  take you directly to your iPod screen (Chapter 4). Once again, Apple is
  assuming that you might want a shortcut to such a frequently used part
  of the iPhone.
• Force quits a stuck program. The Home button is also a “force quit”
  button. If you press it for six seconds straight, whatever program you’re
  running completely shuts down. That’s a good troubleshooting technique
  when a particular program seems to be acting up.

Some beginners forget that the Home button is a physical push-button—
it’s not touch-sensitive like the screen—and get frustrated when it doesn’t
respond. Give it a real manly push.

• Cell Signal. As on any cellphone, the number of bars indicates the strength of your cell signal, and thus the quality of your call audio and
  likelihood of losing the connection. If there are zero bars, the dreaded words “No service” appear here.
• or Network Type. The means that your iPhone is connected
  to the Internet via AT&T’s very slow EDGE cellular network. In general, if you have a cell signal, you also have an EDGE signal. If you see the logo instead, get psyched; not only are you using an iPhone 3G, but you’re in one of the cities where AT&T has installed a 3G network (much, much faster Internet).

• Airplane Mode. If you see the airplane instead of signal and Wi-Fi bars, the iPhone is in Airplane mode.
• Wi-Fi Signal. When you’re connected to a wireless Wi-Fi Internet hot spot, this indicator appears. The more “sound waves,” the stronger the signal.
• The iPhone is locked—meaning that the screen and most buttons don’t work, to avoid accidental presses—whenever it goes to sleep.
• 9:50 AM. When the iPhone is unlocked, a digital clock replaces the Lock
  symbol.
• Play indicator. The iPhone’s playing music. Before you respond, “Well, duh!,” keep in mind that you may not be able to hear the music playing. For example, maybe the earbuds are plugged into the iPhone but aren’t in your ears. So this icon is actually a handy reminder that you’re running your battery down unnecessarily.
• Alarm. You’ve got an alarm set. This reminder, too, can be valuable, especially when you intend to sleep late and don’t want an alarm to go off.
• Bluetooth connection. The iPhone is connected wirelessly to a Bluetooth earpiece or hands-free car system. (If this symbol is gray, it means that Bluetooth is turned on—and draining your battery—but it’s not connected to any other gear.)
• TTY symbol. You’ve turned on Teletype mode, meaning that the iPhone can communicate with a Teletype machine. (That’s a special machine that lets deaf people make phone calls by typing and reading
  text. It hooks up to the iPhone with a special cable that Apple sells from its Web site.)
• Battery meter. When the iPhone is plugged into its cradle (which is itself plugged into a wall outlet or computer), the lightning bolt appears, indicating that the phone is charging. Otherwise, the battery logo “empties out” from right to left to indicate how much charge remains.

But what about scratches? Fortunately, Apple learned its lesson on this one. The iPhone screen is made of optical-quality, chemically treated glass—not polycarbonate plastic like the iPod’s screen. It’s actually very difficult to scratch glass; try it on a window pane some day.

If you’re nervous about protecting your iPhone, you can always get a carrying case for it. But in general, the iPhone is far more scratch-resistant than the iPod. Even many Apple employees carry the iPhone in their pockets without carrying cases.

So what’s a SIM card?

It turns out that there are two major cellphone network types: CDMA, used by Verizon and Sprint, and GSM, used by AT&T and T-Mobile—and most
other countries around the world. Your iPhone works only on GSM networks.(One huge reason that Apple chose AT&T as its exclusive carrier is that Apple
wanted to design a phone that works overseas.)
Every GSM phone stores your phone account info—details like your phone number and callingplan details—on a tiny memory card known as a SIM card
(Subscriber Information Module). On some phones, though not the iPhone, it even stores your address book.

What’s cool is that, by removing the card and putting it into another GSM phone, you transplant the iPhone’s brain. The other phone now knows your number and account details, which can be handy when your iPhone goes in for repair or battery replacement.

Apple thinks that SIM cards are geeky and intimidating, and that they should be invisible. That’s why, unlike most GSM phones, your iPhone came with the card preinstalled and ready to go. Most people will never have any reason to open this tray, unless they just want to see what a SIM card looks like.

If you were curious enough to open it up, you close the tray simply by pushing it back into the phone until it clicks.

This, ladies and gents, is the Sleep switch. It has several functions:

• Sleep/Wake. Tapping it once puts the iPhone to sleep—that is, into
  Standby mode, ready for incoming calls but consuming very little power.
  Tapping it again turns on the screen, so it’s ready for action.
• On/Off. This switch can also turn the iPhone off completely, so it consumes
  no power at all; incoming calls get dumped into voicemail. You
  might turn the iPhone off whenever you’re not going to use it for a few
  days.

To turn the iPhone off, press the Sleep/Wake switch for 3 seconds. The screen changes to say, “slide to power off.” Confirm your decision by placing a fingertip on the red right-pointing arrow and sliding to the right. The device shuts off completely.

To turn the iPhone back on, press the switch again for 1 second. The chromelike Apple logo appears as the phone boots up.

• Answer call/Dump to voicemail. The upper-right switch has one more function. When a call comes in, you can tap it once to silence the ringing
  or vibrating. After four rings, the call goes to your voicemail.

You can also tap it twice to dump the call to voicemail immediately. (Of course, because they didn’t hear four rings, iPhone veterans will know
that you’ve blown them off. Bruised egos may result. Welcome to the new world of iPhone Etiquette.)

Locked Mode
When you don’t touch the screen for 1 minute, or when you put the iPhone to sleep, the phone locks itself. When it’s locked, the screen isn’t touch-sensitive. Fortunately, you can still take phone calls and control music playback.

Remember, this phone is all touch screen, so it’s much more prone to accidental
button-pushes than most phones. You wouldn’t want to discover that your iPhone has been calling people or taking photos from the depths of your
pocket or purse. That’s why the first thing you do after waking the iPhone is unlock it. Fortunately,that’s easy (and a lot of fun) to do: Place your fingertip on the gray arrow and slide it to the right, as indicated by the animation.