Contemplating the Compass

The Compass app works like a magnetic needle compass. Launch the Compass app by tapping its icon in the Utilities folder on the second Home screen. You see the direction you’re facing, as shown in Figure 13-12.

But wait — there’s more. If you were to tap the little arrowhead icon in the lower-left corner of the Compass screen, the Maps app launches. Now for the cool part: Tap the little arrowhead icon in the lower-left corner of the Maps app two times and the blue marker grows a little white cone that indicates the direction you’re facing, as shown in Figure 13-13.

Also note that when the map is in compass mode, the little arrowhead icon in its lower-left corner grows a little white cone (shown in the margin) as well, letting you know that you’re now using the compass mode.

If you rotate to face a different direction while Maps is in compass mode, the map rotates in real time. So the map always displays the direction you’re currently facing, even if you’ve moved around a bit, which is pretty darn cool.