A Quick Tour Outside

The iPhone is a harmonious combination of hardware and software. In this section, we take a brief look at what’s on the outside. In the next section, we peek at the software.

On the top and side

On the top of your iPhone, you’ll find the headset jack (unless you have an iPhone 5, which has its headset jack on the bottom), a microphone, and the sleep/wake button, as shown in Figure 1-1. The SIM card tray is on one side and the ring/silent switch and volume buttons are on the other side. We describe these elements more fully in the following list:

Headset jack: The headset jack lets you plug in the included iPhone headset (iPhone 4 and 4S), which looks a lot like white iPod earbuds, or EarPods (iPhone 5), which are also white but have a unique elliptical shape. Unlike iPod earbuds, however, both types of iPhone headsets have a microphone so that you can talk as well as listen.

Figure 1-1: The top side of the iPhone 4 (left) and the iPhone 5 (right).

Microphone: Used for FaceTime calls and noise suppression during phone calls.

SIM card tray: The SIM card tray is where you remove or replace the SIM card inside your iPhone.

A SIM (Subscriber Identity Module) card is a removable smart card used to identify mobile phones. It allows users to change phones by moving the SIM card from one phone to another. Kind of — the iPhone 4 and 4S use a micro-SIM, while the iPhone 5 uses a smaller version called a nano-SIM. And, of course, they’re not compatible.

Sleep/wake button: This button is used to lock or unlock your iPhone and to turn your iPhone on or off. When your iPhone is locked, you can still receive calls and text messages, but nothing happens if you touch its screen. When your iPhone is turned off, all incoming calls go directly to voicemail.

Ring/silent switch: This switch, which is on the left side of your iPhone, lets you quickly switch between ring mode and silent mode. When the switch is set to ring mode — the up position, with no orange dot — your iPhone plays all sounds through the speaker on the bottom. When the switch is set to silent mode — the down position, with an orange dot visible on the switch — your iPhone doesn’t make a sound when you receive a call or when an alert pops up on the screen.

Silent mode is overridden, however, by alarms you set in the built-in Clock app, iPod audio, and selecting sounds such as ringtones and alert sounds in the Settings app.

If your phone is set to ring mode and you want to silence it quickly, press the sleep/wake button on the top of the iPhone or press one of the volume buttons.

Volume buttons: Two volume buttons are just below the ring/silent switch. The upper button increases the volume; the lower one decreases it. You use the volume buttons to raise or lower the loudness of the ringer, alerts, sound effects, songs, and movies. And during phone calls, the buttons adjust the voice loudness of the person you’re speaking with, regardless of whether you’re listening through the receiver, the speakerphone, or a headset.

Finally, when you open the Camera from the Lock screen (see Chapter 9), the volume up button acts as the shutter release button and shoots a picture when you press it.

On the bottom

On the bottom of your iPhone, you’ll find the microphone, the dock connector or Lightning connector, the speaker, and the headset jack (on the iPhone 5), as shown in Figure 1-2:

Microphone: The microphone lets callers hear your voice when you’re not using a headset.

The iPhone 4 and 4S have two microphones (top and bottom); the iPhone 5 has three (top front, top back, and bottom). The top ones are used for FaceTime calls and also work with the main mic (located on the bottom) to suppress unwanted and distracting background sounds on phone calls using dual-mic noise suppression or beam-forming technology.

Dock or Lightning connector: The dock connector (Lightning connector on the iPhone 5) has three purposes. One, you can use it to recharge your iPhone’s battery. Simply connect one end of the included dock connector or Lightning–to–USB cable to the dock connector or Lightning port and the other end to the USB power adapter. Two, you can use the dock connector or Lightning port to synchronize. Connect one end of the cable to the dock connector or Lightning port and the other end to a USB port on your Mac or PC. And three, you can use the dock connector or Lightning port to connect your iPhone to other devices such as a camera or television using an adapter such as the Camera Connection Kit or one of Apple’s A/V adapter cables (not supported by Lightning at press time).

Speaker: The speaker is used by the iPhone’s built-in speakerphone and plays audio — music or video soundtracks — if no headset is plugged in. It also plays the ringtone you hear when you receive a call.

Figure 1-2: The bottom side of the iPhone 4 (left) and the iPhone 5 (right).

On the front

On the front of your iPhone, you’ll find the following (labeled in Figure 1-3):

Camera: The camera on the front of the iPhone is tuned for FaceTime, so it has just the right field of view and focal length to focus on your face at arm’s length, which presents you in the best possible light.

Receiver: The receiver is the speaker that the iPhone uses for telephone calls. It naturally sits close to your ear whenever you hold your iPhone in the “talking on the phone” position.

You should be the only one who hears sound coming from the receiver. If you have the volume set above about 50 percent and you’re in a location with little or no background noise, someone standing nearby may be able to hear the sound, too. So be careful.

If you require privacy during phone calls, use the included Apple headset (or any compatible third-party wired or wireless headset — as discussed in Chapter 14).

Status bar: The status bar displays important information, as you’ll discover in a page or two.

Touchscreen: You find out how to use the iPhone’s gorgeous high-resolution color touchscreen in Chapter 2. All we have to say at this time is . . . try not to drool all over it.

Home button: No matter what you’re doing, you can press the Home button at any time to display the Home screen, which is the screen shown in Figure 1-3.

App buttons: Each button on the Home screen launches an included iPhone app or one you’ve acquired from the App Store, with two exceptions. The Utilities button is a folder containing four app buttons: Contacts, Calculator, Compass, and Voice Memos. The Utilities button appears only on iPhones that came with iOS 4 or 5 preinstalled. If you upgraded an older iPhone to iOS 4 or 5, or are restoring from a backup, those four apps are still wherever they were before the upgrade, so yours won’t be in a Utilities folder unless you created a Utilities folder and put them there as described in Chapter 2. The Newsstand button is also a folder (as explained in Chapter 16).

On the back

On the back of your iPhone is a camera lens. It’s the little circle in the top-left corner. The iPhone also has a little LED next to the camera lens that’s used as a flash for still photos and as a floodlight for videos. For more on using the camera and shooting videos, see Chapters 9 and 10, respectively. Finally, the iPhone 5 has its third microphone on the back, as shown in Figure 1-1.

Status bar

The status bar, which is at the top of every Home screen and displayed by many (if not most) apps, displays tiny icons that provide a variety of information about the current state of your iPhone:

Cell signal: The strength of the cellular signal. The cell signal icon tells you whether you’re within range of your wireless telephone carrier’s cellular network and therefore can make and receive calls. The more bars you see (five is the highest), the stronger the cellular signal. If you’re out of range, the bars are replaced with the words No service. And if your iPhone is looking for a cellular signal, the bars are replaced with Searching.

If you have only one or two bars, try moving around a little bit. Even walking just a few feet can sometimes mean the difference between no service and three or four bars.

Airplane mode: Turns off all wireless features of your iPhone. — the cellular, 3G, GPRS (General Packet Radio Service), and EDGE networks, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth. You’re allowed to use your iPod on a plane after the captain gives the word. But you can’t use your cell phone except when the plane is in the gate area before takeoff or after landing. Fortunately, your iPhone offers an airplane mode, which turns off all wireless features of your iPhone and makes it possible to enjoy music or video during your flight.

Some flights now offer on-board Wi-Fi. If you’re on such a flight, you can turn on Wi-Fi even when airplane mode is enabled. Just don’t turn it on until the captain says it’s okay.

LTE (iPhone 5 only): LTE, your wireless carrier’s highest-speed data network, is available and that you can connect to the Internet via LTE.

3G: Your wireless carrier’s high-speed 3G data network is available and your iPhone can connect to the Internet via 3G.

GPRS: Your wireless carrier’s GPRS data network is available and your iPhone can use it to connect to the Internet.

EDGE: Your wireless carrier’s EDGE (Enhanced Datarate for GSM Evolution) network is available and you can use it to connect to the Internet.

Wi-Fi: Your iPhone is connected to the Internet over a Wi-Fi network. The more semicircular lines you see (up to three), the stronger the Wi-Fi signal. If you have only one or two semicircles of Wi-Fi strength, try moving around a bit. If you don’t see the Wi-Fi icon in the status bar, Internet access is not currently available.

Wireless (that is, cellular) carriers may offer one of four data networks. The fastest is the LTE (4G) data network, which is available only on the iPhone 5; the next fastest is 3G; the slowest are EDGE and GPRS. The device looks for the fastest available network and then, if it can’t find one, looks for a slower network.

Wi-Fi networks, however, are even faster than any cellular data network. So all iPhones will connect to a Wi-Fi network if one is available, even if a 3G, GPRS, or EDGE network is also available.

Last but not least, if you don’t see one of these icons — LTE, 3G, GPRS, EDGE, or Wi-Fi — you don’t currently have Internet access.

Do Not Disturb: The Do Not Disturb feature (see Chapter 4) is enabled.

Personal Hotspot: The iPhone is providing a personal hotspot connection to another iPhone or other device.

Network activity: Some network activity is occurring, such as over-the-air synchronization, sending or receiving e-mail, or loading a web page. Some third-party apps also use this icon to indicate network or other activity.

Syncing: Your iPhone is syncing with iTunes.

Call forwarding: Call forwarding is enabled on your iPhone.

VPN: Your iPhone is currently connected to a virtual private network (VPN).

Lock: Your iPhone is locked. See Chapter 2 for information on locking and unlocking your iPhone.

Play: Audio is currently playing. You find out more about playing songs in Chapter 8.

Portrait orientation: The iPhone is in portrait orientation mode, but not locked in that mode. (See next entry.)

Portrait orientation lock: The iPhone screen is locked in portrait orientation. To lock your screen in portrait orientation, double-press the Home button, flick the dock (at the bottom of the screen) from left to right, and then tap the portrait orientation button.

Alarm: You’ve set one or more alarms in the Clock app.

Location Services: An application is using Location Services, a topic we describe in Chapter 13.

Bluetooth: The current state of your iPhone’s Bluetooth connection. If the icon is blue, Bluetooth is on and a device (such as a wireless headset or car kit) is connected. If the icon is gray, Bluetooth is turned on but no device is connected. If you don’t see a Bluetooth icon at all, Bluetooth is turned off. Chapter 14 goes into more detail about Bluetooth.

Battery: The level of your battery’s charge. The icon is completely filled with green when your battery is fully charged, and then empties as your battery becomes depleted. You’ll see a lightning bolt inside the icon when your iPhone is recharging.

TTY: Your iPhone is set up to work with a teletype (TTY) machine, which is used by those who are hearing- or speech-impaired. You need an optional Apple iPhone TTY Adapter (suggested retail price $19) to connect your iPhone to a TTY machine.