Discover the iPhone’s Hidden Goodness

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In all honesty, even so-called experts are learning more about the iPhone every day. Apple updates the iTunes and/or iPhone software as often as twice a month, so the capabilities are literally evolving as they are learned. There is plenty of hidden goodness within the iPhone, including tips and tricks that are undocumented and often undiscovered. Some of these you may already know. All of them are simple.

Silence is Golden
Like many cell devices, the iPhone has a silent/buzz function. Unlike other companies, Apple doesn't actually tell you about it. Take your iPhone and look on the left side. There is a small, all-black switch above the volume buttons.

Flip the switch and a red dot will appear. The iPhone screen will show a bell with a line through it a la Ghostbusters. Now all calls will buzz, not ring. Flip the switch again and the screen will flash a regular bell, indicating that rings are normal now.


Battery Power
Another area that has not been discussed is battery power. Some users err on the paranoid side, wary from all those short battery life concerns six months ago, and connect their iPhone to a nearby power outlet as soon as the "20 percent power" warning flashes. (I would be in this category.) The iPhone will warn you twice, at 20 percent and again at 10 percent. It will then shut down. No beep. It will cut off a phone call or any other activity immediately.

The phone will not function at all until it is charges for roughly 15 minutes. Press any button and a Maclike set of icons will appear on the screen: the current battery power followed by a powerplug and an arrow pointing to a lightning bolt. Expect to see this screen for about an hour. Call it poor design, but once the iPhone juice runs out, it requires a long time to power up again. (Connecting it to the computer doesn't help, either .) Consider investing in a car charger if you're planning a long road trip.

Music @Home
There is "Home", the square button located at the bot-tom of the iPhone's face. Its main purpose is to take you back to the default menu screen, but it can also make controlling your music easier. Let's say you are listening to one of your favorite songs on the iPhone, for instance, James Brown's classic "Funky Drummer ." Press the sleep button at the top of the iPhone to make the screen lock. It will say, "slide to unlock" at the bottom, along with the current time and song. Now double tap the "Home" button. The music controls will appear immediately under the time. Press rewind, fast-forward or pause as you would normally do, or use your finger to adjust the volume by sliding the silver ball along the blue line below.

iPod Mode
A simple, often neglected music control is actually in the iPod mode. Press the iPod icon on the main menu, find a song and press play. The album art will appear as the music starts. (If it has no art, a grey music note will appear instead.) Now tap the center of the album art. A nice list of options will pop up at the top of the art.

The first icon is a loop. Press the loop once and the current playlist or album will repeat. The icon will turn blue. Tap it again and a small "1" will appear on the bottom-left corner of the loop. Now the current song will repeat. In the middle is the current song number within the current album or playlist (four out of 14, for instance).

The last icon is two arrows twisted together . Tap it once to randomize the current album or playlist.

Last But Not least
As a final hidden goody, look in the upper-right hand corner when in iPod mode. You'll see a series of three lines. Tap it. The icon will "flip," turning into a miniature version of the current album art, and the large album art will turn into a list of the current album songs. (It will always list the current album, even if you are playing from a playlist.)

Click on another song to hear it. The list icon is always available in iPod mode.