Whenever you’re on a call, the iPhone makes it pitifully easy to perform stunts
like turning on the speakerphone, putting someone on hold, taking a second
call, and so on. Each of these is a one-tap function.
Here are the six options that appear on the screen whenever you’re on a call.
Mute
Tap this button to mute your own microphone, so that the other guy can’t
hear you. (You can still hear him, though.) Now you have a chance to yell
upstairs, to clear the phlegm from your throat, or to do anything else you’d
rather the other party not hear. Tap again to unmute.
Keypad
Sometimes, you absolutely have to input touch tones, which is generally a
perk only of phones with physical dialing keys. For example, that’s usually how
you operate home answering machines when you call in for messages, and
it’s often required by automated banking, reservations, and similar systems.
Tap this button to produce the traditional iPhone dialing pad, illustrated on
page 50. Each digit you touch generates the proper touch tone for the computer
on the other end to hear.
When you’re finished, tap Hide Keypad to return to the dialing-functions
screen, or tap End Call if your conversation is complete.
Speaker
Tap this button to turn on the iPhone’s built-in speakerphone—a great handsfree
option when you’re caught without your earbuds or Bluetooth headset.
(In fact, the speakerphone doesn’t work if the earbuds are plugged in or a
Bluetooth headset is connected.)
When you tap the button, it turns blue to indicate that the speaker is activated.
Now you can put the iPhone down on a table or counter and have a
conversation with both hands free. Tap Speaker again to channel the sound
back into the built-in earpiece.
Remember that the speaker is on the bottom edge. if you’re having trouble
hearing it, and the volume is all the way up, consider pointing the speaker toward
you, or even cupping one hand around the bottom to direct the sound.
