Here’s a roundup of the icons that you may see in the status bar at the top of
the iPhone screen, from left to right.
μ 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.
G EDGE Network. When this logo appears, your iPhone can get onto
the Internet via AT&T’s very handy, but very slow, EDGE cellular network
. In general, if you have a cell signal, you also have an EDGE
signal.
Mode. If you see the airplane instead of signal and Wi-Fi
bars, the iPhone is in Airplane mode .
Σ Wi-Fi Signal. When you’re connected to a wireless Wi-Fi Internet
hot spot , this indicator appears. The more “soundwaves,” 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.
2:34 PM. When the iPhone is unlocked, a digital clock replaces the Lock
symbol.
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.
’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. See page 249 for setting (and turning off ) alarms.
Bluetooth connection. The iPhone is connected wirelessly to a
Bluetooth earpiece or hands-free car system, as described on page 188.
(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.)
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.
