iPhone - FutureTG.com

• Network. Tap Network to open a screen containing four items.
One is Enable 3G, which lets you turn off the iPhone’s 3G radio when
you’d rather have battery life than high Internet speed; see Chapter 6d.
Another is Data Roaming, which refers to the iPhone’s ability to get online
when you’re outside of AT&T’s U.S. network. Unless you’re in Oprah’s
tax bracket, leave this item turned off. Otherwise, you might run up unexpectedly
massive AT&T charges (like $5,000 for two weeks) when you’re
overseas because your iPhone continues to check for new mail every few
minutes.
The next is VPN, which stands for virtual private networking. A VPN is a
secure, encrypted tunnel that carries the data from one computer, across
the Internet, and into a company’s computers; see page 293.
The final item on the Network page is Wi-Fi, which is an exact duplicate
of the Wi-Fi controls described on page 298.
• Bluetooth. There’s nothing on this screen at first except an On/Off
switch for the iPhone’s Bluetooth transmitter, which is required to communicate
with a Bluetooth earpiece or the hands-free Bluetooth system
in a car. When you turn the switch on, you’re offered the chance to pair
the iPhone with other Bluetooth equipment. See page 72 for step-bystep
instructions.
• Location Services. Almost everybody loves how the iPhone can determine
where you are on a map, geotag your photos, find the closest ATM,
and so on. A few people, however, appreciate being able to turn off the
iPhone’s location circuits. Either they imagine that shadowy agencies can
somehow tap in and track their comings and goings, or they just want to
save some battery power.
• Auto-Lock. As you may have noticed, the iPhone locks itself after a few
minutes of inactivity on your part. In locked mode, the iPhone ignores
screen taps and button presses.
All cellphones (and iPods) offer locked mode. On this machine, however,
locking is especially important because the screen is so big. Reaching
into your pocket for a toothpick or a ticket stub could, at least theoretically,
fire up some iPhone program or even dial a call from the confines of
your pocket.
On the Auto-Lock screen, you can change the interval of inactivity before
the auto-lock occurs (1 minute, 2 minutes, and so on), or you can tap
Never. In that case, the iPhone locks only when you send it to sleep.
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Chapter 16