I think by the time the next generation rolls around, the concept of phone numbers will be pretty darn archaic. I’m already at the point where I don’t know the numbers of even most of my closest friends and contacts, and the iPhone has really only encouraged that.
Still, every once in a while we still run into a situation where we get a call from a number we don’t recognize. But the iPhone can even be helpful in that regard, as reader Nishant points out:
I received a call today from one of my friends who recently moved to Pasadena. However, I didn’t have his home number stored in my address book so only the numbers (###-###-####) showed. I didn’t pick up the phone at the time, but later when I went to my “Recents” list in the Phone application to look at the entry, right underneath the phone number, I noticed the words “Pasadena area”. Now how many phones actually pull up the geographic info from the number like that and notify you?? I thought it was absolutely cool and one more reason why we love our iPhones!Very cool, indeed. I checked it out myself and, though I only found about three calls who weren’t from pre-existing contact, it worked pretty well for most of them. Go to Phone -> Recents and then tap the blue arrow next to the call that you missed. While two of my missed calls gave me the city, one only gave me the state of Massachusetts. Still, it’s another nice touch that makes phoning a little more friendly.
Are you sure the iPhone is inferring this information and not the phone company? My father shows on my cordless phone as "Florida caller" and my grandfather as "Alabama." I'm pretty certain that it's not my phone (the inconsistency is a giveaway, besides it's a cordless phone).
Several other phones have this functionality, but they go the extra step and display the location while the call is incoming. This is much more useful, and it's mysterious why Apple only shows you the data in the Recents screen.
Another thing I noticed which I thought was neat is that I usually shut my phone off at night so I don't get those late night mistaken calls or the 6 am calls from family back east who forget that there is a time difference. On my old phones, including my treo, when I turned it on I would only know that someone left a voice mail and would have to check it to see who it was. With the iPhone, when I turned it on and looked at the voicemail list it told me who had called!
This really isn't a function of the iPhone. When I call from my cell to a regular land line, it displays my phone number. Instead of displaying my name, it displays "New Haven, CT."
Perhaps the iPhone is just displaying the text from the cell carrier's caller ID information?
I first saw this last year on Sprint.
My parents' Caller ID on TV from Qwest/DirecTV also shows the city & state for incoming calls.
This is not unique to the iPhone.
An innovation I'd like to see from AT&T would be the ability to make a phone call from home instead of having to walk into my backyard while holding the phone at an odd angle in order to get 1 bar.
Love my iPhone. Hate the network!
ABOUT EDITING RECENTS & MISSED CALL SO I CAN DELETE ONE BY ONE