Treo Phone Essentials

The first thing to get straight for the mobile phone capabilities of Treo devices is the mobile radio, which is a hardware component in your device that's responsible for connecting the device to a wireless phone network. Unlike most mobile phones, which are "on" at all times if powered up, the mobile radio on your Treo can be turned on and off independently of the device. This allows you to work with your Treo "offline" without any regard for incoming calls or, more important, without any worries of interfering with a sensitive electrical environment, such as on an airplane. Using your Treo with the radio turned off also offers the added benefit of saving battery life.

To turn the mobile radio on your Treo on and off, follow these steps:

1.

Make sure your device is on, and then hold down the Power/End button until a screen appears notifying you that the radio is turned on. An indicator appears in the upper-right corner of the screen (next to the battery icon) that shows the signal strength of the network connection. Note The radio used for mobile telephony is not the only radio built into your Treo. There's also a Bluetooth radio for establishing wireless Bluetooth connections. When I refer to the "mobile radio," I'm talking about the primary radio in your device that's used for phone/data communications. I will always be specific when referring to any other radios, as in "Bluetooth radio."

2.

Hold down the Power/End button again until a screen appears indicating that the radio is turned off. You won't be able to make or receive phone calls or connect for data services (messaging, Web browsing, and so forth.).

It bears repeating that if you're in a situation in which you don't want to or can't receive calls (an airplane, for example), you should turn the mobile radio off. Not only does the mobile radio eat up battery power while it's on, but it also eats up even more power attempting to find a network when you're out of range. So if you know you're going to be out of range for a while, save your battery and turn the mobile radio off.

Note

Step 1 assumes that the mobile radio on your Treo isn't already turned on. You can easily tell whether the radio is on by looking for a small signal strength indicator in the upper-right corner of the screenit appears as a small antenna icon just to the left of the battery icon.

Speaking of the mobile radio, it holds the key to some important device information that you might want to access at some point. This information includes your mobile phone number, data services username, software version number, and several other tidbits of information that you may or may not ever need. Follow these steps to take a look at your device information:

1.	Press the Phone/Send button to launch the Phone application. The main Phone screen appears.
2.	Press the Menu button, navigate over to the Options menu, and then scroll down and select Phone Info. The Phone Info screen appears, as shown in Figure 7.1. Figure 7.1. The Phone Info screen displays information about your device, such as the phone number, data services username, and software version number.
3.	The Phone Info screen contains several pieces of information about your Treo phone, most of which is admittedly a bit cryptic. The first piece of information is your phone number, which you probably already know. The second field depends entirely on your wireless carrier and contains the username for accessing wireless data services. The Electronic Serial Number (ESN) is next; this hexadecimal number uniquely identifies your device. You can request this number when you initially set up data services or otherwise need to identify your device to a service provider. The last field of interest is Software, which contains the version number of your device. In Figure 7.1, the version number is sandwiched between the text Treo650- and -SPCS, which in this case is 1.03. The remaining information in the Phone Info screen is advanced device information that you're unlikely to ever need. Note Your Treo's version number might be formatted slightly differently based on your wireless carrier. However, you should still be able to pick out a number in the form x.xx without too much trouble.
4.	When you're finished viewing the Phone Info screen, tap OK to exit back to the main Phone screen.

Now that you know how to turn the mobile radio on and off and access phone information, you're ready to actually start using your Treo as a mobile phone.

Several Ways to Dial

One of the most common tasks associated with any phone is dialing a number to originate a call. There are numerous ways to dial a number with the Treo phone. The most obvious ways are to simply tap numbers on the Dial Pad in the Phone application or press the numeric keys on the keyboard. The keyboard automatically changes to numeric entry mode when you're in the Phone application, so you don't have to press the Option key to dial numbers. Figure 7.2 shows the Phone application with the Dial Pad visible and a number being dialed.

Figure 7.2. The Dial Pad in the Phone application is a simple approach to dialing a phone number to initiate a call.

Note

If you've changed the Phone application to show wallpaper instead of the Dial Pad (see "Select Wallpaper for the Phone" in Chapter 3, "Customizing and Personalizing Your Treo"), you can still dial a number by typing number keys on the keyboard. The Dial Pad automatically appears as soon as you begin typing.

Although dialing a phone number by manually entering the numbers is probably the most familiar way to initiate a call on your Treo, it certainly isn't the most efficient. Following are the primary ways you can make a call with your Treo:

1.	Tap the numbers on the Dial Pad or press the number keys on the keyboard. Optionally, if the Typing Starts Contacts Search setting is enabled (see the "Tweak the Phone Preferences" section later in this chapter), pressing keys on the keyboard allows you to spell a contact's name instead of dialing a numberenter the contact's first initial followed by his or her last name. Usually you'll get a match within three or four characters.
2.	Dial a number from the call historypress the Phone/Send button once to view the call history, and then scroll to select the number/contact to dial. Tip To quickly dial a plus sign for an international call, hold down the zero key until the 0 turns into a +.
3.	Tap a speed dial favorite or hold down the quick key for a favorite.
4.	Tap the number of a contact in the Contacts application; you can quickly jump to the Contacts application from the phone via the Contacts favorite. Note A favorite is a piece of information you'd like to be readily accessible via a special link in the Phone application. You learn about favorites later in the chapter in "Create and Manage Favorites."
5.	Tap a phone number in a message or web page.
6.	Reply to a message via a phone calltap the Respond button with the message selected, and then select Call Sender from the pick list that appears.
7.	Paste a phone number into the Phone application.

As you can see, there are quite a few ways to initiate a phone call through various applications on your Treo. Of course, all these methods require the mobile radio to be turned on. I find that the call history and favorites are the quickest and most efficient ways to make calls. More than likely, you can isolate the majority of your calls to a few numbers. These numbers make great candidates for favorites, which allow you to establish a speed dial shortcut for dialing the numbers. With a speed dial favorite, you can navigate the list of favorites and tap the number (contact) to dial it. You can also go a step further and assign a quick key for a favorite; with this method, you simply hold down a key on the keyboard to dial the number.

Adjust the Call Volume and Control the Speakerphone

The call volume is something you'll likely need to adjust from call to call based on a variety of factors, such as the quality of the connection, the loudness of the person's voice, and so on. To adjust the volume of a call, just press the top and bottom of the Volume button on the left side of your device, and then press the Side button just below the Volume button to confirm the setting change. Normally, the Volume button controls the volume of rings, but during a call, it changes to control the call volume. Even so, there's only one true volume setting, meaning that the ring volume changes when you change the call volume.

Tip

You can turn the speakerphone on and off quickly by pressing the Space key on the keyboard.

A feature closely related to the call volume is the speakerphone, which is controlled by tapping the Spkr-phone button on the Phone screen during a call. When speakerphone is enabled, the Spkr-phone button changes to Cancel Spkr so that you can turn off the speakerphone if you want to return to the traditional phone earpiece. The call volume is important for the speakerphone feature because you'll likely need to turn up the volume to hear the person on the other end of the line.

While I'm on the subject of the speakerphone, you might be wondering about wireless headsets and hands-free car kits. You can use these devices with your Treo, thanks to the Bluetooth wireless networking support built into your device. Check out Chapter 11, "Communicating Wirelessly with Bluetooth," for details on how to connect your Treo to a Bluetooth headset or hands-free car kit for wireless hands-free phone calls.

Note

You're probably already aware that some states, such as New York, now require mobile phone users to use hands-free headsets or car kits if they plan to use a mobile phone while driving. In these states, Bluetooth headsets and car kits aren't just luxuries; they are necessities if you want to drive and use your Treo as a mobile phone.

Prevent Accidental Screen Taps

If you don't use a headset of some kind when talking on your Treo phone, you might realize that sooner or later your face will accidentally brush against the screen and be interpreted as a tap. This can potentially result in putting the caller on hold or even hanging up the call, depending on where the tap registers on the screen. Fortunately, you can prevent accidental screen taps easily by disabling screen taps entirely during calls. This feature is called Keyguard and was first mentioned back in Chapter 3, "Customizing and Personalizing Your Treo." Two aspects of the Keyguard feature are specific to the Treo phone.

Follow these steps to configure Keyguard and disable the touchscreen during phone calls:

1.	Press the Application button to open the main application screen.
2.	Press the P key to jump near the Prefs application, and then navigate with the five-way navigator to select the Prefs application.
3.	Press the Center button to launch the Prefs application. The Preferences screen appears and displays several options for tweaking device settings.
4.	Navigate to Keyguard on the Preferences screen under the General heading, and press the Center button to open Keyguard preferences. Figure 7.3 shows the Keyguard Preferences screen. Figure 7.3. You can use the Keyguard Preferences screen to disable the touchscreen when using the Treo phone.
5.	The two check boxes near the bottom of the Keyguard Preferences screen are for disabling the touchscreen during phone calls. More specifically, the first setting disables the touchscreen when an incoming call arrives, which prevents you from accidentally answering a call by touching the screen. The second option applies to calls in progress and disables the touchscreen during all calls. If you're concerned about accidental screen taps, it's a good idea to select both check boxes.
6.	Tap the Done button when you're finished tweaking the Keyguard settings.

Generally speaking, I find that disabling the touchscreen during phone calls is a good idea. However, if you like to use the stylus, you might want to experiment and see whether you really do accidentally bump the screen with your face. This setting is ultimately a personal preference.