Hello My Fellow Apple Core Casanovas,

In the beginning there was my beloved Samsung Blackjack II SGH-i617 Windows Mobile Standard Edition non touch-screen Smartphone and, along with it, came Speed Dial,

Then there was my beloved Samsung Epix SGH-i907 Windows Mobile Professional touch-screen Pocket PC Smartphone and, away from it went Speed Dial.  (The pain!  The pain!) 

Now, with my new Apple iPhone 3GS Smartphone, complete with the VoiceOver screen reader for the blind and low vision, I now enjoy what is literally my favorite form of Speed Dial, ever. 

Traditionally speaking, Speed Dial is used to quickly initiate a telephone call to a specific telephone number by merely entering either a one or two digit code.

While I was truly dismayed to discover that the proverbial center of my universe, Microsoft, had chosen to remove Speed Dial from Windows Mobile Professional (and in so doing, rocked the already volatile foundation of my wireless world) I was equally delighted to discover that Apple  had chosen to include it on iPhone. 

“What are you talking about, Mark?  There is no Speed Dial feature on iPhone.” 

Oh but there is; it’s just not called Speed Dial but the concept is still the same.

“OK, Mark, what’s is called then?” 

It’s called Favorites.

Generally speaking, Favorites is an area on iPhone to which you may pin your most commonly used telephone numbers.  Therefore, once an item has been pinned to Favorites, it may be quickly accessed with just the double-touch of a button.

NOTE 1:
The following is based on the default iPhone Home Button configuration as distributed by Apple.

To quickly view your list of Favorites, from the Home Screen, Double-Tap the Home Button located just below the iPHone Display Screen.  To return to the Home Screen, tap the Home Button, once again.

NOTE 2:
From the Home Screen, tapping the Home Button, once, will open the iPhone Search Box.

Let’s see it in action, OK?

NOTE 3:
This document presumes that you have at least two telephone numbers for at least one Contact already entered into your iPhone.

NOTE 4:
The instructions listed in this document are based on Apple iPhone VoiceOver hand gestures, only.

NOTE 5:
This document presumes that you are familiar with basic Apple iPhone VoiceOver hand gesture commands. 

NOTE 6:
The following is only one of several methods that can be used to modify iPhone Favorites.

1.
From the Home Screen, select Contacts.

2.
Select and open a Contact item.

3.
Select the “Add to Favorites” Button located near the bottom of the display screen.  This will cause the “Add to Favorites” selection Dialog Box to appear.  In this Dialog Box, in addition to a “Cancel” Button, you will see a button for each of the Contact’s items such as “Mobile”, “Work” and/or “Home”.

4.
Double-Tap the button that corresponds to the Contact Item you wish to pin to Favorites.  Doing this will return you to the previous screen. 

By the way, you have just successfully added the Contact Item to Favorites.

5.
Tap the Home Button, once, to be immediately returned to the Home Screen. 

6.
Double-Tap the Home Button to display Favorites and you will see your newly added Contact Item.

NOTE 7:
Simply Double-Tap the Contact item to immediately initiate a call.

NOTE 8:
To remove an Item from Favorites, From within the Favorites List, select the Edit Button, located near the top of the Display Screen.  To the left of each item in the list, you will now notice that a Delete Toggle Switch is available.  Toggle this switch on, followed by Tapping the Delete Button which will appear just to the right of the Contact Item.  Upon deleting an item, you will be returned to the standard view of the Favorites list.

That’s all there is to it.

Enjoy,

Mark