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it makes me wonder… who in south bend has your cell phone number? that was funny… kind like “who in the hell…” i think i might start saying that.

It is a great feature, but it’s not new. My two-year old Sprint Samsung phone had it, too. Only the Samsung’s impementation was better—it told you on the caller ID popup when someone calls, rather than only in the missed call area. The iPhone kind of burries the info away.

But yes, it’s a great feature.

Agreed with Jeff. Not new, and as Jeff pointed out, Sprint/Samsung’s implementation was much better. The iPhone implementation is one of the few areas of the phone where there’s too much interaction necessary to get to information. Annoying.

That said, I still love my iPhone. :-)

It would be better if, instead of “July 23, 2007 9:45 PM” it simply said “Tonight 9:45.” Or at least “Today 9:45PM.”

Oh, and one more mini-gripe about the iPhone’s implementation of the feature: it doesn’t work for people in your contacts. Granted, I know where most of my contacts are from, but sometimes I do put people I meet at a conference or something in there without really knowing where they live. Not a big del, but it’d be nice to be able to get that info for contacts, as well.

And, as long as we’re dreaming, maybe the next iPhone will use GPS to tell you where they really area, rather than just where their phone number originates from. :)

But yes—I still love my iPhone, too.

GrandCentral does that too. And it gives you a little google map in case you don’t know where south bend indiana is.

This is kinda neat but with number portability, how much will it matter going forward. I am no longer in Chicago but I still have a 312 number for my mobile phone. So it will say “Chicago, Illinois” but I haven’t been there in sometime.

Also, Jeff P is correct. “Today 9:45PM” would be better.

Having only used Windows Smartphones for the past few years, I’d never seen this feature before finding it on the iPhone. I’ve already used it several times.

The thoughtfulness and thoroughness continues to impress…

Hey JF (and anyone else with one): what sort of battery life are you guys getting with real-world use?

Actually, iPhone does phrase the date as “9:45pm,” or “Yesterday,” or “Saturday” etc on the main missed call screen that you view 99% of the time. Only on the more info screen does it spell out the exact time and date.

Also, I seem to recall the caller area popping up on the caller ID as well if it is a number that isn’t in your contacts. Watch for it…

This is a great feature, however, I wish it could be implemented on the fly when that strange unknown incoming call is ringing and you wonder whether you should pick it up or not.

I agree. Maybe even take it one step further and do a google lookup on the number if it is listed and put in the name of the person, company, etc on there.

This will be done at some point, the question is when.

it does not work with international numbers (I.e. To give you the country). Moreover if you follow the stsndatd method of storing international numbers in gsm phones, namely prefix by + country code instead of 011 country code, the phone does not match incoming international numbers against the address book because these numbers are identified by 011 by the network.

Is it just me or is your iPhones chrome edge scratched as hell??

I would like to know where the person is calling me from right now at the moment of the phone call. At first, that’s what I thought you meant.

Interesting feature, and the comments are helpful. I am still on the fence deciding whether or not to get an iPhone, despite being a “mac geek”.

Jason, didn’t you mention in a previous post and/or comment that you guys are planning a review of the iPhone? I think your SvN reader base would find it insightful, especially coming from your love of all things simple and well designed.

Thanks in advance!

Slick feature. As I live in South Bend I did a double take while checking my feed reader this morning. No, it wasn’t me who called you. :)

A norwegian company offers an even better solution. When someone calls a java application makes a request to their server to look up the caller’s name and address. See http://sleepyhead81.blogspot.com/2007/07/whos-calling.html

One of the In-car navigation vendors here has a mobile phone hiding inside their jam-avoiding navigation system. When it calls in, it manages to encode it’s current GPS co-ordinates in three bytes of the Caller ID… so whenever anyone calls in for a route or to report an emergency, they knew where they were calling from.

Hopefully, iPhone V2 will get GPS circuitry in the handset and be able to replicate this. Then no need to enter your start point for any route – and indeed to open up all sorts of other applications for an otherwise excellent product.

Ian W.

I just checked my iPhone to see, and noticed that it only showed “IL, USA ” for unknown 312 and 847 numbers.

It’d be nice if the info screen also offered a reverse look-up link.

Considering the fact, that iPhone can be used with one operator, it could also give a physical location for mobile calls from the same operator with max. 100 meters difference, and considering the fact, that in has maps build in, it could show the locations on the map. THEN it would be revolutionary ;)

“Ilias 24 Jul 07 it does not work with international numbers (I.e. To give you the country). Moreover if you follow the stsndatd method of storing international numbers in gsm phones, namely prefix by + country code instead of 011 country code, the phone does not match incoming international numbers against the address book because these numbers are identified by 011 by the network.”

then you need to call att! they need to implement the + display type rather than the 011!!!! gsm should \always be +country and then the number!!! if att doesn’t do that their engineers did a bad job!!!

What Croft said.

Yeah, I know 847 covers many suburbs (I grew up in one of ‘em)... but I’d also assume that 574 isn’t just South Bend itself. And 312 is just Chicago proper. It’d be nice if it could at least specify something like “Chicago metro,” or get a more precise location based on area code + exchange—those are usually assigned by city.

Looking at that photo closer, I noticed the edges of your iPhone are scuffed up pretty bad. What the heck have you been doing with it? ;p

This is a feature I have been wanting in Skype for a long time, since I get calls from all over the country it would be handy it it would show me where the person is calling from.

Great find! Now I have something else to show my friend on his iPhone…

My phone has this cool feature that let’s me see who called, but it’s not even an iPhone. It’s awesome!

Please limit comments about the parody to our blog.

What’s also thoughtful is that it’s a click away, they didn’t make it a default. Because the 80% case is you don’t have that problem of seeing where people are calling from – you probably now the area code. It falls into the 20% realm, where once in a while you need to see the area-code. Thus they tucked it away. Very Apple UI – hie anything thats not a majority use case. Very thoughtful UI!

Another great subtle feature is that it will recognize common numbers and last names. So, since I have the same home phone number for both my mom and my dad, for example, when a call comes in from that number it says “John or Sue Smith” instead of the usual form pf picking the first name it comes across.

My Samsung M610 does this about half-way.

When a call is coming in from an unknown number, it lists the state, but not nearly as specific as the iPhone does. It does, however, say it while the call is incoming, does the need you to wait until you’ve missed the call to get this info?

And 312 is just Chicago proper

In fact, 312 is only downtown Chicago now.

On Location indication

Hey, U guys must need to check up your GF”s or wives (or both). You have certainly talked this to death. Maybe in the futere it will tell who is in the room with her and whether she is horizontal or vertical, it can tell which way is up for the phone itself!

Lots of phones do this.Why get all gushy when Apple has it? It’s that kind of enthusiasm for me-too type applications that gives Mac users a bad name.

a few other inconsistencies are mentioned over at this article, aptly titled iPhone iSores. A good read, and good attention to detail.

Really interesting this would surely affect the privacy of the users

Would be nice to see a similar feature in Highrise where you click on a number and it gives you the current time in that location – being based in the UK calling a lot of US timezones I’m tired of doing the maths before making a call and running the risk of waking someone up.