Our Verdict
Whatever inside information , factoid , and minutiae you’re able to rattle off about the people who make up the Contacts stack away on your iPhone , chances are their phone bit are not among the datum that you ’re able to echo at an instant . After all , if your contacts number into the century , that ’s a mountain of digits to keep straight .
So or else of struggling to think back someone ’s phone identification number , would n’t it be sluttish just to perforate in their name to dial ? That ’s the idea behindSmart Dial , a utility fromGary Fungthat countenance you dial contacts by spelling their name out on the number keypad . By saving you from scrolling through your list of striking , the act of call someone up becomes that much uncomplicated .
Upon launch , Smart Dial face you with a generic telephone number keypad that looks much like the one you see in the Phone program . you’re able to use it to make phone call almost precisely like any other number keypad , but it ’s also capable of much more .
Name That Contact: Start typing in the name of one of your contacts on the Smart Dial keypad, and the utility will produce that contact’s name and number for easy dialing.
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If you have a contact named John Smith , typing the number keys corresponding to the first few letters of his first or last name will make for up the contact on the keypad , ready to be dial .
If the impinging that shows up is n’t the one you were looking for — because you have more than one name initiate with the same letter of the alphabet in your striking list , for object lesson — you may either wiretap a button with a down facing pointer to go to the next match or keep typing the contact ’s name until you ’ve narrowed down the inclination even further .
If you may not recollect the name of a exceptional contact , or are just in the mood to use the conversant list - establish approach , Smart Dial ’s contact tab name your integral address Holy Writ exactly like the built - in iPhone coating . There ’s another check that shows you a listing of latterly dialed calls from within Smart Dial . ( Call you ’ve dial directly from the built - in speech sound practical program wo n’t appear here . )
By default , Smart Dial impart priority to first names , recently dial calls , and mobile number , but you may configure these setting to your liking . Smart Dial also gives you the option to beam a schoolbook substance or else of a call when you select a number in the Details view after tapping on the middleman name on the keypad covert ( though you may turn off that setting as well ) .
As corking as the app is , there are a few blemishes that take away some of its shine . Unlike the iPhone ’s nonpayment keypad , the one in Smart Dial does not redial the last dial number when you tap on the Call button double or give you the selection to sum up the number you ’ve dialed to your contacts tilt . Smart Dial also ca n’t dial the plus ( + ) fictional character or work with outer space . Finally , it picture all your late dialed phone call as separate entries , even if you dialed the same routine several times .
Even with these fault , however , Smart Dial is an vastly useful public utility for iPhone owners . I ’m able to dial more rapidly than I would be if I used the traditional list- and hunt - based dialing choice .
Smart Dial is compatible with any iPhone launch the iPhone 2.x software update .
[ Aayush Arya blogs about the Mac at MacUser . ]
