iPhone learning curve

Y'know sometimes I get the feeling that I learn things in a different way from other people.  Or maybe I'm just a slow learner.  We got new iPhones the day they came out last year and have been using them pretty much daily.  I have probably close to 134 apps loaded on my device and frequently use maybe 40.  But only yesterday did I finally discover the "Search iPhone" screen.  Or maybe I should say only yesterday did I finally find out that screen did something useful, very useful.

Those of you with iPhones know what I'm talking about.  It's the blank looking screen that you get if you press your Home button (the only button on the front of the iPhone, just below the screen) twice, slowly.  If you're like me, whenever I got this screen (always unintentionally) I would quickly stroke the screen from right to left to get to my collection of apps.  If I thought about it at all, I might have assumed that I could enter the name of an app rather than look for the icon but why would I want to do that?

Well, Carolyn and I have been organizing our apps and creating several app groups in the hope that we could more efficiently find the ones we wanted.  The immediate reward for all our work is that we can't find any of the apps in the groups because the icons are now too small!  Aha! I said to myself, that is what that Search iPhone screen is for.  I was looking for the Zillow app so I pressed the Home button twice, slowly then entered Z.  Voila.  Zillow came up on the screen.  Also showing on my screen was a friend Bob Zambelich, a music album Dr. Zhivago, and four more apps that are part of the Zumobi network.  This screen is magic.  It is virtually Google for my iPhone!

Last week I downloaded an e-Book from the Sacramento Library but it didn't end up where I expected it and I couldn't download it again until the 3 week borrowing time is over.  Now I decided to enter the title of this book on this search screen.   Once again, magic!  I don't have to wait three weeks.

Now I know that some of you will yawn and say "so what" because you've been using this screen all along.  I wish you'd have told me.  And if there's at least one person who has just learned something new about your iPhone, you're welcome.