Two Google apps are part of the default iPhone interface and can be accessed from the home screen.

The first default application is Google Maps, which is what you get when you press the iPhone’s Maps icon. That’s right, the iPhone’s Maps application is actually Google Maps, configured especially for iPhone use. We’ll discuss this application separately in the “Google Maps” section later in this chapter.

The second default application is Gmail, which is one of the choices you get when you first access the iPhone’s email application. Actually, you can configure the iPhone’s email for any one of the major web-based email services—AOL Mail, Yahoo! Mail, Apple’s MobileMe mail, and Gmail. (You can also configure the iPhone to work with Microsoft Exchange on corporate email servers.) If you choose to configure the iPhone for Gmail, you access your Gmail inbox every time you press the Mail icon. We’ll cover this feature in more depth in the “Gmail” section later in this chapter.

Google’s other applications have to be downloaded manually to your iPhone from the iPhone App Store. You can do this by pressing the App Store icon on the iPhone screen, or by accessing the Web via your host computer at www.apple.com/iphone/appstore/. If you use the former method, you download the applications directly to your phone; if you use the latter method, you download the applications to the iTunes software on your computer, and then transfer them to your phone the next time you sync your iPhone.

In any instance, search for Google Mobile App and make your download. It’s completely free, and a relatively small download at that.

As noted previously, Gmail can be configured as your default iPhone email service. Once configured, pressing the Mail icon on the iPhone’s home screen brings up the Gmail folder list shown in Figure 36.1. Press the Inbox folder, and you see a list of your email messages, as shown in Figure 36.2.

Figure 36.1. Viewing Gmail folders on your iPhone.

Figure 36.2. The contents of the iPhone’s Gmail inbox.

To view an individual message onscreen, as shown in Figure 36.3, all you have to do is press the message in your inbox. You can reply to existing messages and create new ones, using the iPhone’s onscreen keyboard to tap out your text.

Figure 36.3. Reading a Gmail message onscreen.

The second Google application built into the iPhone is Google Maps. Press the Maps icon and Google Maps appears onscreen, as shown in Figure 36.4.

Figure 36.4. Mapping your current location with Google Maps.

The neat thing about using Google Maps on an iPhone is that you can quickly locate your current location on the map. The iPhone 3G includes built-in GPS functionality, which means it uses satellite technology to pinpoint your exact location. Press the button at the lower-left corner of the screen and Google Maps centers on your current location. To display other locations, just enter the new location into the search box at the top of the Google Maps screen.

You can also use Google Maps to display driving directions. Press the Directions button at the bottom of the screen; then click the Start button. The screen changes to display Start and End boxes at the top of the screen. Your current location is the default start location, although you can change this. Enter the desired destination into the End box; then click the Route button. Google now displays your route onscreen, as shown in Figure 36.5. Click the Start button to view turn-by-turn driving directions, one screen at a time.

Figure 36.5. Generating driving directions.

When you download Google Mobile Apps, a Google icon now appears on the iPhone home screen. (It’s the big lowercase “g.”) Press this icon, and you launch Google Web Search, as shown in Figure 36.6. This is what you use to search the web from your iPhone. Use the onscreen keyboard to enter your query into the search box; then press the Search button. Your search results are now displayed onscreen; press any link to access a given web page.

Figure 36.6. Searching the web from your iPhone.

There’s one other important item on the Google Web Search page—a link to all the other Google applications. Press the Explore More Google Products button and you see the list of apps shown in Figure 36.7. From here, you can press any icon to access that particular application.

Figure 36.7. Accessing all of Google’s iPhone applications.

Next on our tour of Google applications is Google Calendar. Press the Calendar icon on the Google apps screen, and you see a list of your upcoming Google Calendar events, like the one shown in Figure 36.8. Press any specific event to view more details.

Figure 36.8. Viewing Google Calendar events.

This event list is downloaded from your web-based Google Calendar, of course. Unfortunately, you can’t add new events from your iPhone; you have to do this from a computer connected to the Internet.

Did you know you can you use iPhone to view word-processing documents, spreadsheets, and presentations? That’s right—all your favorite Google Docs applications are accessible via your iPhone and iPod Touch, from any location. Just press the Docs icon, and you’re taken to the Google Docs home page, shown in Figure 36.9. Press any document title to view the document onscreen, as illustrated in Figure 36.10.

Figure 36.9. The Google Docs home page on the iPhone.

Figure 36.10. Viewing a word-processing document on the iPhone.

Want to stay in touch with your instant messaging buddies? Then use your iPhone to access the Google Talk network. When you press the Talk icon, your iPhone displays a list of your Google Talk contacts, as shown in Figure 36.11. Press the name of a contact to initiate a chat session, using the onscreen keyboard to type your messages.

Figure 36.11. Google Talk contacts on the iPhone.

With its dual WiFi/3G data access and included Safari web browser, you’d expect the iPhone to be a good way to keep abreast of the latest news events. Even easier than using the browser to go to a dedicated news site, however, is using Google News to deliver up-to-the-minute news headlines from a variety of sources. Press the News icon and you see a version of the normal Google News site customized for viewing on the iPhone. As you can see in Figure 36.12, you can scroll through the selected headlines on the front page, click the Sections button to view headlines on other topics, or search for specific news topics.

Figure 36.12. Viewing news headlines with Google News.

As you recall from Chapter 7, “Saving Your Searches—and Signing Up for Google Alerts,” Google Notebook lets you clip text and images from the web into your own notebooks, the easier to catalog the information you find online. You can access your Google notebooks from your iPhone by pressing the Notebook icon. This displays a list of your stored notebooks; you can search through your notebooks or view a given notebook in its entirety. You can even add new notes to existing notebooks, by pressing the Add Note to Notebook button within the notebook.

If you store your photos online in Picasa Web Albums, you can view them with your iPhone. Press the Photos icon, and you see a list of all your albums; open an album and you see your pictures as thumbnails, as shown in Figure 36.13. Press any photo to view it full screen.

Figure 36.13. Viewing photos in a Picasa Web Album.

If you follow a lot of blog feeds, you can read the latest posts on your iPhone via Google Reader. Press the Reader icon, and you see a list of the most recent posts for the feeds to which you’ve subscribed. Press a post title to read the entire post, or press the Feeds button to see a list of your subscribed-to feeds.

If you like your iGoogle home page on your computer, you’ll probably like the iPhone version, as well. Press the iGoogle icon, and you see a text-based version of the iGoogle page, like the one shown in Figure 36.14.

Figure 36.14. An iGoogle page for the iPhone.

This iPhone iGoogle page isn’t the same as your web-based iGoogle page, so you’ll have to customize it from scratch. To add items to the page, press the Add Stuff link; to delete items from the page, press the Delete link; and to rearrange the order of items on the page, press the Delete link.

If you have one or more blogs hosted on Blogger, you can manage those blogs from your iPhone. Press the Blogger icon and you see a version of the Blogger Dashboard page. Press the appropriate links to create new posts, change your blog’s layout and settings, or view your blog onscreen.

Here’s a neat feature—and one accessible from the iPhone’s home screen. With the iPhone’s fast 3G connection, it’s relatively painless to watch YouTube videos in the palm of your hand. Press the YouTube icon (from either the home screen or the Google Apps screen), and you’re taken to a mobile version of the YouTube site. From here, you can search for videos, display a list of featured videos, and (of course) view videos. Videos are displayed in widescreen mode, which means you have to turn your iPhone sideways to view them. As you can see in Figure 36.15, transport controls are overlaid on the screen; touch the screen to display or touch again to hide the controls.

Figure 36.15. Watching a YouTube video on the iPhone.

Finally, Google’s voice-assisted phone directory service, Goog411, is accessible just by pressing a button on the iPhone. Press the Goog411 icon and your iPhone switches to cellular phone mode and dials the Goog411 service; from there, it’s a simple matter of voicing your request into the phone.