Patent ID: 8086274

Claim:
In a handheld electronic device having a phone application, an address book application having a plurality of contact entries and one or more other applications wherein one of said other applications is the currently active application of said handheld electronic device, wherein a screen of first information is present on a display of said handheld electronic device, and wherein a portion of said first information has been selected on said handheld electronic device, a method of using a dedicated phone related key of said handheld electronic device to initiate and execute a phone related function in the handheld electronic device, the method comprising: detecting that said phone related key has been activated while said screen of first information is present on said display; determining whether said selected portion includes a phone number; if said selected portion does not include a phone number, determining whether said selected portion is associated with a selected one of said contact entries by using said selected portion to search said contact entries; if said selected portion is associated with a selected one of said contact entries, making said phone application active and placing a phone call to a phone number forming a part of said selected one of said contact entries.