Tim,
What you mentioned definitely sounds helpful.
Here's how the Nokia (and my Sony Ericson) works:
I can set up a number of different ring profiles.
One is silent, and when this is on, I hear nothing and calls go straight to voicemail. I can still see missed calls and read text messages so this is better than turning off the phone.
Another is Normal and the phone rings for everyone nice and loud. I can also mute this which puts it in a vibrate mode. Good thing to do before running into a meeting.
Now the last setting (and the one this thread is about) is what I've named Family mode. When I choose this profile, the phone will only accept calls from people I've put in the "accept calls from" list. This will make it so the phone only rings if my mom, dad, brother, sister, etc. is calling me. Everyone else will go straight to voicemail and I don't need to repopulate the list, or change the ring settings for individual callers.
As I've mentioned, it's quite useful when I'm expecting an important call, but I don't want to be bothered by anyone except that important caller.
When I'm done and I want my drunk friends to bother me again, I put the phone into normal mode. Now everyone can reach me.
This obviously isn't a crucial function, but it is nice to have and I don't see any technical reason why the iPhone shouldn't have it. Afterall, phone 5 years old have it.
And again, Surprisingly, I have heard of "turning the phone off" but then it won't ring for my family members, so I don't consider that to be a very effective solution.
