IOS7 on 4s: new contact radio error

I have the same complaint. Are you both using a Microsoft Exchange account for contacts?

After much experimentation (and after suffering the same problem) of the "radio" label showing in Contacts for the default first phone number choice, I found the following. It came on with iOS7. So far, none of the iOS7 updates "fix" the issue.

The issue is "caused" by the fact that those suffering from it have Microsoft Exchange Server synching in use for their email and contacts. That is a typical configuration for someone's "work supplied" iPhone.

If you do not care about synching your iPhone contact to your work PC, Outlook (Exchange) Contact, then you can remedy the problem by changing from the main screen: Settings->"Mail, Contacts, Calendars"-> Scroll down to ->Contacts Heading-> Default Account. If your current setting is "Exchange", then this is causing the "problem". You can choose "On My iPhone" instead for local iPhone default account creation, or if using iCloud, you can use the iCloud account instead. Using "On My iPhone" stores you contacts only on the iPhone itself. Lose the iPhone, lose your contacts... Using iCloud stores the contacts on the iPhone and in iCloud. Using Exchange stores the contacts in the iPhone and on Microsoft Exchange Server (Outlook usually), with your work PC. If you need your contacts shared between the PC and Exchange, then you cannot really fix the issue by switching to a different default account.

For some people changing away from Exchange is not acceptable, for others it is.

If you need or want to use Exchange, then currently the best "workaround" is that when you create a new Contact, and "radio" is brought up as the default label, then press "radio" itself (e.g. select it). That brings up a pull-down list of choices including "Home", "Mobile", etc., and choose the setting you want for the phone number. [I used to keep entering fake phone #'s until I got the label I wanted, and then deleted the one's I didn't, which was quite bothersome. I didn't realize you could just select the label directly..." Selecting the label directly every time is still bothersome, but less so than creating fake phone entries....

So far, neither Apple nor my employer has found a way to surpress the Microsoft Exchange "synced" list of phone number label "types" that exports to the iPhone from Exchange. I've found that "radio" and "company main" are exported, and "other" and "iPhone", and "Custom Lable" are lost as choices when using Exchange as the default account setting for Contacts. (I believe that is probably default behavior, and so far no one has been able to tell me if there is a way to configure Exchange or iPhone to behave differently).

My brother has this problem, but he does not have Microsoft Exchange. He has a gmail account and a hotmail account. He has never used Exchange.

Any other ideas on how he can fix this?

This also occurs if your phone contacts are set to synch with Outlook (Outlook webmail, formerly known as Hotmail). When I re-set my contacts to synch with iCloud, the old world order was restored.