Identifying an unknown contact

1. An apparatus comprising:

a processor;

a memory that stores code executable by the processor to:

detect an incoming call;

identify that the incoming call is from a caller that is not a saved contact;

identify one or more close contacts saved in the memory with whom sharing of contact information and communication history is permitted;

collect relationship information regarding the caller that is not a saved contact in response to identifying that the caller that is not a saved contact, wherein collecting relationship information comprises at least one of:

requesting information of recent communications with the caller that is not a saved contact from the identified one or more close contacts, and

requesting contact information associated with the caller that is not a saved contact from the identified one or more close contacts;

determine a relationship of the caller that is not a saved contact to a close contact based on the collected relationship information;

notify the user of the incoming call; and

provide, to the user, an indication of the relationship prior to the user answering the incoming call.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising a display, wherein notifying a user of the incoming call comprises the processor presenting caller identification data on the display, and wherein providing the indication of the relationship comprises the processor presenting the determined relationship on the display at a location near the caller identification data.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the processor further identifies a shared contacts database, wherein collecting relationship information comprises searching the shared contacts database.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the processor further transcribes at least a beginning portion of a phone call, wherein determining a relationship comprises identifying relational cues within the transcribed portion.

5. The apparatus of claim 4 , wherein collecting relationship information regarding the caller that is not a saved contact further comprises searching transcribed portions of prior phone calls.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the processor further shares the determined relationship with one or more stored contacts.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein collecting relationship information comprises analyzing content of prior communication between the recipient and the caller that is not a saved contact, wherein the processor further searches for a prior communication with the caller that is not a saved contact.

8. The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein the prior communication is an electronic communication selected from the group consisting of an electronic mail message, a short messaging service (SMS) message, and a multimedia messaging service (MMS) message.

9. The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein the prior communication comprises prior phone calls.

10. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein identifying the one or more close contacts comprises searching a database of saved contacts for one or more contacts having a special indicator.

11. A method comprising:

receiving an incoming call;

detecting, by use of a processor, that the incoming call is from a caller that is not a saved contact;

identifying one or more close contacts of a recipient of the incoming call with whom sharing of contact information and communication history is permitted;

collecting relationship information regarding the caller that is not a saved contact in response to detecting that the incoming call is from a caller that is not a saved contact, wherein collecting relationship information comprises at least one of:

requesting information of recent communications with the caller that is not a saved contact from the identified one or more close contacts, and

requesting contact information associated with the caller that is not a saved contact from the identified one or more close contacts;

determining a relational context for the caller that is not a saved contact from the collected relationship information;

notifying a user of the incoming call; and

providing, to the user, an indication of the relational context prior to the user answering the incoming call.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the relational context is further based on a relationship between the user and a close contact having prior communications with the caller that is not a saved contact.

13. The method of claim 11 , wherein collecting relationship information regarding the caller that is not a saved contact comprises analyzing content of prior communication between the recipient and the caller that is not a saved contact, the method further comprising identifying a prior communication with the caller that is not a saved contact, wherein the provided indication includes an indication of the prior communication.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein the indication of the prior communication identifies a most recent communication.

15. The method of claim 11 , further comprising sending the relational context to one or more recipients selected from the group consisting of: a shared contacts database, a remote server, and a close contact.

16. The method of claim 11 , wherein detecting that an incoming call is from the caller that is not a saved contact comprises searching a local contact list for the caller that is not a saved contact.

17. The method of claim 11 , wherein detecting that an incoming call is from the caller that is not a saved contact comprises searching a call history for prior calls with the caller that is not a saved contact within a predetermined time period.

18. The method of claim 11 , wherein identifying the one or more close contacts comprises searching a database of saved contacts for one or more contacts having a special indicator.

19. A program product comprising a computer readable storage medium that is not a transitory signal and that stores code executable by a processor, the executable code comprising code to:

receive an incoming call;

detect that an incoming call is from a caller that is not a saved contact:

identify one or more close contacts of a recipient of the incoming call with whom sharing of contact information and communication history is permitted;

collect relationship information regarding the caller that is not a saved contact in response to detecting that the incoming call is from a caller that is not a saved contact, wherein collecting relationship information comprises at least one of:

requesting information of recent communications with the caller that is not a saved contact from the identified one or more close contacts, and

requesting contact information associated with the caller that is not a saved contact from the identified one or more close contacts;

determine a relational context for the caller that is not a saved contact based on the collected relationship information;

notify the user of the incoming call; and

provide, to a user, a notification indicating the relational context prior to the user answering the incoming call.

20. The program product of claim 19 , wherein collecting relationship information regarding the caller that is not a saved contact comprises analyzing content of prior communication between the recipient and the caller that is not a saved contact, wherein analyzing content of prior communication between the recipient and the caller that is not a saved contact comprises searching for prior communications between the user and the caller that is not a saved contact.