[disoriented]

One thing I like about the Taranis is that is apparently has telemetry right out the box, is that right?

Not quite. You still need to individually buy the corresponding sensors - current, voltage, GPS, vario (altitude), temperature... The nice thing about FrSky telemetry is that the sensors are diverse, and mostly in the $20-$30 range, instead of the $100+ extortion charged by some of the other brands.

The only truly out-of-the-box sensor is Receiver Signal Strength Indication (RSSI), a FrSky exclusive, which can be thought of as a Tx<->Rx link quality gauge. RSSI will warn you when the aircraft is getting too far away from the pilot, and therefore in danger of losing a reliable radio link. Since those are 1km+ distances, in a typical club scenario the RSSI info is not particularly useful, as nobody flies that far (sadly the clubs are not that large!), but for FPV I'd consider RSSI to be quite indispensable.

The only other telemetry which is arguably out-of-the-box is an analog voltage sensor on some of the D-series receivers, and the newer X-series, though notably not the X8R. That sensor can give you overall pack voltage telemetry, though you still need to wire up some resistors according to the number of cells in the pack, or buy FrSky's pre-made voltage divider unit (like $5 from memory).

The best telemetry is with the new X-series receivers and the "SmartPort" sensors. They are simply daisy chained straight to the receiver, instead of needing specialized telemetry hubs and controllers like many of the other brands. That's what's usually meant by people who say FrSky telemetry is "out-of-the-box" - you don't need a half-kilo of attendant electronic paraphernalia to make telemetry work, unlike some brands (*cough*Spektrum*cough*).

Having said that, telemetry is of very limited usefulness to most novices. Just learning to keep the plane in one piece, and how to glue it back together when the first objective isn't quite met(!), will keep most people occupied for a year or so. Even when proficient, telemetry can be something of a gimmick except for specialized use cases (competition gliding, FPV, photography...). Otherwise, if you're simply flying around in circles or doing 3D, output from the vario and GPS sensors can become a matter of supreme indifference surprisingly quickly

So the unit will give me specs like altitude, speed, distance and battery power? Is that done on the screen? Or by voice?

Both, or either. Whatever you choose. Telemetry really comes into its own with voice, because having to look down at the Tx and read is a bit unnerving. By the time you look back up again, the aircraft may no longer be in the same approximate patch of sky and facing the same way. No such problems with voice.