iPhone: The Missing Manual by David Pogue
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Book Reviews of iPhone: The Missing Manual
Book Review: An easy format that lends to quick browsing and immediate understanding.
Summary: 5 Stars
Consumers who have just purchased an iPhone will want to include iPhone: The Missing Manual in their shopping cart: it packs in details on the phone's basic and sophisticated features alike, showing how to sync it with a music file, how to get online using one of several ways, how to customize it for optimal performance and personal needs, and more. Both computer libraries and general-interest collections will especially appreciate the color tip bars, many sample screen shots throughout, and an easy format that lends to quick browsing and immediate understanding.Book Review: Best book ever on the iPhone! No Contest!
Summary: 5 Stars
The "Missing Manual", in case you didn't already know, is the gold standard of technical publications. Heck, it's the platinum standard at this point. Any book that has the "Missing Manual" in the title is sure to be a must have. I've never been disappointed and "iPhone: The Missing Manual" carries the torch for the series yet again. Some books are only edited by David Pogue, but this one was written exclusively by hi, most likely because the iPhone was a hard find for anyone.
While Pogue expertly covered all the features of the iPhone, he also helped readers work around some of the limitations such as the lack of a word processor or a instant messaging program. I learned quite a few tips even for my mere mortal Treo 650. He helps you save money on text messaging, much to the chagrin of AT&T's accountants. I had very high hopes for the book, and Pogue exceeded every one.
Ideally, the iPhone should be straightforward and obvious for most people, but occasionally you aren't quite sure about a feature or how to combine features together to do what you want. For example, how does one avoid SPAM on the iPhone...yuck. This is more than the typical Missing Manual in my opinion. This includes those handy tips and tricks most companies write a separate book on. The list of websites that will simulate desktop apps is worth the price of admission alone.
As always, the Mac and PC platforms are covered equally and with respect. He explains how to sync contacts on a PC and a Mac. Most important, Pogue covers all the troubleshooting steps you need to know when your iPhone stops doing what it wants. Because the iPhone is so new, there aren't many guides to fixing problems and I've had to google way too much in order to fix problems. Now I've got all I need in one guide.
No features of the iPhone is left undiscussed! Even experts with the iPhone (can you say you are an expert when it's been out less than a year?), will find something in this Missing Manual. I think that anyone who has a smart phone will get ideas from this guide. If you can't have an iPhone, get the next best thing.
Of course, if the manual were hard to understand or disorganized it wouldn't do anyone much assistance. Fortunately, Pogue's easy to understand writing style explains things in such a way novices can understand without talking down to them or boring expert users. The index and table of contents are very easy to use to hone in the particular features you are interested in. Extensive use of full color photos helps make sure you can follow along with the book.
Pros: Amazing guide to the iPhone. I suspect Steve Jobs secretly keeps a copy on his desk.
Cons: Besides the fact it doesn't come with an iPhone, absolutely no cons.
Book Review: Not Just For The Tech Challenged!
Summary: 5 Stars
The iPhone is easy to use and most can catch on quickly. But there is much more than meets the eye. The iPhone is really a small computer and this great book will help you realize its full potential. The easy to follow instructions and great pictures make you forget that you're reading the 'missing manual'. My advice: keep the book close because you will find yourself reaching for it again and again! Book Review: An Excellent Guide to Your iPhone
Summary: 5 Stars
This compact and easy to read book is an excellent guide to your iPhone. Even after reading the Apple documentation (electronic) that came with my iPhone I still had questions. This book addressed them all in a simple and fun way that was enjoyable to read.
The book has lots of color photos and screen shots as well as handy tips and shortcuts. I strongly recommend it to anyone who has an iPhone or is considering purchasing one.
Book Review: Necessary to few, useful to most
Summary: 4 Stars
I'm an experienced Mac user and was able to figure out most of what my iPhone does within a couple of days of buying it, but I figured that my father, who loves tech items with an unrequited love, could probably use this manual. I'll have to buy him another copy, because I ended up deciding to keep this one for myself.
Most of what's in "The Missing Manual" is pretty easy to figure out for yourself if you're at all comfortable with Macs, Google, and the Internet. Pogue has nothing particularly non-obvious to say about the calculator (what is there to say? it's a simple calculator) or the clock. He points out a few things about maps that I hadn't run into, and his suggestion for sending photos as text messages had simply never occurred to me. Likewise some of the shortcuts he mentions are things I hadn't thought of looking up because it hadn't occurred to me that I needed them, but they're handy to know.
The book is clearly written. Some of it is already out of date - I updated my phone a couple of days ago and now the maps have some nifty new bells and whistles that Pogue didn't know about when he wrote it. But that's the nature of the product, and the book will undoubtedly be updated before I post this review. It's a bit chatty and could probably be cut in half without any loss of useful content, but most people I know would probably find the chattiness soothing as they deal with new technology.
If you're a serious tech type, you probably won't find this book particularly useful. If you're like me (comfortable with computers and tech gadgets but too busy with other things to spend much time on them), you'll find it useful but not necessary to getting full functionality from your iPhone. If you're like my parents ("okay, I've turned it on, now where's the off switch?"), you'll be invoking divine blessings on Mr. Pogue and his work the day you get his book.