Customer Reviews

The Complete PalmPilot Guide

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2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Potential readers should be aware of two facts about the first edition: (1) There is NO mention of the Palm III or O.S. 3; happily, much of what is true of the Palm Pilot carries over to the Palm III, but how is one to know what?; (2) Some 183 pages of the 320 pages of text (57% of the book!!) is devoted to descriptions of third party software. (3) In many cases SEVERAL versions of the shareware/freeware have come and gone since the version numbers mentioned in the text. More current information is readily available on the web. (4) Many problems in Chapter 4 (Troubleshooting...) refer to long dead versions of the operating system. [New problems await you ;)] In short, a ho-hum, sort of like reading about Lotus 1a, or WordPerfect 5.1, or dBaseII.

I purchased this book and was roundly disappointed by its muddy writing and neverending review of out-of-date software. I felt misled and humiliated for spending money on this book when most of what comprises the text can be found for free on the internet.

The Complete Palm Pilot is a very simplistic manual that is written for a computer beginner using the Palm Pilot. It lacks detailed information on basic concepts including "graffiti" and other details that even a novice will need. A major part of the manual is devoted to a very basic descriptions of add-on programs. In summery, this book is too simple for even beginners and I do not recommend it.

I bought the book with the expectation that it would be a good reference. It is an excellent book if you are a "beginner" with the PalmPilot or have not read Calvin's PalmPilot FAQ on the Internet. Even if you're an experienced user, you'll find some great tips in the book. The tips section is obviously geared towards the beginner and would have been of tremendous help to me when I first started learning about the PalmPilot several months back. As an experienced user, I particularly liked the quick reviews in the book since it appears that Mr. Parker has selected the "cream of the crop" to talk about. If I had discovered the book earlier, I'd have saved myself countless hours of browsing, sorting and testing of hundreds of PalmPilot applications. I've never really tested any games due to the lack of time and greatly appreciated the reviews to help me narrow down my search. I'd recommend the book to anyone, beginner or experienced, who would like to get the most out of the PalmPilot in the shortest amount of time and/or to use as a good solid reference. There's something in the book for PalmPilot owners of all levels.

I was looking forward to Mr. Parker's book on the PalmPilot, the most useful PDA I have used. I was dissapointed. There is very little information in the book that could not be obtained by reading the manual or just playing with the Pilot. Much of the book is devoted to cataloging software available- this information is readily available for free on the Internet. The software on the CD-ROM has a few good programs but unless you want lots of silly games, several Periodic Tables of the Elements or many calculators it is waste. I do not get the impression that much thought went into software selection or even the book. As Mr. Parker states, those WITHOUT Intenet access will find this book most useful. If you can read this review, that counts you out.

I was a little apprehensive about purchasing this book after reading the reviews here. I had just purchased a Palmpilot to replace my Zaurus and was looking for a comprehensive introduction to my new machine. This book provided everything I was looking for. It contains a top to bottom overview of the Palmpilot (which is about 1/2 the book) and the remaining half fo the book is devoted to providing information on 3rd party applications. I think you could probably go look in a bunch of different Internet sites and find this info --- but why bother when it is all right here in the book. I especially liked the fact that there are tons of Internet web site links that are mentioned -- so if you need further information you know where to jump to. In summary, a great book for the new user of the Palmpilot. Highly recommended.