How to Do Everything with Your Palm Handheld, Fifth Edition [Paperback]

Dave Johnson (Author), Rick Broida (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0072258705 | ISBN-13: 978-0072258707 | Publication Date: April 25, 2005 | Edition: 5

Get the most out of your PDA with this step-by-step guide. How to Do Everything with Your Palm Handheld, Fifth Edition covers the latest features, tools, and utilities and explains how to customize your PDA, HotSync with your PC, and use the date book, calendar, address book, to do list, and memo pad. You’ll learn how to access e-mail and the Web, turn your PDA into a mobile office, watch movies, listen to music, secure your PDA, and so much more. Regardless of which Palm OS handheld you own, you’ll find out how to maximize its capabilities from this easy-to-follow book.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Get the most out of your PDA with this step-by-step guide. How to Do Everything with Your Palm Handheld, Fifth Edition covers the latest features, tools, and utilities and explains how to customize your PDA, HotSync with your PC, and use the date book, calendar, address book, to do list, and memo pad. You’ll learn how to access e-mail and the Web, turn your PDA into a mobile office, watch movies, listen to music, secure your PDA, and so much more. Regardless of which Palm OS handheld you own, you’ll find out how to maximize its capabilities from this easy-to-follow book.

• Set up your PDA and enter data using Graffiti, a keyboard, or the Palm Desktop
• Perform wired or wireless HotSyncs
• Manage appointments, contacts, tasks, memos, and expenses
• Prepare your PDA for a road trip--load maps, travel data, language dictionaries, and more
• Surf the Web, access e-mail, and even make calls
• Use your handheld as a complete business computer
• Play games, listen to music, watch movies, view photos, and read e-books
• Protect your data by implementing foolproof security measures
• Manage, troubleshoot, and upgrade your PDA

About the authors: Dave Johnson is the author or co-author of three dozen books, an editor of PC World’s weekly Digital Focus newsletter, and an avid Palm handheld user. Rick Broida is the author or co-author of more than a dozen books and the founder and former editor of Handheld Computing magazine.

About the Author

Dave Johnson is an accomplished photographer in both analog and digital mediums, as well as an amateur musician and music fanatic. As Senior Editor at Planet IT, Dave covers topics like handheld computing, portables, wireless, and imaging technologies. Dave has written for magazines like Home Office Computing, Windows Magazine, Family PC, and Digital Camera, and his 14 books include How To Use Digital Video and the best-selling How to Do Everything with Your Palm Handheld (nearly 35,000 copies sold).

Dave Johnson (Colorado Springs, CO) is a mobile computing editor for CMP Media, and Rick Broida (Commerce Township, MI) is the founder and former editor of Handheld Computing, the first and only print magazine designed expressly for Palm OS users. They are the best-selling authors of How to Do Everything with Your Palm and How to Do Everything with Your Visor

Product Details

• Paperback: 464 pages
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill Osborne Media; 5 edition (April 25, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0072258705
• ISBN-13: 978-0072258707
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 7.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,360,076 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

43 of 44 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Way too basic, August 11, 2005

By 

Boston Garden Gal - See all my reviews

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This review is from: How to Do Everything with Your Palm Handheld, Fifth Edition (Paperback)

I had borrowed the fourth edition of this book from a colleague and couldn't wait until the new edition came out, since I'd purchased a Tungsten E, which wasn't in existence when the older book was published.

What a shock when I received the fifth edition. It doesn't include special instructions on any of the Palm or other models, beyond showing pictures of what they look like. This edition is much smaller than the fourth. It doesn't include nearly as much helpful information, and what it does include makes it basically a hard-cover direction book for those who don't want to access the instructions on the CD.

The meager "special" applications in the middle of the book weren't very special at all.

All in all, it's fine for those new to PDAs. The writing is clear and easy to follow. It offers simple, step-by-step instructions on how to use most of the basic functions of a Palm or other PDA. But it doesn't go beyond that to give a more experienced user ideas on how to improve efficiency with lots of ideas, applications, and examples.

I'm going back and order a used copy of the fourth edition. I'll give this one to the Friends of the Library.

21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Better than others of its kind, but still basic, April 23, 2006

By 

Jerry Saperstein (Evanston, IL USA) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: How to Do Everything with Your Palm Handheld, Fifth Edition (Paperback)

This is for a new or unsophisticated user of Palm OS devices. There really isn't anything here that can't be found in the Palm reference manual or in the online Palm forums.

But everything is presented in a crisp manner with more than adequate illustrations. And it really does cover literally everything the average user can do with the Palm OS.

Someone new to Palm or those who have hesitated to explore the boundaries of the Palm OS will find this book helpful, more helpful than many others of the same kind.

Jerry

17 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Save your money, December 14, 2005

By 

PCDummy (Albuquerque, NM USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: How to Do Everything with Your Palm Handheld, Fifth Edition (Paperback)

The title says "How". There does not appear to be a lot of that inside this book. There is a lot of "jive stuff" between or about the authors that could have been better spent doing more of the "How" instead of the "jive". I have read a lot of technical and software books in the last 30 years and this one goes to the bottom of the list.