Treo Fan Book: your brain on silicon (Paperback)

by Jeff Ishaq (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
What's tiny enough to fit in your pocket but mighty enough to serve as your full-featured mobile phone, your Palm-powered organizer, your wireless email, text messaging, and web-browsing tool, and even your digital camera? Why, it's your all-in-one Treo smartphone from palmOne! And you can master the revolutionary little device in no time flat with the new Treo Fan Book. Not much bigger than the Treo itself but jam-packed with all the information you need to learn about each and every feature and capability of this combined phone/PDA, Treo Fan Book is a full-color, reasonably priced treasure trove of tips and tools to make instant experts of even smartphone neophytes. More than 200,000 Treo's have already shipped, and the popularity of the powerful, pint-sized device is growing. This quick and accessible guide to the bestselling smartphone is the perfect choice for yourself or gift for the Treo aficionado in your life. Author Jeff Ishaq can help anyone become immediately Treo savvy. A Palm OS® Certified Developer who has been producing software for Palm OS devices since their inception in 1996--and who develops popular shareware for the Treo 600--he is well known amongst the Palm community, and he has been named a Handspring Developer's Community Host for his participation in their Treo 600 community. Ishaq has an approach and writing style that will make learning the Treo quick, painless, and fun for all. Designed for new and eager Treo users, this unbeatable reference guide contains just the information you need (including the basics, such as using the phone, finding your way around the organizer features, and surfing the web)--and then plenty more that you want (things like mobile living with the Treo, such as using it as an MP3 player; selecting available accessories; and taking advantage of countless troubleshooting tips). The Treo Fan Book helps you make the very most of your new, do-all gadget.

About the Author
Jeff Ishaq is a Palm OS. Certified Developer who has been producing software for Palm OS devices since their inception in 1996. He has written many whitepapers for the Palm OS Knowledgebase and has appeared in such publications as Dr. Dobbs and Byte.com. He has been named a Handspring Developer's Community Host in their Treo 600 community.

Product Details

• Paperback: 128 pages
• Publisher: O'Reilly Media, Inc.; illustrated edition edition (November 17, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0596008163
• ISBN-13: 978-0596008161
• Product Dimensions: 5.8 x 5.6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #984,607 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A very simple introduction to the Treo 600 and a bit of the 650, March 15, 2006

By	Jerry Saperstein (Evanston, IL USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER)

Sprint, at least, offers a thick, albeit electronic (PDF), user manual for the Treo 600 and 650. Granted it is terse and obviously intended for the user who has some understanding of Personal Digital Assistants (PDA).

"Treo Fan Book" is intended for the absolute beginner with no prior Palm device experience. It succeeds in that purpose.

Beginners, in fact, will appreciate the often clear instructionss on using the basic functions.

The book was obviously just being finished when the Treo 650, because it references the device only in passing. Many of the function descriptions are too minimalist and could have been assisted by illustrations. For example, there is a reference to a "Power"S button, but the author never tells precisely what he is referring to.

The book was published in 2004 and with its scant information to the Treo 650 (which has since had a ROM update which introduced a number of new features, including DUN (Dial-Up Networking",) "Treo Fan" is now very much out-of-date.

In reality, there is little information here that couldn't be found in the Treo manual or in the many forums and web sites devoted to the Treo.

Overall, "Treo Fan" has limited value to the Treo user who will now most likely be starting with the 650 or 700w (Windows Mobile version). Best to look for another guide.

Jerry

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars nifty mobile computer, December 7, 2004

By	W Boudville (Terra, Sol 3) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Are smart phones the harbinger of what future cellphones might be? Ishaq seems to think so. He devotes his book to the Treo family of smart phones, which is now just over 2 years old. Impressive functionality, that greatly exceeds most cellphones. He points out that the very first Treo 270 in May 2002 was one of the first to be able to surf any site on the web, not just those with pages specialised for phones. All later versions were able to also do this, of course. Whereas the typical cellphone of later 2004, as I write this, still lacks the ability. And from what I can gather, external to the book, don't expect it anytime soon in such phones.

The basic tenet of the book is that the Treo is a mobile computer, that can be wirelessly plugged into the phone net. Some users will revel in all the nifty little options. But if you're the sort who thinks a conventional cellphone is just fine, you may want to check out the different viewpoint espoused by the book.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars TREO Fan Book - Your Brain on Silicon, February 28, 2006

By	Steven L. Greenstein (Miami, FL USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

The description of this book is both vague and misleading in that it only addresses the Treo 600 and products which have since been relaced on the market with the Treo 650 and Treo 700w.

Moreover as an owner of a Treo 650, 99.9% of the content is both irrellevent and obsolete. Consequently, I am extremely dissspointed that Amazon was not clear in its description and offers/recommends this book and would like to return the book for a complete refund.