Customer Reviews

iPhone: The Missing Manual: Covers the iPhone 3G

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For those who already know of David Pogue's Missing Manual series there is hardly any need to read a review of any of the latest publications, like "iPhone, the Missing Manual, Second Edition." For those in need of a written guide to the iPhone, you just buy the book and enjoy it, without wasting any time with comparisons, reviews, or undue deliberation. You can trust the author and publisher. For years, Pogue Press', the Missing Manual series, has been a benchmark of quality for the genre. In an era where manufacturers provide skimpy support materials, the Missing Manual series acts as a great substitute.

For those unfamiliar with the series, I'll elaborate on the iPhone book. It is a great book. It is designed to tell you in an objective casual, easy to follow fashion, all you need to know about using your iPhone. It is lavishly produced in heavyweight glossy paper with high resolution full-color graphics. The text is larger sized and organized in a very easy-to-read layout. There are many dozens of sidebar "Tips" which break up the text and make learning about the iPhone very easy.

The best part of the book is the content where you get a very thorough, comprehensive, and well-organized presentation of the iPhone hardware, software, and services. In six parts and fifteen chapters, Mr. Pogue covers nearly everything an average user needs to know about the product. There are plenty of sections covering advanced topics, as well, including use of the iPhone in a business setting. Part One is a guided tour to the hardware and how to get started making calls and texting. In this chapter and throughout the book, Mr. Pogue gives more than mere description and explanation of features, he provides step-by-step instructions and practical guidance on use. In the first chapter, for instance, he provides an experienced user's perspective on how to be more efficient using the virtual keyboard.

Part Two discusses the music and video features and the camera and photo capabilities. Part Three explains how to get online using the multiple means - 3G, 2G (Edge-ATT's older, slower system), and WiFi using the web browser and e-mail programs. The author provides handy references to useful websites and third-party applications which can run on the iPhone and extend its capabilities, like the Zoho suite of productivity applications and RSS readers. The next part covers the third-party software now available for downloading from the Apple site. The App Store is explained and a lot of the applications are briefly reviewed and evaluated. Pogue also describes how to install custom ring tones as well as making one's own using Apple's own Garage Band.

In the "Beyond the iPhone" section, Pogue covers the all-important syncing features and options, the Mobile Me support services provided by Apple, the iTunes symbiosis with the iPhone, and the customer settings options. Three appendices cover setup and signing up, suggested accessories, and troubleshooting and maintenance.

Do you have an iPhone 3G? If you do, then this book is for you. Author David Pogue, has done an outstanding job of writing a book that is designed to serve as the iPhone manual.

Pogue, begins by covering everything related to phone calls: dialing, answering, voicemail, conference calling, text messaging, and the Contacts program. Next, the author covers the iPhone's ability to play back music, podcasts, movies, TV shows, and photos. Then, he explores in detail, iPhone's third talent: Its ability to get you onto the Internet, either over a Wi-Fi hot spot connection or via AT&T' cellular network. Finally, the author describes the world beyond the iPhone itself--like the copy of iTunes on your Mac or PC that's responsible for filling up the iPhone with music, videos, and photos, and syncing the calendar, address book, and mail settings.

This most excellent book describes everything you need in a pocket computer. More importantly, this book provides updated and expanded information on how to use the new all-in-one (cellphone, iPod, Internet and wireless syncing) iPhone 3G.

This is to a good manual as the iPhone is to the Blackberry Pearl.

Really.

I'm a geek. I rarely buy manuals. When I scanned this in the bookstore, however, I quickly found four important things I didn't know. I gritted my teeth and paid my $25. At $17 with Amazon it's a bargain.

The only manual I can recall that was this good was Pogue's original Palm manual.

It's clear Pogue doesn't write these things any more -- he credits a large technical team and support from several members of Apple's iPhone 2 development team. It's also clear that his hand is on the tiller, and that he's chosen strong people.

I'd compare it the iPhone, but really, the iPhone is much buggier and is missing more features. From the layout, to photographs, to prose to the terrific index this is more like what we hope iPhone 2.2 will be like.

The companion web sight is very well done, and the book comes with directions on a private newsletter subscription.

Buy the book, you'll be happy.

I did not buy the original iPhone and I don't have an iPod Touch, so I needed a little coaching when I decided to buy the iPhone 3G. As everyone knows, the small "Finger Tips" manual included with the iPhone covers only the most basic stuff. You need this book for everything else. It is very clearly written and includes great color pictures that pinpoint exactly what you need to tap to make whatever it is you want to happen happen.

By the way, I have experienced none of the problems that seem to have plagued some buyers of the iPhone 3G. The 3G service in my area has been great; after several weeks, I have yet to have a dropped call. I've had no trouble synching my phone with iTunes, and there were no production flaws on my phone. So, I would recomend this two step program:

1. Buy the iPhone
2. Buy this book to get the most out of step 1.

There was a time when everything under the sun came with large manuals, sometimes more than one, that nobody read. Then we entered the era of sticking the boring manuals on a CD -- and nobody read them. Today, we are lucky if we get a slip of paper telling us how to turn a product on. Thank heavens for people like David Pogue who has finally written a manual that is useful, entertaining and should have been in the box with the iPhone!

You are going to learn so much about your iPhone that if you don't buy this book you are actually going to get less of a value out of your new toy than you could if you did buy the book. So just go ahead and buy it already!

Everything from the basics, such as managing your contact list, to the most advanced, such as setting up a Virtual Private Network (VPN), is covered. Every page will have you holding the book in one and your iPhone in the other trying new things out. For example, I had no idea in the iPhone 2.0 software I could now snag my favorite graphics right out of my email and save them. Coolness!

What makes this book so darn good, outside of the material covered, is the sense of humor and ease of reading. The author knows how to keep your attention and knows how to present technical details in an entertaining way.

In short, Apple if you are reading this -- hire this guy to write your next iPhone manual!

The iPhone takes center stage in another installment of David Pogue's "The Missing Manual" series. This readable aftermarket manual isn't "in the box" but it is available on the iPhone from its App Store. On the iPhone you can read it anywhere and flick back and forth between the book's recommendations and the iPhone apps where you can try them out.

It's hard to serve two masters, but this book does equally well for experienced gadgeteers and fresh technovices. Those terrified to touch their new toy are comforted by an initial guided tour of basic button presses and finger flicks. Users upgrading from inferior PDAs or cell phones benefit from subsequent chapters covering the iPhone's features. These chapters are equally readable, browsable and searchable. Each is well organized, covers its topic briefly yet thoroughly, and includes a distilled collection of tips and tricks.

Pogue practices humor with a light touch, refreshing the reader without interrupting or lengthening the mainstream flow of information. He includes humorous examples in his screen shots, such as a calendar entry for the premier of a "Titanic" sequel and a YouTube video of "The Inappropriate Yoga Guy." He also makes light of possible data security issues such as hiding an impending elopement from one's parents or concealing evidence of a job search from the boss. These small brush strokes make the book's lessons more memorable as well as easier to read. Nicely done.

The author's trademark "missing manual" theme is effective branding, but really runs counter to one of the book's strengths. Pogue's irreverent style, some of the information, and much of the advice he supplies could not exist in a corporate manual--even one from Apple. Pogue engages with the iPhone from a user's perspective, even taking issue with Apple design decisions like the missing copy, cut and paste features. He touts third party software and workarounds with a candor unencumbered by Apple's alliances and strategic plans. Pogue helpfully redefines the very interface language, such as "pinch and spread" for the Apple-defined finger movements of "pinch in" and "pinch out."

I like the author's advice most when he competently describes an Apple-supplied app, then dismisses it in favor of some third-party emergent that does the job better. His rejection of the iPhone camera in favor of Air Me is one good example of this. These departures from the Apple view help the user--and wouldn't be present if the manual were "in the box."

Read this book, on your iPhone or off. Appreciate Pogue's outsider view, free to endorse what works best--free to advise without supporting any design philosophy, furthering Apple business goals, or maintaining some artificial "fairness" to competing app developers at the expense of giving readers the best advice he can.

Excellent and well laid out book. Provides much needed information to get the most out of your IPhone. Apple does provide a manual but it is on-line and does not come with the phone. This book fleshes out the rather sparse Apple provided manual and gives many tips not found elsewhere. Definitely a Buy.

I thought this book was very easy to follow, and well organized. This book is exactly what it says it is, a user manual for the iPhone. It covers all the basic functionality, and includes a few tips and tricks that you might not know about otherwise.

For the most part, I find the iPhone very easy to use, and wonder why anyone would need directions on how to do some of the things this book covers. However, if you would like to discover how to really use your iPhone, or just want a more complete guide to all the features this book will be useful.

If you are a technical person, and would like to dive deeper into the workings of the phone (perhaps start developing applications, or learn about some of the more complex features), this book will be too simplistic for your needs.

iPhone: The Missing Manual is somewhat misnamed. Apple does
have a manual for the iPhone. It is a 152-page PDF [...]

The Apple User Guide definitely does not replace David Pogue's
Missing Manual, not by a long shot. I can't read a page of the
Pogue book without learning two new things. I can't read a page
of the Apple manual without going cross-eyed. As usual David
Pogue is entertaining and informative. His is an excellent book.

Good to have an easy to understand, carry around in your purse, humor-ridden book for the IPhone. Although I have a fair number of "toys", I still had alot of questions about my IPhone that the accordion-foldout supplied didn't remotely cover. I even downloaded the 157-page pdf file, but it's not exactly easy to work with or carry around. Highly recommend this... And David Pogue lends humor to everything...