30 of 30 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
liked this better than iPhone for Dummies, April 23, 2008
I had been using the basic features on my iPhone intuitively... flipping once in a while through the thin booklet and the PDF file that Apple provides as a user manual. After a month, I decided that to make the most out of my purchase I had to more proactively learn about all the features.
The presentation in this book is clean and stylish. It's also very clear -- THE INSTRUCTIONS are detailed and ACCOMPANIED BY SCREENSHOTS, which are LABELED WITH NUMBERS that correspond to each step. There's no way to get lost.
It's comprehensive. For instance, there's a section on iTunes and iPod, which is especially useful for the complete novice who need step-by-step instructions about building playlists, finding podcasts, etc. (The Dummies book is limited in this area; there's a separate "iPod & iTunes for Dummies" book.)
If you're already familiar with certain features or there are some you're not interested in learning about, the book is arranged in such a way that you can skip ahead or hop from one section to another. There's an index, of course, but the Table of Contents is as helpful because the headings and subheadings are straightforward, instead of cutesy titles.
The only thing that the Dummies book has extra is a list of ten web resources at the end. They probably have more informational nuggets spread around, but I personally found it unencouraging to wade through all the text. In this book (My iPhone), every page has screenshots and you can see every step illustrated -- it's very visual.
I found a typo on page 94 ("Inlcude" for "Include"), and the iPhone seems to have added a few modifications to the map functions since it first came out. You can find out about those on page 81 of Apple's PDF guide. No biggies. The traffic icon is no longer a car, and there's an icon for finding your approximate location on the map you're looking at.
Thumbs-up.
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20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Thumbs up on Brad Miser's "My iPhone", May 18, 2009
This book has 419 pages, including nine pages for chapter contents at the front and almost a full 12 pages of indexed items at the back. The soft cover is glossy and stiff with an attractive and colorful iPhone, bigger than life-size, on the cover.
The book uses high quality slick paper and bright colors to denote chapters in the contents section that correspond to page number tabs of the same color within that chapter appearing deeper in the book. This makes it easy to find what you want to know in the chapter list and jump right to it, visually.
Especially well done is the ">>>step-by-step" feature in almost every chapter relating to how to program your iPhone. These are against a sky-blue background with numbered instructions appearing in easy-to-read black type. Additionally, as you work your way down the numbered instructions, a red circled number corresponding to that instruction appears in the crisp iPhone screen shots so you can follow along, fully oriented. This is exceptional, clear and professional.
The book contains 12 chapters that cover everything from "Getting Started" through managing your phone calls, contacts, text messages and emails to some of iPhone's unique features, such as listening to audio and watching video, connecting with the Internet and surfing the Web and taking and storing photos
Especially unique to the iPhone is the use of downloadable free or low-cost applications that allow your iPhone to do some pretty amazing things, like a voice Google search, or the Wall Street Journal mobile edition (allowing you to read this business newspaper for free, while their Web site charges a subscription fee), or the iTalk app that lets you record interviews and download them to your computer via wireless (just to name a few examples of the multitude of applications.)
Let's take a look at that chapter on apps. It clearly lays out the two different ways to obtain them. One is by linking up to iTunes from your computer, selecting the app of your choice available in the Apps Store, placing it in your library and then selecting it for syncing with your iPhone when it is connected to your computer.
But the iPhone also has an App Store application, allowing you to select apps right from your iPhone connected to the Apps Store, and load and install them right to your iPhone. Both methods are clearly spelled out with easy instructions.
The chapter on how to use iPhone applications smartly has a section on maintaining them, and deleting the ones you end up not liking. The book offers some sage advice if it was an app you paid for. You can delete it from iPhone alone, leaving it on your iTunes for future use should updates improve it and you decided you once again want it on your iPhone. (The book clearly describes how you can allow updates to happen your apps, meaning at some point, and improvement might make you want that app on your iPhone again). If you follow the writer's advice, you'll never pay for that app again.
The book smartly advises readers not to use the iPhone direct connection to the App Store unless you do so via Wi-Fi or a 3G network. Using the more standard E cellular network will be too slow and frustrating, explain the writers. (Actually, I've tried it and it wasn't so bad.)
There is an excellent chapter on iPhone's GPS application, called Finding Your Way with Maps. Clear instructions walk you through fully utilizing it. You can easily find a route between two locations, and get walking, public transit or car route and street-by-street directions. I hadn't used this default app (comes with the phone, not one you install on your own), and the directions in "My iPhone" made it easy to play with and recognize the amazing features in the GPS.
But here's why I like this book even more. The writer is really looking out for consumers, manifested by his willingness to call out the inefficiencies or ineffectiveness of an iPhone feature. These sections are sprinkled throughout the text as the author found the need. They are easy to spot, with a rust-colored background, white type, and the heading "It's not all good."
In the GPS chapter, this consumer-oriented section pointed out that the iPhone Maps app doesn't give directions audibly, meaning a driver could be in a real and dangerous fix if he's trying to follow the route and directions on his iPhone while driving. In some states (Alaska!) this would be illegal.
Overall, the publishing quality of this book is very high. I found no copyediting errors or oversights. I was tripped up once by reading a back-cover blurb that talked about iPhone's "visual voicemail." I went right to the index and searched for those words, hoping I could skip to it and find out exactly what it was.
No dice. That particular enticing item isn't listed in the index. I did find it as a subsection labeled Using Visual Voicemail under the Making Calls chapter in the contents section at the book front, so I wasn't too delayed. I still think if the item deserved a back cover blurb, it probably deserved its own line in the index.
Overall, this is a high quality, top-notch overview of the iPhone. It's sturdy for refreshing and referring to as your iPhone knowledge increases and you want to expand your effectiveness on the iPhone. I predict you'll go back for refinements and tune-ups all the time.
One last suggestion: Since the applications for the iPhone are a growth industry into and of themselves, it might have been fun if this author listed Web sites where readers could find reviews of new apps. If the publisher maintained a companion Web site with the author's recommendations on apps, even better! These items couldn't be in the book, but an addendum Web site might be a flexible way to handle it.
Good job, overall.
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