Book Review: "iPhone - The Missing Manual"

reviewed by Robert Brown
July 25, 2007

This review is based upon a pre-release version, issued July 20, 2007, in a digital PDF format. A printed version is expected in August.

Title: "iPhone - The Missing Manual"
Author: David Pogue
Print History: August, 2007 First Edition
Publisher: O'Reilly Media, Inc.™
Type: Non-fiction, technical, consumer electronics
Theme: essential information and user guide for the Apple iPhone™

292 pages.

ISBN-10: 0-596-51374-7
ISBN-13: 978-0-596-51374-0

This is new book, in the series of "Missing Manual" books. The series is intended to provide users of consumer electronics, computers, and computer software with tutorial and usage guidance, beyond the standard vendor provided manuals.

The "iPhone - The Missing Manual" is structured as a guided tour of the iPhone operation and features, followed by in-depth chapters for each of the primary functions. 

The style of the book is conversational -- a cozy talk, albeit one way -- between the author and you about your new iPhone. In contrast, the Apple iPhone User Guide, which is itself quite nice, is laid out as a reference list and procedural summary. The Missing Manual covers the same information, supplemented by numerous tips and side commentary, to improve the user experience.

Special notes are set into soft yellow highlighted shadow boxes, making it clear that here is important information you might have overlooked otherwise. For example, while I had learned of the conference call capability from both product demonstrations and the standard user guide, I had NOT known that the cellular phone minute usage for a conference call is the actual call length multiplied by the number of persons in the given conference. This is VERY good to know beforehand, but I was unaware of it until I had read the note in the Missing Manual. 

The highlight boxes are presented as either "Note" boxes, which are intended to warn you of things you might not expect -- not necessarily unpleasant -- or as "Tip" boxes, which advise you of ways and means to obtain increased functionality or ease of use.

Clear explanations are provided on the full range of functions of the iPhone. A good example is the explanation of how the EDGE network and WiFi networks differ, and what to expect from each.

Another example are the battery life tips. Until I read it in the Missing Manual, I had not known how and when the display brightness is adjusted for ambient light -- having an unnecessarily bright display is an unnecessary drain on the battery. Neither had I known about the effect of the audio equalization processing or the effect of the e-mail automatic scheduling. Now, I use the audio equalizer and the e-mail scheduler, and will not turn these off to improve battery life under normal circumstances. But it is good to know that these are among my options if I am in a situation where stretching the battery charge might be needed.

Other information includes material that you might have to search the web to find. For example, there are web-based word processors, news readers, and other utilites, programmed for the iPhone under the Web 2.0 model.

In summary, this book provides information that I had not learned elsewhere. It is a suitable companion to the Apple iPhone User Guide. My reaction is very positive, and I recommend this book to iPhone users.

-- Robert Brown

-- July 25, 2007