My BlackBerry Curve Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Despite having upgraded from my Curve to a Tour last summer, I found this book to be the best smartphone reference I've had. Craig has done a great job with the layout and design, with clear explanations of the inner workings of a great family of smartphones. Even the first few pages were helpful, as I finally found the speakerphone key! The Curve is a classic powerhouse of a Blackberry smartphone, and this book is a must-have reference for not only newbies to the BB world, but also those (like me) who couldn't/didn't want to read the carrier manual or just want to know how to get more out of these devices. The color pictures are very helpful, especially for those of us that need to SEE something to understand it. Technology can be daunting to many, but Craig has written a thorough guide to not only Blackberry Curves, but also to the basics of the Blackberry world.
Thanks to Craig for a great job on a great reference!

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Step-by-step instructions with callouts to BlackBerry Curve photos that show you exactly what to do.Help when you run into BlackBerry Curve problems or limitations.Tips and Notes to help you get the most from your BlackBerry Curve.Full-color, step-by-step tasks walk you through getting and keeping your BlackBerry Curve working just the way you want. The tasks include:• How to get started fast with any BlackBerry Curve: 8300 Series, 8500 Series, or 8900 Series• How to make, receive, and manage calls and emails efficiently• How to use the BlackBerry Curve's powerful contact management and calendar software• How to listen to audio and watch video• How to connect to the Internet, Bluetooth devices, and your company's VPN• How to browse the Web from your BlackBerry Curve• How to use the BlackBerry Curve's messaging tools, including text, multimedia, PIN, and IM• How to find, choose, and install new BlackBerry Curve applications• How to connect with social networking sites and tools• How to use Airplane Mode to watch videos, read emails, and listen to music during flights• How to keep your BlackBerry Curve up-to-date, reliable, and running at top performance

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Unlocking Android: A Developer's Guide Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)This is a must have book for anybody doing Android development. It is definitely targeted at developers who are new to Android -- which describes most Android developers out there given what a new platform it is. However, the level of depth on many topics and the clarity provided behind many key concepts in Android are so well done that this book will benefit anyone working on Android applications.
The book is divided into three sections. The first section is called "What is Android? -- The Big Picture." I have to admit, I thought this might be fluff, but it is definitely not. The overview is good, but what the real value is the explanation on getting your development environment setup. This is something that many books fail to mention at all, as it can be a tricky topic to illustrate in a book. It is well done here, and can definitely be a big time save for new developers. More of this kind of "how to" material is also presented in the appendices.
The second part is called "Exercising the Android SDK" and is the real meat of the book. It takes a very practical, top-down approach to Android application development. It starts off by explaining UI concepts, then intents and services. It then dives into excellent detail on some of the key aspects of mobile application development: working with data, using the Internet, telephony, notifications, graphics, multimedia, and GPS. I would recommend that you immediately read the chapters 3-6 (UI, intents, services, data management, Internet) as these are really the building blocks of any mobile app that is not a game. The other chapters are great too, but you can probably read them as needed. Maybe you don't need GPS today, but need it three months from now. Just read chapter 11 at that time, and you will have no problem. The chapters are self-contained enough for this, while there is still a nice flow of thought between them as well.
The last part of the book is called "Android Applications." It starts off with a very nice example of creating a very "full" application. It really drives in all of the previous material, and is a veritable cookbook of sample code. There are a lot of clever little things you might want to do in your application that you can find an easy to follow sample of in this chapter. I found myself thinking "oh I'm going to rip this off and re-do some part of an existing app." The last chapter is title "Hacking Android" and is all about writing an application in C to run "closer to the metal" on Android. This is probably not that useful to most developers, but I imagine it would be invaluable if you actually did need to do something like this. If nothing else, it is a good read and reveals fascinating aspects of Android's internals. It certainly demonstrates the technical mastery of the authors.

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Android is a free, open source, Java-based mobile platform developed by Google. Unlocking Android prepares the reader to embrace the Android mobile platform in easy-to-understand language and builds on this foundation with reusable Java code examples. It's ideal for corporate developers and hobbyists who have an interest, or a mandate, to deliver mobile software.

The book first covers the big picture so the reader can get comfortable with the Android approach to the mobile applications. Then the reader learns to apply Android by following the many practical examples. The book concludes with two deep and hands-on examples.

Unlocking Android addresses the Android application framework, its graphical capabilities and media support, data storage, communications capabilities, phone interactions, and notifications.

Unlocking Android covers Android SDK 1.x

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