T-Mobile G1 For Dummies (For Dummies (Computer/Tech))

 
Everyone knows the Dummies books. They’ve been around for years now and chances are good you’ve paged through one at least once. I received a copy of T-Mobile G1 for Dummies last week for review. I have to admit that I was a little skeptical as to what I might find in the book, assuming I would know pretty much everything in it. I was wrong. The books has a lot of good info.
I found in the book very well written with an easy-to-digest style. Chris Ziegler (author, from Engadget) does a great job of making sure not to talk down on the reader, and at the same time, he never assumes things are known.

The book starts out with a nice background on Google, Android, and the Open Handset Alliance before delving into the tech stuff. There’s a decent amount of information in there to help people understand what Android is and how it fits into the bigger Google picture. Everybody should check this part out, even those already well versed in the G1.

After that’s out of the way, we’re into basic stuff like turning the phone on and making calls. Being that Android is a new platform, users are bound to have questions - even at this stage. How do you merge two phone calls? What’s the difference in a 'contact’ versus a ‘favorite’? These are the types of things that anybody new to Android will need to know.

Google is notorious for Easter eggs within their apps and services and Chris does a good job pointing out some of the hidden features in Android. He’s great at educating readers on when to hit the menu button to show things that are not immediately obvious to users. Between the tips and warnings, I found a lot of things that I take for granted. I’ve become very familiar with stuff that some might have trouble with and the book helps out quite a bit here. As a newbie though, I’d love having a reference book like this to bring me up to speed. The book is also arranged very well in nice sections.

Overall, it is a great book for any G1 user and I would certainly recommend it. The only thing that might make me think twice however is the fact that most, if not all, of the information is available online through many sources.