Review: Nokia Smartphone Hacks
Score:
78%
Version Reviewed: First Edit
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There’s very little competition in the book market (for those not needing the massive doorstop-sized developer books from Symbian Press). We’ve looked previously at "101 Cool Smartphone Techniques" and now comes a very similar book from O’Reilly: Nokia Smartphone Hacks.
The ‘Hacks’ series of books are a relatively new range. They take a subject, and start finding out all the things that you can hack (in the traditional sense of the word), then sort them all out into categories and wrap them up. It’s more than a manual, but less than, say, a dummies guide. They can prove to be very ‘bitty’, something to dive into for one or two ideas, rather than sitting down and learning about your phone. As such Nokia Smartphone Hacks sits rather uneasily between a beginner's guide to your phone and a guide for geeks. This is acknowledged in the book, where each hack is given a skill level rating, but it can be rather disconcerting to find "Choosing a voice plan" alongside "Configuring Bluetooth for Linux."
It’s worth pointing out that this is not Symbian Hacks, it’s Nokia Smartphone Hacks. So while UIQ and Series 80 is left out in the cold, Nokia’s Series 60 takes centre stage, with Series 40 coming along for the ride. It’s an interesting choice and the explanation is as follows: "…our definition of smartphone is much broader than Nokia’s own definition, which calls only its Symbian-based… phones smartphones." The merits of this decision are probably in making sure that there is the largest audience available to the book – but why on earth would Series 40 owners pick up a smartphone book?
There is, or course, no getting away from the fact that the book is aimed squarely at the North American market. Almost all the services and network providers are US-based, and while some UK services are listed, it always seems a bit tacked on. And with prices and plans constantly changing, these sections could be out of date very rapidly. I especially liked the section on how to unlock your mobile phone. While it’s obvious to the reader that $2.95 is American Dollars (as opposed to say Canadian or Australian Dollars), the UK unlocking service is charged at "One British Pound per minute." Cor blimey, strike a light, guv!
These caveats aside, Nokia Smartphone Hacks is full of lots of useful information, tips and tricks. There’s a whole section based around Nokia PC Suite, an area notorious for people needing a helping hand. Following that there’s info on dealing with Bluetooth, first at a general overview level, and then looking at implementations for Windows, Mac and Linux users - areas where the clear, step-by-step guide provided here is priceless.
For people who like to play with their phones and make it do a bundle of stuff beyond simple calling, it’s definitely a worthwhile manual. I doubt you’d sit and read it cover to cover, but the groupings of the subjects and the comprehensive index should allow you to jump to something interesting. It’s just that with the mix of skills that the book covers, and focusing on both S60 and S40, most people are going to think that a third of the book is no use to them. And that's a shame, because it's a little goldmine of rich and useful information.
Reviewed by Ewan Spence at