 | Summaries and Customer Reviews are supplied by Amazon.com | The new iPhone 3GS and iPhone 3.0 software have arrived, and New York Times tech columnist David Pogue is on top of it with a thoroughly updated edition of iPhone: The Missing Manual. Each custom-designed page helps you use your iPhone for everything from web browsing to watching videos. The iPhone is packed with possibilities, and with this handy book, you can explore them all. iPhone 3GS Picture-Taking Goodies
by David Pogue
| If you have an iPhone 3GS, then you’re in for some extra camera goodness. See the white box in the center of the screen? That’s telling you where the iPhone thinks the most important part of the photo is. That’s where it will focus; that’s what it examines to calculate the overall brightness of the photo (exposure); and that’s the portion that will determine the overall white balance of the scene (that is, the color cast). |  | | But often, dead-center is not the most important part of the photo. The cool thing is that you can tap somewhere else in the scene to move that white square—to make the camera recalculate the focus, exposure, and white balance. |  | Here’s when you might want to do this tapping:
1) When the whole image looks too dark or too bright. If you tap a dark part of the scene, you’ll see the whole photo brighten up; if you tap a bright part, the whole photo will darken a bit. You’re telling the camera, “Redo your calculations so this part has the best exposure; I don’t really care if the rest of the picture gets brighter or darker.”
2) When the scene has a color cast. If the photo looks, for example, a little bluish or yellowish, tap a different spot in the scene—the one you care most about. The iPhone recomputes its assessment of the white balance.
3) When you’re in macro mode. If the foreground object is very close to the lens—4 to 8 inches away—the iPhone automatically goes into macro (super closeup) mode. In this mode, you can do something really cool: You can defocus the background. The background goes soft, slightly blurry, just like the professional photos you see in magazines. Just make sure you tap the foreground object. |  | |
Average Customer Rating:  Superb! Pogue's Missing Manual on the new iPhone is clearly written in a humorous, charming style. He gives the reader many extremely helpful tips and understandable explanations for usage. Bravo to David Pogue! You Can Teach an "Old" Dog New Tricks... When I retired five years ago, I was officially --and literally -- left to my own devices -- no more in-house tech support or paid consultants to keep my gadgets working. Between David Pogue's column and the kindness of friends and strangers, I was keeping my computer and other electronics working most of the time.
Until I got an iPhone, and in particular the 3GS, which had these apparently great new apps for people with low vision (a state I am slowly inching toward). I knew I would love it if only I could figure out how to use it. Unfortunately, staff at two different Apple stores weren't much help - those nifty new features were too new, and none of the staff I talked with even knew about them, much less know how to use them. I thought my iPhone days were numbered. Then I went to the library and discovered Pogue's book on the iPhone in the New Books section. After reading the first couple of chapters, I had to buy it.
Next to my dictionary and thesaurus, it has become the most useful reference book I own. It is highly readable, and the information is organized and indexed logically and intuitively, especially for a post-war baby like me. I agree wholeheartedly with the reviewers who praised this book. It was one of the best investments I ever made. The author truly has a gift - and a calling in helping laypeople like me become more tech savvy.
Pretty Great Phone Well, I lost my Motorola Razr phone which had served me well for two years. It's in the house somewhere, but I never did find it. All my friends had been telling me I needed a smart phone, so when this happened I went to the AT&T store and bought an iPhone 3GS (16 gig).
The girl I spoke with said that "everything's pretty intuitive" so that was why it didn't come with an instruction booklet. Wrong!!! There are things this phone can do that are not intuitive, but still simply amazing.
I'd bought David Pogue's missing manual for my Mac laptop, and I knew he was a really good writer, so I bought this book about my iPhone by him, too. It has been well worth the money. The book is bigger than the phone itself, and there is information in this book that I never would have been able to guess on my own.
I have some quibbles about the phone, especially that I can't forward voicemails from it, but that's not the phone's fault . . . it's AT&T's. The book, on its own, ... Fabulous!
Best out of three books on the subject... If you have a new iPhone 3g/3Gs, and are looking for a great guide, and a great read, this is the book for you! I have another book by David Pogue, "Windows Vista, The Missing Manual", so I expected this to be good....and it is.
Many great tips, that I would have never figured out on my own, are in this book, and are highlighted in a light colored yellow box...so you'll pay attention to them. Everything that I needed and wanted to know I found in this book and then some. Pogue even adds some humor here and there, which keeps it from being boring. He has a way of explaining things so they make sense, and is easy to follow.
A great read, whether you just got your new phone, or are thinking about one...lots to learn on this tiny pocket computer that happens to be a phone! Very up to date, covering firmware version 3.0 and the 3Gs model, including the video camera, copy and paste, voice recording, compass, etc.
Highly recommended! Great book! I had ordered the original edition of this book. I learned so much from it that I ordered the new edition when it came ou. It not only addressed the newer phone, but also the free upgrade for the older version (which I had downloaded). When one of my sons, one of my daughters-in-law and one of my granddaughters bought their IPhone, I sent each of them a gift copy of this book, They were all very grateful. Pogue writes clearly and beautifully and seems to know everything about whatever subject he takes on. I recommend this boo not only to new IPhone G3s owners but also to any one who has purchased the older G3 version and installed the free upgrade. |  |
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