Editorial Review

Reviews

Learn Android in a Weekend, October 23, 2009
I've read several books on Android from cover to cover, and skimmed several others, and "Hello, Android" is hands-down the best introduction to Android development.

Here's why I say that --

You really can get through the book in a day or two. The explanations are clear, the topics focus on what's relevant to getting started in Android development, and when you're done you have the skills to dive into the SDK to continue learning.

There is a consistent example project that is developed throughout the book. I found this very helpful, because it showed me how all the different parts fit together. For example, launching activities from an existing activity, using multiple classes in your project, adding preferences, etc.

There are very few (if any) "gotchas" in this book. I followed the examples step by step without any problem. I think some people have used the book's online forum to ask about which packages to import, but when I used Eclipse it was done automatically for me. (By the way, all the files are also online.)

Even after having many months of Android development under my belt, I find that I still refer back to this book from time to time. That's saying something for a book that sets out to be an introduction.

Remember, this book is a great introduction. If you already know Android and are looking for a deep-dive, look elsewhere. But if you are curious about all the excitement around Android and have a few hours to spare, spend them with this book and find out what developing in Android is all about.

Great resource for beginners, with a few caveats, December 8, 2009
I have virtually no programming experience. Other than a solid beginner's understanding of LAMP (unix, apache, mysql, PHP and scripting stuff in general), I've never done more than fiddle with code. I do have a cursory knowledge of programming concepts and XML, but that's about it. I'm pretty much a curly brace language virgin.

Hello, Android does a solid job of introducing you to the fundamentals of programming for the Android OS -- it gives you a succinct overview of why you need to do 'XYZ' and when to do it. If you're looking for pages and pages of fundamentals and core concepts, you may want to look elsewhere because Hello, Android makes you hit the ground running and helps you immediately apply the quick concepts you just learned. This is excellent for a beginner like me because the results are immediate and gives you a sense of "this isn't so intimidating... I can actually do it!"

The one aspect I enjoyed about the book was that it gently gets the absolute beginner up to speed but then does less and less hand-holding as the tutorials moved along; this lets intermediate and advanced programmers move along at a brisk pace, but also forces beginners to think about previous concepts that were taught earlier. Instead of simply copying-and-pasting "recipe" code, it really challenged me to think and absorb what the author was teaching. This was invaluable for me as a beginner that likes to be challenged with more than just a simple 'copy and paste this code from page XX, then hit build and run'.

One intangible you won't find in the book -- the author is very helpful/responsive in the Pragmatic Programmer's forums, as are the other members. Any question I've had were answered (usually) within a day, and many times within an hour. For instance, I was having an issue with running 64-bit version of Java JDK in my Android dev environment. The author (and other members) were very helpful in getting my dev environment up and running. Needless to say, the community that goes along with the book is invaluable.

I've owned dozens of wrox, apress etc books since the 90s, and this is one of the few that I would not hesitate to recommend to both beginners and advanced programmers with no Java or XML dev experience. Get this book! 4.5 stars.

PS -- if you buy the paper version of the book, I'd also highly recommend the e-version. Having a PDF up side-by-side with Eclipse (Android's default IDE) is extremely useful.

Hello Andorid!, March 3, 2009
This book definitely started me off in the right direction for making my own applications for Android.
Although this application misses an important section, "Publishing your application", the book is on the design process of the applications.

The book starts you off by familiarizing you with how the Android is run and the general idea of its interface. Then come the example applications which can also be found online.
Each example application is a different use of the Android...
Sudoku, GPS tracking, MySQL, OpenGL, Browsers, etc... This shows you a basic example to a solution.
This book does everything it intends to do for a user of the G1 starting to program. I have never programmed in Java and XML(C and HTML, though), and this book managed to get me understanding and writing basic applications within several hours.

I wouldn't recommend this book if you don't understand basic code because the book does jump into it rather quick and has many technical words. However, for a small book of 200 pages, each summary is very concise and exactly what was necessary to learn the understanding of the material- if you really want more, Im sure Wikipedia and Android-forum along your side will solve all your problems.

The only problem I have with programming now, is customizing my applications to my liking. But this is just learning programming better.

I plan on having many applications on the market place after learning a bit more java, XML, and practicing just a bit!

Thanks and good luck G1 programmers!

Great way to start, February 20, 2010
I have been programming computers for more than 30 years. My background includes DOS Basic, c, C#, C++ .NET, but not Java.

I bought this book because I want to get started in writing some apps for my phone. I have found it to be the best beginning book available. I have looked at 3 or 4 others. It is complete, accurate and has real applications to develop. IT shows you how to set up the IDE and tells you where to get the tools. The author explains what he is doing but does not get bogged down in the details.

You should have a background in Java but if you have experience in some of the other languages out there you should be able to get by. A knowledge of XML would help too.

My recommendation for anyone trying to develop for the Android OS would be:
1. Get familiar with Java
2. get familiar with XML (rudimentary understanding)
3. Buy this book
4. Go for it!

I will be placing this author on my 'watch list' because his writing level is very comfortable for me.

Best Android book out there, February 4, 2010
I've been developing software for quite a while but I am new to Android, and Java is not my main forte. The first book I purchased, Wrox's "Android Application Development", left me wondering if I'd lost all my reading comprehension skills. So I browsed a lot of other books until I discovered this one. The writing is very clear, the examples are complete, and by building a Sudoku application you learn all the key aspects of Android development in a very logical way. The author also walks you through setting up, developing and debugging Android in the Eclipse environment, and guides you through preparing an application for the Android market. This is a very complete introduction to Android that never once left me scratching my head or frantically Googling for omitted information. Highly recommended.

Decent and Aggravating, August 31, 2010
At first glance this is a really good book on Android programming. The first two chapters set you up with the most basic knowledge you will need to get ready to program. The following 4 or 5 chapters are wholly frustrating. These chapters deal with making a Sudoku game. The author leaves many things unsaid. He will purposefully have you build your program so that it will have errors. Once to show your your mistake, once he just leaves an error in there for like 9 pages. The author will just throw random components out there that have nothing to add to what you are currently doing. At one point you are creating an "About" activity and the author randomly starts talking about themes. Maybe we should finish the program before we make it look pretty? Maybe we should finish our current concept before starting another one?

Aside from the beginning project, the rest of this book is quite good. Many topics are covered, including making widgets, 2D programming, 3D programming, live wallpapers, using SQL, publishing your apps and games, and more.

If you are a beginner to Java, get an intro to Java book first/too, the author assumes fairly competent knowledge of Java syntax, keywords, and the like. All and all not the worst book, but not the greatest. I, personally, would not recommend this book.

Excellent Android Coverage for Newbies, January 10, 2009
This is exactly the book I wanted and what any developer who wants to learn Google Android Needs.

The author did an excellent job in just 200+ pages to give you core concepts and tips to start coding an Android.

Ofcourse in 200 pages he cannot explain all the details but google itself has good documentation also to learn those details.

My overall experience of Android SDK is that it is very powerful SDK which can do many things that other Phone SDKs were never able to do because of phone limitations. But also a bit disappointed in somewhat poor design of the API itself.

Quick and Brief, April 12, 2010
Regarding books, one of the things I appreciate the most is an honest relationship between title and contents. Unfortunately it's quite common to find books out there promising things they don't fullfill.

"Hello, Android" meets perfectly the commitment of its title. Don't buy it expecting a reference manual of Android because it' just an introduction to this platform, and I must admit that it does the work gracefully. It's quick and brief so it tells you the essential and gives you resources for further research such as the sample projects that can be free downloaded from the book website. A nice aspect to highlight is the hands-on approach, throughout the book concepts are illustrated with lots of code. Furthermore a Sudoku game is parcially developed during a couple of chapters.

So I basically recommend this book for beginners mainly for two reasons:

1. Starts from the Scratch: Nothing is assumed so it's a good point to start out as Android developer.
2. Brevity: I don't have time for an eight-hundred-pages book to start to develop. I'll deal with the ins and outs as I go, not before.

Of course, like any book about Android, Java (or C++, C#, etc) basic understanding is recommended.

Best First Book for Android, October 22, 2009
The title, "Hello, Android", is perfect, because this is an introduction to Android. This is not designed as an exhaustive reference, nor should it be. Instead, it is the perfect length for quickly coming up to speed on the basics.

I am an experienced Java developer, and this book helped me learn Android quickly. It does not waste time explaining how to use Java, so if you are an absolute newbie, this might not be for you.

Android is rapidly evolving, and Ed is doing a great job keeping up with changes to Android. You can also get the PDF version, and Pragmatic Bookshelf lets you download beta chapters as they are updated.

Well worth getting all digital formats., August 3, 2010
I will preface my review by saying I am a C# developer used to Visual Studio (up to version 2010). I love the Visual Studio environment. Eclipse was a little bit of a learning curve for me. But, I got by just fine.

Here is a book that took me about 3 days to read cover to cover. I've been programming for many years and this book was perfect for me. High level overviews are the best way to figure out how things work. He even provides links for you to find more information for things that truly interest you.

I don't agree with some of other reviews. I really didn't have any issues implementing the code in the examples.

My only complaint would be in the OpenGL section. I wish there was more comments in the code as to what each line was doing. I looked each up myself easily though.

Get the PDF, Mobi, and epub. Amazon doesn't appear to offer it on their site. So, I had to go to the publishers site (The offer all three for a lower price than buying the hard copy). That could change. I didn't really see a reason for the actual print version since I have a Kindle DX.

... Read more

Editorial Review

Today’s Web 2.0 applications (think Facebook and Twitter) go far beyond the confines of the desktop and are widely used on mobile devices. The mobile Web has become incredibly popular given the success of the iPhone and BlackBerry, the importance of Windows Mobile, and the emergence of Palm Pre (and its webOS platform). At Apress, we are fortunate to have Gail Frederick of the well-known training site Learn the Mobile Web offer her expert advice in Beginning Smartphone Web Development. In this book, Gail teaches the web standards and fundamentals specific to smartphones and other feature-driven mobile phones and devices.

• Shows you how to build interactive mobile web sites using web technologies optimized for browsers in smartphones
• Details markup fundamentals, design principles, content adaptation, usability, and interoperability
• Explores cross-platform standards and best practices for the mobile Web authored by the W3C, dotMobi, and similar organizations
• Dives deeps into the feature sets of the most popular mobile browsers, including WebKit, Chrome, Palm Pre webOS, Pocket IE, Opera Mobile, and Skyfire

By the end of this book, you’ll have the training, tools, and techniques for creating robust mobile web experiences on any of these platforms for your favorite smartphone or other mobile device.

You’ll learn how to:

• Build interactive mobile web pages that comply with industry standards and best practices.
• Develop web sites using the markup languages of the mobile Web: XHTML-MP, Wireless CSS, and WML.
• Use Mobile JavaScript and Ajax for client-side web interactivity.
• Adapt the syntax and design of mobile web pages to target smartphone models.
• Enhance mobile web pages to target advanced features of smartphone browsers.
• Validate and compress mobile markup to optimize for network transmission and browser performance.
• Simulate smartphone browsers using emulators and development tools.

Who is this book for?

Mobile application developers and their managers need to learn mobile web technologies because it’s in their economic interest. Time-to-market and opportunity costs are significantly lower for web-based mobile applications than for native ones.

Desktop web developers at software companies and IT departments of non-technology businesses need to learn mobile web technologies to meet the demands of managers who will soon be asking them to “mobilize this web site.” These developers will want to do the minimum work possible to maximize the compatibility of their mobile web sites. The standards-based approach advocated in this book will allow them to build gracefully adaptive and portable mobile web experiences that perform well across mobile browser platforms.

Reviews

Learn Smartphone Web Development, May 22, 2010
Mobile web development is very current nowadays and the books out there now is very slim in explaining all the technologies that are neccessary. This book is a godsend for web developers who really need a reference book on understanding what issues and concerns must be taken on trying to get your mobile web page viewable on the thousands of different web platforms there are.

Web browsers in mobile devices aim to comply with web and mobile industry standards. The author teaches you the standards, best practices and development techniques for building interactive mobile web pages for browsers in smartphones and other mobile devices.

The standards-based mobile web browser is the most promising cross-platform mobile technology. The author based this book on his courses he teaches based upon his many years of experiennce in deploying mobile web applications around the world.

The examples are easy to follow and help get you up and running in a short time.

Its a great book and should be in your computer book library.

Very well written and relevant information, March 27, 2010
This book is an excellent source of information for the mobile web developer. It assumes you have prior knowledge of web development and takes you straight in to the mobile web. The information presented is extremely relevant. There is a section about useful add-ons for Firefox as a tool for web development. There are references about the MIME types used in mobile web. I specially liked the four case studies which examined four popular mobile web sites: Bank of America, CNN, Flickr and Wikipedia. The book also is supported by code examples in their website which is especially useful in web development.
It ends with a chapter interviewing a panel of experts about the future of mobile web which was very interesting and comprehensive.
Altogether, I highly recommend this book to experienced developers looking to create mobile web content. I plan to use the newly acquired knowledge to create the mobile web version of my protesting web site (BeMeProtest).

Great Book for bird eye's view of mobile platform., March 8, 2010
It is a very well written book. The book provides a very good overview and a overall birds eye view of most of the mobile platforms. This book is not in depth, but thats exactly what the title says 'Beginning'. If you want in depth you can view some of their other series. The book is like a movie trailer, if you want to see the whole movie, there are other book by the same publisher, and same series. Its great for people who don't want to get into the details, but would like to select their favorite mobile platform, by seeing what every platform has to offer. The language and style is excellent, and the information flows smoothly. The book does contain codes and examples to try. The book help a starter to navigate the complex waters of mobile platform development with great ease. Highly recommended for mobile platform starters.

Beginning Smartphone Web Development, August 16, 2010
Even though I am a .NET developer, I found the book contained a lot of information that is relevant to my future plans. Mobile is here to stay and growing exponetially. So to stay ahead of the curve, as a developer, you need to keep up with current technology and, this book is a great starting point. My thanks to the authors for sharing their hard earned knowledge.

Nice book and covers a great deal of devices, February 14, 2010
The book is good if you are a beginner and covers a variety of Mobile device and lot of topics related to mobile design and development. I really liked the tips on designing mobile web sites, which I think has became of paramount important now a days.

Interesting book, January 21, 2010
I just finish the book and take me almost 10 days to read it. There are 2 reasons for it, one is I read a few books about mobile web before and the books is little boring. I read a lot of books every month (technical and non technical) and I spent usually one or two days to read a 350 pages book.

There is really good information on this book, but I don't like the way it show it. Goods examples are necessary when you try to explain technology. Real world examples and not just screenshots from popular web sites or basic samples.

Examples in the book are only in PHP, there are no examples online or in the book in ASP.NET. ... Read more

Editorial Review

The latest wireless security solutions

Protect your wireless systems from crippling attacks using the detailed security information in this comprehensive volume. Thoroughly updated to cover today's established and emerging wireless technologies, Hacking Exposed Wireless, second edition reveals how attackers use readily available and custom tools to target, infiltrate, and hijack vulnerable systems. This book discusses the latest developments in Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, ZigBee, and DECT hacking, and explains how to perform penetration tests, reinforce WPA protection schemes, mitigate packet injection risk, and lock down Bluetooth and RF devices. Cutting-edge techniques for exploiting Wi-Fi clients, WPA2, cordless phones, Bluetooth pairing, and ZigBee encryption are also covered in this fully revised guide.

• Build and configure your Wi-Fi attack arsenal with the best hardware and software tools
• Explore common weaknesses in WPA2 networks through the eyes of an attacker
• Leverage post-compromise remote client attacks on Windows 7 and Mac OS X
• Master attack tools to exploit wireless systems, including Aircrack-ng, coWPAtty, Pyrit, IPPON, FreeRADIUS-WPE, and the all new KillerBee
• Evaluate your threat to software update impersonation attacks on public networks
• Assess your threat to eavesdropping attacks on Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, ZigBee, and DECT networks using commercial and custom tools
• Develop advanced skills leveraging Software Defined Radio and other flexible frameworks
• Apply comprehensive defenses to protect your wireless devices and infrastructure

Reviews

A sequel that greatly improves on its predecessor, September 2, 2010
I reviewed the first edition of Hacking Exposed: Wireless (HEW) in May 2007, and offered four stars. Three years later I can confidently say that Hacking Exposed: Wireless, 2nd Ed (HEW2) is a solid five star book. After reading my 2007 review, I believe the authors took my suggestions seriously, and those of other reviewers, and produced HEW2, the best book on wireless security available. If you want to understand wireless -- and not just 802.11, but also Bluetooth, ZigBee, and DECT -- HEW2 is the book for you.

Books in the Hacking Exposed (HE) series that implement the winning HE formula do the following: 1) explain a technology, including aspects you may have never heard of before; 2) explain how to break that technology; and 3) explain how to mitigate the attack, if possible. HEW2 uses this methodology and the result is a great HE book. HEW2 is also cross-platform, usually providing advice on using Windows, Linux, or Mac OS X. Furthermore, this advice is exceptionally practical and relevant. The authors not only describe what works, but also what doesn't work. I got the sense that I was speaking with a pro who was willing to share tips from the trenches, not theory copied from a Web site.

Other aspects of HEW2 make it a winner. The authors post three free chapters on their Web site as background that they didn't want to include in the main text. Their Web site also contains code and other background material from the book, like pcap files. Although I am not on the front lines of wireless hacking, I got the sense that these authors do live on that edge. They explained Software Defined Radio, hardware specifically for attacking wireless devices, hardware mods, and other custom approaches that extend beyond normal wireless techniques. I also liked their "end-to-end" examples for attacking Mac OS X and Windows, integrating client-side attacks with wireless activities. Their use of NetMon and Metasploit was solid. Finally, I loved that HEW2 doesn't start and end with 802.11; it also incorporates Bluetooth, ZigBee, and DECT.

I have no complaints for the authors of HEW2. My only suggestion would be to incorporate attacks on GSM and other mobile technologies into the third edition.

If you want to learn how to attack and defend wireless devices, HEW2 is the right book. Bravo.

Great Introductory Book for Wireless Hacking, November 6, 2010
From a beginner's perspective, this book is great. It offers a broad introduction to 802.11, Bluetooth, ZigBee, and DECT theory, as well as scanning, enumeration, and exploitation techniques. Additionally, the first chapter does a great job of recommending various 802.11 wireless devices. The book's teaching format is not OS-specific either, as the authors will show how to use different applications in different OSs (i.e., using Chanelyzer in Windows, or Kismet in Linux).

What you should expect from this book is an INTRODUCTION to wireless hacking. Like I stated earlier, this book offers broad coverage of various techniques. The authors touch on different subjects, but they do not delve waste-deep into the details of them. Don't expect a WHOLE chapter dedicated to instruction on the aircrack-ng suite, but do expect enough instruction on how to start and run it. There are whole books and websites dedicated to teaching many of the programs covered in this one text.

The authors do a very good job of teaching you how to defeat different forms of wireless security (SSID hiding, MAC filtering, WEP, WPA, etc.). For example, a majority of the text moves in a very logical pattern - first, you learn how to scan and identify a target wireless network. You're then taught how to defeat MAC filtering (if it is in place). Afterwards, you move on to encryption cracking. Finally, you're taught a bit of exploitation.

Don't think that reading this book will turn you into a "master Wi-Fi cracking Jedi" - this mindset will only set you up for disappointment. Think of this book as a "gateway," arming you with the knowledge needed to begin a new career/hobby/whatever. After reading, it's up to you to keep learning more about the different subjects this book touches on, and maybe even discovering some vulnerabilities and/or exploits on your own.

The following lists the chapters in the books, as well as any notes:

Part 1 - Hacking 802.11 Wireless Technology
1.) Introduction to 802.11 Hacking
** Very basic intro to 802.11 theory and devices. Recommended for beginners, as the device recommendations are on-point

2.) Scanning and Enumerating 802.11 Networks

3.) Attacking 802.11 Wireless Networks
** The "bread and butter" of the book, teaching you how to crack a WEP network with data/packets recovered from the previous chapter. Very nice "Bringing it all together" section at the end that gives you the "big picture" of defeating a wireless network with a hidden SSID, MAC filtering, and WEP encryption.

4.) Attacking WPA-Protected 802.11 Networks
** Nice chapter teaching you about the vulnerabilities of WPA (i.e., decrypting network traffic, cracking pre-shared keys, etc.)


Part II - Hacking 802.11 Clients
5.) Attack 802.11 Wireless Clients
** Nice coverage of Metasploit Framework, Evil DNSs, ARP spoofing, injection, and HTTPS cookie stealing

6.) Taking it All The Way: Bridging the Airgap from OS X

7.) Taking it All The Way: Bridging the Airgap from Windows


Part III - Hacking Additional Wireless Technologies
** The last 1/4 of the book was dedicated to the below-listed wireless technologies. Don't expect too much subject coverage on them, but then again, they are not as widely-deployed as Wi-Fi.

8.) Bluetooth Scanning and Reconnaissance

9.) Bluetooth Eavesdropping

10.) Attacking and Exploiting Bluetooth

11.) Hack ZigBee

12.) Hack DECT ... Read more

Editorial Review

Reviews

Not so practical techniques, October 4, 2010
Original review written by Pasquale Granato, JUG Lugano, [...]


First of all, let's clear the field from a possible misunderstanding: this book is not about general mobile design and development but it is about web mobile development. The author states a precise, despite arguable, opinion that brutally said is: do not code native applications but prefer as much as you can web applications. This statement is largely discussed across the book and everyone can make up his own opinion about this. Mine is that currently times are not mature to consider to write just web applications both because mobile browser are not powerful enough (on average) to assure a smooth experience on all devices and because of the lack of a good way to make money from your web app.
The first three chapters of the book are a really good introduction to the history of mobile, to the mobile current status and to the reasons that should drive an approach to the mobile development. These chapters are a well written recap of the status of the art and present a lot of data useful to understand the global situation. Unfortunately the book is printed in black and white and several pie-charts and graphs are pretty much impossible to read.
The central part of the book, chapters from four to ten, is devoted to design issues and, despite the lack of an in-depth examination of some subjects, offers a pretty good survey of the topic.
The final part of the book is slightly more technical covering topics such as XHTML-MP, CSS, HTML5, device adaptation, etc. The problem here is that there is nothing really practical and all remains at an introductory level. To give you an example, a capital topic in device adaptation like Media Queries is covered in half a page with just a trivial example. Furthermore the author seems to be unaware of things like XwapProfile or UAProf (that is probably a obsolete and unreliable method but deserve at least a notation).
My biggest complain is anyway about the author's obsession for the iPhone. The Apple's jewel is referenced continuously and always with great glorification: the word iPhone recurs 99 times in the book and out of the 115 pictures in the book as many as 37 depict an iPhone. An entire chapter is devoted to iPhone web applications development even though most of the concepts presented here are common to other modern devices.
This is overall a decent introductory book, if you are completely new to the field, and it's packed with many good advices but do not expect much from the practical techniques promised by the title.

Excellent Starting Point, December 5, 2009
Anyone looking to moving into the mobile space as a developer or manager should take the time to read this book. Fling brings a considerable amount of experience to the table and gives an incredible survey of the situation as it exists now. Failing to take into account all the valuable information here would be foolish.

The tone and style are refreshing. Fling doesn't try to be cute or work up a side-line as a comedian. This is just straight out guidance, dealing with real world considerations that keeps things from being too dry.

There isn't much in the way of detailed implementation as this is an overview of the whole landscape. This is what should be read before a project is begun, not somewhere in the middle when code is already being written. Fling makes a great case for mobile web apps and gives some very practical guidance in their creation. It's really the only platform wide enough to fit in the book. Anything else would require an extremely narrow focus that wouldn't fit the rest of the book.

I enjoyed reading this and learned a lot in the process. One can't really ask for more.

Fling is a huge fan of the iPhone and spends a whole chapter describing web development for the iPhone. Since webkit exists in other smart phones, the information is applicable to other platforms for the most part but I would have preferred something less tied to one phone from one vendor. My bias is toward android, but there are plenty of iPhone and Android development books. I can use those once I've moved on to specifics. But this is really a very small issue in relation to the excellent information and presentation in this book.

There is one other issue I almost forgot. There are pie charts in the book, which is black and white. Some of the 'slices' are so close to one another in color that it was pretty much impossible for me to tell where they started and stopped. It doesn't hurt the book too much but needs to be fixed in future editions. Fling explains the charts, so one can infer where things are but that means the charts are not even necessary or helpful.

But if those are the biggest problems with a tech book, it's doing pretty well in my estimation.

Should be titled "Information Architecture for Mobile", July 25, 2010
The bulk of this book (say 80%) is a discussion of information architecture retooled for the mobile world. A useful discussion, but it is NOT why I bought a book on mobile development. I expected a book that discussed in great detail, mobile development.

Skip to chapter 11, 'Mobile Web Development' to get a taste. Chapter 12, 'iPhone Web Apps' also has a few nuggets. Chapter 15, the oddly named and placed 'Supporting Devices' touches on setting up a test and dev environment.

Technical details for server configuration, local test/dev environment configuration, dev methods and techniques etc. are absent. This is NOT a technical reference or guide. It IS, a good executive 'summary'.

Also, although it makes every attempt to appear agnostic, the book is clearly iPhone-centric. This caused me to change my rating from two stars to one star.

more background than anything, December 2, 2009
A pretty good survey piece; lots of "things to think about", but short on specifics -- prob because the device world is SO fluid. It serves as background, but there's not much to act on.

From basics to intermediate, September 8, 2009
In this book, Brian Fling has truly focused on mobile web, only veering off into other mobile topics to understand the full ecosystem. This is not a generic mobile design book, but a mobile web design & implementation book. You'll gain an understanding of the mobile industry and how the different players affect what you can and can not do. You'll get a better idea of how mobile browsers work. And you'll get lots of detail on what typically works and what doesn't. Brian has spent a lot of time actually making designs work, and you benefit.

I do disagree with him on a small number of topics, but you can go to either of our companies' sites and deduce what they are. These disagreements, such as whether to rely solely on progressive enhancement, will not interfere with your learning from this book.

Good book good deal, February 6, 2010
This is a good book for mobile technology. Easy to read and understand. And the seller sent this book very fast. Very good deal. ... Read more

Editorial Review

As the Web has moved onto mobile devices, developers have told themselves a lot of stories about what this means for their work. While some of those stories are true, others are misleading, confusing, or even dangerous.

It’s not the mobile web; it’s just the Web!

I’ve heard this quote many times in the last few years, and it’s true. It’s really the same Web. Think about your life. You don’t have another email account just for your mobile. (OK, I know some guys that do, but I believe that’s not typical!)

You read about the last NBA game on your favorite site, like ESPN; you don’t have a desktop news source and a different mobile news source. You really don’t want another social network for your mobile; you want to use the same Facebook or Twitter account as the one you used on your desktop. It was painful enough creating your friends list on your desktop, you’ve already ignored many people…you don’t want to have to do all that work again on your mobile.

For all of these purposes, the mobile web uses the same network protocols as the whole Internet: HTTP, HTTPS, POP3, Wireless LAN, and even TCP/IP. OK, you can say that GSM, CDMA, and UMTS are not protocols used in the desktop web environment, but they are communication protocols operating at lower layers. From our point of view, from a web application approach, we are using the same protocols.

So, yes…it’s the same Web. However, when developing for the mobile web we are targeting very, very different devices. The most obvious difference is the screen size, and yes, that will be our first problem. But there are many other not-so-obvious differences. One issue is that the contexts in which we use our mobile devices are often extremely different from where and how we use our comfortable desktops or even our laptops and netbooks.

Don’t get me wrong--this doesn’t mean that, as developers, we need to create two, three, or dozens of versions duplicating our work. In this book, we are going to analyze all the techniques available for this new world. Our objective will be to make only one product, and we’ll analyze the best way to do it.

You don’t need to do anything special about your desktop website.

Almost every smartphone on the market today--for example, the iPhone and Android-based devices--can read and display full desktop websites. Yes, this is true. Users want the same experience on the mobile web as they have on their desktops. Yes, this is also true. Some statistics even indicate that users tend to choose web versions over mobile versions when using a smartphone.

However, is this because we really love zooming in and out, scrolling and crawling for the information we want, or is it because the mobile versions are really awful and don’t offer the right user experience? I’ve seen a lot of mobile sites consisting of nothing but a logo and a couple of text links. My smartphone wants more!

One website should work for all devices (desktop, mobile, TV, etc.).

As we will see, there are techniques that allow us to create only one file but still provide different experiences on a variety of devices, including desktops, mobiles, TVs, and game consoles. This vision is called “One Web.” This is to an extent possible today, but the vision won’t fully be realized for years to come. Today, there are a lot of mobile devices with very low connection speeds and limited resources--non--smartphones—that, in theory, can read and parse any file, but will not provide the best user experience and will have compatibility and performance problems if we deliver the same document as for desktop. Therefore, One Web remains a goal for the future. A little additional work is still required to provide the right user experience for each mobile device, but there are techniques that can be applied to reduce the work required and avoid code and data duplication.

Mobile web is really easy; Just create a WML file.

I’m really surprised how many mobile websites are still developed using a technology deprecated many years ago: WML (Wireless Markup Language). Even in emerging markets, there are almost no WML-only web-capable devices on the market today. The worst part of this story is that these developers think that this is the markup language for the mobile web. Wrong! WML development was called mobile web (or WAP) development a couple of years ago, when the first attempt at building a mobile web was made. There are still a small proportion of WML-only devices available in some markets, but WML is definitely not the mobile web today.

Just create an HTML file with a width of 240 Pixels, and you have a mobile website.

This is the other fast-food way to think about the mobile web. Today, there are more than 3,000 mobile devices on the market, with almost 30 different browsers (actually, more than 300 different browsers if we separate them by version number). Creating one HTML file as your mobile website will be a very unsuccessful project. In addition, doing so contributes to the belief that mobile web browsing is not useful.

Native mobile applications will kill the mobile web.

Every solution has advantages and disadvantages. The mobile web has much to offer native applications, as Chapter 12 of this book will demonstrate. The mobile web (and the new concept of mobile widgets) offers us a great multi-device application platform, including local applications that don’t require an always-connected Web with URLs and browsers.

People are not using their mobile browsers.

How many Internet connections are there in the world?

1,802,330,457 (26% of the world’s population) at the beginning of 2010 (http://www.internetworldstats.com)

How many people have mobile devices?

4,600,000,000 (68% of the population) at the beginning of 2010 (U.N. Telecommunications Agency, http://www.itu.int)

So, one of the reasons why people are not using their mobile browsers may be because of us, the web producers. We are not offering them what they need. There are other factors, but let’s talk about what we can do from our point of view.

Today, less than 4% of total web browsing is done from mobile devices. This percentage is increasing month by month. Mobile browsing may never become as popular as desktop browsing, but it will increase a lot in the following years.

In addition, user browsing on mobile devices will likely have a higher conversion rate. How many tabs do you usually have open at once in Internet Explorer or Firefox on your desktop or laptop? On a mobile device, when you browse you are more specific and more likely to act on what you find.

Reviews

Best mobile web reference I've seen, August 10, 2010
The purpose of this book is to identify best practices when creating web applications that will be consumed by mobile web browsers. It not only does an excellent job outlining those best practices, but it's incredibly up to date in its content. Not only is there information related to "retina display" available in iPhone 4, but there is also a brief discussion about how Palm has been purchased by HP (both events occurred only a few months ago).

The book begins by providing the most comprehensive discussion of mobile browsers that I've ever seen. The author furthers this discussion throughout the book by providing some of the most detailed information on the compatibility between these various mobile browsers and the standards that each one supports. The book warrants a purchase simply for this information alone.

The author continues by providing examples of supported doctypes, coding markup, and CSS. The author demonstrates CSS differences between the major mobile browsers, and demonstrates some libraries to make web applications look more like native applications.

There is a lot of attention given to Safari, and rightly so, since it is one of the most popular mobile browsers available. However, the reader should be prepared for this fact.

All in all, I found this to be a terrific reference to the state of mobile browsers and a great reference to assist in maximizing compatibility among mobile browsers. I'd highly recommend this for any developer who is creating mobile web applications. By following the guidelines outlined in this book, your applications will be able to effectively reach the largest mobile population possible.

Too generic - not enough example code, October 10, 2010
I bought the book because of the other 5 star review (that happened to be the only review at the time), but was disappointed once I got to read the book.

I'm building a web-based mobile app and was hoping this book would teach web techniques that work on multiple platforms, and would save me development time by for example not having to build separate iPhone and Android versions while still being able to provide native looking interfaces for different platforms. After reading the book though, I am not any closer to that goal than I was before reading it. The book was way too generic for my needs and provided hardly any code examples I could actually use for my project. The book seems more like an academic course that teaches the principles of mobile-independent development, rather than practical advice you can put to use right away.

I admit that I probably had the wrong expectation when buying the book, and I can see that the book would have value for someone who is simply converting a traditional website into a mobile website, and wants that mobile version be accessible by as many people as possible. But for more serious web app development this is the wrong book. ... Read more

Editorial Review

With Advanced iOS 4 Programming, developers have the expert guidance they need to create amazing applications for Apple's iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.

Inside, veteran mobile developer Dr. Maher Ali begins with a foundation introduction to Objective C and Cocoa Touch programming, and then guides readers through building apps with Apple's iPhone SDK 4 – including coverage of the major categories of new APIs and building apps for the new Apple iPad.

This book concentrates on illustrating GUI concepts programmatically, allowing readers to fully appreciate the complete picture of iOS 4 development without relying on Interface Builder. In addition, Interface Builder is covered in several chapters.

Advanced iOS 4 Programming delves into more advanced topics going beyond the basics of iOS 4 development, providing comprehensive coverage that will help you get your apps to the App Store quicker.

Key features include:

• Objective-C programming language and runtime
• Interface Builder
• Building advanced mobile user interfaces
• Collections
• Cocoa Touch
• Core Animation and Quartz 2D
• Model-view-controller (MVC) designs
• Developing for the iPad
• Grand Central Dispatch
• Parsing XML documents using SAX, DOM, and TouchXML
• Working with the Map Kit API
• Remote and Local Push Notification
• Blocks (closures) in Objective-C
• Building advanced location-based applications
• Developing database applications using the SQLite engine
• GameKit framework

Reviews

Excellent book, but almost NO iOS4 information, October 12, 2010
I'm just starting writing iPhone apps, and while I have 25 years of experience with C and C++ programming, I'm new to both Objective C and the iOS environment. I was a little leery about buying a book online without reviews, but I got lucky with this one. I've read one other highly rated iOS book that explains in details many "recipes" for things you might want to do in an app, but was weak on explaining why things are done in a certain way and left me confused when I started writing my own apps. I've only read a few chapters of the book, but the author does an excellent job of explaining not just what, but why. As an example, the author suggests not using Interface Builder. His point is that beginners should pay attention to the small details so they can learn what is really going on, while experts often have dynamic UIs that can't use Interface Builder anyway. The first chapters do a great job of explaining important iOS features such as protocols, properties, memory management, errors, exceptions, etc. in a way that I actually understand how they work in detail.

*** Update *** After reading this book a little more, there is one thing that is a little disappointing to me. It is sold as an iOS 4 book, but there is very little information about new features of iOS 4. I'm working on an app that involves mapping, and there is no discussion of background services or map overlays, nor does it seem to talk about how to prepare your app for going into and out of the background. This is quite disappointing to me. The iPad section is also quite small. Other than that, I still find that the author does a good job of explaining the process of developing iPhone apps in a way that I actually feel like I am learning.

This is NOT the book for iOS 4, October 17, 2010
simply put, this book's author just add some small staffs and said it is a new edition featured iOS 4. Don't trust him.
In this book, there is nothing talking about the key features of iOS 4, which made it useless for the development for iOS 4. Go and buy previous edition if you want to lean some basics for iOS development and it would be much cheaper.
I strongly recommended those who want to learn iOS 4 development to look at Apple's official documents, which would provide the best guidelines for new features in iOS 4 such as multitask. I have read 3 new books covering iOS 4, none of them covers sufficient iOS features, and this book is the worst because it doesn't cover iOS 4 feature at all.

If there was a 0 star I would have clicked it, December 2, 2010
I did not enjoy this book because the info it promised was not in the book. I had to find it elsewhere. ... Read more

Editorial Review

The perfect place to learn how to design Web sites for mobile devices!

With the popularity of Internet access via cell phones and other mobile devices, Web designers now have to consider as many as eight operating systems, several browsers, and a slew of new devices as they plan a new site, a new interface, or a new sub-site. This easy-to-follow friendly book guides you through this brave new world with a clear look at the fundamentals and offers practical techniques and tricks you may not have considered.

• Explores all issues to consider in planning a mobile site
• Covers the tools needed for mobile design, in particular XHTML and CSS
• Shows you how to plan for multimedia, e-commerce, and marketing your site, including adding audio, video, and social networking
• Provides real-world examples and tips to help you avoid common pitfalls

If you're contemplating Web design in a mobile world, start first with this practical guide. ... Read more

Reviews

Interesting and Helpful, September 25, 2010
The book is great!! The authors explain a potentially complicated subject in such a way that even a relative technology notice like myself understood it. This is the first "for dummies" book I've purchased, but I'm tempted to stock up now.

On a side note, I was also surprised and pleased to see that they prominently mentioned the mobile website of indie songwriter Tori Sparks. My husband and I have been a big fan of hers for years.

Great Introduction to Mobile Web Design, September 20, 2010
This is a great introduction to designing web pages for mobile phones because it covers the basic knowledge one needs to understand the design challenges posed by mobile phones. It does require a basic understanding of XHTML, CSS, and a little Javascript to work the examples in the book but the information is great and the examples are thorough and clear.

Mobile Web Design For Dummies, November 12, 2010
This is a must read for anyone who builds web sites and needs to learn about designing a mobile site. ... Read more

Editorial Review

In a complex world, products that are easy to use win favor with consumers. This is the first book on the topic of simplicity aimed specifically at interaction designers. It shows how to drill down and simplify user experiences when designing digital tools and applications. It begins by explaining why simplicity is attractive, explores the laws of simplicity, and presents proven strategies for achieving simplicity. Remove, hide, organize and displace become guidelines for designers, who learn simplicity by seeing before and after examples and case studies where the results speak for themselves. ... Read more

Reviews

An approachable, practical guide to achieving simplicity, September 27, 2010
We've all been frustrated by a gadget, from trying to install a printer to spending hours setting up a new mobile phone. Page one of Simple and Usable points out that: "[The] Technology that is supposed to make our lives easier often feels like it's on the march against us." What then is the antidote to confusing products, software, and web sites? The answer is--as one might guess from the title of the book--simplicity.

Simple and Usable is both an extremely approachable and an incredibly practical guide to simplicity. Author Giles Colborne compelling shares four fundamental strategies for accomplishing simplicity: remove, organize, hide, and displace.

First, figure out the most important tasks of mainstream users, and make those tasks really easy to accomplish. Then, kill all the features that aren't core. From limiting choice, to eliminating distraction, to using smart defaults, Giles offers many tangible tactics for reducing complexity.

But just throwing something out isn't the only way to simplify. Effective organization can make an interface feel simpler to use. "There are plenty of options open to you in organizing an interface--size, color, position, shape, hierarchy." Giles explains that organizing for simplicity involves emphasizing just one or two important elements. He shares useful techniques for achieving organization such as chunking, hard edges, grids, and layering.

For those features that can't be eliminated but that are used only rarely, Giles recommends a third strategy: hiding. "Often a feature has a few core controls for mainstreamers and extended, precision controls for experts," he says. "Hiding the precision controls is a good way to keep things simple." Giles shares how progressive disclosure and timely clues can be used to reveal a hidden feature at just the right moment.

While the first three strategies--remove, organize, and hide--work well in conjunction, the fourth strategy is, as Giles puts it, "a cheat." Displacement is the technique of moving functionality from one location, say a TV remote control, to a different location, such as onto the TV screen itself. "One of the secrets of creating simple experiences," Giles says, "is putting the right functionality on the right... part of the system."

Not only is Simple and Usable packed with practical strategies for achieving simplicity, but it's also quite an enjoyable read. Giles manages to infuse frequent examples into the book's impressively concise 1-page sections, making for inviting reading whether you're on a 3-minute bus ride or spending a Saturday at the cafe. As an advocate of simplicity myself, I highly recommend this book to anyone who has a hand in building websites, software, or products.

You CAN Judge This Book by Its Cover!, October 18, 2010
Like its predecessor by Steve Krug "Don't Make Me Think", which clearly inspired author Giles Colborne, "Simple and Usable" weaves a practical framework for making intelligent choices when creating user experiences. Laden with real-world examples, the book takes a deliberately simple approach to describing effective techniques for software, website and mobile interaction design. Mr. Colborne's book reflects his ability to practice what he preaches: simplicity. Each concept is described in a single page, with an accompanying, relevant photograph. Organization of the material is like a recipe in a cookbook: a picture of the finished product, a list of ingredients, and a step by step approach to delivery.

Three characteristics shine through in "Simple and Usable":

* Elegance
Call it the "iPhone" of usability books - it's packaged better than other books in this space. It's a fast, easy treatment you can read in a few hours.

* Practicality
Nearly every page has a concept or tactic that you can use every day. The examples stem from products Mr. Colborne has created himself, such as online travel planners or automotive sales websites, or ones he has used, like Flip cameras or the elevator in Tokyo's Apple Store.

* Simplicity
Easily the most noteworthy trait of the book is the information design of the book itself, from orientation to staging and continued through execution.

I would recommend "Simple and Usable" for novice and intermediate user experience designers looking for new ideas or quick reminders of the right way to go about designing interaction.

Dip in, think, act, October 21, 2010
Let's be clear: this is a very short book. It's not going to teach you tons of stuff about how to create a better product. It's not a textbook.

What it is: pared-down, thought-provoking, beautiful.

When I picked it up, my first thought was 'lovely' and my second was 'is that it?'. It didn't seem weighty enough to have that much of an impact.

As I read it, I realise that there's a lot more insight in it than the size implies. Giles has worked really hard to pare this down to a few simple messages that you can act on straight away.

Yes, you can read it all in a (fairly short) train or plane ride. I did that, but I found that I kept stopping to reflect on ideas in the book and how I wanted to use them, or challenge myself to use them, in various projects. I'll come back to it, both to read through and to dip in now and then when I need a little thoughtful inspiration.

Definitely recommended.

Best simple book ever, October 18, 2010
I just loved this book.
I used to think that it was complex to make simple design.
This book simply gives the most important rules to reduce complexity.
Nice pictures, easy to read, fun and persuasive. ... Read more

Editorial Review

The visual guide to developing for one of the world’s hottest new mobile platforms, the Android OS

The Android operating system works on phones that combine a camera, Web browser, e-mail, GPS, and mapping tool into a single accessible pocket-sized unit, and can function on computers, as well. Aimed at visual learners and packed with hundreds of screen shots, this guide brings Flash developers up to speed on the necessary factors to take into account when developing for this touch-based, mobile platform. Experienced Flash developer Julian Dolce escorts you through the process of creating applications for the Android OS using the Flash CS5 development platform and informs you of best practices to try as well as common pitfalls to avoid.

• Guides you step by step through the process of creating applications for the Android OS using Flash CS5
• Explores the capabilities and limitations of developing apps for the Android OS
• Points out common pitfalls and teaches you best practices
• Features hundreds of screen shots to assist with visual learning

Android Development with Flash: Your visual blueprint for developing mobile apps gets you on your way to developing apps for Android… in a flash! ... Read more

Editorial Review

Designing the Obvious belongs in the toolbox of every person charged with the design and development of Web-based software, from the CEO to the programming team. Designing the Obvious explores the character traits of great Web applications and uses them as guiding principles of application design so the end result of every project instills customer satisfaction and loyalty. These principles include building only whats necessary, getting users up to speed quickly, preventing and handling errors, and designing for the activity. Designing the Obvious does not offer a one-size-fits-all development process--in fact, it lets you use whatever process you like. Instead, it offers practical advice about how to achieve the qualities of great Web-based applications and consistently and successfully reproduce them.

This latest edition updates examples to show the guiding principles of application design in action on today's web, plus adds new chapters on strategy and persuasion. It offers practical advice about how to achieve the qualities of great Web-based applications and consistently and successfully reproduce them.
... Read more

Reviews

One of the best and most usable titles on User Experience Design, February 25, 2007
From 9 to 5 (well, a "little" after 5 most days), I am an Application Development Manager in my company. In my years doing this, I have read a lot of books on the topic of Web and User Experience Design. So far, only a handful stand out above "Designing the Obvious" by Robert Hoekman Jr. and even some of those, he takes his hat off to (such as the case of "Don't Make Me Think", for instance).

Hoekman proposes the "unthinkable" for those entrenched into rusty web design practices, but when you step back and reconsider the experiences you've had, his framework makes perfect sense. Here are a couple of thoughts he brings to the table, to give you an idea:
-Design an application that does one thing, and does it very well. For every additional feature, there is more to learn, more to tweak and configure, more to customize, more to read about in the help document, and more that can go wrong.
-People (users) don't always make the right choices. They make comfortable choices... they make choices they know how to make. To deal with this, he supports Goal-Directed (also called Activity-Centered) Design, as opposed to Human-Centered Design.

Web Design anathema? Violation of User Interface "basics"? Maybe it sounds so at first, but if you read through his arguments, you will find them very compelling and may end up (like myself) reconsidering some of your initial assumptions.

One of the reasons why his proposal resonated so much with me is because throughout the book, Hoekman introduces concepts that are not familiar in the Web space, borrowing them from long-established best practices in manufacturing (where I worked the first four years of my professional life), such as:
-Kaizen: improving things constantly, in little tiny ways that add up to gigantic results.
-Poka-Yoke: software "devices" meant to prevent user errors from occurring.
-Pareto (80/20 rule): Good, clean Web application design means that 80 percent of an application's usefulness comes from 20 percent of its features.

For longtime professionals and newcomers into the field of User Experience Design, Hoekman's book has turned into an absolute must read.

Advice so obvious you never would have thought of it, May 29, 2007
The danger in reading a book that tells you to do obvious things is that you may find yourself thinking that since you could have thought of each piece of advice on your own, you would have. Alas, unless you have the depth of experience that someone like Robert Hoekman has acquired by working on dozens of projects, chances are there is at least one obvious thing in this book that you have missed in your last project.

If you're like me there is probably considerably more than one thing.

Hoekman lays out the basic principles of web application design clearly and succinctly. He starts by describing some of the practices that designers should adopt in order to understand how their users actually behave and what they really need. These practices are meant to cure readers of the habit of asking users what they want, which frequently results in honest but inaccurate answers. Hoekman's tools of choice for generating understanding are various forms of shadowing users while they do the tasks your application will perform, and his preferred method of documentation is the use case. No one who has worked in software development for any period of time will be surprised at the use case rules he lays out, but the example he gives is a rare glimpse into how the mind of an expert polishes a basic use case into something truly professional.

He next tackles the question of what features to put into your design and which to leave out. Here Hoekman is firmly in the minimalist camp exemplified by 37 Signals. He advocates ruthlessly stripping out "nice to have" features, and simplifying the rest. Although I had previously read much the same argument in "Getting Real", ([...]) once again I found that the example at the end of the chapter gave greater practical insight into how to actually select features to remove.

I found the chapter titled "Support the User's Mental Model" to be the most valuable in the book. As someone who is more often on the project management than the implementation side of web applications, I have often had an engineer propose a feature or refinement that makes perfect logical sense, but for some reason doesn't feel right. After reading this chapter, all of those vague feelings snapped into focus for me. Engineers are so deeply immersed in how the application works, and the possibilities that are available, that they sometimes want to structure interactions in ways that reflect the logic of the code rather than the logic of the activity. Previously I had been attributing most of these errors to the desire to provide more options to the user. Being able to distinguish between the two should help me in approaching these proposals better in the future.

The chapters on helping first time visitors become intermediate users quickly and on handling errors were also valuable, mostly because they focused on the introductory experience. There are dozens of books on design and interactions, but I have yet to see one that focuses exclusively on the crucial first visit of a user to a new site. Since this is where most of our products either succeed or fail, it's great to get some practical advice on how to gently guide a neophyte while still preserving the power a more experienced user will demand. Once again the blow by blow examples that tackle specific interaction problems and solve them are worth their weight in gold.

The rest of the book emphasizes the value of uniformity and novelty, and seemed less useful to me. It's possible that at my intermediate level of knowledge, those were the obvious things I HAVE thought of!

I only had one quibble with the book. Hoekman includes lots and lots of references to web sites and online articles that could be helpful, but each one is buried in the text. A page at the back that simply listed each of these sites would have been very helpful. Or better yet, list them on the author's web site and keep them up to date! What better way to promote yourself as an author long after the original book is dogeared and falling apart?

But this book is an invaluable resource, and one I expect will still be on my shelf long after all the sites it references have gone offline.

Great philosophy, questionable implementation, January 22, 2007
I thought this book was very useful on many points. Through the use of illustrative examples, the author really points out what people are doing wrong (and right) in a lot of common web designs. His philosophy, essentially functional minimalism, means that you spend a lot more time stripping features off of applications than putting them on, and this is probably a great idea.

The only issue I have with this idea is that some of the exercises he proposes to help you pare things down are (in my opinion) very hard, or impossible. After all, if we were all decisive enough to excise things from the spec when they weren't strictly useful, they probably wouldn't be there in the first place.

Basically, it boils down to this: Figure out exactly what your application does. This is ONE thing. Then, remove everything that doesn't do that. If you can still do that thing, you won, and have a good design. The book goes into greater detail about a lot of things you can do to make your application as smooth for the user as possible, and helps to avoid common pitfalls. All designers should read this book - and all engineers should read it twice.

Simply Amazing, December 6, 2006
I have been designing web sites and web applications for many years. I purchased over 100 books on web development and I have to say that "Designing the Obvious" is a breakthough book for web design and application development.

Clearly and precisely, Robert Hoekman Jr., explains the how's and why's of proper web design. The book not only explains the concepts of common sense designs, but why they should be implemented. The reader is given examples of web sites both wrong and right, for comparison.

The book is laid out in several chapters and covers every aspect of design, from simple registration screens, to complex content editing. The techniques represented show a clear method to allow you, the designer, to create the next application that can rival even the best web sites out there.

Robert also introduces you to a set of tools that can assist you in creating the perfect web application. After reading about them, I registered for several of the free features and even upgraded one to the full pay version. (Thanks Robert!)

Don't think this book is just for programmers. This book is also for web designers, whether graphic designers, Flash designers or otherwise. The book is well rounded and teaches many design from many perspectives.

This book is a must for anyone who designs, writes, edits, critiques or reviews web sites.

5 stars is not enough.

Did he really come up with all this wisdom?, January 6, 2009
Being someone who has read many things on this subject before, I could determine from the cover on where the author was getting his ideas from, but he was not citing anyone at all! There are no references, bibliography, no further reading in this book.

I don't like that approach at all, the book may be full of good ideas, but it's simply not fair to do a topic summary like this and not acknowledge the real authors of the wisdom you are sharing, otherwise it's just plagiarism. And that made me a lower my impression of New Riders.

Solid, July 14, 2007
As a UI designer I enjoyed the book. It was clearly written with many useful nuggets of wisdom for those of us building web apps. Typically books like this deal with informational websites or ecommerce, this one covers the missing gap. While most of the examples were fairly light-weight web apps, the foundations covered in this book apply across the board. Usually I skip around in these books since the writing is so dry. Robert has written this one in a conversational tone and I read it cover to cover. Recommended.

Best collection and modern usability advice I've read yet, May 12, 2007
As the popularity of WordPress has grown I've learned many lessons about design and usability, often the hard way. I wish this book had been around 4 years ago when WP got started, because we could have avoided dozens of mistakes along the way.

After I was about half-way through this book I ordered a copy for everyone in my company, even non-developers, because it concisely summarized so much of what I think we should do.

A fine little book, February 12, 2008
Not essential reading, but a really good little book. If you diligently follow companies like 37 Signals or other smart web application development practices, you've probably already thought of most of this. But it's nice to have it in a single, well-written, volume. One problem is that the author talks about "common sense" and "obviousness" as if they were universal, when they're not. It would have been nice to have some evidence from, say, the science of human visual perception to support some of the claims made here.

Good value: sensible, clear, readable, February 28, 2008
This book is to web application design what Steve Krug's Don't Make Me Think: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability, 2nd Edition is to website design. Many of the same concepts are echoed, the style is fairly engaging (if you can bear the occasional coy "dear reader" kind of aside), and the publishing format is similar.

I agreed with much of what this book said. For example, the author advocates:
* Accommodating the users' mental models instead of forcing them to learn new concepts/skills
* Turning "beginner users" into "intermediate users" as quickly as possible
* Building applications that do one thing, or just a few very closely-related things, very well -- rather than ones with loads of add on capability
* Understanding users, but doing lots of (iterative) testing (incorporating feedback into the next version for testing) rather than a lot of research upfront

I had a few minor quibbles, including:
* Many of the illustrations seem rather gratuitous, making me suspect that they were thrown in there simply to increase the length of what is a slim volume. (A contrast with the Steve Krug book, where the illustrations genuinely add to the information content)
* The tone was a bit arch for me in places.
* For some of the points he made, I thought that there were better example applications than the ones the author used.

Nevertheless, this is a very easy and thought-provoking read. It will only take you a few hours to read it from cover to cover, but its recommendations will stand you in excellent stead for many years.

Creating powerful twenty-first century websites that are user-friendly, December 30, 2006
I have to admit that although I love all the new bells and whistles that come with each new upgrade of my favorite software, I sometimes use the older versions. Why? Because the older versions have a lower learning curve and are less complicated to use. This is also true for the internet and the new web technologies. Many website designers continue to create simple, static webpages because they are easier to create and their readers find them easier to use.

Designing websites today isn't as easy as it was just a few years ago, especially with the increased popularity of Ajax and other new scripting languages. Websites are becoming more like desktop applications and less like those old static pages. Of course, internet users expect to see these new features on your websites and that's the way it should be. After all, that's what makes the internet so exciting. However when creating these new, powerful twenty-first century websites, you also need to keep them user-friendly. The author, Robert Hoekman, Jr., shows you how to do just that in Designing the Obvious.

He begins by explaining his approach to designing user-friendly websites. He covers the basics such as understanding the user and evaluating what new features to use on your site. He uses many well known websites to demonstrate how today's new web technologies are being used successfully. After discussing how to design your site for these new website improvements, he then shows you how to implement them into your site.

Once you have the wireframe, or blueprint, for your site, he identifies the usual problem areas and common mistakes and shows how to avoid them. I especially liked the section that covered how to design user-friendly web forms. Web forms are still the best way to collect information from your site visitors for many web applications and the author shows you how to use the new technology to improve the usability of your web forms. He shows may ways to add what he calls Help Aids that assist the user as he progresses through the form and how to design your forms so that user mistakes are almost impossible.

Robert Hoekman, Jr. is a professional Interaction Designer and Usability Specialist. He has authored many books and training courses in this area. ... Read more

Editorial Review

Learn the essentials for developing mobile applications for any device. Focusing on proven techniques and practices, this guide addresses the real-world needs of experienced Microsoft Windows® mobile developers. Users are growing increasingly dependent on mobile devices, and with innovations that make it easy to manage data synchronization, this proliferation will continue. Developers need to respond to this evolution with more than simple adaptations of the user interface--they need to implement mobile solutions for most of their applications. From expert authors with years of real-world experience, this book addresses this evolution, covering key mobile-development topics, including design, debugging, deployment, performance optimization, security, and globalization. It also covers mobile applications that use Microsoft .NET Compact Framework 2.0, Microsoft SQL Server(tm) 2005 Everywhere Edition, and Microsoft Windows Mobile� 5.0, running on devices such as Pocket PCs and Windows Mobile Smartphones. In addition, it includes extensive code samples in Microsoft Visual C#�, with additional code sample in Microsoft Visual Basic® on the book's companion Web site. ... Read more

Reviews

Best Windows Mobile Development Book Ever Written!, August 13, 2007
Trust me, I've read them all going back to 2001 and I've written two of them myself. This is as broad and deep as it gets when it comes to managed code development on Windows Mobile. This should come as no surprise as it was written by the Windows Mobile MVP "Dream Team" of Andy Wigley, Peter Foot and Daniel "The Moth" Moth (now at Microsoft). Not only is this one of the first books to cover the .NET Compact Framework 2.0 and SQL Server 2005 Compact Edition, it even gives the reader coverage of Visual Studio 2008, and .NET Compact Framework 3.5 technologies such as WCF, LINQ, Compression, and "on-device" Unit Tests.

This book provides superb coverage of Security Programming where it shows the reader how to encrypt data with AES and RSA plus the signing of exe's and dll's. If you're interesting developing games or UI's that can't be created with the controls found in the Visual Studio Toolbox, the two chapters on Graphics and Direct3D Mobile are unparalleled. As someone who has a personal interest in the sucess of games on Windows Mobile using the .NET Compact Framework as a consistent game development runtime, this book serves as the launch pad for such endeavors. Whether you're an ISV looking to build the next killer app, a corporate developer tasked with mobilizing your line of business applications, a consultant that needs to aquire mobile development skills, or a game development house looking to take advantage of the explosive growth of the Windows Mobile platform, I highly recommend you get this book!

-Rob

Comprehensive and clear resource for the mobile developer, October 8, 2007
This book is for new and existing mobile application developers who already have some experience developing applications using the .NET Framework, either desktop or compact version. If you are new to .NET, first read "Microsoft Visual C# 2005 Step By Step" by John Sharp or "Microsoft Visual Basic 2005 Step By Step" by Michael Halvorson. Those books can teach you the programming basics, and you will then be prepared to use this book to learn mobile application development. This book can help you develop mobile applications using .NET Compact Framework 2.0 and will introduce you to some of the new features that are in .NET Compact Framework version 3.5, which will be released with the next release of Visual Studio, currently code-named "Orcas."

Along the way, the book highlights features that are new to .NET Compact Framework 2.0 so that the developer who has experience building applications using the version 1.0 product can identify new features that are helpful. However, the main purpose of this book is to give you the essential information you need to design and build applications that work on a constrained device such as a Pocket PC or Smartphone, or on embedded hardware. It instructs you as to how to build and debug applications, how to design GUIs that work on small devices, and how to deploy applications. It also delves into problems that are unique to mobile device applications, such as how to design and build applications that work well with unreliable, slow network connections, which is the usual state of affairs with phone-enabled mobile devices. This book is a handbook for the mobile developer that explains how to tackle the common problems that mobile application developers encounter. The book is divided into three parts:

Part 1, Mobile Application Development Essentials, contains six chapters that everyone should read because they take you through topics that all mobile application developers must understand.

Chapter 1, ".NET Compact Framework--a Platform on the Move," is an introduction to the .NET Compact Framework and explains the tools you need to build applications for smart devices.

Chapter 2, "Building a Microsoft Windows Forms GUI," explains how to build effective Windows Forms applications on personal digital assistants (PDAs) and Smartphones.

Chapter 3, "Using SQL Server 2005 Compact Edition and Other Data Stores," looks at data persistence on devices in SQL Server 2005 Compact Edition databases and how you can build a graphical user interface that binds to data.

Chapter 4, "Catching Errors, Testing, and Debugging," shows you how to test and debug your applications on real devices and emulators, and how to trap and handle errors at run time.

Chapter 5, "Understanding and Optimizing .NET Compact Framework Performance," is about creating applications that perform well, something that requires a little more care to achieve on a smart device with limited RAM and storage than it does in a desktop application.

Chapter 6, "Completing the Application: Packaging and Deployment," looks at packaging and deployment and how Visual Studio 2005 makes it easy to build installation packages so that you can install your application on your target devices.

Part 2, Solutions for Challenges in Mobile Application Development, contains 10 chapters that examine areas that present particular challenges to applications running on a smart device.

Chapter 10, "Security Programming for Mobile Applications," is about security programming, an essential topic for any software developer, but of particular interest to mobile application developers who are responsible for keeping valuable data secure on a mobile device that can be lost or stolen, and must send data over public communications networks such as the Internet.

Chapter 11, "Threading," looks at how to do multithreaded programming in the .NET Compact Framework.

Chapter 12, "Graphics Programming" shows how to present UI that looks more polished and professional than one that is built using only the standard Microsoft Windows Forms controls from the Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 Toolbox.

Chapter 13, "Direct3D Mobile", discusses how 3-D graphics can be implemented on a Windows Mobile 5.0-powered device using Direct3D. It starts simply with 2D graphics and then gradually moves into 3D graphics.

Chapter 14, "Interoperating with the Platform," explains how to call native APIs that are available in the underlying Windows CE operating system to perform tasks that are not possible using the .NET Compact Framework APIs alone.

Chapter 15, "Building Custom Controls", looks at developing custom Windows Forms controls that you can use in .NET Compact Framework applications.

Chapter 16, "Internationalization", explains how to create applications that are easily localizable to different cultures and languages.

Chapter 17, "Developing with Windows Mobile", looks at the Windows Mobile 5.0 managed APIs, a set of APIs that are unique to mobile devices and that expose system information and allow programmatic access to data stores such as Microsoft Office Outlook Mobile contacts, calendars, and tasks lists.

Part 3, New Developments, consists of a single chapter that provides an early look at the next version of Visual Studio and the next version of the .NET Compact Framework, version 3.5. The latest version adds new features for querying data collections, messaging, testing, and many other innovations and enhancements.

The best book on MS Mobility Development written to date, September 15, 2007
You can't get very far in Windows Mobile development without learning of the names Andy Wigley, Peter Foot and The Moth. They are three brilliant developers and all have been in the game long enough to know it inside and out.

When I bought this book, I had high expectations. Not only did they deliver, they took it up a few notches. If there's an area of WinMobile development that they left out, I sure haven't been able to find it. From UI effects to data access (and a stellar discussion on Sql Server CE), everything is covered and covered well. These guys all spend a ton of time answering questions in public newsgroups and it's very evident that they used this experience as a reference point in writing this book.

The fact they threw in a good bit about Orcas was just icing on the cake. This book is superb from start to finish and a must have for any mobile developer

Great and Must-Have book for mobile developers, August 18, 2007
This book covers many aspects of windows mobile development, not only important and fundamental concepts, but also practical techniques and tricks. There are useful demo codes for download from MS Press website, too.

Any one who wants to learn writing Windows Mobile based applications, should dig deeply into this book, and will find many valuable knowledge and skills.
If you are already a mobile developer, I suggest you to use this book as a reference whenever you need to know more detail about a mobile developing topic.

This book helps a lot to me when I prepare some material for my .NET Compact Framework and Windows Mobile developing courses/presentations.

Excellent work from Andy, Daniel, and Peter!!

The best programming book I've read in a long time, September 20, 2007
Every now and then you run across a programming book that is exceptional; one that is far richer and more useful than the multitude of other resources out there. I recently had this experience while researching Microsoft .NET Compact Framework. While Microsoft has a wealth of documentation on .NET Compact Framework it's sometimes difficult to figure out what documentation is up to date and where to find coverage on a particular subject.

Having many questions left unanswered by Microsoft's Web site, I finally turned to this edition of the "Microsoft Mobile Development Handbook" (Microsoft Press 2007) by Andy Wigley, Daniel Moth, and Peter Foot.

In a nutshell the book is one of the best programming books I've read in a long time. In fact, I give it my highest recommendation. .NET Compact Framework is a nice piece of work and this book will help you appreciate all of its capabilities and how all the parts fit together.

If you are thinking of developing mobile applications and are considering .NET Compact Framework, I recommend you buy a copy of this book.

The best book on Windows Mobile development. Period., September 9, 2007
This is a book where the knowledge, experience and the art and science of the mobile development that has been collected by the "dream team" of authors comes together to create a truly the best book on Windows Mobile development. The book covers everything from the way to design the UI that is optimized for devices to the tips to optimize performance; from the data synchronization to a deep dive into PInvoke and COM interop; from data persistence to network connection and state management. The book answers many questions that many first time (or even experienced) developers encounter when starting development for mobile devices. The samples that are used in the book, are very clean cut and to the point. And they could be easily re-used for your own projects.

Windows Mobile Developer Bible, February 6, 2009
This book it's a real Windows Mobile Developer Bible. If you are a developer, with this book you can improve your application and make it professional, thanks to chapter regarding screen resolution and orientation, setup packging, API programming and much more.

The best book from the best in the business, March 1, 2008
Got 2 copies for my moble development team. The book is simply invaluable. Either you read cover to cover, or select any chapter of special interest the result is in depth information and guidance. Very often our two copies are not enough for everyone in the team.

A gem for the Windows Mobile developer, August 17, 2008
One of the few WM development books, and certainly the only one that merits five stars. This book is thorough, timely, and informative about the technologies relevant to making great WM apps in native and managed code.

Excellent Reference, July 17, 2008
I purchased this book, among others, to learn more about the compact framework. This has ended up being the one that is always on my desk and constantly referred to. There is information in here that is not on any google search, and the code used by the author to demonstrate complicated operations (such as creating opacity in CF forms), is easier and clearer than I have seen anywhere else. A very good book, and well worth purchasing. ... Read more

Editorial Review

The follow-on to Apple Training Series: Mac OS X Deployment v10.6 and Apple Training Series: Mac OS X Directory Services v10.6, this volume takes an in-depth look at the many options provided to administrators to secure access to intranet services. System administrators and other IT professionals will learn how to configure Mac OS X Server v10.6 to provide secure access to vital network services such as web, mail, and calendar from mobile devices such as the iPhone. The Providing Network Services section covers establishing critical network services such as DNS, DHCP, and NAT/Gateway services. Systems & Services focuses on connecting private and public networks securely using firewalls, certificates and VPNs. Finally, the Working with Mobile Devices section teaches students how to successfully configure Snow Leopard Server’s Mobile Access Server and securely deploy intranet services such as web, mail, and calendar services to mobile devices, such as the iPhone, without the need for VPN services.   ... Read more

Reviews

A fine classroom primer and text for any advanced computer collection!, August 14, 2010
Mac OS X Security and Mobility v10.6 provides a powerful Apple-certified training course filled with options for administrators to secure access to intranet sites. It teaches IT professionals now to tweak Mac OS X Server v10.6 to provide secure access to network services and covers the basics of establishing critical services. A fine classroom primer and text for any advanced computer collection!
... Read more

Editorial Review

Designed for a broad spectrum of people with technically diverse backgrounds, this book covers the most recent developments in Web 2.0 programming topics and applications, including up-to-date material on cloud computing, Google AppEngine, Social Networks, Comet, HTML5, semantic technology, and a chapter on the future of the Web. Web 2.0 Fundamentals: With AJAX, Development Tools, and Mobile Platforms prepares readers for more advanced technical topics in Web 2.0. The accompanying CD-ROM and companion website provide code samples from the book and appendices with an extensive set of links for supplemental material and links for the Twitter and Facebook pages. ... Read more

Reviews

Comprehensive Book for Program/Portfolio Manager or developer alike, May 10, 2010
This book describe lots of important aspects of Web 2.0 and helps in dealing with Product-owner/developers. Now I can
ask the right kind of questions to product managers and developers to find out why they chose the products and tools they're using on a project, and why they eliminated other alternatives, and be in a better position to understand their responses.

This book is prepared in a very meticulous fashion. The writing is strong and focused, and the authors make it clear when they are presenting an overview of a specific topic versus an in-depth discussion. The code samples were helpful to understand usage of the tool(s).

This is definitely a very ambitious book because it covers so many aspects of Web 2.0, and the authors did an impressive job of providing breadth and a lot of depth for many topics. This book gives depth where it's really needed and focus on breadth where it's appropriate.

I really liked the approach used for the two mobile chapters: the first mobile chapter gives an overview of four major platforms. The second mobile chapter discusses other alternatives to give you an understanding of what type of coding is needed to develop apps for each of those platforms.

This book gave a great jump start in Web 2.0! ... Read more

Editorial Review

Secure today's mobile devices and applications

Implement a systematic approach to security in your mobile application development with help from this practical guide. Featuring case studies, code examples, and best practices, Mobile Application Security details how to protect against vulnerabilities in the latest smartphone and PDA platforms. Maximize isolation, lockdown internal and removable storage, work with sandboxing and signing, and encrypt sensitive user information. Safeguards against viruses, worms, malware, and buffer overflow exploits are also covered in this comprehensive resource.

• Design highly isolated, secure, and authenticated mobile applications
• Use the Google Android emulator, debugger, and third-party security tools
• Configure Apple iPhone APIs to prevent overflow and SQL injection attacks
• Employ private and public key cryptography on Windows Mobile devices
• Enforce fine-grained security policies using the BlackBerry Enterprise Server
• Plug holes in Java Mobile Edition, SymbianOS, and WebOS applications
• Test for XSS, CSRF, HTTP redirects, and phishing attacks on WAP/Mobile HTML applications
• Identify and eliminate threats from Bluetooth, SMS, and GPS services

Himanshu Dwivedi is a co-founder of iSEC Partners (www.isecpartners.com), an information security firm specializing in application security. Chris Clark is a principal security consultant with iSEC Partners. David Thiel is a principal security consultant with iSEC Partners. ... Read more

Editorial Review

The Perfect Reference for the Multitasked System Administrators
The new version of Exchange is an ambitious overhaul that tries to balance the growing needs for performance, cost effectiveness, and security. For the average system administrator, it will present a difficult migration path from earlier versions and a vexing number of new features. How to Cheat will help you get Exchange Server 2007 up and running as quickly and safely as possible.

. Understand Exchange 2007 Prerequisites
Review hardware and software requirements, Active Directory requirements, and more.
. Manage Recipient Filtering
Create a custom MMC that contains the Exchange 2007 Recipients work center, which can be used, for example, by the helpdesk staff in your organization.
. Manage Outlook Anywhere
Outlook Anywhere makes it possible for your end users to remotely access their mailboxes from the Internet using their full Outlook clients.
. Manage Outlook Web Access 2007
See how Outlook Web Access 2007 was completely rewritten in managed code to make it scale even better.
. Use the Exchange 2007 Queue Viewer
You can now view information about queues and examine the messages held within them.
. MasterPowerful Out-of-the-Box Spam Protection
The Edge Transport server supports SMTP, provides several antispam filtering agents, and supports antivirus extensibility.
. Manage a Single-Copy Cluster-Based Setup
SCC-based cluster provides service failover and still has a single point of failure when it comes to the databases.
. Recover Mailbox Databases
Use the improved database portability feature to port and recover a Mailbox database to any server in the Exchange 2007 organization.

* Essential information for the multi-tasked System Administrator charged perform everyday tasks
* Includes the latest coverage of the major new release of Exchange Server
* Emphasizes best-practice security measures for all areas and in particular the area of remote access via Outlook ... Read more

Reviews

Excellent book with real world references and "how-to's", May 12, 2007
I am going to keep this short, but the book is excellent. It's quick and to the point. The book is well thought out and consistent with tons of "how-to's", gotchas to be aware of, and implication scenarios.

This is not a 1300 page lecture on why Microsoft did "this or that". It's not a primer for learning the SMTP protocol. It is the first book to buy if you need to get Exchange 2007 installed and tested quickly. Further, Henrik has some updated articles that he references in the book which you can find on his website (in the book).

Let me also give a bad mark to Syngress....I cannot register the book yet (they told me it wasn't in their database, if you can believe that) and as such cannot get some of the free e-booklets. Shame on you Syngress; Kudos to you Henrik!

Great Resource for Exchange 2007!!, June 11, 2007
I haven't sat down and read the entire book, I have mainly used it as a reference, but it has been a big help so far. The other day I was online reading some documentation on certificates with Exchange 2007, and I was about to print the article because it was so detailed and helpful, when I realized it was an excerpt from this book that I already owned. So I took out the book and read it there instead. I've got a pocket guide and one other reference guide, but this is the one I use most often.

good book, June 10, 2008
I was trying to find information online on MS Exchange replication. MS has terrible documentation. I opened this book to the relevant chapter and had my answer in under 5 minutes. This book is great.

The book to get for Exchange 2007, March 15, 2008
Exchange 2007 is a very big change when compared to its predecessor. Personally, I was interested in getting up-to-speed on it quickly, after having ignored it's introduction to the market last year.
Henrik Walther made that task easy. He comes at the subject from the perspective of an experienced administrator who wants to get right to the things you really need to get done. Exchange is a very complex, very big application, and Henrik's book makes getting into the nuts and bolts of configuring it fast and understandable. If you need to get Exchange up and into production under a tight time schedule, this is your book. Likewise if you need a quick blueprint of how best to configure it for your specific needs.

Best Installation Guide, October 3, 2007
Having worked with Exchange since 5.0 I have read many installation guides and administrator's handbooks and I would rate this one as the best. I acquired this book after teaching how to configure and install Exchange 2007 to corporate clients and I have since done away with delivering them my own notes and simply recommend that they purchase this book. It is the ultimate guide to installing and configuring Exchange from a technical perspective. Way to go!

Wonderful book, May 16, 2007
I have been thru four Exchange 2007 books now and I have to say this is one of the better ones. This is not a big book of theory this is a meat and potato type book that is going to tell you exactly what you need to know to get Exchange 2007 up and running. It's a good read and gets to the point.

The author Henrik Walther is a source you can trust. He has written many good Exchange books prior to this and is one of the head webmasters over at [...] so you know your getting correct information. This book is a easy recommend.

Great technical content, poor editing, July 16, 2007
By page 4, the editing annoyed me and I picked up the unleashed book. I read all 1000 pages and returned unleashed for this book due to the deeper technical information.

If you like to "read" your technical books, this can get tiring. If you want a great reference with lots of info on the issues you will run into on a 2007 deployment, pick this up.

Henriks Efforts are Welcome, May 30, 2007
Henrik has provided the Exchange community with plenty of wisdom over the years. This book is just another example of his treatise of this complicated subject. Out of all the Exchange 2007 references in book format, his is on tops. For anyone needing to learn how to install/upgrade and configure Exchange 2007, this reference will provide welcome guidance. Well-done Henrick. (And, who is the hack with the bad evaluation....maybe he needs the pop-up version of the book to make it more clear to him!)

Exelent, May 30, 2007
Was able to configure Exchange server very eaisly with the help of this book. ... Read more

Editorial Review

Learn the theory behind cross-platform development, and put the theory into practice with code using the invaluable information presented in this book. With in-depth coverage of development and distribution techniques for iPhone, BlackBerry, Windows Mobile, and Android, you’ll learn the native approach to working with each of these platforms. With detailed coverage of emerging frameworks like PhoneGap and Rhomobile, you’ll learn the art of creating applications that will run across all devices. You’ll also be introduced to the code-signing process and the distribution of applications through the major application stores, including RIM, Apple, and Microsoft.

What you’ll learn

• How to develop native applications on the leading mobile platforms including iPhone, BlackBerry, Windows Mobile, and Android
• How to extend native applications to run across all mobile platforms using cross-platform mobile toolkits such as Rhomobile and PhoneGap.
• Best practices with full end-to-end samples in native code for each mobile platform
• How to distribute applications through each of the major mobile application stores (RIM, Apple, and Microsoft)

Who this book is for

Developers who are interested in creating cross-platform mobile applications will find invaluable information in this book. The text is geared toward developers who have developed in any of the primary mobile languages, including Java, Objective-C, and .NET, and want to understand the techniques for developing applications that will run across multiple platforms.

... Read more

Reviews

Rushed, Zero Depth, Not worth the cost., December 10, 2010
I bought this book because I was extremely impressed by the Apress iPhone books. This book is absolutely nothing like them. The layout of the book looks shoddy and rushed. The first page of one chapter appears to be from a wholly different book. Nothing about the presentation inspired much confidence in me.

Then comes the content. The book is short, only around 250 pages. Of this, the first 80 pages are simply a collection of Hello World examples for each platform. The sort of thing you could easily find on the internet with a little googling. The next section is the cross platform frameworks. Rhodes is given 50 pages of solid good coverage. Next comes PhoneGap which gets 20 pages of description. None of that 20 pages is particularly good. It amounts to little more than a brief survey of the material. The biggest disappointment is the Titanium Mobile chapter. It's seven pages long and tells you how to write hello world.

The rest of the book is a description of various JavaScript frameworks that target mobile devices.

This book is amazingly disappointing, and essentially worthless to me. I bought it to learn about cross platform development, and I got a collection of tutorials that I could probably have found with google. None of the code is very good or useful, and the presentation is terrible on top of that. If this book were about $10, it would be a worthwhile buy. $20 might be acceptable if you are also interested mobile javascript frameworks. Right now Amazon is charging $50, which I would consider theft.

Read the back of the book, then use google to research all its topics. You'll get better material. The book really is that bad.

neither fish nor fowl, December 16, 2010
This book covers a broad range of topics and it has obviously meant a great effort to put all these examples together using so many different tools and devices.
It gives a good overview of native and cross-platform technologies availabe by the time of writing.
Because the book covers so many topics the single platform or framework can only be superficially covered.
If this is to be considered as strengh or weakness of the book depends on the readers expectations.
In my opinion the autors wanted too much. I am in doubt that a developer will ever have the time or resources or interest to try out all the platforms and frameworks mentioned.
An interested developer will always be using only single chapters of the book and will require additional documentation for his or her topic anyway.
So the book makes no sense for developers. For people that have to make framework decisions the book might be more interesting - but from
there point of view there a too many useless screenshots and no real decision memos. The autors avoid taking a clear stand and to give recommendations.
... Read more

Editorial Review

Microsoft Visual Basic 2008 for Windows, Mobile, Web, Office, and Database Applications: Comprehensive teaches students the essentials of computer programming using the latest Visual Basic programming language, Visual Basic 2008. ... Read more

Reviews

Ok book, not great, May 29, 2009
Normally, Shelley-Cashman books are very good and very trustworthy. This book, although it does contain some very good information, is filled with lots of mistakes. I realize this is a first edition so some errors such as typos are expected.

Up until chapter 7 the book is very good. You can tell, beginning with ch. 7, that the style of writing changes and a lot of the step-by-step information is wrong. I think either this was simply copied from another book or it was the work of another writer with little writing experience. Also, some of the info is outdated. The chapter dealing with writing apps for smartphones keeps mentioning PocketPC and Windows CE. To my understanding, Windows Mobile replaced both several years ago.

As for the projects, the steps to create forms could have been made a lot easier to understand. It is written in paragraph style. Instead, chart-style would have been easier for the student to understand.

There are some lessons that seem to be out of order. In my opinion, the aforementioned chapters (7 deals with web apps and 12 (I think it is) deals with mobile apps) are out of place. By that, I mean they should have been placed at the end of the book instead of between chapters. The book takes you through forms and databases then suddenly it starts talking about web apps. Yes, I know web apps include databases, but the book should have talked about stand-alone apps in their entirety (as it relates to this course) then showed the neat stuff about web and mobile apps at the end to whet the student's appetite for more to encourage further learning of VB.

I am sure the author knows her stuff and really meant to do a good job with this book. But being a first edition, they really need to thoroughly review it and make corrections and changes with the student in mind.

At this point, I don't know for sure if I would recommend this as a must have book. If the problems were corrected in the next edition, I would very likely say yes to it.

School, May 12, 2010
It is a good book, but it splits the chapters in 2 parts so far. I am just in Ch5 now. It is allright but you have to go back and fourth inCh.

Satisfied customer, September 17, 2010
I am very pleased with the book and the speed in which it got here. The book was in great condition and I couldn't beat the price.

Visual Basic 2008 Book, April 24, 2010
I was very happy with the purchase. It arrived quickly and is in very good condition. I am very satisfied.

I really didn't care for this book, December 3, 2009
I had to buy this OVERPRICED book for a visual basic class I took. I agree with some of the other reviewer's points, the mobile and web apps sections should be either one big auxiliary chapter at the end or appendix items.

I also felt the author was often way too verbose and when into too much detail covering things that required less than a couple sentences. Then keywords like "Me." were not introduced, but just started appearing. The only clarification I could find was a short ambiguous sentence. This just about summed up the book for me.

The book went on and on about using public and private variables but didn't go into classes and inheritance until the end of the book. I was a newbie and didn't get exactly what a class was until I got the end of the book. I had no clue what the difference between a procedure and a class was until the end.

The examples were hard too follow, each chapter was set up like a tutorial, but not one that you can follow along with, it would introduce concepts that weren't part, didn't fit in with the chapter project, then at the end there would be a walk through. Far too often the way the page was laid out the wasn't enough room to fit complete lines of code, so most of them were two concatenated lines, so frustrating.

This book is like a great, yet very sloppy rough draft, it needs to be trimmed down(way, WAY too much discussion about how great Microsoft is and how much they do for the world), some clarification added and rearranged. If this book were like 20 bucks, I'd say if you can spare the cash and are desperate to learn VB (heaven knows why) then this might be the book for you. And sadly there don't seem to be too many decent VB.NET books out there.

Most excellent seller!, December 17, 2009
The book came quickly and in perfect condition. There was plenty of packaging around it so it wouldn't get damaged. Thank you very much. ... Read more

Editorial Review

While buzz often circulates around iPhone and Android, Nokia still leads the pack in terms of world market share. Symbian, for instance, remains the most widely used mobile operating system. With the emergence of Nokia's open development platforms, the opportunities available for mobile developers to target these vastly popular operating systems are clear.

Beginning Nokia Apps Development is step-by-step guide that introduces mobile development using Nokia's variety of open platforms like Mobile Qt, OpenSymbian, and MeeGo. This book brings beginners up to speed and shows experienced developers how to work on a mobile platform.

• Symbian, the most widely used operating system in the world, as well as MeeGo, the Intel/Nokia platform for mobile devices, both use Qt as a cross platform development framework. Utilizing Qt, a developer can easily target both platforms.
• Web Runtime applications can also be developed for both Symbian and MeeGo platforms, and additionally run with little modifications on other mobile platforms. This book explains how.
• New Qt developers learn the basics of Qt with a mobile slant, giving them the ability to target both desktop and mobile platforms.

What you'll learn

• How to do Qt basics
• What is QML or the Qt Markup Language
• What is Qt for Meego and how to use it
• and how to use it
• How to work with the Web Runtime
• Why mobile development is different
• How to port/support MeeGo and Symbian platforms

Who this book is for

This book is for mobile developers wanting to target a Meego or Symbian platform (either as the sole platform or in cross-platform development), and existing mobile developers wanting to start using Qt.

Editorial Review

Essential Computer Security provides the vast home user and small office computer market with the information they must know in order to understand the risks of computing on the Internet and what they can do to protect themselves.

Tony Bradley is the Guide for the About.com site for Internet Network Security. In his role managing the content for a site that has over 600,000 page views per month and a weekly newsletter with 25,000 subscribers, Tony has learned how to talk to people, everyday people, about computer security. Intended for the security illiterate, Essential Computer Security is a source of jargon-less advice everyone needs to operate their computer securely.

* Written in easy to understand non-technical language that novices can comprehend

* Provides detailed coverage of the essential security subjects that everyone needs to know

* Covers just enough information to educate without being overwhelming ... Read more

Reviews

Computer Security for Everyone, November 19, 2006
One of the first things to know about this book is that it doesn't try to be a complete reference for computer security, and it keeps it focus very well. It doesn't try to be a computer security book for the top 5% of the technically inclined, either. Instead, it tries to be a computer security book for the masses and covers topics that they'll need to know to keep their computer safe. The book outline why this is important to the average user: your own data will be kept safe and your computer will be kept problem free, and your computer wont be a problem source for everyone else.

The book does a decent job of laying out what it will cover and mostly picks topics that matter most, require the least amount of extra effort to make it happen. The book isn't just for one situation, either, and it covers some home network setups which include wireless routers and such. Overall, it seems to have picked its territory well.

It covers this territory in an OK fashion, which is to say that it gives an adequate treatment to the important topics but leaves a few spots uncovered. I'm pleased that it covers some basic WinXP stuff, like how to secure your accounts and such.

The chapter on passwords was OK, and about what I expected. Obviously these are important, as bots that perform brute force attacks to get in are as popular as ever. The chapter on patching is OK, but seems incomplete. It should have done a better job of covering Windows Update a little more thoroughly (it felt like it stopped short of this important feature) and a bit more on how to use built-in vendor supplied "I have an update available" stuff that is increasingly popular.

Part II is what's probably unique about this book, and gives some of the best meat around for this level of a book. It covers home networking safety (ie keeping the neighbor kid from using your WIFI and keeping your computers safe and usable behind a DSL firewall), email security (both your account credentials and attachment security), and spyware, adware, and general web-browser security. I would have liked to have seen the book advocate (with great reasons) Firefox over IE and Windows Defender in addition to AdAware and Hijack This.

Part 3 is about maintenance and backups, and it's decent. It slips into Linux advocacy in Chapter 12, which we could have done without.

The appendices are good, well reasoned and well executed. The case study and the basics covered complement the book well.

Overall the book does a decent job, and targets the kind of person who would like to know enough to participate in some popular forums and contribute, so they have some technical skills that they're growing. It wont do so well with people who are not very technically inclined, and that's not unsurprising.

Wonderful Book for Home and Small Business Users, November 19, 2006
This book is a really compact overview of computer security for non-technical users. But, at the same time, it's technical. Not too technical, but technical enough to walk the reader through setting up a home firewall, a secure network (wired or wireless), and anti-spyware to name just a few.

There's a lot of goodies in only 278 pages.

A lot of books that have come out lately on home computer security are either too light to be of value, or focus more on identity theft and fraud prevention. These are important topics, but Tony sticks to bread-and-butter technical measures home users need to understand.

There's real meat in here that goes into surprising detail that's easy to follow that I've haven't seen in other recent books. Tony does a good job of covering setting up Local Security policies on Windows machines, for example. This is something I've only seen in hardcore techie manuals that probably wouldn't normally be seen by most home users.

There's a great chapter on disaster recovery, how to follow security bulletins from Microsoft and apply patches regularly. And, for the daring home use, even a chapter on setting up Linux.

The case study for a small business is also well done and can provide valuable insight for a home user setting up their own network.

Essential Computer Security is complete yet simple and achieves the goal of its title.

The best book on the subject in years, November 12, 2006
If you have ever wished that your company's IT staff had more time to
help you understand why you should not open email from people you do
not know or how an IP address relates to the DNS, this book is for
you. If you have ever wanted a personal network security consultant
always on-call to explain the workings of daily network security
issues, this book will meet that need at a fraction of a percentage of
the cost.

The author sketches the general framework of a both wired and wireless
networks. He then discusses in detail the risks associated with each
application that uses those networks -- email, web browser, etc. In
each case, his explanations are well-worded such that, by the end of
any section, the reader feels like they grok the philosophy of
security and has always known what the author just taught them. He
does not obfuscate the content of the book in unexplained acronyms and
unnecessary details but keeps his task of empowering the average user
always in view.

Aside from covering the basics of network dynamics and applications
used by the average internet user, the book offers two other boons for
small and medium business users. For those who are unsure what a
computer firewall is and how to deploy one effectively, the author
offers an in-depth discussion of the subject via a case study. In
addition, for those who are frustrated with Windows security lapses,
another chapter offers a comprehensive discussion of alternatives to
Windows applications and offers counsel on how to migrate to Linux.

Unlike other books, the author does not talk down to the reader but
shares his extensive knowledge as a co-labourer in the reader's
efforts. I wish I could have given this book to users when I worked
for a major university -- but then I would have been out of a job!
Simply put: This is one of the best computer security books for users
that I have seen for several years.

Great intro to infosec, September 29, 2007
Driving on the information highway, users face threats ranging from worms to scams. The Essential Computer Security: Everyone's Guide to Email, Internet, and Wireless Security can serve as the owner's manual for anyone serious about ensuring the security of their computer and the data contained therein. Many victims of identity theft could undoubtedly have protected themselves had they followed the basic rules outlined in the book.

Essential Computer Security does not attempt to be an encyclopedic work covering the esoteric realms of computer security. Rather, author Tony Bradley takes a "just the facts" approach and covers the essentials, focusing on the two applications average consumers use most: e-mail and the Internet.

In 12 lucid, easy-to-read chapters, Bradley covers all of the necessary topics end-users need to understand, from the basics of Microsoft Windows security to passwords, patching, malware, wireless, e-mail security, and more.

The text does have a technical angle for readers who want that level of detail.

Too few IT security books are written for the typical user. This work lives up to its title and fills an important need.

Working together we can all make the Internet a safer place !, December 14, 2006
When Tony asked me to write the foreword for this book, I considered it an great honor. We both share the strong belief that knowledge is a more powerful tool than any firewall, antivirus program or intrusion detection system could ever hope to be. That said, not all of us have the luxury of security guru at our fingertips to show us the ropes. This means that you sometimes need to take it upon yourself to understand and learn what needs to be done to keep your computer and network safe and secure. That is what this book was engineered to do, without any confusing jargon or talking down to the reader. Get it and read it and help make the Internet a more secure and safer place for all of us to enjoy.

Douglas Schweitzer, Sc.D.

Computer Security Hands On Guide, February 7, 2008
'Essential Computer Security: Everyone's Guide to Email, Internet, and Wireless Security' is exactly what it says it is, a guide for admins and IT people to learn to implement better security practices in their everyday lives on the job. With 250+ pages of material, this is a standard Syngress book that you will no doubt be familiar with if you have read their stuff before. Filled with niche particulars that expect the reader to have a background with the subject matter, Syngress releases truly are no fluff, just stuff as they set their sites on the nerdspeak content and not a pretty package. If you want to read up on computer security and learn how to keep your corporate infrastructure safer and more secure, take a look at this release.

**** RECOMMENDED

A Useful Book on Computer Security, January 15, 2007
I found this book easy to read and have useful information about setting up Windows XP security. ... Read more

Editorial Review

A hands-on guide to building mobile applications, Professional Android Application Development features concise and compelling examples that show you how to quickly construct real-world mobile applications for Android phones. Fully up-to-date for version 1.0 of the Android software development kit, it covers all the essential features, and explores the advanced capabilities of Android (including GPS, accelerometers, and background Services) to help you construct increasingly complex, useful, and innovative mobile applications for Android phones.

What this book includes

• An introduction to mobile development, Android, and how to get started.
• An in-depth look at Android applications and their life cycle, the application manifest, Intents, and using external resources.
• Details for creating complex and compelling user interfaces by using, extending, and creating your own layouts and Views and using Menus.
• A detailed look at data storage, retrieval, and sharing using preferences, files, databases, and Content Providers.
• Instructions for making the most of mobile portability by creating rich map-based applications as well as using location-based services and the geocoder.
• A look at the power of background Services, using threads, and a detailed look at Notifications.
• Coverage of Android's communication abilities including SMS, the telephony APIs, network management, and a guide to using Internet resources
• Details for using Android hardware, including media recording and playback, using the camera, accelerometers, and compass sensors.
• Advanced development topics including security, IPC, advanced 2D / 3D graphics techniques, and user–hardware interaction.

Who this book is for
This book is for anyone interested in creating applications for the Android mobile phone platform. It includes information that will be valuable whether you're an experienced mobile developer or making your first foray, via Android, into writing mobile applications. It will give the grounding and knowledge you need to write applications using the current SDK, along with the flexibility to quickly adapt to future enhancements. ... Read more

Reviews

Excellent introduction for new Android developers, December 14, 2008
The author clearly and concisely explains the fundamental aspects of Android programming. The coverage of Android topics is pretty comprehensive and the depth of coverage was just right for my needs. Mr. Meier provides some background information about mobile programming platforms in general, so the only real prerequisite for this book is familiarity with Java programming. The examples are also very informative and build new features incrementally, which keeps the focus on the most recently covered material, and reflects modern incremental development practices. This book, in conjunction with the excellent materials available online from Google, anddev.org and elsewhere, provide an effective staring point for developers looking to get started quickly on the Android platform.

Dense and organized like spaghetti, September 6, 2009
This book was clearly written for seasoned developers. However, other books in this series are far more understandable. I'm really not sure why I did not like this book at all. I'll try to narrow it down. First, the writing style is not very engaging. It's also full of jargon that is never defined. For example, he uses the term URI, which has several component parts that he never defines. Worse, most of the code that he gives you to follow is never explained, at all. Not annotating code and using terms that you have never defined are a very bad trait. Third, alot of the material is a paraphrase of the android development documents, and there is really no new insight here. I think the core issue here is that we look for books not to sound like esoteric, terse documents, but this is what this book is. You will not learn how to program from this book. The code snippets jump all around and he tries to include everything about Android in this book which makes it seem just too much with incomplete treatment of many topics. I actually found the android tutorials less confusing.
Here is a typical example:

SimpleCursorAdapter
The SimpleCursorAdapter binds Views to cursors returned from
Content Provider queries. You specify an XML layout denition and then bind the value within
each column in the result set, to a View in that layout.

Upon re-reading it slowly and thoughtfully, this explanation does make sense. But we have not gone over content providers yet, and he has not talked about SQL queries with SQLLite in Android yet. Nowhere does he mention this, and again it's more like it's lifted from the android documentation without any explanation. This is an example of the style of writing that you'll be seeing. It's abstract, dense, and drab.

An example of the odd chapter organization is Chapter 5: Intents, broadcast receivers, adapters, and the internet. So we talk about intents and broadcast receivers, then view-related database interaction (which is what ch. 6 is all about), and then network communication (as opposed to putting it in its own chapter). It is like I am learning everything out of order with constant references back and forth (like a to do list example followed by an earthquake example, then going back to a to do list example). This is why I said it's dense and organized like spaghetti with no clear beginning and end.

Probably worth reading, just isn't fantastic, January 7, 2009
At its worst, this book is a copy and paste of the android docs already available online. At its best, it is a paraphrase of the android docs already available online, with additional insight and code samples.

The extra insight is enough for me to be glad I bought it - it occasionally gave just enough additional perspective beyond the android web docs to make things "click" that I had not yet fully grokked. The code samples are useful, but the author himself says that they are sprinkled with bad habits, and I agree. He explains that it was for the sake of simplicity. I think it's more likely that he wrote the code, then wrote the section on best practices, and then realized that the code was suboptimal but had to meet a deadline.

In summary, worth my money and my time, but not truly impressed.

Required Entry Reading, December 16, 2008
I was struggling with Android documentation (there is a lot of it but can be improved a lot, although the Notepad examples are very good) trying to understand the programming concepts for G1. So I got this book on pre-order and it was worth waiting for. Plenty of examples, code snippets, very good and clean explanations. I like author's approach of taking an application (Earthquake) through a series of improvements, so you can learn it gradually, from simple to more complex (and sophisticated) approach.
It is hard to cover a massive SDK in 400 pages but it is enough to learn basics and then start digging with some understanding and confidence into the on-line documentation. I am recommending this book to anybody who wants to learn the principles of G1 platform programming. Great job Reto!

Absolutely essential, November 18, 2008
Although the online documentation for Android is very good, I much prefer to have a coherently written book that I can flip through for reference. In learning Android I have found Mr Meier's book to be absolutely invaluable. It is written from the point of view of a professional, working programmer and as such is it very readable.
Although the book covers all of the important aspects of Android and to a reasonable depth, I think it would be great to see some follow-up books from the same author that focus on particular aspects of Android (like UI or interprocess communication for example). A well-thumbed copy of this book is now on my desk at work (along with old cups of coffee and various other bits of clutter).

O.k., but has some gaps, February 7, 2009
It seems the book was written before the first release of Android was actually finished - it contains numerous references to nonexistent/changed Java entities (although the author does identify and point these out).
I would recommend this book for the absolute beginner, but for more experienced Java programmers you can probably get even better information freely by searching Android online forums and by also looking through Google's Android code samples on the Android project homepage.

Better than the online documentation, December 11, 2009
I muddled my way through the docs on developer.[..], floundered around for a while, and then picked up this book. I must admit, I'm glad I did. Although I'd say the first four chapters present essentially the same material you can get from the free online docs, they do so in a much more coherent way. The ordering of the material made a lot more sense than the online docs, too - for example, services aren't mentioned in this book until chapter 8 (whereas they're mentioned on "page" one of the online docs). This presentation resonated with me, and made everything "click".

The organization of this book is, IMHO, the only useful way to organize a technical book, which is to explain the concepts behind some key point, followed by a working code example, which can be followed incrementally by the reader. Each example is presented in the simplest way possible, and subsequently refactored to use more complex (but more manageable) "convenience" features. This *is* a Wrox book - so there's almost as much code as there is discussion text. You won't get anything out of this book unless you plan to study the examples very carefully (and in many cases, dig down to figure out why certain code works a certain way - especially in the "advanced" chapter 11).

One concern I had, going in, was that the book was written for Android 1.0, but the current (as I write this) version of the Android SDK is 2.0. Fortunately, the differences were slight, and didn't make it hard to follow along at all. There were only really three noticable differences between the 1.0 SDK that the book was developed against and the 2.0 SDK I was following along with. Chapter 7 on the maps API was outdated (The book says you can use any string as your "maps API key". That was true when the book was written, but is no longer the case - you now have to register with Google to run the maps demos.) Chapter 9 included a long section on "GTalk" which has actually been removed completely from the API (this is, in fairness, referenced as a possibility in the book), and the Bluetooth API has changed considerably since 1.0. Otherwise, the code samples all worked "out of the box". Of course, there's no coverage of the NDK (Native Developer Kit), which was introduced with Android 1.5.

This book does a great job of presenting the overall end-to-end Android application development experience. One area where I thought coverage was lacking, though, was UI and layout management. This is probably the most important aspect of Android application development, yet there's very little content in this book about it. Also, this book is about Android, specifically, not about mobile application development. Terminology such as "Edge", "3G", "GPRS" and "LAC" are thrown around but not defined, and there's not much discussion regarding designing (or redesigning) for a mobile device - the author assumes you already know _what_ you want to do, and you're just trying to figure out how to do it in Android.

Best android book on the market, yet, February 27, 2009
This is the best Android book on the Amazon right now. Even then, it is simply a better organized version of the SDK documentation. In fact, you learn more from reading the SDK documentation than reading this book. Most of the code are skin deep, probably an extraction from the APIDemo, with no in depth thoughts.

Would I read it? Well, if you already read the SDK doc, I didn't feel like I learned anything. Even with such harsh judgement, this book is still better than the rest.

Someone please write a decent Android book please!!!!

Beginners beware: Not the best book for those new to Android or Java, January 17, 2010
I bought this on the strength of the other Amazon reviews, but was disappointed. I have years of programming and application design experience, some in Java, but none with mobile applications or Android. At the beginning of the book is a section on "who this book is for" and it says you don't have to know Java, mobile development or Android to get through the book. This is false. While there is a lot of information in here, it is presented piecemeal and in a disorganized fashion, leaving one to hunt all over Google's Android website to complete the partial explanations one finds in the book. In addition, take note that it was written for Android 1.0;the most current Android version is 2.0 and is somewhat different. Having used other Wrox books and having found most of them very logically organized, with clear explanations of the code, I was surprised by this one. I'd suggest the author include more complete descriptions of the code and the terms used, how to set oneself up in the IDE, and some appendices containing information about the most used classes. The book has useful information, but it is not for those new to Android.

Poor index, December 5, 2009
This book will help you learn Android programming, if you know Java and have a little experience with UI. But the index is sparse, and inhibits using the book as a reference. All the classes and methods covered in the book ought to be indexed. ... Read more