TamsIJungle

I first saw Brian Fling’s book on Mobile Design and Development on a local connection. Mark A. M. Kramer, an Austrian maven of the mobile computer scene read and praised it – can the tome stack up in the largely empty area of mobile user interface design books?

Brian starts out by looking at the history of mobile and the mobile landscape as it is today. Long-term followers will not find much new stuff here, but it nevertheless makes for an interesting read.

He then moves on to “mobile strategy”. Topics include questions like “What is special about mobile”, the influence of “context” also is explained in some detail. Finally, various options for creating a mobile app are explained – some of them are somewhat obscure and definitely aren’t something you deal with every day.

The next part analyzes the design process for mobile applications. These chapters are what make the book really interesting – you are introduced to design, prototyping and user testing methods for touchscreen and non-touchscreen applications.

The second half of the book looks at the design and creation of mobile web sites: frameworks, compatibility et al get covered in extreme detail. Native application developers are largely left twiddling their thumbs…

As usual for O’Reilly, the book is well-written and readable even for non-native English speakers. Code examples are provided in various web languages; an ample amount of images is included for clarification where beneficial.

In the end, Mobile Design and Development is a great book if you want to create a mobile web app. Creators of native applications can’t use half of the book: if you are interested in the mobile design process, it is a good if somewhat paper-heavy tutorial. Web heads, on the other hand, should buy it straight away…the 23$ shouldn’t hurt…

PackT can be considered the newest kid on the block of tech publishing – consider them the APress of “design-related technologies”. Their book on “User Programming for Busy Programmers” hit my desk. But can the 80-page booklet stack up?

William Rice starts out by looking at a few “common myths” of the trade. What is user training, what isn’t it? Who needs to be trained?

Afterward, the book takes a strictly wizard-like approach. A repeating template not dissimilar to the one found in use cases takes you step-to-step from nothing to running user demo, which can be deployed to third-party instructors.

Style-wise, PackT is different from other, more “established” publishers. Their visual presentation is more “to the bone”, and less playful – the whole book didn’t contain a single image. Nevertheless, it was well written and easy to understand.

In the end, I predict that PackT has a bright future ahead of it. This book fulfills its need – if you have just been enlisted to teach at an university or often write manuals and online help systems, you definitely can benefit from it. The price of 13$ for the paperback is ok…

Flash-based devices have always been vulnerable for all things forensics – as flash chips are time-consuming to delete, most operating systems do not invest the time and power needed for a thorough delete. This allows data to be recovered…and is what Jonathan’s book is all about!

Jonathan starts out by looking at the legal implications of forensic research, and also at the iPhone’s hardware. Especially the latter section is well-written and is ideal for people whe haven”t got too much iPhone experience (coverage: up to 3G iPhone, iPod 2G is excluded).

The next parts of the book look at custom firmware and desktop forensics. While the firmware creation process could be explained better and requires a Mac to some extent, I nevertheless had no major issues getting it up and running. Some of the information revealed is shocking: for example, did you know that the iPhone saves a png file showing the last state of each and every application?

iPhone forensics ends with a few source code listings and further legal advice…

As usual for all things O’Reilly, the book is well-written and has decent paper quality. Screenshots, figures and tables are provided in ample amounts to make grasping the content easier. Windows users can follow most of the steps outlined with no or minimal extra effort – there is no need to keep a Mac around…

In the end, iPhone forensics is an excellent book which will leave you wanting to bury your iPhone (or, to a lesser extent, your iPod touch) under a rock. Jonathan Zdziarsky has done an excellent job – if you are interested in the topic of forensics, the slightly-steep 26$ are well-spent!

Gadget lovers know OtterBox for its name-giving OtterBoxen, which are extremely sturdy, waterproof boxen that can be used to transport and protect small electronic devices. However, the company has recently begun to offer cases for devices…can their Defender stack up?

OtterBox cases ship in special yellow blisters that have a strange lab or construction-site touch:

A small “manual” is included with each case:

Getting the iPod Touch into the case is a funny procedure – first, the PVC cover is removed from the “skeleton”. The skeleton is then torn apart, the iPod touch is inserted. Afterwards, the process is “undone” – which leaves you with the iPod inside the case:

The iPod remains perfectly functional while in the case – the screen can be controlled through the thin PVC layer with ease. A cutout makes hitting the home button fun:

The power button can be pressed, too:

Ports are covered by flip lids that must be pulled “off” before something can be plugged in – the images below demonstrate what I mean:

In the end, the OtterBox Defender makes an excellent and very sturdy case that will definitely protect your iPod touch from drops and scratches. If the case would also be waterproof, it would be perfect. As it is now, it nevertheless is great – the price of just 30$ makes this an absolute steal and must-have if you can live with the slightly bigger size.

Unfortunately, Apple’s iPod touch ships without a printed manual. Even though this may save Apple a few cents per unit, some people (like yours truly) prefer dead-tree documents as they are easier to read. APress to the rescue – but can their iPod touch/iPhone manuals fill up the void?

The book starts out by looking at various purchasing options available to prospective iPod touch/iPhone users. The book discusses US retailers and their warranty programs, and also takes a look at what the Apple web shop has to offer.

The next two chapters look at text input and web browsing. People coming from another smartphone/handheld platform will find these chapters very valuable, as they contain loads of things that can’t be figured out easily.

After that, a few chapters look at media management. As I am very happy with the media capabilities of my Treo, these chapters haven’t been too interesting for me – but they still cover everything in considerate detail.

Two chapters deal with the PIM tools found on the machine. An additional chapter looks at the new features found in the so-called “January Software Upgrade” – the latest 2.0 upgrade hasn’t been included yet, but will likely be covered in a future edition of the tome.

Finally, an appendix contains a few useful links regarding jail breaking and other iPod touch trickery…

Erica Sadun’s book is pretty well-written and easy to understand. Black-and-white images clarify key concepts where needed. The paper quality is ok – my Parker 45 (x-nib) didn’t have any blotting issues. Unfortunately (and typical for APress), the iPod touch version book contains a few flaws: for example, the book talks about iPod Touch calls (which don’t exist)…

In the end, Taking your iPod touch to the max is a great book for everyone who wants to get to know their iPod. The Amazon.com price of just 15$ makes this a bargain: when buying an iPod touch at Amazon’s, get this book by all means!

I stumbled across UNIEA at last year’s Hannover-based CeBit fair. The manufacturer’s excellent PR team agreed to provide me with samples immediately. They are the new kid on the block – but can their stuff stack up? Our first test candidate is a “crystal case” called U-Feel…read on for the full test.

UNIEA’s products ship in small blister cases that protect the stuff well – my samples arrived unscratched:

The case ships with a belt clip that can be attached to the back. I personally dislike these due to the higher risk of theft – people who feel like taking the risk will be happy as the clip appears to be pretty sturdy:

Getting the iPod touch into the case is easy. First, the case is pulled apart. Then, the iPod is inserted into the front part. Finally, the “lid” is slid onto the case:

The iPod touch remains perfectly usable in the case. The case’s front contains a “screen protector” that covers the screen. I tortured my iPod quite a bit and found the screen to remain perfectly responsive. A small cutout allows you to access the home button:

Cutouts at the top and the bottom allow you to sync, attach headphones and use the power button:

In the end, the U-Feel is an excellent case for people owning an iPod touch – if you like crystal cases, there is nothing not to like about this one. It offers decent protection and doesn’t get in your way – the zen of cases… The only issue I see availability – as the UNIEA online store isn’t ready yet, you need to find a distributor close to you via their distributor finder…