I LOVE my iPad. LOVE it. And while I am a pretty good "figure it out on my own" kind of person, sometimes I do like to RTFM. So I was excited when my buddies over at No Starch Press sent me a review copy of Wallace Wang's My New iPad, Second Edition.
Now, I've had an iPhone for a couple of years now, so was familiar with some of the basics of Apple's touch and swipe interface. But I did try to approach this book as a new iPad owner who didn't have a lot of experience with touch devices.
The Good:
- Absolutely comprehensive. Covers everything about the iPad in specific detail. Doesn't assume you have had an iPhone or touch device before. See the Table of Contents for how crazy-detailed this book is.
- Goes in a logical order. There was only 1 time where the author mentioned something (I think it was a reference to using email) that hadn't been described in the book up to that point. But it was eventually covered.
- The sections on Safari are really strong. There are a lot of subtle and/or hidden interface components to Safari and this book uneaths them all.
- The map chapter very helpful - some of the touch interface tricks there are the biggest changes from iPhone and I appreciated the detail.
- Overall, I learned a fair number of tips, including:
- Lots about improving battery life
- Sliding the hidden dock to get the secret panel of controls
- Lots of safari tips - holding your finger on a link to get a menu as well as pointing out the "action" menu on safari.
- The save image feature in safari.
Things I'd Change:
- I'd like to see the screenshots annotated - even if only with arrows. Sometimes there is an interface element, even after Wang has told you where it is and described it, that I had a little difficulty locating on the screenshot. A big arrow would be helpful.
- Sometimes there is a weirdly pedantic tone - like don't use the iPad outside b/c you may be staring at it and not notice thieves approaching to grab your iPad. If you need that kind of advice you may not be ready for an iPad.
- Wang does include a few app recommendations at the end of the book. But I would have liked to see these interspersed in relevant places in the book as well as at the end. Also, I would love a link to where he keeps an up to date list of his app recos. Finding good apps in the sea of apps in the app store is one of the most challenging aspects of having an iPad - would like to see more on this.
If you are new to the Apple family of touch devices in general, or the iPad in particular, I can definitely recommend My New iPad. It really is very comprehensive and walks you through everything in an easy-to-read, step by step manner. But as a geek, I was able to skim some of that and get right to the hard-core tip. It's the perfect book to get your parent or spouse who just got an iPad and has only used it to update their address book so far. Hopefully No Starch Press and Wang will update for the iPad 2.
You can get My New iPad, Second Edition for $24.95 - and it comes with a free eBook version! So give the physical book to your mom and keep the ebook for yourself.