David Pogue got an iPhone before almost anybody, and he’s already written a 304-page book of tips, iPhone: The Missing Manual. O’Reilly will offer a downloadable version within the next three weeks and the printed version later this summer, but you can see a sneak preview right now.
I especially like this shrewd tip for prolonging battery life:
By covering the [ambient-light] sensor as you unlock the phone, you force it to a low-power, dim screen-brightness setting [and bypass] all the taps and navigation it would have taken you to find the manual brightness slider.
I wonder how much ability developers will have to exploit the phone’s other sensors in new ways. It would be cool to control widgets with the accelerometer and proximity sensor.
Are you guys aware that the iPhone image on the cover of the book says cingular?
@Frank: Ha ha! Good catch. But maybe the designer was just prescient. The date on the phone, Tuesday, January 7, was in 2007 — one day before Macworld.
Actually, the date on the phone appears to be "January 9" - the day of announcement. I think that Frank meant that since the book has yet to go to press, the image really should be updated to refer to the wireless network which will be used for the iPhone, AT&T.
@SomeOne: Right. I thought I’d noticed a second mistake and tried to make a quip about it, but was wrong myself. :-| In any event, we’ve notified the head of the Missing Manuals series. Thanks for writing.