Mini but Mighty SmartPhone Powers Mobile Computing

O'Reilly Releases "Nokia Smartphone Hacks"

"Smartphones are not only our smallest computers, but also our most connected computers," says author Michael Juntao Yuan. His new "Nokia Smartphone Hacks" shows readers how to trick out their Nokia smartphones so they are more productive and more fun than ever before.

A Nokia smartphone is much more than a voice communications device. "Today's Nokia mobile phone is a voice, text, and multimedia communications hub, a personal information manager, a web browser, a multimedia entertainments center, a game console, and an extensible platform for new applications," says Yuan, a mobile alpha geek who knows how to make the best and most efficient use of each and every Nokia smartphone feature.

"In terms of computing power," says Yuan, "a typical smartphone in 2005 is roughly equivalent to a top-of-the-line PC in the middle 1990s in terms of both CPU speed and memory size." But unlike any desktop or laptop, the smartphone can be connected to the Internet all the time, and it can interact with the world around it through its camera, voice recognition, and traditional phone keypad. With impressive storage options and a host of networking protocols, a smartphone is the only mobile computer people need.

Whether they want to use their smartphone as a lifeline while on the road or just as a way to spend time more wisely while waiting in lines, readers will want to customize it, add features to it, and make it work better than ever. For everyone who wants to make the most of mobile technology and unlock their Nokia's full potential, "Nokia Smartphone Hacks" delivers innovative, powerful hacks for:

• Choosing the right Nokia phone and service plan
  
• Connecting to the Internet and to nearby computers
  
• Finding, downloading, purchasing, or even writing their own programs to extend and enhance the functionalities of a smartphone
  
• Avoiding (and, if necessary, recovering from) viruses and malicious programs
  
• Protecting personal information (and their phone bill) if a smartphone is lost or stolen
  
• Making and receiving voice calls more efficiently (including speed dialing, recording conversations to digital files, and using calling cards)
  
• Exchanging and synchronizing data with Windows, Mac, and Linux computers
  
• Using a smartphone as a data modem to provide Internet access to computers anytime, anywhere--and even to control computers remotely
  
• Customizing the smartphone with desktop backgrounds, personalized ringtones, profiles, themes, and more
  
• Browsing the Web and even developing a mobile web site, using mobile portals and search engines, and posting to a mobile blog from a smartphone
  
• Sending and receiving email and mobile messages on the go
  
• Taking (and sharing) great photos and video clips with camera phones
  
• Playing MP3 music and DVD movies on a Nokia smartphone

With these clever, time-saving tips, tools, and secrets, smartphone owners will quickly go from being casual mobile phone users--those who (gasp!) use them only for voice calls--to mobile computing wizards.

Related links: (Open in a new window.)
www.oreilly.com/catalog/nokiasmarthks/

Taken from Information Security Bulletin.