I useful (but brief) introduction, 26 Jan 2007
This is a fairly well written introduction. But it is only that, an introduction. Better suited to managers than developers.

Don't expect this book to allow you to decode or create messages; you need the (freely downloaded) GSM specs for that. Check the 11.14 SAT spec before buying as that's relatively readable for a GSM spec and if you can understand it then this books not worth it. If you can't, it is.

Fascinating, helpful, unique book but could go further, 12 Nov 2002
Guthery and Cronin have set out to explain a fascinating and useful area of mobile phone technology, which has the potential to make the phone in our pockets a much richer source of information and fun (without waiting for 3G which may never come). If you want to develop applications that run on phones, you should read this book. The book's code fragments and "hex" dumps of what should be going on inside the phone are invaluable, but they are incomplete -- it would be great if the authors' source code was available for download from a website.

The SMS Standard, 19 Oct 2002
A useful book on this scarcely written about topic, but a lot of it is filled with just reguritation of the international SMS standard, although he does explain it well.

I useful (but brief) introduction, 26 Jan 2007
This is a fairly well written introduction. But it is only that, an introduction. Better suited to managers than developers.

Don't expect this book to allow you to decode or create messages; you need the (freely downloaded) GSM specs for that. Check the 11.14 SAT spec before buying as that's relatively readable for a GSM spec and if you can understand it then this books not worth it. If you can't, it is.

Fascinating, helpful, unique book but could go further, 12 Nov 2002
Guthery and Cronin have set out to explain a fascinating and useful area of mobile phone technology, which has the potential to make the phone in our pockets a much richer source of information and fun (without waiting for 3G which may never come). If you want to develop applications that run on phones, you should read this book. The book's code fragments and "hex" dumps of what should be going on inside the phone are invaluable, but they are incomplete -- it would be great if the authors' source code was available for download from a website.

The SMS Standard, 19 Oct 2002
A useful book on this scarcely written about topic, but a lot of it is filled with just reguritation of the international SMS standard, although he does explain it well.

Book fully updated for Symbian OS v9, with some new content, 23 Aug 2007
Amazon are still showing reviews for previous volumes of the book, but this new version has been fully updated for Symbian OS v9.

Some of the chapters have had basic updates (for example, the first chapter now uses Nokia's free Carbide.c++ rather than CodeWarrior), other chapters have been completely rewritten (such as the chapter on Descriptors) and some chapters are completely new (the chapters on Debugging & Emulator and on the new Symbian SQL implementation).

We've also re-ordered the chapters, so that they progress from the basics of Symbian OS itself, through the core concepts to the UI, finally looking at some of the most useful system services. The book also uses newly revised and simplified example code.

The book is now ideal for those developers who know C++ but want to learn about and work with Symbian OS v9. It took us well over a year to produce, and we hope readers will find it a worthy companion to the two previous volumes, and to other Symbian Press books.

Mark Shackman
Lead Author for "Symbian OS C++ for Mobile Phones: vol 3"


Detailed but dull writing style, 13 Jul 2005
There is a huge amount of information in the book - all the details about creating and using resources, different naming conventions, why you should implement things using Symbian's way of doing things, rather than the standard C++ ways (sometimes because it's just not supported, sometimes because of memory restrictions).

There are bits of sample code, but the explanation is very much geared towards someone who is most likely from a Microsoft MFC background, and certainly towards experienced C++ programmers. As someone who can write C++ code, but more often works with VB, .NET or another higher-level language, the explanations are verbose to the point of tediousness. At the point of getting halfway through the book you still probably wouldn't feel comfortable trying to start writing your own Symbian UIQ programs.

There is lots of genuinely useful information, so I guess the problem is in the approach - it explains a lot about the Symbian platform, then explains the minutae of how to approach Symbian differently to desktop platforms, then moves back towards how to code for it, rather than starting with a good example, explaining the major aspects, then delving the depths, the details, and the reasons behind things.

If you're wanting to learn about the Symbian platform, its origins, its limitations, its memory management, the mind-set that you should approach it with, and then, finally, how to code for it, then this book will help you with that... otherwise, it's good bed-time reading to help you sleep at night.

An ultimate guide to developers, 28 Oct 2003
Pretty much similar to Professional Symbian Programming, but written more concisely. If you understand the battleship game implementation described in the book , then you will have a very good base to program for Symbian OS. Could have been better if there were some exercise project/programs. But it takes a rather professional approach.

OK but needs to be compacted, 16 May 2003
The information contained in this book is good, but sometimes a bit convoluted. Not ideal if you want to wizz through the cornerstones of the Symbian OS/Framework though good as a tutorial. But there aren't any self assesment questions or projects, as with most tutorial type texts.

Additionally you will need the Metrowerks IDE to step through the code to really understand the examples. The book only comes with a 15 day licence for Metrowerks, not the 30 days as advertised.

I useful (but brief) introduction, 26 Jan 2007
This is a fairly well written introduction. But it is only that, an introduction. Better suited to managers than developers.

Don't expect this book to allow you to decode or create messages; you need the (freely downloaded) GSM specs for that. Check the 11.14 SAT spec before buying as that's relatively readable for a GSM spec and if you can understand it then this books not worth it. If you can't, it is.

Fascinating, helpful, unique book but could go further, 12 Nov 2002
Guthery and Cronin have set out to explain a fascinating and useful area of mobile phone technology, which has the potential to make the phone in our pockets a much richer source of information and fun (without waiting for 3G which may never come). If you want to develop applications that run on phones, you should read this book. The book's code fragments and "hex" dumps of what should be going on inside the phone are invaluable, but they are incomplete -- it would be great if the authors' source code was available for download from a website.

The SMS Standard, 19 Oct 2002
A useful book on this scarcely written about topic, but a lot of it is filled with just reguritation of the international SMS standard, although he does explain it well.

Book fully updated for Symbian OS v9, with some new content, 23 Aug 2007
Amazon are still showing reviews for previous volumes of the book, but this new version has been fully updated for Symbian OS v9.

Some of the chapters have had basic updates (for example, the first chapter now uses Nokia's free Carbide.c++ rather than CodeWarrior), other chapters have been completely rewritten (such as the chapter on Descriptors) and some chapters are completely new (the chapters on Debugging & Emulator and on the new Symbian SQL implementation).

We've also re-ordered the chapters, so that they progress from the basics of Symbian OS itself, through the core concepts to the UI, finally looking at some of the most useful system services. The book also uses newly revised and simplified example code.

The book is now ideal for those developers who know C++ but want to learn about and work with Symbian OS v9. It took us well over a year to produce, and we hope readers will find it a worthy companion to the two previous volumes, and to other Symbian Press books.

Mark Shackman
Lead Author for "Symbian OS C++ for Mobile Phones: vol 3"


Detailed but dull writing style, 13 Jul 2005
There is a huge amount of information in the book - all the details about creating and using resources, different naming conventions, why you should implement things using Symbian's way of doing things, rather than the standard C++ ways (sometimes because it's just not supported, sometimes because of memory restrictions).

There are bits of sample code, but the explanation is very much geared towards someone who is most likely from a Microsoft MFC background, and certainly towards experienced C++ programmers. As someone who can write C++ code, but more often works with VB, .NET or another higher-level language, the explanations are verbose to the point of tediousness. At the point of getting halfway through the book you still probably wouldn't feel comfortable trying to start writing your own Symbian UIQ programs.

There is lots of genuinely useful information, so I guess the problem is in the approach - it explains a lot about the Symbian platform, then explains the minutae of how to approach Symbian differently to desktop platforms, then moves back towards how to code for it, rather than starting with a good example, explaining the major aspects, then delving the depths, the details, and the reasons behind things.

If you're wanting to learn about the Symbian platform, its origins, its limitations, its memory management, the mind-set that you should approach it with, and then, finally, how to code for it, then this book will help you with that... otherwise, it's good bed-time reading to help you sleep at night.

An ultimate guide to developers, 28 Oct 2003
Pretty much similar to Professional Symbian Programming, but written more concisely. If you understand the battleship game implementation described in the book , then you will have a very good base to program for Symbian OS. Could have been better if there were some exercise project/programs. But it takes a rather professional approach.

OK but needs to be compacted, 16 May 2003
The information contained in this book is good, but sometimes a bit convoluted. Not ideal if you want to wizz through the cornerstones of the Symbian OS/Framework though good as a tutorial. But there aren't any self assesment questions or projects, as with most tutorial type texts.

Additionally you will need the Metrowerks IDE to step through the code to really understand the examples. The book only comes with a 15 day licence for Metrowerks, not the 30 days as advertised.

Book fully updated for Symbian OS v9, with some new content, 23 Aug 2007
Amazon are still showing reviews for previous volumes of the book, but this new version has been fully updated for Symbian OS v9.

Some of the chapters have had basic updates (for example, the first chapter now uses Nokia's free Carbide.c++ rather than CodeWarrior), other chapters have been completely rewritten (such as the chapter on Descriptors) and some chapters are completely new (the chapters on Debugging & Emulator and on the new Symbian SQL implementation).

We've also re-ordered the chapters, so that they progress from the basics of Symbian OS itself, through the core concepts to the UI, finally looking at some of the most useful system services. The book also uses newly revised and simplified example code.

The book is now ideal for those developers who know C++ but want to learn about and work with Symbian OS v9. It took us well over a year to produce, and we hope readers will find it a worthy companion to the two previous volumes, and to other Symbian Press books.

Mark Shackman
Lead Author for "Symbian OS C++ for Mobile Phones: vol 3"


Detailed but dull writing style, 13 Jul 2005
There is a huge amount of information in the book - all the details about creating and using resources, different naming conventions, why you should implement things using Symbian's way of doing things, rather than the standard C++ ways (sometimes because it's just not supported, sometimes because of memory restrictions).

There are bits of sample code, but the explanation is very much geared towards someone who is most likely from a Microsoft MFC background, and certainly towards experienced C++ programmers. As someone who can write C++ code, but more often works with VB, .NET or another higher-level language, the explanations are verbose to the point of tediousness. At the point of getting halfway through the book you still probably wouldn't feel comfortable trying to start writing your own Symbian UIQ programs.

There is lots of genuinely useful information, so I guess the problem is in the approach - it explains a lot about the Symbian platform, then explains the minutae of how to approach Symbian differently to desktop platforms, then moves back towards how to code for it, rather than starting with a good example, explaining the major aspects, then delving the depths, the details, and the reasons behind things.

If you're wanting to learn about the Symbian platform, its origins, its limitations, its memory management, the mind-set that you should approach it with, and then, finally, how to code for it, then this book will help you with that... otherwise, it's good bed-time reading to help you sleep at night.

An ultimate guide to developers, 28 Oct 2003
Pretty much similar to Professional Symbian Programming, but written more concisely. If you understand the battleship game implementation described in the book , then you will have a very good base to program for Symbian OS. Could have been better if there were some exercise project/programs. But it takes a rather professional approach.

OK but needs to be compacted, 16 May 2003
The information contained in this book is good, but sometimes a bit convoluted. Not ideal if you want to wizz through the cornerstones of the Symbian OS/Framework though good as a tutorial. But there aren't any self assesment questions or projects, as with most tutorial type texts.

Additionally you will need the Metrowerks IDE to step through the code to really understand the examples. The book only comes with a 15 day licence for Metrowerks, not the 30 days as advertised.