With iPhone Hacks, you can make your iPhone do all you'd expect of a mobile smartphone -- and more. Learn tips and techniques to unleash little-known features, find and create innovative applications for both the iPhone and iPod touch, and unshackle these devices to run everything from network utilities to video game emulators. This book will teach you how to:

• Import your entire movie collection, sync with multiple computers, and save YouTube videos

• Remotely access your home network, audio, and video, and even control your desktop

• Develop native applications for the iPhone and iPod touch on Linux, Windows, or Mac

• Check email, receive MMS messages, use IRC, and record full-motion video

• Run any application in the iPhone's background, and mirror its display on a TV

• Make your iPhone emulate old-school video game platforms, and play classic console and arcade games

• Integrate your iPhone with your car stereo

• Build your own electronic bridges to connect keyboards, serial devices, and more to your iPhone without "jailbreaking"

iPhone Hacks explains how to set up your iPhone the way you want it, and helps you give it capabilities that will rival your desktop computer. This cunning little handbook is exactly what you need to make the most of your iPhone.

Amazon.com® Reader Reviews (Ranked by Helpfulness)

Average Amazon.com® Rating:  Based on 3 Ratings

Excellent and thorough guide to taking your iPhone to new heights - 2009-04-14
Reviewer Rating:
The iPhone is an amazing portable computer. It features capabilities that twenty years ago would have been something out of the pages of science fiction. Instant communications access with anyone in the world, the ability to seamlessly access the corpus of human knowledge that is the Internet, and of course, an ability to be entertained by music, video and games limited only by your imagination.

Almost.

The iPhone, as shipped by Apple, is a wonderful device for 95% of its users. But Apple locks iPhone users into a gilded cage. The cage is sumptuously decorated, but it is still a jail cell. You are limited to using your iPhone in ways Apple approves of. "The man" (or Steve Jobs) decides what applications you can run and what capabilities your phone has. Like a bridled horse, the iPhone is docile, but unleashed, it could do so much more!

To really set the iPhone free, you need to "hack" it. Once you do this, your phone becomes the powerful computer it is meant to be, and you can run much more diverse software, giving your phone new abilities, like being able to record videos, customize the user interface, emulate popular video game consoles, and send and receive multimedia messages. You can even give your phone the ability to act as a wi-fi "access point" to the internet for your laptop, and unlock the phone to use on other carriers.

"iPhone Hacks" by David Jurick and Adam and Damien Stolarz is your guide into this brave new world. The authors act as friendly guide into the world of iPhone customization. This book is not meant for beginners; the authors assume both some technical computer knowledge and a curious nature. Some of the software-based "hacks" can be done by any experienced user, but other hacks require programming and even hardware "breadboard" skills, such as handiness with a soldering iron.

The authors first explains some of the basics of the iPhone operating system, including its history, the phone's boot process, and how the file system is put together, which is an excellent overview, before they head into the basics of "jailbreaking," which is the process where you use some simple software tools to open your phone's operating system up to customization.

I should note that many of the hacks in this book require the jailbreaking process, which, contrary to its name, is neither illegal nor very difficult. There are several hacks which do not require jailbreaking, however, these are more in the vein of "power user tips" rather then true hacks. It is worth noting that Apple will not provide warranty services to jailbroken phones - luckily, if anything goes wrong, it is very easy to "restore" your phone to pristine condition before seeking warranty service.

The actual hacks are divided into various sections by theme. The first two thirds of the book is all software-focused, and as such accessible to those without programming or hardware hacking skills. For example, there are sections on using the phone as a multimedia devices, sections on enhancing the camera and video recording functions, as well as sections on topics such as SMS messaging, gaming, and user interface customization. Any of these sections can be accessed in an ad-hoc manner; there is no need to go in order after the initial chapter on the jailbreak process itself. Simple pick the topic you are interested in and dive in. It is easy to browse the book to get an idea of what the iPhone can do, and all of the chapters are very clearly explained, with excellent use of screenshots and supplementary information to guide you in the process.

The final third of the book covers both application programming, and actual hardware hacking, including how to disassemble and reassemble your phone. Many of the hacks in this section are very entertaining to read about (and fairly useless in a practical sense), especially since it would take someone way braver then me to actually crack open my phone's case! The programming section is a useful introduction to both the official Apple-provided way to program for the iPhone as well as the unofficial ways to get access to private APIs and methods which can be used to program applications that could never make it into the App Store.

More controversially, "iPhone Hacks" also describes the process to "unlock" your iPhone (this is different then "jailbreaking") so you can use it on a carrier other then AT&T. This information is presented fairly and accurately, with both the risks and rewards clearly outlined for those users who may need to use an iPhone on another carrier. The book also describes how to activate tethering, where you can use your iPhone as an internet access point for your laptop. This may violate your contract with your carrier, but the book doesn't moralize here; it simply describes the "hack" and leaves the decision as to how to use the information up to you, the reader, which is as it should be.

Overall, this is an amazing book, clearly and thoroughly describing the dozens of ways you can truly make your iPhone your own. It manages to cover challenging information fairly and accurately in a manner that will appeal to any adventurous, curious and technically-minded reader. Even if you never plan to do anything other then the tamest "hacks" to your iPhone, browsing this book will teach you a lot about your phone as a computer, and leave you stimulated and fascinated.

Just what the doctor ordered - 2009-06-04
Reviewer Rating:
This book has the meds you need for your iPhone blues! The iPhone is a very valued piece of hardware, but Apple cripples it with shabby software. This book will bring you much mirth by giving you the tools you need to unlock your iPhone's potential.

Unlocking, jailbreaking, networking, file browsing, command lines, amazing apps that give you abilities that Apple and AT&T don't want you to use, the list goes on and on. In other words, this book is comprehensive!

BUT MOST IMPORTANT is that this book also shows you how to revert your iPhone to its factory condition, from anything you do to it, just in case. No "past the point of no return" here, this book shows you the SAFE path to unlocking all of your iPhone's abilities! Something not going your way? You can still revert it to its previous condition, and take it to the Genius Bar no problem.

This book is extremely useful for anyone who wants to experience firsthand what their iPhone can do. And isn't that every iPhone user?

Making it YOUR iPhone - 2009-06-17
Reviewer Rating:
Apple's 3G iPhone isn't a phone: it's a pocket-sized computer with as much horsepower as many late-nineties vintage desktops. The iPhone's chief sources of frustration are the built-in restrictions that keep every one of them working the same. //iPhone Hacks// shows reasonably sophisticated computer users how to "jailbreak" and alter their phones, enabling them to customize them to their own unique tastes. //iPhone Hacks// also explains how to "virginize" the phones back to their out-of-the-box configurations should a software alteration (a hack) go array. A key advantage of "jailbreaking" is it allows owners to connect to some other cell carriers (forget Verizon and Sprint, because they use different and incompatible technology). Other options include changing the look and feel of the phone and expanding its music and photo storage by accessing hidden memory and making your own applications (apps) on the phone. Unfortunately, some--perhaps many--of the hacks explained in this book may disappear later this summer when Apple releases its next iPhone operating system. The good news is many of the reference websites have already figured out new hacks for those changes. //iPhone Hacks// is not for the fainthearted, nor is it for computer novices.

Reviewed by
David Reynolds

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