Master Your Smartphone with BlackBerry, Android and Palm Pre Expert Guides

Whether you’re seeking that perfect holiday gift for a gadget-lover who has it all or just want to get the most out of your own mobile device, you’d do well to check out a new set of illustrated, step-by-step smartphone tutorial books for handhelds including Research In Motion’s (RIM) full “Curve” family of BlackBerry devices; Motorola’s DROIDs 1 and 2, Incredible, X and Eris; the Google Nexus One; and Palm’s Pre.

The books, titled “My BlackBerry Curve,” “My Droid,” and “My Palm Pre,” etc., cover everything from getting started with a brand new smartphone to customizing countless settings and advanced networking, all in easy-to-navigate formats, with tons of images and device screenshots.

And in addition to being great resources for individuals, organizations and IT shops could also reduce smartphone-support-related headaches and costs by making the guides available to staffers or even distributing one of the books to new hires along with their new smartphones.

All of the books are written by mobile maven Craig James Johnston, of CrackBerry.com—the “My Palm Pre” book also gives an author credit to Joe Hutsko. And each is well-written and bursting with valuable insights. (Full disclosure: Mr. Johnston is a colleague and friend, but I can honestly say I would recommend these books to any and all beginner smartphone users even if I’d never heard of or met the author.)

The books are available in light-weight, full-color paperback editions for around $16 each, as well as in digital format for about $10, via online destinations like Amazon.com. Bulk pricing-options are also available via the publisher. Personally, I found the digital editions to be particularly handy, since you can then tote the books on your mobile device so the references are with you whenever or wherever you might need them.

To learn more about the “My Smartphone” series of books visit CraigsBooks.info or follow the author on Twitter.

AS

Al Sacco covers Mobile and Wireless for CIO.com. Follow Al on Twitter @ASacco. Follow everything from CIO.com on Twitter @CIOonline. Email Al at ASacco@CIO.com.