Mobile Data Usage Set to Soar with Release of BBC iPlayer for Mobiles.
If you have a mobile phone and a capped data package (as most of us do!) then you should read this blog – written by Telco-op one of the businesses Octagon work with closely.
Keith, from Telco-op has some important things to warn you about before your mobile phone company charges you a fortune for watching “Strictly”!
First I’d like to wish all our clients and suppliers a Happy and Prosperous 2012.
During the holiday period the support staff go onto “emergency and callout” support for our contract clients – they have had to go out and help some clients – but Clive also found time to write a post comparing the image quality of his favourite camera apps for his iPhone 4.
So what are the top work/productivity apps available? This article is written from personal experience and unlike many “I love Apple” articles I have reviewed apps that I use on my iPhone and my engineers use on their Android phones.
So let’s start with some of the essential built-in applications.
Internet access and email
These are now essential tools for myself and the support engineers. The email in particular means that the server and systems email reports can be checked each morning without having to come to the office.
Calendar
This app is made even more useful, as we run a shared online Google calendar for job recording and scheduling – which is connected to the calendar app on both the iPhone and the HTC Android phones.
Camera
I use this a lot when out on jobs or at meetings.
These are just some examples – a good camera is essential in any smartphone I use.
Wyse PocketCloud Pro – Remote Control
This is the best app I have used for logging into servers remotely. The interface is fast and the controls are comprehensive and well designed. It includes an easy right hand mouse click function and a very precise mouse control. The view can be zoomed by pinching the screen, whilst part way through an operation with the mouse. You can store the settings for various machines and the whole app can then be password protected to secure this information.
Using the free Windows Companion software you can gain access to your own PC.
On my previous Windows Mobile phone I stored client data on an encrypted SD card in the phone. When I made changes to any client record I then had to manually share it with others in my team. Dropbox replaced that system. The same information is easily shared, accessed and edited across our company and with other companies we work with.
However to make this secure you must ensure everyone uses a secret, complicated, password and if someone leaves the organisation they must be removed from the share and the remote data deleted. (Make sure your staff handbook includes a section on data use and security.)
I have the Dropbox app installed on my iPhone 4, but…
Documents To Go Premium – Office Suite
I might store my information in Dropbox but I use Document To Go Professional to access and edit those documents. You can add various online storage locations directly into the app so it makes it seamless to open an online file or a local one. A local copy is made of files you are working on and when they are closed, updates are then synchronised to the online Dropbox. Documents you use a lot can be starred in the “Recents” list so they are available even when the phone is not online.
Although the word processor and spreadsheet apps are far simpler than the PC versions they are powerful enough to complete the tasks you want to carry out on a small touch screen.
Documents To Go will open Word, Excel, Powerpoint, PDFs and JPG files – there is a full list of the compatible file types on the Dataviz website.
This is a free turn by turn navigation software. The maps are open source so there can be occasional issues with them but generally it is accurate.
If this app is not sufficient then all the big players in the satnav market have smartphone apps.
The Octagon Technology website is written in WordPress – and I carry out some of the management of it using the WordPress app on my iPhone. The both the iPhone and Android apps are excellent as they allow myself and others at Octagon Technology to easily blog about our activities with photographs.
For example this afternoon Martin and I have been extending a wifi network, to Aisthorpe Village Hall, so later tonight the Lincoln Shortwave Club can have a Skype presentation from Bob Heil in the USA. Photo below.
This article was written on my iPhone using the WordPress app.
Octagon Technology has provided support to clients for many years with “out of office” mobile computing, starting with Ericsson SH888 phones and Psion handhelds in the late 1990s, to todays smartphones, tablets and notebooks. If you would like to benefit from this knowlege, details about how to contact us are on the Contact page.
iPhone 4 catches fire on plane flight in Australia
Another problem with iPhone hardware! Although Clive is generally very pleased with his iPhone if there is one thing that really annoys him about it is the poor feedback and support from Apple, he is constantly having problems with the phone speaker – see here and more here.
BBC News – Essentials: Avoiding mobile roaming charges abroad.
The BBC News programme Click has posted a video on how to reduce mobile phone costs whilst travelling abroad.
The iOS 5 update on my iPhone killed the book reader I was using on my iPhone 4 – I think I have found a replacement, MegaReader. I have a number of posts outlining my hunt for a new app on my blog.
The first job today is sorting out a client’s Blackberry software, she had upgraded the desktop software and since then the calendar sync had not worked.
This client is dependent on the calendar to schedule her work force to time sensitive jobs – by having her calendar on her smartphone, saves her from having to always be at her desk. So this Blackberry software problem was a critical issue for her.
I solved the problem for her and the calendars now synchronise.
The point I want to make here is that for many of us now our phones have become essential business tools, critical failure points in our business processes. I lost my personal photos during my iPhone upgrade but my business data was backed up in several places as we’re the details of my iPhone settings. So before changing or upgrading phones or phone software you should make sure your backups are in place – or get a geek to assist you.
I first want to say “I like my iPhone” – and then I need to say I score Apple a B+, could try harder.
I have tried to update my iPhone today to iOS 5 – and although Apple said my phone was backed up, it wasn’t. At the moment I am looking at a total loss of my photos from my trip last week along the West Highland Way and I am not sure I will get my apps back.
A costly upgrade.
My advice before doing this upgrade manually back up the photos from your iPhone.
When are Apple going to get iTunes to simply copy your photos into a folder on your computer when you sync your phone.
When lightweight backpacking in Scotland, this summer (see that story here) I was talking with a hiker about reading when backpacking. She had a real paper book with her, I had my iPhone and was reading two books on it. She then said she was thinking of buying a Kindle – and that got me thinking about what I would recommend for the job.
One consideration in this process is that the phone/smartphone is kept in the pack, ready for use as a phone – rather than running the battery down using it as a book reader.
So what are the requirements for a backpacker’s e-book reader?
* lightweight
* compact
* robust
* easy to keep dry
* versatile
* long battery life
So just looking at this I think I would reject the Kindle – and many of the other dedicated e-book reader devices.
* lightweight – most dedicated units are reasonably light, but not very light
* compact – they are about the size of a large paperback in area but thin. However there are not many models that are truly pocket sized.
* robust – and being thin I am not sure how it would pack. As you push that last stuff sack in the bag, will you break your e-reader?
* easy to keep dry – can you get a dry case (Aquapac) to fit it?
* versatile – some e-readers can be used to browse the web and have other functions but they are limited to doing one thing well
* long battery life – most e-readers make use of screens that consume very little power – this is their one big advantage
So, looking at my list I think a better device for a backpacker would be lightweight, truly pocket-sized and offer more functions than a simple e-reader.
I think that an Apple iPod Touch meets these requirements.
Using a program like Calibre and the iPod app Stanza you could load your own books and buy from some stores. You can buy books from the Apple store and use Apple’s reading app, or even load the Kindle app on the device! Several other booksellers have apps to access their catalogues, giving a very large choice of where you purchase your books.
The screen is small but extremely sharp and easy to read. Stanza also has a simple function to change the brightness of the page to match your surroundings.
An iPod is easily more flexible than a dedicated e-reader.
Leave your camera at home and use the one on the iPod. Same goes for video.
With an iPod you can get online at wifi access points, listen to music and of course there are many other apps that will interest you. However one thing to remember is “how much battery” this will consume. A Kindle has an incredibly long battery life for just reading books – an iPod Touch much shorter if you use it for lots of other things, longer if you use it only as a camera and book reader.
To make the iPod a better proposition you would need to extend the battery life – my son uses a battery pack he got from the supermarket with his iPod, and for my iPhone I have a battery jacket. I know a search of eBay will turn up many more ways to extend the battery life of an iPod (or iPhone).
There are several very good waterproof cases for the iPod and it is truly pocket sized, so you can keep it handy, get it out and read a book at your tea stop in the rain!
If you just want an electronic book reader – there is a good selection on the market, and if you must have one try Sony – they sell a pocket sized model. If you want a more versatile device, as well as a book reader, opt for the iPod Touch.
(Of course an iPhone will offer all the above, and be your phone, blog poster and GPS… and save on the weight of the mobile phone – just take another battery pack!)
Like the rest of the world I have had to listen to how perfect iPhones (insert Mac, iPod, iPad etc as required) are. We have watched Steve Jobs preach and perform hardware miracles on the stage at the launch of the next product. There are Apple Stores, bright, shiny, modern, complete with “Geniuses”. We all want one.
Even me. Let me declare I love my iPhone, I would count myself as a geek and a power user when it comes to my iPhone, I use it all the time for business and pleasure. Whenever asked I will promote iPhones to my clients to help them with their businesses.
BUT… Apple is not perfect.
They have big problems – magnified all the larger when you rely on the gadget to run your business.
Last week the screen went black. Pushing the two buttons, available, had no visible effect. Remember the iPhone has no “on” LED (a design omission!) or reset button. So I am looking at the most expensive brick I have ever owned – with no way to access that days appointments or phone the office to ask for help – and my clients could not call me. Add another “gotcha” to all of that, because the iPhone does not use a standard size sim card I cannot even transfer it to another phone.
This issue apparently fixed itself!
A couple of weeks back – no audio on the phone – read more here.
This issue apparently fixed itself!
Today, as I went to leave the office, I checked my mail on the iPhone and found this.
There was mail there when I checked it over breakfast. There was mail in the mailbox online. As ever the iPhone provides you with little feedback to diagnose the problem. I deleted the account on the phone and put it back – no difference. I ran out of time to do more so I left for my meeting, when I got the phone out at the meeting the mail was back!
So this issue apparently fixed itself as well!
For both of the first two issues I searched Apple.com for answers but I could not find any useful help or explanations. I have tried the almost standard Apple support answer – reset and restore the phone. It hasn’t helped.
The Apple Support Communities and Forums are useful but sometimes offer conflicting or worst, complicated sequences of things to do, “which worked for them”.
Everyone knocks Microsoft – however ask any support engineer how useful Microsoft’s TechNet is when sorting out a problem with MS products. At Octagon Technology we use it all the time.
I did not have the same issues with my old Windows phone. Yes it crashed and I used the reset button to fix it. The green LED told me it was on. But there is no going back the HTC Pro was good in its day but technology moves on.
Android? Nothing wrong with them but it does not run Memory Map.
I would not change my iPhone – even with the issues – and I will just have to worry that it will fail me when I am away on holiday or during an important project. Should I buy a second as a spare?
It is time for Apple reality.
(Written on my iPhone 4 using the WordPress App – told you I use it all the time.)