The cell phone ecosystem

Some of you may not think of a cell phone as being part of an ecosystem. But Webster defines ecosystem as "a system formed by the interaction of a community of organisms with their environment". I'd say that fits.

Some of you who read my blog regularly know I recently upgraded to an Android based phone. At it's recent press release with Verizon for the new Motorola Droid X, Google stated that 160,000 Android based phones were being activated per day! Think about that for a minute. So I wanted to circle back and report my findings and feelings on my first several weeks with my myTouch 3G Slide (MTS) on T-Mobile.

I have to say the Android ecosystem is very different than the RIM ecosystem. The RIM ecosystem is well defined and set. By that I mean when you get a BlackBerry and take out of the package to start using it most all the apps are already there. The phone, calendar, contacts and e-mail of course. But also a notepad app and some other built-in common apps. Over the years I came to rely on those apps. They became integrated into my world. Their ecosystem became intertwined in my ecosystem.

And now along comes the Android to upset the apple cart if you will. But the Android ecosystem is far different than the RIM ecosystem. Oh yes, it still includes the phone, calendar, contacts and e-mail pieces, of course. But the follow on apps like notepad and others were not there. But in there place is a rich marketplace of applications, many of which are free. And if the devil is in the details, then the devil in here is determining which app will be the best fit for you.

In one sense this was easy with the BlackBerry. Here's what we included take it or leave it. But now you have a marketplace environment where you can browse and search for and peruse a wide variety of apps for any given need. so to that end I want to tell you about some of the most useful (if not cool) apps I've found thus far.

First, I have to say I love the tight integration with Gmail & Google Apps. I wasn't even home from the store and my new MTS already had all my e-mail, contacts and calendar items in it's memory bank.

Next, I really like an app called ColorNote. It allows you to enter notes and then color code them for various purposes. It's also great for making checklists for going to the store and then checking off each item as you get it.

Next is an app called Handcent. This app takes text messaging to a new level allowing you interaction to be more graphical and fun.

Next is Google Sky. What a cool app! Have you ever been out looking at the night sky and wondering what that star or planet was? Enter Google Sky. Activate Google Sky, hold your phone up to the same place in the sky and your screen will show in real time what stars, planets and constellations are in that location (using GPS and star chart data).

Next is an app I picked up this week from another MTS user, Key Ring. Key Ring allows you to store all your grocery store and other UPC based loyalty cards. Never again do you have to remember your store cards. You bring them up on your phone and have the cashier scan your phones screen. Neat!

Next is Movies by Flixster. This app shows you all the movie theaters in a 25 mile radius and their movie times. It also allows you to integrate with your Netflix queue and add, move, or change the list of movies in your queue.

And last but not least is a totally geeky app called WiFi Analyzer. This app uses the MTS onboard WiFi to check signals and levels and track signal strength and channel usage of nearby WiFi systems. This is great for the IT guy who needs to see if there's a dead zone in a WiFi network.

All things considered I must say I like this new ecosystem. It's new. It's different. But it allows you to customize your smartphone in ways that were unimagineable just a few short years ago. And it reminds me as a technology professional why I love technology ... because it's a moving target.

Welcome to 2010 ... welcome to the future ...

Abandon all hope all ye who enter in.

I just love this quote from an Egyption pyramid. I say this every time I go over the top for the first drop on a really big roller coaster. And now I say it to those of you who are entering college ... just kidding. But here's something I'm not kidding about.

As some of you may know, I am a Microsoft Registered Partner. In that capacity I received notice of a deal for college students that is just too good to pass up. The Microsoft Office Professional Academic 2010 promotion, the details of which are at this URL:

http://www.microsoft.com/student/office/en-us/default.aspx

In a nutshell your college student can get Microsoft Office Professional 2010 for $80. Check the URL for details, limitations and restrictions.
 
Enjoy what's left of the summer. And stay cool out there.

The summer of my discontent ...

Well, I took the plunge again. After 2+ years of faithful service I retired my old friend. My BlackBerry Curve 8320. Good bye my old trusty friend. I am now the proud new owner of a myTouch 3G Slide (MTS) on the T-Mobile network. All I can say is, wow! After having the phone over the weekend (I upgraded on Wednesday of last week) I can now say it is just awesome. This is a FAST smartphone.

But it's not all glitz and glory. There are some rough patches with this Android phone, but first the glitz. As a phone it's awesome. It makes and takes calls flawlessly. It holds the network and has not even so much as hinted at dropping a call, even when driving through some areas my BlackBerry would sometimes grumble about. And the web browser is phenomonal. I can surf to sites my old BlackBerry could NEVER render.

But ... there are some issues that I need to come clean about. First, the Bluetooth is spotty. The audio connection on my side is choppy and difficult to hear, although the callers haven't yet complained. And the call control button on my Plantronics Voyager 510 seems useless on my MTS phone. For incoming calls it seems OK, but for outgoing calls I can't seem to make the call button activate the onboard 'genius mode' to engage speech to action.

But several sources on the web indicate this is a problem with the Android 2.1 OS. Hopefully this will be fixed in the forthcoming Android 2.2. And while we're on the subject, 2.2 is rumored to be between 3 - 7 times faster than 2.1 on the same hardware. Now that'll make you go hmmm.

The other good news is T-Mobile appears to be in the process of upgrading Phoenix to the new HSPA+ standard. This wireless standard promises to deliver near 4G speeds, and the MTS phone supports it.

All in all this phone is beyond my expectations. It's faster than I believed. But it does require a bit of time to customize for personal use. The beautiful thing for me is the Android Market. I have added several key items to enhance my phone, and thus far all the programs I've selected have been free. While there are a lot of paid apps, most of the nes I needed were higher rated in free versions.

However there is one app I will gladly pay for ... an app to let me use the Windows RDP protocol from my Android phone to control Windows Servers remotely. Now that's what I call progress.

I'll post again as I get further into this new smartphone.

Welcome to 2010 ...

Acer Aspire Timeline 3810T

As I wrote in a previous post I recently replaced my Lenovo T43p with a new Acer Aspire Timeline 3810T. This laptop is arguably the most impressive piece of technology I've purchased in the last 12 months.

In all honesty, my T43's demise was not a "surprise" event. I knew it was reaching an end-of-life event because the battery was getting weaker and the onboard fan kept getting noisier and noisier. I spent almost 10 months researching a replacement. I had2 major requirements for my replacement laptop. First, it had to be light. My T43 had been 4.5 pounds but with power supply and accessories my bag always felt closer to 8 or 9 pounds. Second, try as I might (I even added the super-extendo 9-cell battery) I could never get more than 2.5 to 3 hours of battery life. This of course meant I had to carry my power supply, which of course made my bag heavier.

First, my 3810T is light. It weighs in at 3.25 pounds. Second, the battery lasts for 8+ hours. I've taken the laptop out for an entire workday and brought it home with 2 hours of battery life still showing. And I paid extra to get the model with the Intel Core 2 Duo processor, so this laptop is no slouch. It gets up and boogies when the workload requires. Now let's be clear, this is not a gaming machine. Nor is it a video editing monster. But if you're looking for a good stable, lightweight, long battery life laptop this just may be your next laptop.

Aside from a few very minor issues I'm giving my this laptop 5 full stars. On the plus side it has a Core 2 Duo CPU, a 500 GB hard drive, and 4 GB of RAM. On the minus side, the keys on the mouse are a tiny bit hard to press. But not so much as to be really annoying. And the laptop itself does have a very well made feel to it. All in all I'd say it would be a good choice for most business users.

I'll blog again after a few months to let you all know how we get on. :-)

Welcome to 2010 ...

I took the plunge ...

After 5 glorious years and many miles and smiles (and some frowns too), my good old friend Mr. Lenovo T43p laptop finally started throwing serious errors a couple weeks back. So I was forced to replace my old friend with a new Acer Aspire Timeline 3810T.

This laptop of course came with Windows 7 64-bit. Yes, OK, it came with Home Premium and I Anytime Upgraded to Ultimate. Still ... I've done it. I took the plunge. Here I am running Windows 7 as my primary OS on my main system. And you know what? It wasn't all that big of a deal. To date I've only found 2 programs that won't run under Windows 7. My IPSec VPN software (Netgear's ProSafe VPN Client) and my SSL-VPN client (from Netgear's FVS336G).

But even that wasn't such a big deal. I found 2 replacements for my IPSec VPN; Shrew Software VPN (open source) and TheGreenBow VPN (traditional). The SSL-VPN issue was averted by implementing my SonicWALL SSL-VPN 200 appliance which is Windows 7 64-bit and IE 8 compatible. But just to be safe I still installed XP Mode under Windows 7 Ultimate. And once installed I installed & implemented the failed Netgear VPN's, which now run fine in their native XP environment.

Out of all the features of Windows 7 (and there are many), XP Compatibility Mode is arguably the best. It allows you to install applications that just can't or won't run under Windows 7 in the familiar XP Pro environment. XP Mode runs a streamlined copy of XP Professional under Windows 7 inside a streamlined version of Virtual PC. And it's not totally without it's own unique issues (like software licensing). But in total it's been a fairly painless operation. Much less painful than trying to recover necessary files from a totally dead laptop. :-)

Welcome to 2010 ...

What's all this then ...

One of my favorite comedy troops, Monty Python's Flying Circus, used to use that line quite a bit. And it seems strangely appropriate to use it here to talk about Microsoft Windows 7.

By now Windows 7 has been widely available at mail-order and retail outlets for quite some time. I've been playing with the pre-release beta and the final shipping copies for some time now as well. And I thought it was time to come out of my self-imposed cave and give you all some feedback on this new desktop OS from Microsoft.

First, I wouldn't say Windows 7 is revolutionary ... more like it's evolutionary. For those of you familiar with the much maligned Vista, you'll find Windows 7 a very similar place. For those of you coming from the much beloved Windows XP you'll find things a little different. Icons and standard folders aren't in the same place anymore. And those familiar Control Panel icons are mostly gone. But the good news it's all still there, with a little digging.

Windows 7 is a much more stable OS than prior Windows iterations have been. And since Vista has blazed the trail there are 64-bit drivers for most every reasonable device today. Plus Windows 7 adds 'XP Compatibility Mode' to it's arsenal. This allows you to run any app that can't run under 7 to run in a virtual machine in a true XP environment. This feature, however, is only available to user who purchase Windows 7 Professional or higher. Home Premium users are excluded. (sorry)

With Windows 7 Microsoft has also done something very interesting called Anytime Upgrade. This new feature allows you to start off with, say Home Premium, decide you need a Professional feature (like the aforementioned XP Mode), and just click through a window input your credit card info and almost immediately be upgraded to the new level of 7 you'd like.

After having played with all the versions available except Enterprise, I must say this Windows is robust and stable. Vista users will see a 30% increase in speed just by going to 7! And I have yet to find an app that won't run in 64-bit more, which I greatly prefer since it gives the user access to up to 16GB of RAM.

Overall I'd say Microsoft has scored a winner. I'll post back more as time goes on to update my experience ...

Welcome to 2010 ...

NAS Conversion Update

In reviewing my blog I see I promised an update on my progress with the Netgear ReadyNAS Duo. It's been several weeks now and the Duo has perform beyond my expectations. The system has performed flawlessly and even survived one power outage where it was able to shut itself down by monitoring the UPS attached to it. Impressive.

I have recently begun to use it's "web browser interface" features to allow friends and family members to download pictures and home movies.

I'd mark this down in the "win" column.