The TOPECS Blog

Have an iPhone 3G? Don’t expect multitasking, ever.

Tim — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 16:53:30 +0000

So now we know how Apple will keep us buying iPhones. Bring out a handset, support it for a single major update and then only partial support in the future.

Case in point is the latest 3.0 announcement. It is inconceivable to believe that the original iPhone is physically not capable of handling MMS and Stereo Bluetooth. The original iPhone was built using some of the best mobile technology of the time which in its turn was developed from many years experience of 2G chip sets. MMS is a capability that the lowliest 2G handsets possess, my first being the Ericsson T68 of seven years ago. Perhaps they are protecting users from low data speeds, but then shouldn’t users decide what is usable and what isn’t?

Now Apple has declared that the battery life of the iPhone and iPhone 3G is not up to the mark for multitasking (interesting they didn’t mention a comparison with Symbian handsets in their presentation). So now what are the odds that the next iPhone will have a higher capacity battery, and with the release of a 4.0 software update next year, the iPhone 3G will not have multitasking support but this years new iPhone will.

Well Apple have to make their money some how.

The iPhone features I wanted. Did Apple deliver?

Tim — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 16:52:06 +0000

In December I wrote a short wish list of features that I wanted from the next upgrade to the iPhone software. Did Apple deliver? Well to an extent but there is no killer punch. If anything, Apple has yet to address some fundamental deficiencies in their product which only bodes well for the competition.

So looking at my list:

Core Features

Multi tasking of third part applications: Fail

Sorry Apple but I like to listen to streaming music whilst I compose an email and flip between RSS readers and web pages. I can do this on all my smartphones apart from the iPhone. The excuse that it will take up too much battery life is plain ridiculous as for the last six or so years I have been using multitasking smartphone platforms with few consequential power issues.

Some will point to the push notification system. Big deal. This is going back to the Palm Treo 650 days to cludge a mono tasking OS to pretend its doing something more. I don’t want to exit Twitter, Facebook, LastFM and lose my place, this is the 2009 not 2004.

Swapping between applications: Fail

The Palm Pre has card decks and Nokia Symbian have the long press home key, and Apple has nothing.

Cut & Paste: Success

Yea, a significant plus which will be easier to use than Symbian. A real plus point at last for Apple to bite back.

A unified file system: Fail

Opening up API’s does not seem to extend to the iPhone’s file system. A potential stumbling block for business use wanting to use QuickOffice.

Side-loading Ringtones: No news

The lack of any news here is not surprising, but most people live with the paucity of ringtones and inability to easily add new ones. If you want a decent ringtone, buy a Nokia.

Voice Dial/Response: Fail

A big issue for business users, voice dial for in car use is an absolute must. Not having this is plain ridiculous for a handset that is supposed to be easy to use.

Encryption: Fail or Success?

Whilst a password login manager may help security, the lack of any device wide encryption should make the iPhone unacceptable to government, councils and senior business managers. Apple may have lost a trick here except the tantalising words “Encrypted Profiles” shown on a slide.

Turn by Turn Navigation: Success

At last that great screen has a use as a car SatNav. Yea. Damn, so can my 4 year old Nokia 7710.

Hardware

5Mpx Autofocus Camera with video and flash: No news

It’s now known that O2 is dumping the iPhone 3G at a low price, so there must be a new iPhone due soon. As Apple were advertising for a senior camera engineer last year I can only hope that the megapixel rating will be higher in the iPhone 4.

Memory card slot: No news

Well that was never going to happen, but Apple’s apparent admission that their onboard memory will eventually fail if used to record video clips marks a pressing need for external memory access.

Screen angling: No news

Kellogg should get their act together and design a cardboard stand for iPhone users. They used to do some great cardboard cut outs in times past. Saves Apple a job anyway.

Messaging

Email search: Success

A very big plus point in 3.0 is the search function over all applications and within folders if using Exchange 2007. An extremely important plus point that business users will love.

Reply/Forward marker on server: No news

Perhaps a minor fix that has not been spoken of, we will just have to wait.

Easily move between Inboxes: No news

There’s no simple method to swap to another email account – you have to back out.

Rotate screen in email & SMS: Success

Another big yea for horizontal email entry. This will make typing much easier.

Email spell checker: Fail

More of a nice to have, but considering the foibles of writing using a virtual keyboard, it would be useful to have a spell checker, especially if auto correct is off.

Set out of office flag: Fail

Another corporate feature available on BlackBerry’s but not on the iPhone. Very useful if you have gone away and need to redirect emails.

Time and day control of email fetch and push: Fail

Though the iPhone’s battery life is much improved, it would be useful to limit the push/pull activity between certain times of day and days of the week, as you can with Dataviz.

Access to Exchange Global Address List: Success?

Search may also work within Exchange’s GAL, hopefully that’s the case.

Follow up and importance flags: Fail

Being able to set follow up flags when browsing email on the road makes dealing with actions later much easier.

Change Email tones: Fail

Another basic feature missing.

MMS: Success

At last the iPhone 3G allows for MMS messaging. The lack of video MMS support is unforgivable for a multimedia handset.

Forward SMS: Success

Apple can now compete with phones from the 20th century.

No SMS reports: Success?

No mention as such but there will be detailed call logs so perhaps Apple included SMS receipts as well?

Bluetooth – The missing profiles

Stereo Bluetooth: Success

Now I can use my stereo headset, at last.

Push Profile: Fail or Successs?

Still can’t share images or files over standard Bluetooth profiles. Though the fact users can play games between iPhones in Bluetooth range suggests that this could be added later especially using the external accessory framework. This will lead to many new peripherals specifically designed to work with the iPhone. Imagine new printers with a specific Apple Bluetooth image transfer and print capability.

Synchronisation Profile: Fail or Success?

Again it is unclear whether Bluetooth Synchronisation will be possible. If Bluetooth tethering is then there should be no physical problem to enable wireless Sync to iTunes.

Keyboard Profile: Fail or Success?

Doable but no keyboard HID profile announced for typing reports using a proper keyboard. Potentially though this could be application specific.

Dialup Profile: Success

Tethering now possible but only if the network approves its use. So if O2 allows it and AT&T do not what happens when an O2 customer is using the AT&T network.

Other good things to come out included the wider access to API’s (but not all) and the third party hardware support but terribly unclear at this point what the capabilities will be.

Enterprise’s will be pleased with some of the other undiscussed features like Over The Air (OTA) Profiles vital for remotely configuring the iPhone when a user messes up. A number of other enterprise features are also introduced bringing the iPhone up to its competitors’ capabilities. A nice feature is create meeting invitations, again this has been around for quite a few years, but usability should be superior on the iPhone, especially when combined with the auto fill feature.

So an excellent update, but one that only brings the iPhone close to the capabilities of modern handsets, but will no doubt dominate the competition in the usability stakes.

However on this showing I’ll still be moving to the Palm Pre.

iPhone 3.0 keeps Apple in the mobile game

Tim — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 16:50:57 +0000

Apple’s iPhone 3G was starting to look quite lame in comparison with the Nokia 5800 and the launch of Samsung’s Omnia HD, Toshiba’s TG01, Sony Ericsson’s Idou and especially the Palm Pre. The freedom Symbian offers developers and users alike to create and run applications that not only run in the background but can use the hardware as well, was starting to tell on existing iPhone owners. Having great applications like LastFM, Twitter, Facebook et al that can’t run simultaneously in the background whilst you write an email is a right pain.

Version 3.0 resolves many of the glaring omissions, but still leaves the iPhone looking like a glorified Palm Pilot with still only a lone third party app running at any one time. According to Apple this is to save battery life, which is true enough, but it seems strange that older Symbian and Microsoft handsets are able to accomplish this battery demanding task whilst still giving a fair standby time.

So with no new hardware announced (though O2 are starting to dump the 3G so there must be a new model soon) is it worth just updating to 3.0 or move up to the Nokia 5800 or N97 which do more at a better price? Stick I reckon. But if you are looking for a new handset in the next five months the Palm Pre and Omnia HD are the ones to spend your pennies on.

A Nokia Puzzle – Buy Business or Buy Consumer

Tim — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 16:49:06 +0000

Nokia is well known for finely segmenting their customer base, which is consequently why they have so many types of handsets available at any one time. The release of their 5730 XpressMusic is a case in point.

Around a month since Mobile World Congress saw the official launch of the business E75, the consumer 5730, announced on Wednesday, is a 100 Euros less.

Spec wise they appear almost identical. Sure the E75 has a nice bit of chrome, but their guts are pretty much the same. In fact the cheaper 5730 comes with more internal memory, shipped with a larger capacity 8GB card, slightly lighter and has Carl Zeiss optics. The E75 may of course be built to withstand the day to day business frustrations of its target users, with less plastic and more metal, but none the less it is just more expensive.

Given the monotony of travelling the 5730 seems to be perfect for bored credit crunched execs that like music and still want their push email. Where does that leave the E75? Available that’s where as the 5730 isn’t expected until after June. I think I’ll wait.

So what happens when your email provider and web host go bust?

Tim — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 00:47:10 +0000

I12.com, part of Net Access Ltd (who ever they are), is or was a highly reliable email provider to small businesses. Appearing before 2001 when I first came upon them, they have been providing free email accounts, initially using i12 sub domains and 800Mb of web space when most other companies charged through the nose. Thinking of that why does dircon.co.uk still charge its customers over £100 a year for a simple pop email address?

So with 100’s or thousands of email accounts, web sites and the occasional paying customer, i12.com plodded along offering a reliable internet service. Until Tuesday the 3^rd of March.

Since then everyone who has an email account with i12 have had emails rejected and their accounts suspended, not that they would know as no one from i12 had a chance to inform their customers. Increasing the worry, all the web sites they hosted have also disappeared. A travesty for small businesses struggling with the recession who no longer have a web presence.

Now having to find an alternate email and web host takes only a few minutes, a bit of cash and a few crossed fingers. What can’t be calculated is the loss of business and the sheer hassle of changing user names, passwords, informing friends and customers and generally getting business and life back in order.

I12 based its business on dial up revenue share, so it’s amazing that it kept going this long, but who will the next ISP to go bust, tiscali I suppose, and when that happens it won’t be a few thousand customers affected, but 100’s of thousands. Oh the pain.

Fuss and noise over the inevitable, VoIP is here and the networks hate it

Tim — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 00:46:12 +0000

Skype, Truphone and a host of other mobile VoIP providers have been giving away their wares for a few years now.

Skype, arguably the most well known of these, got the mobile bug a couple of years ago. Fring and Nimbuzz Skype software came to the fore by making use of the new flat rate data plans and free home and bar WiFi. With presence and social networking integrated into these ever improving applications, consumers can now decide how they want to contact their friends using the cheapest method possible.

So would you rather pay 10p for an SMS or almost nothing for a Skype or Facebook chat or a twitter DM? Mobile is suddenly becoming a lot cheaper and a lot more fun, but the networks hate it.

Nokia’s N97 will become the first of their handsets with an inbuilt Skype client, so O2 and Orange are throwing a hissy fit stamping their feet and telling all those who will listen that Nokia’s latest toy will not be part of their play box. Pointless histrionics as buyers will just move to a network that does carry it. In the end O2 & Orange will just have to admit defeat as they did with the churlish exercise of removing the VoIP communication stacks from earlier Nokia handsets.

The networks will also suffer from the credit crunch friendly Microsoft push email, available for free and now on all Nokia’s Symbian handsets. Why pay £20 or more a month for something you can have for nothing. Sure you can do more with a BlackBerry, but is it worth the extra £240 a year, probably not.

So where does that lead the mobile networks at the end of 2009? Declining revenue, that’s where. With handsets from all manufacturers increasingly shipping with social networking inbuilt replacing SMS, ActiveSync replacing BlackBerry, Skype replacing voice revenue. Data costs are already low and it would be very brave of a network to increase charges or re-impose network blocks on VoIP calls.

Perhaps the networks should start competing again on coverage and quality of service and let the user decide how they want to communicate.

Motorola shrinks a little more and old rivals get along

Tim — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 00:45:11 +0000

Motorola continues to shrink from the mobile business with the recent loss of their push email subsidiary, formally Good Technology, to its historic rival, Visto. Whilst Motrola’s purchase of Good a couple of years ago never really appeared to be a good match, it does illustrate how Motorola is heading in the opposite direction from its competitors.

They are falling over themselves to provide value added services to build a degree of brand loyalty. Nokia has Ovi, Apple iTunes and even Microsoft is getting into the game. Motorola has Kodak of course, two great brands fizzling out together.

How exactly will the anticipated synergies between Visto and Good pan out or will Good just fade away. Really it doesn’t matter too much as Microsoft, RIM and Google are dominating the mobile email space, Nokia is not too far behind either.

It’ll be fascinating to see how, over the next two years, Visto copes against these industry heavy weights.

http://www.visto.com/news/releases/09.02.24_good.asp

Bill Gates & Rockefeller foundations try to help the world

Tim — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 00:44:19 +0000

Coinciding with Mobile World Congress, a triumvirate consisting of the UN, Vodafone and the Rockefeller Foundation are to unite in providing help and advice to remote and disadvantaged communities.

According to the UN press release, the mHealth Alliance will attempt to maximise the benefits of health information through the use of mobile technology and the 2.2 billion handsets in the developing world.

Mobile networks have a clear advantage in providing communications where more traditional fixed line infrastructures are impractical for so many reasons. Unfortunately various projects have foundered on the long decision making process, committees and research leaving little if any money for actual deployments.

This is a shame as low cost technology tailored to these environments clearly exists, even for the remotest of communities, and the widest of health care, education and advisory needs. It will be interesting to see what, if any, real achievements, other than more reports, the mHealth Alliance will announce at next years MWC.

On a more positive note Bill Gates has enough money, and now the time, to make a positive contribution. In effect there is a decision making committee of only two, he and his wife.

Micro capital projects, and the ability to get the best price for crops, are proven to raise families and villages from poverty. Virtual money through PayPal and web only cards are well established at providing very low cost banking facilities in first world markets. Combining the two to make transfer of funds using mobile technology can simplify many daily transactions, but importantly ensure capital reaches the families who can most benefit from it.

There is no reason why both can’t succeed but many motivated people have invested time and effort into such projects in the past only to be let down by their sponsors. My guess is Bill will succeed where the mHealth Alliance will get bogged down in officialdom.

Palm building momentum

Tim — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 00:43:27 +0000

As expected, Palm is demonstrating the UMTS version of their Pre smartphone at MWC.

Built for the world outside of CDMA, UMTS is almost everywhere these days, Vodafone (their UK carrier of choice) may be launching the Pre sometime in the second half of the year.

So to get the developers writing apps in time for Pre’s launch, O’Reilly publishers are launching a developer’s guide. The first chapter is already on-line via Palm’s developer web site (http://developer.palm.com/ ) so that should kick start some interest from dissatisfied Android developers.

BBC’s interview with Palm’s CEO Ed Colligan demonstrates a passion for the company that has broken with the past to design the Pre. Palm has an immense history in this market and in it’s slimmed down form has found the energy to surpass the iPhone at every functional level.

Now that the Pre will also support Flash, it seems that Palm will be soon be the internet anywhere company especially after Apple’s disappointing start to the year.

Android still in the news – but not in a good way

Tim — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 00:42:12 +0000

The BBC’s Cellan-Jones interview of Google’s Hugo Barra was quite informative in a negative sort of way. With only one ‘new’ handset confirmed from HTC, the Android platform seems to be spluttering to a halt.

HTC’s Magic seems on the face of it to be a G1 without the keyboard. Also T-Mobile has been passed over, or did T-Mobile pass over it, for Vodafone as Magic’s launch partner.

In his interview, Barra seemed to be shrugging his verbal shoulders to the questions on what Google is expecting from Android and the market. A thousand applications he felt wasn’t bad (compare that to the avalanche of choice in Apple’s App Store). To the question of why there is not a choice of handsets Barra effectively said that as an open source project how would they know?

If Android is truly a big part of Google’s future strategy then they should know. With T-Mobile floundering with the G1, and no other manufacturers promising delivery of the next generation Android handset, Google doesn’t appear to care. The market won’t take care of itself, and Google will lose out to Ovi and Microsoft in the web apps department if it can’t motivate itself to care about Android.

It says a lot that Acer would rather pay Microsoft licensing fees, reducing their margins, than take Google’s free OS.

Symbian Foundation is having a good MWC

Tim — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 00:40:32 +0000

After a torturous 2008, Symbian have recaptured some of the tech high ground, but not through Nokia.

With a new breezy image and some killer graphics, SF is on a real uptick at MWC.

Unfortunately although Nokia announced some solid evolutionary handsets, there has been little to impress from SF’s temporary owner, even the launch of Nokia’s first 8MPx camera N86 seems to have been a bit flat.

Their competitors though are having a fine old time. S60 powered handsets such as Samsung’s i8910 and Sony Ericsson’s Idou have trounced the Nokia newbie’s. From screen acreage, to cameras, Xenon flash, capacitive screen technology, Nokia’s competitors have thrown down a substantial gauntlet.

Under its temporary ownership, Nokia will have absorbed some of Symbian’s creative employees so perhaps we can expect something special in the UI department later this year, or not.

Small Business User? Orange wants your business.

Tim — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 01:21:23 +0000

If you run a small business and been tempted by a BlackBerry but couldn’t justify the cost of the push email then Orange may have a deal. Until the end of March if you take out a business contract with a BlackBerry handset, you get the BlackBerry Internet Service (BIS) thrown in free of charge for the duration of the contract.

This is very useful if you are running POP or IMAP accounts. Though it saves £4.25 (+VAT) per month, make sure the rest of the tariffs suit your needs before committing to a 12 month contract.

Nokia’s drip feed of bad news continues

Tim — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 01:20:32 +0000

Research and development, so critical to Nokia’s success in the past, is taking another knock from the accountants.

Following the lead set by the car industry, Nokia have decided to temporarily lay off employees at their manufacturing site in Salo to bring production in line with demand. This mainly affects high end handsets which are viewed as particularly susceptible in the current recession.

Potentially more problematic is the mobile device R&D centre at Jyväskylä will be closed affecting the 320 employees based there. Nokia admit that the Jyväskylä team has been contributed to the success of many of their hit products. So is it a good idea to disband a successful team especially as the success of Nokia has been in its innovation? Time will tell.

http://www.nokia.com/A4136001?newsid=1289393

Could telepresence kick start video calling? Probably not.

Tim — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 01:19:49 +0000

With the recession deepening Gartner predicts that video telepresence could replace 2.1 million airline seats per year by 2012.

Telepresence has had a chequered history producing some very strange and strained conversations. Trying to hold a video conference with none of the pre and post amble associated with social interaction has been seen to be a problem. A recent case of the potential pitfalls was illustrated when a Fenland councillor conferenced into a meeting from Australia creating some bad feeling.

But the accountants will want to save money and travel costs absorb a lot of it and keep people away from their colleagues and family; though some will say this gives everyone a holiday.

Pondering for a moment though, if video conferencing does become acceptable and users adjust to its constraints and foibles, could this stimulate mobile video calling? Probably not, as even if you have remembered to smarten yourself up, the unfortunate angles the mobiles are place will do little for your personal image, or grooming habits.

iPhone to meet promise of full internet?

Tim — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 01:19:05 +0000

Apple have been ticked off for promising the full internet using their iPhone Safari based browser but then failing to deliver Flash and Java based sites. Evidently Apple dismissed Flash as being too heavy on resources and not wanted by users.

This though was not what the advertising standards people thought and gave Apple a slap over the wrist for promising more than they could deliver.

However good news reported by the BoyGenius, comes from Adobe’s CEO Shantanu Narayen who let slip that Adobe is working with Apple to enable rendering of Flash based web sites in a future iPhone firmware release. If so, Apple will have started addressing that long list of features requirements that competitors supports yet the iPhone lacks.