blackberry « Wireless Stuff By Joe Walsh

Posts Tagged ‘blackberry’

Star Trek Had It Right

April 17, 2009

Rumor has it that the first Motorola flip phone, the Star Tac was based off the communicator from the original Star Trek series. Millions of us pretended to be Captain Kirk calling for beam out. I am surprised that Motorola never licensed the familiar communicator tune as a standard ring-tone.

Perhaps with the advent of the smart phones, it is time to go back to the Star Trek screening room to look for the form factor of the future. The current move to put all functions into one device makes sense – who likes to carry around four or five items when one will do? But that ignores the fact that desired form factor, and even functionality, can change based on situation.

I love being able to read email and surf the mobile web during the week. But sometimes if I am out and about on the weekend, having the larger screen is a pain to carry. Taking the Blackberry or iPhone skiing is just a bit risky at best (get insurance) and just darn inconvenient.

Then again, I would love to have a Kindle type ebook reader. The larger screen for downloading magazines, newspapers, and books would be convienent. Several magazines I love do not come in print version any more and reading my laptop while nodding off to sleep isn’t comfortable. At the same time, I don’t want to plunk down the $300 for the Kindle that comes with Internet service I already pay for several times over.

The solution, the communicator / touch pads that they use on Star Trek. The communicator is a great device. It is small, voice activated with no screen. Why no screen, because if voice dialing works, and you don’t need it to read email, what is the purpose of the screen? It would be perfect for almost all situations for voice communication. Of course it would have data commuincation capability. Perhaps even a web interface to allow for updating of the contacts list.

For the times when you need to have a screen, there are the touch pads. These are small devices that appear to be about 1/4 inch thick that are largely just displays. In the real world, these would have some sort of blue tooth or WiFi connection that would tie into the communicator for wireless access outside of the home. This screen would be larger, capable of reading emails and surfing the web. Perhaps there are some models that are even larger for ebook replacement. The beauty is that you can have multiple touch pads associated with the same communicator based on the type of away mission you are undertaking. (I mean business trip…)

I guess the simple way to boil this down is to separate the concept of display from the basic cell phone. Let people mix and match their devices to get the functionality they need for the situation. Perhaps we should call this idea “Cell Phone 2.0″.

Tags:blackberry, cell phone, CTIA, email, EVDO, flip phone, iphone, iPhone 3G, phone design, smart phone, star tac, verizon wireless
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New Mobile Applications Galore at CTIA

April 9, 2009

As I mentioned in my last post, the bonanza of mobile application stores has lead to a flurry of new applications from developers. I came across one purely by accident.

I struck up a conversation with Mike Nykoluk, a consummate entrepreneur who is working on several different ideas at once. He was at the Blackberry booth showing off Unify4Life, a system that allows you to control all of your media devices from your blackberry. Unlike a traditional universal remote, the Blackberry has built-in access to the Internet. This allows Unify4Life to display up-to-the-minute program guides on your phone and allows you to search for programs rather than scrolling through 500 useless channels to find the one good thing on TV.

While we were talking, however, we got onto the topic of how easy it is to put small, low-cost applications for sale through the application stores. He showed me a little gem called “Forward with Edit”. I love it because it is a simple feature that should be in the Blackberry OS, it is simple, and it does exactly what it says it does. Out of the box, Blackberries do not allow you to modify forwarded messages before you send them. You can only add additional text to the top of the message. Forward with Edit fixes this by allowing you to edit the original message before sending it.

For those of you thinking, well Blackberry will just put this functionality into a new release should take a page from Mike’s notebook. He has trademarked the phrase Forward with Edit so anyone trying to put this functionality into any device will need to talk to him or think of another name. (“Edit Before Forward” just doesn’t roll off the tongue as well…)

This deceptively simple concept will only set you back $2.99, the lowest price available on the Blackberry Appworld store and is well worth the cost. It is also a prime example of the type of application that would never have made it through the carrier gauntlet a few weeks ago and is now economically viable for application developers to distribute. Hail to the application store and thank you Mike for leading the way!

Tags:application store, applications, Appworld, blackberry, cell phone, CTIA, forward with edit, mobile email, pda, smart phone
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Mobile Application Stores For All

April 7, 2009

I’m back from CTIA and had a great time. The show was much smaller this year than in the past but to some extent, that made it easier to network. (As one of my friends used to say “all the tourists have gone home.”) There was a lot of buzz around the shift to 4G – the next generation of wireless networks that promises higher speeds and capacity.

The real story of the show, however, was the abundance of mobile application stores. As with just about any change in the wireless industry over the last two years, Apple started the ball rolling with the addition of mobile applications to the iTunes store. This made it ridiculously easy for mobile application developers to reach consumers and even easier for consumers to download mobile applications to their phone. Gone are the two years of networking and cajoling of carriers to make your application one of a few dozen that appear on their “deck” of approved applications. iTunes literally has thousands of applications.

Device manufacturers realize that they were losing market share to Apple (who has gained 26% of the smart-phone market in less than two years!). It was no longer up to the carrier or the handset manufacturer to add functionality to their phones, they can focus on what they should do best, create a great platform, and allow developers to add functionality.

At CTIA Research In Motion (RIM) launched AppWorld for the Blackberry. (Download it by pointing your mobile phone browser to http://www.blackberry.com/appworld.) In fact, most of their booth was devoted to featured application developers. While some phones were about, there was little fanfare around the Bold or the Storm, their flagship smartphones.

Additionally, Samsung, Microsoft and Motorola announced their own application stores to join Symbian and Nokia’s application stores. To be sure, there will be a great deal of overlap between these stores and it will open a quandary and potentially a great opportunity for application developers.

Ironically, while Apple has broken down the Chinese Wall that has blocked application developers from getting their applications to consumers, it has also taken some heat for blocking some applications (http://news.cnet.com/8301-13846_3-10041187-62.html). With several stores having the ability to sell the same products (e.g., Samsung, Motorola and Microsoft will all sell Windows Mobile applications) will there be alternative channels for applications blocked from one store. I asked the folks at Samsung if they would sell applications to non-Samsung phones and they didn’t appear to have thought about this scenario. The marketing manager I spoke with indicated that there wouldn’t be anything blocking such sales.

Will there be a market for specialty stores (only applications for outdoors (REI Mobile), mobile photography (Ritz Mobile), etc. ? How many application stores can we handle? Interestingly, the mobile application stores can be quickly set up and be more of a marketing expense then a true money making operation. A simple payment mechanism, some advertising, a database, and automated customer service and shazam you are in the mobile application store business.

The net-net good news for all – it will be easier for developers to create and deploy applications for mobile phones. Additionally, the abundance of stores will lead to price competition to get higher revenue shares for developers. Some stores are already promising 70% of the application revenue for developers. This is a huge shift from developers getting 30% in some cases with applications sold through carrier stores. Consumers and businesses alike will appreciate the abundance of mobile applications for just about any need.

The net-net bad news – developers will have to deploy their applications across multiple stores to reach the market to have maximum exposure to their audience. They will also have to work to differentiate their applications for the consumers as thousands of applications flood the market. For consumers there is a double downside – tons of applications with most of them junk will make it hard to separate the wheat from the chaff.

The second downside for consumers – the months of testing that carriers used to put applications through before launch to ensure a positive interaction are gone. You will be lucky of most of these application stores load an application to see if it starts much less have extensive testing. Additionally having multiple applications loaded on your phone will lead to many unintended interactions in the near term. This will go away as mobile phone operating systems get more powerful, but be ready to reboot your phone ever day or two in the short term.

All-in-all a great show and I will be talking about some of the cool applications that I saw while there over the next few blog posts.

Tags:API, apple, application store, applications, at&T wireless, blackberry, cell phone, CTIA, iphone, iPhone 3G, iPhone OS, microsoft, motorola, nokia, pda, samsung, smart phone, storm, symbian, verizon, verizon wireless, verizonwireless, Wireless 2009
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Under the Radar for iPhone OSv3 – Accessories

March 31, 2009

It has been over two weeks since the announcement of the new iPhone OS and developers have had the opportunity to kick the tires of the beta version of the OS. There is a lot to like about the new OS including many features that I have blogged about such as:

MMS support – finally, true picture messaging.
Push start support – the ability for content publishers to send messages to applications
Landscape support for all apps – One of the positive features of the Storm allows for easier access to many applications

Additionally, Apple reports over 1,000 new API’s available for developers that allow new functionality such as access to the iTunes Library, peer-to-peer connectivity, in application purchases, etc.

Apple also introduced a new class of functionality that allows greater control over accessories. While this sounds rather plebeian, this could lead to another sea-change in the mobile phone market forcing other manufacturers to play catch-up to Apple once again. With the new functionality, developers can easily control other devices either connected through the iPhone dock or wirelessly via Bluetooth. Examples given by Apple during their press conference include FM transmitters controlled by the iPhone to find the perfect frequency to broadcast to your car stereo or a blood pressure cuff that will keep track of your blood pressure history and if necessary, send the results to your doctor. This ease of connecting external devices to a wireless device combined with the promised ease of Bluetooth connections, will lead to an explosion of new applications and a further penetration of the iPhone into business.

To be fair, Apple did not think of this concept all on their own, they just made it easier to deploy. For example, a few weeks ago I had my car windshield replaced at my house. The technician had me sign for the service using a Bluetooth pen that was connected to his Blackberry. The application was highly specialized and required a lot of custom programming on the part of the auto glass company to deploy. I’m sure there is also a significant support cost to maintain this custom application.

With the new support for Accessories to help developers produce and deploy applications that utilize external devices should help reduce those development and deployment costs. Manufacturers of devices from medical equipment to pens to even stereo systems are likely rushing right now to incorporate this technology into their products and release widgets to simplify application development for control of their devices.

So, what will be the big device winners? Send me your thoughts. My guess is that it will start with medical, move to field service automation, then move to consumer devices. I’ll try to blog up on unusual device applications that I hear about.

Tags:Accessories, API, apple, applications, at&T wireless, blackberry, cell phone, external devices, iphone, iPhone 3G, iPhone OS, MMS, mobile phone, OS v3, pda, storm, verizon, verizon wireless, verizonwireless
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US Behind in Adoption of Telecommunications

March 25, 2009

The United Nations released a report yesterday that shows the United States falling six places on their Information and Communications Technology (ICT) index. (MSNBC article here and full report here.) While the report does show increased usage of both wireless and Internet penetration in the US, (80 and 60% respectively), we lag behind other countries such as Sweeden that has more cellular accounts than citizens.

The interesting thing about the report is that it goes beyond just pure adoption and looks at a broader spectrum of ICT including intellectual property rights (IPR), researchers, degrees issued, exports, etc. The report correctly points out that countries with significant ICT policies that favor innovation will experience higher productivity on the whole and thereby have a better chance of a growing economy.

The US has done a wonderful job of encouraging the free market economy and in most cases, this encourages innovation. However, there are times when the free market economy can actually stifle competition and innovation. For example, in a rapidly expanding market such as wireless telecommunications with competitors protected by spectrum licenses, there is little need to innovate as most wireless carriers will continue to grow if they continue to add capacity. There is little need to work with innovative technologies unless developed by large vendors with pre-existing relationships and even then, only if it increases capacity or decreases cost. There is little incentive to work with companies with innovative technologies until a competitor adopts the technology.

Hopefully we have turned a corner in th industry with the adoption of the Apple iPhone and recent releases of Andriod and other platforms. As penetration begins to wain in the United States, innovation will begin to drive wireless profitability. Apple’s success (garnering over 20% of the smartphone market in less than two years) has put the industry on notice. Innovations in technology (touch screen interfaces), pricing (reasable flat rate all-you-can-eat pricing), and marketing (App Stores) are all exploding across the industry thanks to Apple.

Application developers are lining up around the block to take advantage of the relative ease of application distribution through the App Stores and this is great for the industry. I look for this to continue across the board and hope that carriers will open up their application stores for non-PDA phones.

Of course, the caveat here is that network quality can not suffer too much. I’m willing to take a little instability in my phone for cool new applications but at the end of the day, it is the network that is the cost of entry for a long-term customer relationship. (AT&T seems to have learned this well with the recent announcement of the multi-billion dollar network investment over the next year.)

Tags:applications, at&T wireless, blackberry, cell phone, email, EVDO, ICT, iphone, iPhone 3G, iPhone OS, mobile email, mobile phone, pda, Report, smart phone, UN, United Nations, verizon, verizon wireless, verizonwireless
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Flaws in the iPhone

March 12, 2009

Heresy!

Flaws in the iPhone? Yes, even the darling of the media has a few flaws. I tested the iPhone for a few weeks and, by and large, am VERY impressed with the device. The media attention is well deserved. The phone performs very well as an email client. Unlike the Blackberry, it easily supports IMAP that will allow users of gmail and other Internet mail services to have quick email reconciliation.

As a media device, it synchronizes with iTunes and plays all iTunes content flawlessly as you would expect from an iPod. It is also a powerful gaming platform in its own right by combining the touch screen and very sensitive accelerometer.

But there is still room to improve the iPhone. One of the major glaring omissions is the lack of Multimedia Messaging Services (MMS) or picture messaging. Yes, you can snap pictures with the built-in camera and send them via email, but it isn’t as easy as typing in a mobile phone number and pressing send. Conversely, anyone wanting to send you pictures should send them to you via your email address (a pain for long email addresses on phones without a QWERTY keyboard). Messages sent via MMS will arrive at the iPhone with a link for you to log in to a web site to see your pictures. A very big pain and huge usability nightmare.

The second largest gaff on Apple’s part was the inability for application developers to write applications that run in the background or that can be push started when data is sent directly to the application via SMS. This is not a capability issue as the iPhone is a very powerful handheld Linux platform that can most certainly run applications in the background. Playing music from the iPod interface doesn’t stop when you check your calendar but try loading up Slacker and your music stops as soon as you leave the application. This is most likely due to a concern at Apple about battery life or nefarious applications or both but it is a strong limitation that needs to be revisited in the near future.

Fortunately for Apple and AT&T, none of the issues I have uncovered on the iPhone are fatal flaws or involve hardware. All of them can be quickly fixed with software upgrade.

I always like to hear from users about devices so feel free to drop me a line or post a comment with ideas for new features (or I dare say bug fixes) on your wireless devices. If I haven’t posted about a device you find interesting, drop me a line and I will try to scrounge one up for a posting!

Tags:applications, blackberry, email, flaws, gmail, IMAP, iphone, MMS, mobile email, pda
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Blackberry Storm – Part 2

March 4, 2009

So after three weeks of using the Storm, I think I have a handle on it and can talk intelligently about the pros and cons of the device. Overall, I like the device. RIM has done an outstanding job with their first touch screen model.

I set up the Storm with two email accounts, a gmail account and a separate account I have through GoDaddy. I am using IMAP to access both of these accounts as I have a notebook and a desktop. Using IMAP (compared to POP3) theoretically synchronizes emails across multiple computers so that deletions from one computer are carried forward to other computers. I was hoping that the same would be true for the Blackberry since I no longer access a Blackberry Enterprise Server (BES) that would normally reconcile deletions.

The built-in setup wizard recognizes the gmail account and will automatically configure it for POP3 access. However, I wasn’t sure if that would negate the advantages of IMAP that I was hoping to gain. The workaround for this is to disable POP3 via the Gmail web interface. Setting my GoDaddy email was ironically easier since I could manually configure that account to use IMAP.

The Storm automatically set up three icons on my main screen, one for all messages, and one for each of the message services. This is an easy way to organize your messages. I found this much easier than the iPhone’s method of switching back and forth between different email accounts to check all of your email. Of course, eMail is Blackberries bread and butter and as expected, it performed excellently on this front. (Similarly, Apple’s media player is top notch.) My only complaint, and this could be a Verizon or a setting issue, I could not get extremely long news letters to download entirely. They would typically truncate around 64Kb.

The major email down side is that I could never get IMAP to work properly. If I deleted a message from the Storm, it would be deleted from my computers. However messges deleted from my comptuer were never deleted from my Storm. This SHOULD work according to RIM support, but to be honest, I haven’t had the patience to spend time with them on technical support to figure out why it wasn’t working…

Applications also worked mixed. Legacy applications are loaded in what RIM calls a “compatibility mode” that opens the keyboard and leaves it open. This works fine on some applications (such as SquareLoop’s Mobile Alert Network) but not so well with other applications such as REI’s snow report. This is likely due to how well applications stick to standard programing conventions (something we tried to do at SquareLoop). The issue should go away as more applications are written with the new SDK’s that take the Storm into account.

I also like the fact that most applications will turn sideways when the phone is flipped. This can be a drawback when the phone is sitting on a desk or flat surface as there is no way to “lock” the orientation. However, this is much better than the iPhone that only allows you to view items such as email in portrait mode.

While I can type using the portrait keyboard (aka the Pearl keyboard) I found it much more comfortable and faster to use the full landscape keyboard. This is a surprise as I am a former Pearl user. I also found the word guessing very accurate on the Storm for when you do (and you will) fat finger keys. It was a little tricky to select a link on the screen if the link or button was close to the edges, but this may be a fact of my large fingers.

Like all Blackberries, the Storm will run applications in the background making it easy to talk on the phone, look up contacts, read emails, etc. all at the same time. The only thing that you can not do simultaneously is data communication while using voice. This, however, is a limit of the current revision of CDMA that Verizon runs and not necessarily the device itself.

Many people have made a big issue about Apple’s patent on two-finger interface patent. While this is very handy, I did not find the lack of it a major drawback on the Storm. In most cases, tapping the screen will either zoom in or show a toolbar that has a magnify / de-magnify button.

The Storm is missing one key feature that I would like to see added to a future version – WiFi. I really like the ability of the iPhone to switch to WiFi when available to provide faster data throughput (and offload cost to the carrier).

If you are thinking about getting a Storm, now is the time to do so. Verizon Wireless is offering a 2-for-1 Blackberry special for new two year agreements. Well worth the cost if you are in the market!

Tags:apple, blackberry, cell phone, email, EVDO, IMAP, iphone, mobile email, pda, storm, verizon wireless
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iPhone – 1 Week In

March 4, 2009

I decided to give the iPhone a whirl in my quest for the perfect smart phone. Most of my usage is around mobile email, but having access to mobile web and media is increasingly important to me. Being a long-time iPod user, I have been anxious to try the iPhone for some time. (A consulting engagement also gave me the opporutnity to kick the tires as well…)

The media has hyped the iPhone since before its initial public launch in 2007. Much of the hype is well deserved. Apple engineers are the consumate user experience design engineers so the phone is very easy to use wihtout an instruction manual. Starting with the original iPod, the engineers go to great lengths to eschew buttons and controls and the iPhone is no exception. The phone itself has exactly one button on the main surface. Yes, one. The button changes context based on the task being pefrormed, but typically takes you back a step or all the way to the main screen. Even in the mail screen, there is one button for reply or forward. When pressed, the phone displays a pop-up with reply, reply all and forward.

As a mail client, the iPhone does an admirable job. While it s a little cumbersome to swtich between mailboxes, it was easy to set up with my two IMAP mail clients. It correctly handles IMAP synchronization out of the box with little customization. Retrieving email happens on a schedule that is customizable by the user so it is not a true “push” email client as the Blackberry is. However, this is a minor issue as a 15 minute delay to retrieve an email typically is not a major issue and you can always pull email whenever you like.

Like the Blackberry Storm, the iPhone guesses at words you are typing when you fat finger the wrong virtual key. At first, I thought the Blackberry did a much better job, however after a day of use I was more comfortable with the iPhone and now thing that it does as good, if not slightly better than the Blackberry at correcting mistakes. One drawback, however, is that the iPhone’s mail client only has a portrait mode keyboard. I found the landscape mode of the Blackberry much more comfortable to use for longer emails and the larger keys enabled by the Blackberry’s “Pearl” type keyboard much more user friendly for large hands.

The web browser is also very easy to use and it does “mostly” provide the whole Internet as advertised. The major glaring exception to this is any site that relies on Flash. Quite the disappointment when I went to check ski conditions at www.skiroundtop.com and found that there was no content on the page except for the missing flash icon. According to news reports, Adobe and Apple have a deal to allow Flash to be distributed on the iPhone and this can not happen soon enough.

The iPhone, coming from the iPod heritage, does a phenominal job at handleing media, particularly music files so I will not spend much time covering those features.

My next task is to work with a number of downloaded programs. Apple is supplanting both Palm and Blackberry as the developer platform of choice offering thousands of programs available for download through iTunes. More on that in my next posting.

Tags:apple, at&T wireless, blackberry, iphone, mobile email, pda, smart phone, storm, verizon wireless
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Slacker – The XM Radio Killer

February 22, 2009

Over the last few years I have enjoyed listening to Internet radio while working. The number of high-quality digital radio stations is staggering. As a Comcast customer, I am able to stream Music Choice using their browser-based client for free. This offers at least thirty commercial-free stations of all types. AOL radio has an ad supported browser based solution that allows you to skip songs that you do not like. Additionally, AOL publishes WinAmp, an application that will manage your media library as well as giving you access to dozens of Internet radio stations. WinAmp also has a remote listening tool that allows you to stream your music library to remote devices including Blackberries.

Recently a friend told me about a great new Internet radio that has a client for the Blackberry. The site, www.slacker.com, has dozens of radio stations pre-defined and allows you to create your own radio stations. It offers both a browser-based listening station and a mobile application for Blackberries, iPhones and Symbian phones. The folks at slacker have done a great job by combining the best features of all of the Internet radio applications on the market and making them available on mobile devices.

There is good integration between the online version and the phone client with radio stations and favorites being shared between the two seamlessly. Slacker also recognizes if you are listening to the service on two devices simultaneously. You can have the option of signing out of the other client automatically thereby saving you data usage (and precious battery life) on your phone if you fire up the web client to listen via your PC or laptop.

Unlike satellite radio, slacker takes advantage of the bi-directional communication allowing you to highlight favorite songs to be played more frequently on your radio station or ban a song from ever playing again. Like the extra information such as album or artist information provided by satellite radio, Slacker blows this away by providing album art, album reviews and artist bios. Slacker is also kind enough to tell you the next song on the play list.

Installation of the phone client is a snap. On your Blackberry, you simply navigate to the slacker.com web site and walk through the simple steps to install the application. Once installed, the application will prompt to access phone information and the Internet. (One word of caution, the Storm does not respond well to this prompt when the keyboard is visible. The work around is to wait a few seconds after the application is loaded for all the security prompts to appear before attempting to log into the service.) If you have not created an account on your web browser, you can create one through the Slacker application very easily. Favorites are synchronized between the mobile application and the web version so you don’t have to recreate your favorites.

Slacker has a free, advertising supported model or an advertising free model for $3.99 a month – much less than the $12+ a month that Sirius / XM charges. XM listeners will also appreciate that there are no annoying DJ’s that Sirius introduced after the merger. In addition to commercial-free music, the premium version will allow you to skip an unlimited number of songs while the free version limits you to six song skips an hour. This is something you can not do with XM unless you have one of their ultra expensive MP3/satellite radio combination devices.

Music streaming was practically flawless over an EVDO connection. iPOD 3G owners should experience the same type of performance. Slacker also offers another ingenious feature, a cached mode that downloads a station to your device during synchronization. This allows you to listen to slacker radio while in an area of low coverage or if you would like to minimize your battery drain. (I have not been able to get this feature to work on my Storm but I have not looked into why…)

Since many cars now have Auxiliary ports for MP3 players, it is easy to connect a Blackberry to get commercial free music. This is why I think Sirius XM should be worried. I got hooked on XM after purchasing a new car, but now having Internet Radio delivered to my PDA will supplant the need for satellite radio, at least in populated areas with good cell coverage. One major drawback to Slacker that hits all mobile phone applications is that the more multipurpose the device becomes, it can be difficult to use it for multiple tasks at once. (e.g., navigation and playing music) but this is a small price to pay.

If you don’t own a smart phone that supports Slacker or don’t want to tie up your phone, you can purchase a specialized MP3 player from Slacker.com called the G2. This device downloads radio stations with models that will hold up to 4000 songs with all the album art, artist bios and other information that you get off the wireless client or browser versions.

Tags:blackberry, internet radio, iphone, pda, satellite radio, sirrius, slacker, slacker.com, storm, symbian, verizonwireless, XM
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The Blackberry Storm – First Thoughts

February 11, 2009

I recently purchased a Blackberry Storm from Verizon Wireless. This is the touch screen version of the popular Blackberry personal digital assistant (PDA). I was reluctant to purchase and was leaning towards an iPhone because of all of the negative reviews. A friend convinced me to give the Storm a try.

It takes a bit to get used to the Storm’s tactile response touch screen. When you press a key or a button on the screen, the screen actually moves back about 1/8th of an inch to provide you with the feeling of pressing a regular key. Key size can be a little challenging if, like me, you have large fingers. When held in portrait mode, the keyboard is similar to the Blackberry Pearl and i7100 where each key hosts two letters. Intelligent guessing by the software similar to iTAP changes the letters to fit the word the device thinks you are typing. I used to own both a Pearl and an i7100 so this mode was easy for me to use.

When you turn the phone sideways, however, a full QWERTY keyboard is displayed with each key having one letter. I found it more comfortable to hold the phone in this direction, but with the keys being so small, the device frequently reported me pressing the wrong key. Typically this was corrected by software that guesses what you are trying to type, but this isn’t always the case. Selecting items on the screen can also be challenging as the phone can not always distinguish correctly if you are trying to scroll or select a link.

Blackberry has always stood out when using the Blackberry Enterprise Server (BES). Since I am using gmail and another email account that are not connected to a BES, I’m interested at how wireless synchronization of email will work. More on that in a future post.

Tags:blackberry, mobile email, pda, storm, verizon, verizonwireless
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Wireless Stuff By Joe Walsh