BlackBerry in the enterprise: is it just a matter of time?

So what's the deal with BlackBerry? An interesting study from the Enterprise Management Associates found that 52 percent of enterprise organizations with more than 10,000 employees deploy BlackBerries as their primary device, compared to 20 and 17 percent for Android and Apple devices, respectively.

52 percent is not that bad, isn't it? Does it mean RIM is still doing well? Nope.

I think there are two huge risks here:

1. Smaller companies are witnessing a major shift towards Android (43%) and iOS (27%). This is a serious threat for RIM
2. The downfall of BlackBerry in the consumer world plus the BYOD trend are a terrible sign for RIM: people will continue to walk away from RIM and enterprise companies will soon follow the trend.

Back in May, I wrote about how RIM's BlackBerry is following the footsteps of PalmOne and Windows Mobile straight into the oblivion:

"Another sleeping beauty, a company that could be considered as the one who invented the modern smartphone, Research In Motion, is slowly waking up to realize that the BlackBerry OS is dying just like Palm and Windows Mobile did few years ago." 

(Read the rest of the article in here: PalmOne, Windows Mobile, Now BlackBerry OS?)

RIM is working hard to migrate to a newer OS called QNX, already included in the PlayBook, but it seems like it takes forever and meantime the company is looking momentum much faster than anyone could expected.

Here's another interesting chart: Mobile Platforms Adaptation by Industry Type:

Read more in the full study in here: Enterprise Mobile Device Management: How Smartphones and Tablets are Changing Workforce IT Requirements.

5 comments | Read more...

So what's the deal with BlackBerry? An interesting study from the Enterprise Management Associates found that 52 percent of enterprise organizations with more than 10,000 employees deploy BlackBerries as their primary device, compared to 20 and 17 percent for Android and Apple devices, respectively.

52 percent is not that bad, isn't it? Does it mean RIM is still doing well? Nope.

I think there are two huge risks here:

1. Smaller companies are witnessing a major shift towards Android (43%) and iOS (27%). This is a serious threat for RIM
2. The downfall of BlackBerry in the consumer world plus the BYOD trend are a terrible sign for RIM: people will continue to walk away from RIM and enterprise companies will soon follow the trend.

Back in May, I wrote about how RIM's BlackBerry is following the footsteps of PalmOne and Windows Mobile straight into the oblivion:

"Another sleeping beauty, a company that could be considered as the one who invented the modern smartphone, Research In Motion, is slowly waking up to realize that the BlackBerry OS is dying just like Palm and Windows Mobile did few years ago." 

(Read the rest of the article in here: PalmOne, Windows Mobile, Now BlackBerry OS?)

RIM is working hard to migrate to a newer OS called QNX, already included in the PlayBook, but it seems like it takes forever and meantime the company is looking momentum much faster than anyone could expected.

Here's another interesting chart: Mobile Platforms Adaptation by Industry Type:

Read more in the full study in here: Enterprise Mobile Device Management: How Smartphones and Tablets are Changing Workforce IT Requirements.

2 Webinars About Successful Enterprise Mobility Implementations

This Wednesday and Thursday I will be giving a webinar about how to succeed in enterprise mobility projects (and how to avoid common mistakes…).

I would like to invite you all to subscribed to the webinar using the links below – it's free and it's going to be a lot of fun.

Here are some more details:

Invitation: The Most Exhaustive, Comprehensive, Essential, All-Embracing List of Tips for a Successful Mobile Enterprise Project (Webinar)

Are you just about to begin a mobile project? Are you looking to mobilize a new business unit or a business process? Are you thinking of replacing your smartphones?

Good for you!

Mobile projects are fun. They are simple. They rarely go wrong.
It's like they lack a real challenge.
They are practically being managed on their own!

But just in case something might go wrong (it won't, but just in case), I would like to invite you to join a practical webinar I will be giving, focusing on enterprise mobility tips, based on my experience over the past 6-7 years in which I've been been developing mobile products, and have been involved in a number of mobile projects all over the globe, most of them pretty challenging (as most mobile projects typically end up being).

Join me, it will really make me pleased.

Register Now (It's Free Of Course)!

The list of tips is pretty long, so bring a pen, or an iPad, or even better, a Kindle fire. But be ready for over 50 tips including some real-life examples: difficulties in choosing a proper device, avoiding overloading of data, involving the right people, at the right time, choosing the right technology and the right vendor, and of course, tips about how to manage the mobile project, the technical challenges, and many more.

UPDATE: Notice that we now have 2 sessions in different dates:

Time: 10:00 am GMT
Date: November 30, 2011 (Register)

Time: 1 :00 pm EST/10:00 am PST
Date: December 1st, 2011 (Register)

Register Now (It's Free Of Course)!

4 comments | Read more...

This Wednesday and Thursday I will be giving a webinar about how to succeed in enterprise mobility projects (and how to avoid common mistakes…).

I would like to invite you all to subscribed to the webinar using the links below – it's free and it's going to be a lot of fun.

Here are some more details:

Invitation: The Most Exhaustive, Comprehensive, Essential, All-Embracing List of Tips for a Successful Mobile Enterprise Project (Webinar)

Are you just about to begin a mobile project? Are you looking to mobilize a new business unit or a business process? Are you thinking of replacing your smartphones?

Good for you!

Mobile projects are fun. They are simple. They rarely go wrong.
It's like they lack a real challenge.
They are practically being managed on their own!

But just in case something might go wrong (it won't, but just in case), I would like to invite you to join a practical webinar I will be giving, focusing on enterprise mobility tips, based on my experience over the past 6-7 years in which I've been been developing mobile products, and have been involved in a number of mobile projects all over the globe, most of them pretty challenging (as most mobile projects typically end up being).

Join me, it will really make me pleased.

Register Now (It's Free Of Course)!

The list of tips is pretty long, so bring a pen, or an iPad, or even better, a Kindle fire. But be ready for over 50 tips including some real-life examples: difficulties in choosing a proper device, avoiding overloading of data, involving the right people, at the right time, choosing the right technology and the right vendor, and of course, tips about how to manage the mobile project, the technical challenges, and many more.

UPDATE: Notice that we now have 2 sessions in different dates:

Time: 10:00 am GMT
Date: November 30, 2011 (Register)

Time: 1 :00 pm EST/10:00 am PST
Date: December 1st, 2011 (Register)

Register Now (It's Free Of Course)!

3 Years old, friendly and smart, webOS is looking for a home.

Well well well, look who finished second in the tablets quarterly contest: it's HP's TouchPad! Wooooooooo!!! The abandoned tablet, has made it to the top, second only to Apple's iPad!

Does it mean Palm's poor exhausted employees still have some hope? Don't think so. According to the rumors IBM, Oracle, Intel and RIM are showing some interests in webOS and HP might eventually be selling this sweet little platform almost all of us mobile fans have learned to like (but not to waste money on, of course…).

Think about those employees over at the Palm offices, what kind of messages they have been receiving in the last few years? Here's my version:

• "We are no longer a significant player in the mobile market, but we have plans…"
• "We will work hard to release something completely new. We will call it… webOS! This is our maser plan!"
• "OK, we actually ran out of money, we need to sell the company… but don't you worry, we have plans…"
• "We are saved! No, it's not Microsoft… no, not Google, you know they have Android already… no, RIM already got QTX, well? anyone? care to guess???"
• "OK people, no one guessed it, it's HP, oh no no no, don't cry! it's a good thing!"
• "Team, we have some bad news… webOS is not doing very well…" we need to come up with a plan…
• "Team, check out the TouchPad! This will be a hit; it will cost more than iPad and will soon bypass it in sales!"
• "Team, they are shutting us down… but don't worry you guys, we have plans…"
• "No they will not renew the TouchPad. They are still shutting us down…"
• "Team, we may have found a way to save webOS! Here's the plan…"

---

No doubt HP TouchPad is already a legend (and because of the wrong reasons), but it's only one out of a few leading tablet models that are generating $415 million in retail sales in the US (Q3).

Wow, $415 million! Impressive, isn't it? Well, depends if you compare it to the poor netbooks sales which are constantly decreasing, or to the King: the iPad, a tablet that generated $6.9 billion in a similar period of time.

The iPad numbers are making all the others look like a joke, but I insist: By mid 2012, Android will lead tablets market (while webOS will probably still be looking for a home…)

3 comments | Read more...

Well well well, look who finished second in the tablets quarterly contest: it's HP's TouchPad! Wooooooooo!!! The abandoned tablet, has made it to the top, second only to Apple's iPad!

Does it mean Palm's poor exhausted employees still have some hope? Don't think so. According to the rumors IBM, Oracle, Intel and RIM are showing some interests in webOS and HP might eventually be selling this sweet little platform almost all of us mobile fans have learned to like (but not to waste money on, of course…).

Think about those employees over at the Palm offices, what kind of messages they have been receiving in the last few years? Here's my version:

• "We are no longer a significant player in the mobile market, but we have plans…"
• "We will work hard to release something completely new. We will call it… webOS! This is our maser plan!"
• "OK, we actually ran out of money, we need to sell the company… but don't you worry, we have plans…"
• "We are saved! No, it's not Microsoft… no, not Google, you know they have Android already… no, RIM already got QTX, well? anyone? care to guess???"
• "OK people, no one guessed it, it's HP, oh no no no, don't cry! it's a good thing!"
• "Team, we have some bad news… webOS is not doing very well…" we need to come up with a plan…
• "Team, check out the TouchPad! This will be a hit; it will cost more than iPad and will soon bypass it in sales!"
• "Team, they are shutting us down… but don't worry you guys, we have plans…"
• "No they will not renew the TouchPad. They are still shutting us down…"
• "Team, we may have found a way to save webOS! Here's the plan…"

---

No doubt HP TouchPad is already a legend (and because of the wrong reasons), but it's only one out of a few leading tablet models that are generating $415 million in retail sales in the US (Q3).

Wow, $415 million! Impressive, isn't it? Well, depends if you compare it to the poor netbooks sales which are constantly decreasing, or to the King: the iPad, a tablet that generated $6.9 billion in a similar period of time.

The iPad numbers are making all the others look like a joke, but I insist: By mid 2012, Android will lead tablets market (while webOS will probably still be looking for a home…)

What is wrong with HTC?

Some people are buying HTC smartphones just for the Sense UI and the improved experience it brings to Android devices. The Sense started years ago as TouchFlo, and evolved, along with Android, to be called Sense UI.

Besides the Sense UI, HTC still has a lot to offer, good designs, nice hardware, yet it seems like the company that started as a manufacturer of Palm, HP and Sony Ericsson smartphones (the Palm Treo 650 and the iPAQ were created by HTC), evolved into the Windows Mobile world, and then started to shine with its' own brand leading the Android industry, is kind of stuck.

I just finished reading a well written opinion by GigaOM's Kevin C. Tofel writing about HTC's start continues to fall, and here's something I couldn't agree more with:

"While HTC does build great hardware, most handsets are subtle variations on a theme. Instead of making a great flagship phone every six to 12 months — a strategy that works well for both Apple and Samsung — HTC is continuously churning out bland designs that vary little from phones just a month prior. Doing so waters down the brand; something Nokia may have faced with the dozens of Symbian handsets it used to offer."

So while Apple is going what it knows best, Samsung is reacting with some gigantic models and a strong brand (Galaxy), Motorola is pushing the Droid, HTC seems to be stuck with… well, endless models, too short lifecycle, a lack of one famous model people will speak about, and… Sense UI. Sense UI, with all the respect I have for usability, is nothing more than a features rich homescreen replacement, like many others in Android Market.

HTC is still playing in the Windows Phone 7 market, but this platform is not yet generating serious revenues comparing to Android (Here's why). HTC recently purchased Dr. DRE's Beats company and embedded the Beats technology in some of the new devices, but that didn't seem to impress anyone either…

Now that momentum is becoming negative and the stock is going down, HTC, the world's fourth-biggest smartphone brand, will have to come up with a solution, and fast. Unlike RIM, or HP, I actually think we are about to see some new innovations from HTC real soon.

3 comments | Read more...

Some people are buying HTC smartphones just for the Sense UI and the improved experience it brings to Android devices. The Sense started years ago as TouchFlo, and evolved, along with Android, to be called Sense UI.

Besides the Sense UI, HTC still has a lot to offer, good designs, nice hardware, yet it seems like the company that started as a manufacturer of Palm, HP and Sony Ericsson smartphones (the Palm Treo 650 and the iPAQ were created by HTC), evolved into the Windows Mobile world, and then started to shine with its' own brand leading the Android industry, is kind of stuck.

I just finished reading a well written opinion by GigaOM's Kevin C. Tofel writing about HTC's start continues to fall, and here's something I couldn't agree more with:

"While HTC does build great hardware, most handsets are subtle variations on a theme. Instead of making a great flagship phone every six to 12 months — a strategy that works well for both Apple and Samsung — HTC is continuously churning out bland designs that vary little from phones just a month prior. Doing so waters down the brand; something Nokia may have faced with the dozens of Symbian handsets it used to offer."

So while Apple is going what it knows best, Samsung is reacting with some gigantic models and a strong brand (Galaxy), Motorola is pushing the Droid, HTC seems to be stuck with… well, endless models, too short lifecycle, a lack of one famous model people will speak about, and… Sense UI. Sense UI, with all the respect I have for usability, is nothing more than a features rich homescreen replacement, like many others in Android Market.

HTC is still playing in the Windows Phone 7 market, but this platform is not yet generating serious revenues comparing to Android (Here's why). HTC recently purchased Dr. DRE's Beats company and embedded the Beats technology in some of the new devices, but that didn't seem to impress anyone either…

Now that momentum is becoming negative and the stock is going down, HTC, the world's fourth-biggest smartphone brand, will have to come up with a solution, and fast. Unlike RIM, or HP, I actually think we are about to see some new innovations from HTC real soon.

Samsung's latest Galaxy S2 ad. I kind of like it actually…

Some would say it's too direct, others will find it a bit offensive.

I just think it's a nice ad, but I still think the S2 is a goofy tamagotchi…

Take a look at Samsung's latest Galaxy S2 ad:

What do you think?

6 comments | Read more...

Some would say it's too direct, others will find it a bit offensive.

I just think it's a nice ad, but I still think the S2 is a goofy tamagotchi…

Take a look at Samsung's latest Galaxy S2 ad:

What do you think?

Android is under attack! Malware up 500%. Norton to the rescue?

Android is under attack

Well, at least according to Juniper Networks, the number of malware apps has grown to be 5 times bigger than just 3-4 months ago.

"We're seeing a mix of the traditional hacking community working on malware very similar to organized efforts on the PC side, as well as people who are just a little smart, the '15-year-old kid crowd,' who are able to hide some malicious content in an app," said Dan Hoffman, Juniper's chief mobile security analyst.

Android is actually the only mobile platform today (counting only the big ones of course) that lets you download and install just about anything you want. Pirate stuff, porn, free music, and of course… malicious apps. Google doesn't control what apps are being installed, and it even allows almost anything to be placed in the Android Market (including low quality apps, skins, themes, and ringtones). That makes it hard to protect the users.

You can read more about it in Juniper's Global Threat Center Blog.

Is Google in trouble?

As many will expect, this problematic situation might push enterprise companies away from taking the (attractive looking) Android path. Apple's safe AppStore and Microsoft's protected MarketPlace both seem like much safer alternatives.

Norton to the rescue

Google seems to be in troubles in this area, but as Albert Einstein once said: "In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity" (I bet you didn't think I knew that one didn't you…), and Norton is definitely going to turn this situation into an opportunity.

According to ZDNet, Norton has recently announced the availability of Norton Tablet Security and new updates for Norton Mobile Security, the latter of which includes a new “scream” feature designed to help mobile owners find a lost or stolen device quickly.

The security software is able to remotely locate, lock and wipe a device via SMS commands as well as detecting malware and destroy it. The Norton software scans every app and every app update done in the mobile device, and looks for threats.

It also allows a "sneak peak" feature that uses the front-facing camera to snap a photo and uploads the picture to the anti-theft portal in case of a stolen device (I wrote about a similar case with an iPhone few days ago: How iPhone and facebook can deal with scumbags).

You can read more about it in ZDNet.

 

If you like this post, subscribe to our RSS Feed.

6 comments | Read more...

Android is under attack

Well, at least according to Juniper Networks, the number of malware apps has grown to be 5 times bigger than just 3-4 months ago.

"We're seeing a mix of the traditional hacking community working on malware very similar to organized efforts on the PC side, as well as people who are just a little smart, the '15-year-old kid crowd,' who are able to hide some malicious content in an app," said Dan Hoffman, Juniper's chief mobile security analyst.

Android is actually the only mobile platform today (counting only the big ones of course) that lets you download and install just about anything you want. Pirate stuff, porn, free music, and of course… malicious apps. Google doesn't control what apps are being installed, and it even allows almost anything to be placed in the Android Market (including low quality apps, skins, themes, and ringtones). That makes it hard to protect the users.

You can read more about it in Juniper's Global Threat Center Blog.

Is Google in trouble?

As many will expect, this problematic situation might push enterprise companies away from taking the (attractive looking) Android path. Apple's safe AppStore and Microsoft's protected MarketPlace both seem like much safer alternatives.

Norton to the rescue

Google seems to be in troubles in this area, but as Albert Einstein once said: "In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity" (I bet you didn't think I knew that one didn't you…), and Norton is definitely going to turn this situation into an opportunity.

According to ZDNet, Norton has recently announced the availability of Norton Tablet Security and new updates for Norton Mobile Security, the latter of which includes a new “scream” feature designed to help mobile owners find a lost or stolen device quickly.

The security software is able to remotely locate, lock and wipe a device via SMS commands as well as detecting malware and destroy it. The Norton software scans every app and every app update done in the mobile device, and looks for threats.

It also allows a "sneak peak" feature that uses the front-facing camera to snap a photo and uploads the picture to the anti-theft portal in case of a stolen device (I wrote about a similar case with an iPhone few days ago: How iPhone and facebook can deal with scumbags).

You can read more about it in ZDNet.

 

If you like this post, subscribe to our RSS Feed.

The Mother Of All Comparisons: iOS 5 VS. Windows Phone 7 Mango (Part #1)

I've been struggling to decide whether to stick with my 1 year old Windows Phone 7 smartphone (Samsung Omnia 7) or get myself a bran-new iPhone 4S. One is the emerging force (in potential at least) in mobility, the other is becoming the mature one in the group.

Since I'm not a huge fan of the iPhone 4/4S hardware design, and find my Omnia hardware design to be boring and even annoying (mainly due to the old looking back cover), I decided that the hardware design will not be a parameter in my decision.

That leaves me with some hardware related features such as camera, and buttons, but mainly leaves the battle in the operating system field.

So as time moves by and I still can't make a decision – I decided to create the mother of all comparisons: iOS 5 VS. Windows Phone 7 (Mango).

Since there are practically endless areas to compare, I will split this MOAC into several, relatively short, blog posts, aiming to cover all aspects in the OS side.

So without further ado - let's begin!

The Mother Of All Comparisons: iOS 5 VS. Windows Phone 7 (Mango)

Lock Screen:

Lock screen is one of the most important productivity features in a smartphone. A good lock-screen will give you enough information in a single snapshot. Apple's iOS used to really suck in this area, inviting jailbreak apps like LockInfo and others to complete the job. Without those hacks, you would end up having an empty lock-screen with nothing but a background image and possibly some nasty popups from the 90's.

Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 was refreshing and even stunning: the upper area is reserved for ongoing alerts and notifications, the lower area shows the current time, the next meeting (even if it's tomorrow morning – which is great), iconic indication of missed calls, new emails, SMS, etc. A glimpse at it will hint if you need to unlock the phone or not. You could also change the volume and trigger the camera without unlocking the phone – those are great features.

Half a year ago, WP7 would have easily won the lock-screen category.

Unfortunately for Microsoft, Apple released iOS5, which was clearly focused on closing last remaining gaps with the competitors (see related article: iOS5 – A Lame Catch-Up Or A Final Blow To Competition?). The new iOS5 lock-screen not only give you a better indication of what's going on – it's active, you can unlock your phone to go directly to the active area (emails, calendar, missed calls, SMS (which, by the way, is another copy Apple did in iOS5, this time copying Windows Mobile's 6.5 lock-screen). Mango, by the way, did not add anything special to the Windows Phone 7 lock-screen, which is a shame, because I would be happy to see my what'sApp messages count or other custom icons.

I still prefer the look and feel of Windows Phone 7 when it comes to the lock screen, the next meeting is still great and is not included in iOS5. I even prefer unlocking my phone going upward than sliding my finger to the right, but the truth is that iPhone now kills WP7 in the lock-screen functionality due to the fact it is active, you can read stuff, scroll, or jump straight into the relevant app.

Lock-Screen category: iPhone wins.

---

Virtual Keyboard:

Apple invented the virtual keyboard: optimal layout, unbelievable accuracy, long press, brilliant auto-correct, genius magnifying glass, and much more. I used to think a physical keyboard is an advantage when it comes to productivity needs, but it's not. switching back and forth from different BlackBerry devices to iPhones, Android smartphones and Windows Phones I promise you: once you get used to it, you will type much faster with your virtual keyboard, and it's all thanks Apple.

Unfortunately, looking at the progress made in the keyboard area since iOS 2 you will notice very little has changed. The magnifying glass is still somewhat inaccurate, you still get some nasty auto-correct proposals that can sometimes change the entire meaning of the sentence (Happy Barfday???), and you don't have an option to pick the right word out of a list.

Apple's iOS is getting old. The keyboard is a perfect example, but there are plenty of others.

The Windows Phone keyboard, on the other hand, is a master piece. It's probably the best virtual keyboard implementation ever made for mobile.

1. The layout is perfect. It includes a period and a comma – both critical for heavy typing.
2. The accuracy is amazing, although I suspect iPhone is a bit better in this category. There are some fluffs here and there, and you feel it best when auto-correction is turned off (when entering user names, passwords, looking for contacts, etc.).
3. The auto correct functionality is perfect: you get the main proposal in bold, the rest are presented in the same line and can be easily be scrolled or selected. You can easily add new words while typing – perfect.
4. The sound of the keys is one of the most addictive things I've encountered in a smartphone. It makes both iOS and Android seems like a lame typewriters from the 70's. No seriously, you probably ask yourself: "Sound? for a keyboard? how important is that?". Well, it is. Try Windows Phone and you will understand.
5. The text focus and selection features are an obvious copy of Apple's original design, but they work better. It's another example how Windows Phone 7 was designed: taking the best out of both iOS and Android.
6. Copy/paste is not the fanciest feature, but it's easier to use than in the iPhone
7. Speed. To me, comparing my typing speed between an iPhone and a Windows Phone leads to a conclusion that Windows Phone enables faster typing. It's probably subjective, but still. 

 

So now that I've mentioned at least 5 clear keyboard advantages WP7, it's obvious that Windows Phone 7 wins in a knock out in the category of typing and keyboard experience.

Keyboard & Typing Experience: Windows Phone 7 wins in a knock out.

---

So there you have it. The first part of the mother of all comparisons: Apple iOS 5 vs. Windows Phone 7. Here are the results so far:

 

Category	iPhone (iOS 5)	Windows Phone (Mango)	Comments
Lock-Screen	V		iOS Lock-screen gives you full indication plus allows quick jumping straight to where the action is.
Keyboard & Typing Experience		V	WP7 keyboard has better layout, impressive auto-correction, addictive sound, and better typing experience

7 comments | Read more...

I've been struggling to decide whether to stick with my 1 year old Windows Phone 7 smartphone (Samsung Omnia 7) or get myself a bran-new iPhone 4S. One is the emerging force (in potential at least) in mobility, the other is becoming the mature one in the group.

Since I'm not a huge fan of the iPhone 4/4S hardware design, and find my Omnia hardware design to be boring and even annoying (mainly due to the old looking back cover), I decided that the hardware design will not be a parameter in my decision.

That leaves me with some hardware related features such as camera, and buttons, but mainly leaves the battle in the operating system field.

So as time moves by and I still can't make a decision – I decided to create the mother of all comparisons: iOS 5 VS. Windows Phone 7 (Mango).

Since there are practically endless areas to compare, I will split this MOAC into several, relatively short, blog posts, aiming to cover all aspects in the OS side.

So without further ado - let's begin!

The Mother Of All Comparisons: iOS 5 VS. Windows Phone 7 (Mango)

Lock Screen:

Lock screen is one of the most important productivity features in a smartphone. A good lock-screen will give you enough information in a single snapshot. Apple's iOS used to really suck in this area, inviting jailbreak apps like LockInfo and others to complete the job. Without those hacks, you would end up having an empty lock-screen with nothing but a background image and possibly some nasty popups from the 90's.

Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 was refreshing and even stunning: the upper area is reserved for ongoing alerts and notifications, the lower area shows the current time, the next meeting (even if it's tomorrow morning – which is great), iconic indication of missed calls, new emails, SMS, etc. A glimpse at it will hint if you need to unlock the phone or not. You could also change the volume and trigger the camera without unlocking the phone – those are great features.

Half a year ago, WP7 would have easily won the lock-screen category.

Unfortunately for Microsoft, Apple released iOS5, which was clearly focused on closing last remaining gaps with the competitors (see related article: iOS5 – A Lame Catch-Up Or A Final Blow To Competition?). The new iOS5 lock-screen not only give you a better indication of what's going on – it's active, you can unlock your phone to go directly to the active area (emails, calendar, missed calls, SMS (which, by the way, is another copy Apple did in iOS5, this time copying Windows Mobile's 6.5 lock-screen). Mango, by the way, did not add anything special to the Windows Phone 7 lock-screen, which is a shame, because I would be happy to see my what'sApp messages count or other custom icons.

I still prefer the look and feel of Windows Phone 7 when it comes to the lock screen, the next meeting is still great and is not included in iOS5. I even prefer unlocking my phone going upward than sliding my finger to the right, but the truth is that iPhone now kills WP7 in the lock-screen functionality due to the fact it is active, you can read stuff, scroll, or jump straight into the relevant app.

Lock-Screen category: iPhone wins.

---

Virtual Keyboard:

Apple invented the virtual keyboard: optimal layout, unbelievable accuracy, long press, brilliant auto-correct, genius magnifying glass, and much more. I used to think a physical keyboard is an advantage when it comes to productivity needs, but it's not. switching back and forth from different BlackBerry devices to iPhones, Android smartphones and Windows Phones I promise you: once you get used to it, you will type much faster with your virtual keyboard, and it's all thanks Apple.

Unfortunately, looking at the progress made in the keyboard area since iOS 2 you will notice very little has changed. The magnifying glass is still somewhat inaccurate, you still get some nasty auto-correct proposals that can sometimes change the entire meaning of the sentence (Happy Barfday???), and you don't have an option to pick the right word out of a list.

Apple's iOS is getting old. The keyboard is a perfect example, but there are plenty of others.

The Windows Phone keyboard, on the other hand, is a master piece. It's probably the best virtual keyboard implementation ever made for mobile.

1. The layout is perfect. It includes a period and a comma – both critical for heavy typing.
2. The accuracy is amazing, although I suspect iPhone is a bit better in this category. There are some fluffs here and there, and you feel it best when auto-correction is turned off (when entering user names, passwords, looking for contacts, etc.).
3. The auto correct functionality is perfect: you get the main proposal in bold, the rest are presented in the same line and can be easily be scrolled or selected. You can easily add new words while typing – perfect.
4. The sound of the keys is one of the most addictive things I've encountered in a smartphone. It makes both iOS and Android seems like a lame typewriters from the 70's. No seriously, you probably ask yourself: "Sound? for a keyboard? how important is that?". Well, it is. Try Windows Phone and you will understand.
5. The text focus and selection features are an obvious copy of Apple's original design, but they work better. It's another example how Windows Phone 7 was designed: taking the best out of both iOS and Android.
6. Copy/paste is not the fanciest feature, but it's easier to use than in the iPhone
7. Speed. To me, comparing my typing speed between an iPhone and a Windows Phone leads to a conclusion that Windows Phone enables faster typing. It's probably subjective, but still. 

 

So now that I've mentioned at least 5 clear keyboard advantages WP7, it's obvious that Windows Phone 7 wins in a knock out in the category of typing and keyboard experience.

Keyboard & Typing Experience: Windows Phone 7 wins in a knock out.

---

So there you have it. The first part of the mother of all comparisons: Apple iOS 5 vs. Windows Phone 7. Here are the results so far:

 

Category	iPhone (iOS 5)	Windows Phone (Mango)	Comments
Lock-Screen	V		iOS Lock-screen gives you full indication plus allows quick jumping straight to where the action is.
Keyboard & Typing Experience		V	WP7 keyboard has better layout, impressive auto-correction, addictive sound, and better typing experience

A glimpse at the future – productivity, mobility, and a lot of Metro UI

Microsoft has been producing a lot of these futuristic videos this year, this one is a bit long, and I mostly liked the first part of it, showing airplane signs and digital cards – all in a Metro Style UI (you all know I like Metro, right?).

It's kind of cool to see that some of the UI elements in this video actually exist on my Windows Phone 7 smartphone, the layout, the fonts, the time picker – are all already there. I'm just hoping that the future of WP7 will be as bright and sexy as some of the stuff in this video (at the moment I barely get to see WP7 apps that look anything like the stuff below…).

Enjoy the video:

4 comments | Read more...

Microsoft has been producing a lot of these futuristic videos this year, this one is a bit long, and I mostly liked the first part of it, showing airplane signs and digital cards – all in a Metro Style UI (you all know I like Metro, right?).

It's kind of cool to see that some of the UI elements in this video actually exist on my Windows Phone 7 smartphone, the layout, the fonts, the time picker – are all already there. I'm just hoping that the future of WP7 will be as bright and sexy as some of the stuff in this video (at the moment I barely get to see WP7 apps that look anything like the stuff below…).

Enjoy the video:

Blogger App for iPhone. Easy blogging straight from your smartphone

Blogger app for iPhone lets you post directly from you smartphone.

The app looks great. It's simple and it does exactly what it is supposed to do.
You can edit existing articles, add new and embed images (although they always come at the end).
It also has an option to include the relevant labels.
Perfect for simple updates.
Oh, and it's free, and we all like FREE apps.

I'm actually writing this post from the iPhone Blogger app. Let's add some images and see how it comes up.

6 comments | Read more... Blogger app for iPhone lets you post directly from you smartphone.

The app looks great. It's simple and it does exactly what it is supposed to do.
You can edit existing articles, add new and embed images (although they always come at the end).
It also has an option to include the relevant labels.
Perfect for simple updates.
Oh, and it's free, and we all like FREE apps.

I'm actually writing this post from the iPhone Blogger app. Let's add some images and see how it comes up.

Mobile Legends – Motorola Razr

Here, at the mobile spoon, we respect technology but also history. Getting back to the classics is something we do from time to time with our brief "mobile legends" breaks:

• Mobile Legends: Palm Treo 750
• Back to the past: HTC Touch shipments hit the million mark in five months (Mobile Legends)
• The rise and fall of HP and Palm: Back to the past (year 2002)

Of course, we don't take anything for granted. We investigate. We dig. If digging doesn't help, we dig deeper. We do not stop. It might get dirty, but that's OK, we don't mind the dirt.
Our goal is to bring mobile technologies to the common people.

Speaking of technology, history, and useless paragraphs with no real value, here's a nice one:

 

Motorola recently announced the new Droid Razr which is intended to give some respect to the iconic model from 2004 and at the same time try to give some prestige to this new Droid model. The original Motorola Razr was an expensive cellphone, kind of a luxury one that could easily draw attention due to the thin-sleek design.

Here's what Mobile Gazette had to say about Motorola Razr back in July, 2004:

"At only 13.9 mm thick, the Motorola RAZR V3 is certainly a slimline phone, but unlike many compact handsets, the RAZR V3 certainly doesn't skimp on features in any way.

The feature set on the V3 is impressive, but the first thing most people will notice is the looks. The Motorola V3 is clad in aluminum, which is strong and lightweight, and the antenna has been tucked away internally. The keypad is impressive - its been chemically etched for maximum precision - and Motorola have added "cool blue" electroluminescent backlighting. The size overall is 13.9x55x98mm and weight is 95 grams.

As we said - a lot of compact phones skimp on features, but the RAZR V3 comes with a 176x220 pixel internal screen in 65,000 colors plus an external 96x80 4096 color unit. There's a built in camera, although VGA resolution only and even Bluetooth. Like most high-end Motorolas, this is a quad band GSM phone supporting GPRS."

Impressive stuff no doubt. And only $500 with a contract!? It's almost for free! can I get 5 pieces please?

Here's another historical article (in case you are really bored): The RAZR arrives at Cingular.

---

Cool. I really miss those days when… well… actually I'm lying.
I don't miss those days at all! Those were horrible days.

Anyways, Motorola tried to repeat the success of the original Razr with some successor models, but none of them managed to repeat the success of the original Razr which was innovative that time.

   

---

Motorola Droid Razr:

These days, Motorola shows off its' new Droid Razr, the next generation of the popular model, which seems to be promising, at least in terms of specs and design:

Dual core, 4G LTE (the thinnest one so far), Super AMOLED screen, 8MP camera, and other goodies which I'm sure will look very funny in 10 years from now when a new site (possibly called "the mobile fork") will review what technology we used to have…

The Droid Razr looks good, I must say, although I'm not sure it reminds me of the original models that much and it may fail to fight with the big players coming from Samsung and HTC.

It's nice to remember good old classic smartphones, and get familiar with the new Motorola Droid. After all, Motorola did have a key role in bringing Android to the mainstream (remember the first Droid?).

4 comments | Read more...

Here, at the mobile spoon, we respect technology but also history. Getting back to the classics is something we do from time to time with our brief "mobile legends" breaks:

• Mobile Legends: Palm Treo 750
• Back to the past: HTC Touch shipments hit the million mark in five months (Mobile Legends)
• The rise and fall of HP and Palm: Back to the past (year 2002)

Of course, we don't take anything for granted. We investigate. We dig. If digging doesn't help, we dig deeper. We do not stop. It might get dirty, but that's OK, we don't mind the dirt.
Our goal is to bring mobile technologies to the common people.

Speaking of technology, history, and useless paragraphs with no real value, here's a nice one:

 

Motorola recently announced the new Droid Razr which is intended to give some respect to the iconic model from 2004 and at the same time try to give some prestige to this new Droid model. The original Motorola Razr was an expensive cellphone, kind of a luxury one that could easily draw attention due to the thin-sleek design.

Here's what Mobile Gazette had to say about Motorola Razr back in July, 2004:

"At only 13.9 mm thick, the Motorola RAZR V3 is certainly a slimline phone, but unlike many compact handsets, the RAZR V3 certainly doesn't skimp on features in any way.

The feature set on the V3 is impressive, but the first thing most people will notice is the looks. The Motorola V3 is clad in aluminum, which is strong and lightweight, and the antenna has been tucked away internally. The keypad is impressive - its been chemically etched for maximum precision - and Motorola have added "cool blue" electroluminescent backlighting. The size overall is 13.9x55x98mm and weight is 95 grams.

As we said - a lot of compact phones skimp on features, but the RAZR V3 comes with a 176x220 pixel internal screen in 65,000 colors plus an external 96x80 4096 color unit. There's a built in camera, although VGA resolution only and even Bluetooth. Like most high-end Motorolas, this is a quad band GSM phone supporting GPRS."

Impressive stuff no doubt. And only $500 with a contract!? It's almost for free! can I get 5 pieces please?

Here's another historical article (in case you are really bored): The RAZR arrives at Cingular.

---

Cool. I really miss those days when… well… actually I'm lying.
I don't miss those days at all! Those were horrible days.

Anyways, Motorola tried to repeat the success of the original Razr with some successor models, but none of them managed to repeat the success of the original Razr which was innovative that time.

   

---

Motorola Droid Razr:

These days, Motorola shows off its' new Droid Razr, the next generation of the popular model, which seems to be promising, at least in terms of specs and design:

Dual core, 4G LTE (the thinnest one so far), Super AMOLED screen, 8MP camera, and other goodies which I'm sure will look very funny in 10 years from now when a new site (possibly called "the mobile fork") will review what technology we used to have…

The Droid Razr looks good, I must say, although I'm not sure it reminds me of the original models that much and it may fail to fight with the big players coming from Samsung and HTC.

It's nice to remember good old classic smartphones, and get familiar with the new Motorola Droid. After all, Motorola did have a key role in bringing Android to the mainstream (remember the first Droid?).

Invitation: The Most Exhaustive, Comprehensive, Essential, All-Embracing List of Tips for a Successful Mobile Enterprise Project (Webinar)

Are you just about to begin a mobile project? Are you looking to mobilize a new business unit or a business process? Are you thinking of replacing your smartphones?

Good for you!

Mobile projects are fun. They are simple. They rarely go wrong.
It's like they lack a real challenge.
They are practically being managed on their own!

But just in case something might go wrong (it won't, but just in case), I would like to invite you to join a practical webinar I will be giving, focusing on enterprise mobility tips, based on my experience over the past 6-7 years in which I've been been developing mobile products, and have been involved in a number of mobile projects all over the globe, most of them pretty challenging (as most mobile projects typically end up being).

Join me, it will really make me pleased:

Webinar: The Most Exhaustive, Comprehensive, Essential, All-Embracing List of Tips for a Successful Mobile Enterprise Project

• Date:  Thursday, December 1, 2011                       
• Time:  1:00 pm EST Session / 10:00 am PST
• Speaker:  Gil Bouhnick, Director of Mobility, ClickSoftware

Register Now!

The list of tips is pretty long, so bring a pen, or an iPad, or even better, a Kindle fire. But be ready for over 50 tips including some real-life examples: difficulties in choosing a proper device, avoiding overloading of data, involving the right people, at the right time, choosing the right technology and the right vendor, and of course, tips about how to manage the mobile project, the technical challenges, and many more.

So join me in this mobility webinar, it's going to be fun.

To register – click here!

1 comments | Read more...

Are you just about to begin a mobile project? Are you looking to mobilize a new business unit or a business process? Are you thinking of replacing your smartphones?

Good for you!

Mobile projects are fun. They are simple. They rarely go wrong.
It's like they lack a real challenge.
They are practically being managed on their own!

But just in case something might go wrong (it won't, but just in case), I would like to invite you to join a practical webinar I will be giving, focusing on enterprise mobility tips, based on my experience over the past 6-7 years in which I've been been developing mobile products, and have been involved in a number of mobile projects all over the globe, most of them pretty challenging (as most mobile projects typically end up being).

Join me, it will really make me pleased:

Webinar: The Most Exhaustive, Comprehensive, Essential, All-Embracing List of Tips for a Successful Mobile Enterprise Project

• Date:  Thursday, December 1, 2011                       
• Time:  1:00 pm EST Session / 10:00 am PST
• Speaker:  Gil Bouhnick, Director of Mobility, ClickSoftware

Register Now!

The list of tips is pretty long, so bring a pen, or an iPad, or even better, a Kindle fire. But be ready for over 50 tips including some real-life examples: difficulties in choosing a proper device, avoiding overloading of data, involving the right people, at the right time, choosing the right technology and the right vendor, and of course, tips about how to manage the mobile project, the technical challenges, and many more.

So join me in this mobility webinar, it's going to be fun.

To register – click here!

Will Kindle Fire turn Android into the leading tablet OS?

Half a year ago I wrote the following statement:

The Mobile Spoon Predicts: By Mid 2012, Android tablets sales will bypass the iPad's sales, turning Android to be the leading mobile OS for both smartphones and tablets.

Source: Mobile Spoon predicts: By mid 2012, Android will lead tablets market

I try not to make dumb predictions (although sometimes I can't stop myself from being dumb…), but as time went by I started to doubt my own thoughts as nothing seemed to shake iPad's leadership in the tablets market.

8 months before the due date of my prediction, and it seems like something is finally moving in the right direction (sorry Apple, I actually prefer iOS but I must succeed with my prediction): according to RBC analyst Mike Abramsky: Kindle Fire demand surpasses iPad ahead of launch, could be a threat. Wow, did you hear that? The demand for Kindle Fire is now bigger than the demand for the first iPad.

Does it mean that my prediction will become realized? Will it win me a Pulitzer prize? Will I get more votes because of it in The 2011 Mobile Visionary Star Award contest that I am participating in?

Well, I'm not sure.

You see, the Kindle Fire is riding on the success of iPad 1 and iPad 2. The entire tablets market is. The total demand for tablets these days is much bigger than what it was before the first iPad was released (while most people were skeptical about the true need for a tablet…) because of the iPad hype. We will have to see a real comparison between iPad and Fire demand to fully understand the picture.

One thing I'm pretty sure of: the Kindle Fire is the first true contender to the iPad in the tablets arena. Xoom? get out of here. TouchPad? Don't give me that joke. Galaxy Tab? Almost… but no. iPad remains king, Kindle Fire? Hmm… Now you're talking…

Here are some of the key features you get with this $199 tablet:

1. 18 million movies, TV shows, songs, magazines, and books
2. Amazon Appstore -- thousands of well loved apps and games
3. Amazon Silk: an ultra-quick web browsing using unique Amazon server side services
4. Free cloud storage for all your Amazon content
5. Vibrant color touchscreen with extra-wide viewing angle
6. Dual-core processor (although technical specifications should not be your primary way to select a new device)
7. A tablet with a different size – perfect for people who thinks iPad is too big.

There are some missing capabilities as well: 3G, Cameras, storage, but I think those are minor capabilities for tablets. especially when the price is so different: Apple’s iPad 2 comes between the price range of $499 and $799 where as the Kindle Fire costs just $199.

Here's a short video review presenting some of the capabilities:

 

Here's a nice set of numbers: Amazon Kindle Fire vs. Apple iPad:

(Source)

(Source)

An online Retrevo survey of more than 1,000 Americans in October found that 44 percent would consider the 7-inch Kindle Fire over 12 percent favoring the 9.7-inch iPad , starting at $499. Another 44 percent said they "didn't know enough about the Amazon tablet."

Retrevo added that the $249 Nook Tablet "could also be an attractive alternative to an iPad."

Retrevo's survey also indicated that even current iPad owners might want a smaller, lighter tablet such as the Kindle Fire, Nook Tablet, or a future, smaller iPad.

Interesting topic. Be sure I will continue to follow, mid 2012 is getting close, and I need my prediction to happen. Will the Kindle Fire be the first iPad killer? Will it finally put Android in a leading position in the tablets realm?

Here are some more interesting articles about this topic:

Kindle Fire Technical Details

Will Kindle Fire kill the $500 tablet?

Kindle Fire Staking Claim as Tablet to Beat this Christmas

Apple iPad Vs Amazon Kindle Fire

Kindle Fire pre-orders reach 95,000 units on day one, market research firm says

Technorati Tags: Tablets,iPad,Kindle Fire,Amazon

3 comments | Read more...

Half a year ago I wrote the following statement:

The Mobile Spoon Predicts: By Mid 2012, Android tablets sales will bypass the iPad's sales, turning Android to be the leading mobile OS for both smartphones and tablets.

Source: Mobile Spoon predicts: By mid 2012, Android will lead tablets market

I try not to make dumb predictions (although sometimes I can't stop myself from being dumb…), but as time went by I started to doubt my own thoughts as nothing seemed to shake iPad's leadership in the tablets market.

8 months before the due date of my prediction, and it seems like something is finally moving in the right direction (sorry Apple, I actually prefer iOS but I must succeed with my prediction): according to RBC analyst Mike Abramsky: Kindle Fire demand surpasses iPad ahead of launch, could be a threat. Wow, did you hear that? The demand for Kindle Fire is now bigger than the demand for the first iPad.

Does it mean that my prediction will become realized? Will it win me a Pulitzer prize? Will I get more votes because of it in The 2011 Mobile Visionary Star Award contest that I am participating in?

Well, I'm not sure.

You see, the Kindle Fire is riding on the success of iPad 1 and iPad 2. The entire tablets market is. The total demand for tablets these days is much bigger than what it was before the first iPad was released (while most people were skeptical about the true need for a tablet…) because of the iPad hype. We will have to see a real comparison between iPad and Fire demand to fully understand the picture.

One thing I'm pretty sure of: the Kindle Fire is the first true contender to the iPad in the tablets arena. Xoom? get out of here. TouchPad? Don't give me that joke. Galaxy Tab? Almost… but no. iPad remains king, Kindle Fire? Hmm… Now you're talking…

Here are some of the key features you get with this $199 tablet:

1. 18 million movies, TV shows, songs, magazines, and books
2. Amazon Appstore -- thousands of well loved apps and games
3. Amazon Silk: an ultra-quick web browsing using unique Amazon server side services
4. Free cloud storage for all your Amazon content
5. Vibrant color touchscreen with extra-wide viewing angle
6. Dual-core processor (although technical specifications should not be your primary way to select a new device)
7. A tablet with a different size – perfect for people who thinks iPad is too big.

There are some missing capabilities as well: 3G, Cameras, storage, but I think those are minor capabilities for tablets. especially when the price is so different: Apple’s iPad 2 comes between the price range of $499 and $799 where as the Kindle Fire costs just $199.

Here's a short video review presenting some of the capabilities:

 

Here's a nice set of numbers: Amazon Kindle Fire vs. Apple iPad:

(Source)

(Source)

An online Retrevo survey of more than 1,000 Americans in October found that 44 percent would consider the 7-inch Kindle Fire over 12 percent favoring the 9.7-inch iPad , starting at $499. Another 44 percent said they "didn't know enough about the Amazon tablet."

Retrevo added that the $249 Nook Tablet "could also be an attractive alternative to an iPad."

Retrevo's survey also indicated that even current iPad owners might want a smaller, lighter tablet such as the Kindle Fire, Nook Tablet, or a future, smaller iPad.

Interesting topic. Be sure I will continue to follow, mid 2012 is getting close, and I need my prediction to happen. Will the Kindle Fire be the first iPad killer? Will it finally put Android in a leading position in the tablets realm?

Here are some more interesting articles about this topic:

Kindle Fire Technical Details

Will Kindle Fire kill the $500 tablet?

Kindle Fire Staking Claim as Tablet to Beat this Christmas

Apple iPad Vs Amazon Kindle Fire

Kindle Fire pre-orders reach 95,000 units on day one, market research firm says

Technorati Tags: Tablets,iPad,Kindle Fire,Amazon

Flash is dead. HTML5 rage continues.

Wow, we all saw it coming, but it is still a bit of a shocking news.

Adobe is killing Flash. Finally. (Too bad Steve Jobs isn't here to see he was right all the way).

For now, Adobe has confirmed it will stop working on the mobile browsers Flash. But as HTML5 continues to rage and as the mobile world is now responsible of over 50% of web, it's hard to see how Adobe will continue investing in this dying technology.

In Adobe’s official announcement, Danny Winokur,Adobe’s VP and general manager of interactive development, wrote, “HTML5 is now universally supported on major mobile devices, in some cases exclusively. This makes HTML5 the best solution for creating and deploying content in the browser across mobile platforms. We are excited about this, and will continue our work with key players in the HTML community, including Google, Apple, Microsoft and RIM, to drive HTML5 innovation they can use to advance their mobile browsers.”

Remember the Flash war between Apple and Adobe? Apple wins. Adobe loses. Android fans who boldly protected Flash now need to look for a hat to eat… Microsoft fans using Silverlight should be seriously worried now (if they haven't been already…).

Back in April this year, I predicted that by 2013 HTML5 will rule Enterprise Mobility. Adobe killing Flash in favor of concentrating on HTML5 development is another milestone in that route.

Read more about this announcement in here:

Flash is dead. Long live HTML5.

Adobe confirms Flash Player is dead for mobile devices

6 comments | Read more...

Wow, we all saw it coming, but it is still a bit of a shocking news.

Adobe is killing Flash. Finally. (Too bad Steve Jobs isn't here to see he was right all the way).

For now, Adobe has confirmed it will stop working on the mobile browsers Flash. But as HTML5 continues to rage and as the mobile world is now responsible of over 50% of web, it's hard to see how Adobe will continue investing in this dying technology.

In Adobe’s official announcement, Danny Winokur,Adobe’s VP and general manager of interactive development, wrote, “HTML5 is now universally supported on major mobile devices, in some cases exclusively. This makes HTML5 the best solution for creating and deploying content in the browser across mobile platforms. We are excited about this, and will continue our work with key players in the HTML community, including Google, Apple, Microsoft and RIM, to drive HTML5 innovation they can use to advance their mobile browsers.”

Remember the Flash war between Apple and Adobe? Apple wins. Adobe loses. Android fans who boldly protected Flash now need to look for a hat to eat… Microsoft fans using Silverlight should be seriously worried now (if they haven't been already…).

Back in April this year, I predicted that by 2013 HTML5 will rule Enterprise Mobility. Adobe killing Flash in favor of concentrating on HTML5 development is another milestone in that route.

Read more about this announcement in here:

Flash is dead. Long live HTML5.

Adobe confirms Flash Player is dead for mobile devices

Why technical specifications should not be your primary way to select a new smartphone

The leaked pictures and specs of HTC Edge are introducing a new "edge" in mobile technology: Quad-core smartphone processors: the soon to become new standard in mobile performance.

Samsung's Super AMOLED plus, HTC's Beats Audio technology, Apple's Retina Display, dual cores, 1GB of RAM, those are just examples of monstrous technologies which are all part of todays' smartphones.

People often think that the better the specs are, the better the smartphone is.

I think it's a mistake.

Specs are numbers, and since most of the leading smartphones these days are so damn powerful, the overall experience is caused by the operating system, the apps, and the combination of them with the hardware design.

The numbers alone will not make you happier smartphone user.

Here are some examples:

Processor:

Better processor does not necessarily mean better performance. Performance depends on some additional spec elements such as memory and mainly the user interface that is part of the mobile operating system. It means that a certain processor running a certain mobile OS will never be comparable to a similar processor running another mobile OS.

Example: Windows Phone 7 devices do not support dual core (something to do with Microsoft aiming to bring solid battery life) and they all have an amazing performance, mainly due to the fact that the OS is mostly designed on typography elements, and a closed/stable UI environment.

Memory:

While memory is important, it is clearly another element that depends on how the mobile operating system is making usage out of it: the iPad 2 and iPhone 4S seem to get along just fine with 512MB RAM, while there are plenty of Android phones with 1GB RAM that end up being clumsy. It relates to the way multi-tasking is implemented (or not really implemented in the case of iOS). The end result is that memory cannot tell how the performance will look like.

Example: Barnes and Noble's Nook Tablet vs. Amazon Kindle Fire.

Here is something from Gizmodo's comparisons article between the two:

The Nook Tablet sports 16GB of storage and 1GB of RAM, compared to 8GB of storage compared 512MB of RAM on the Kindle Fire. And when you compare the two on specs alone, it's no small temptation to think that Amazon is outclassed.
In action today, the Nook Tablet's performance wasn't entirely promising. The custom built UI was noticeably sluggish, as was the web browser. Our first look at the Kindle FIre, on the other hand, revealed shockingly fast and fluid performance even though it's got weaker specs on paper. The Amazon Kindle appears to be built on cheaper hardware but incorporates technologies like Amazon's Silk web browser to help the product run like a much stronger machine.

Screen:

There are different screen technologies (Retina, Super AMOLED, etc.), and it's very hard to compare between them. The bottom line is that it's very subjective.

Nokia's new WP7 Lumia phones do not use any of those shiny screen technologies Samsung or Apple are using, it's just ClearBlack, and yet, the end result, according to many official reviews is damn good.

The Galaxy S2 screen on the other hand, which is considered to be one of the best ones today with Super AMOLED plus technology – is always seems to be too green to me. Everything is … well… green! The UI seems green, the pictures seem… you've guessed it: green.

So once again, specs aside, it's all a matter of personal taste and subjective preferences. There are things that no specs table can explain, and you just need to see it in order to truly know if you like it or not.

Size:

I talked about the perfect smartphone size in the past. People are often excited to get the biggest phones without knowing that the size has a direct impact on usability and battery life.

When a phone is too big it makes it harder to reach certain areas on the screen. If your hands are not big enough, you will actually notice the phone is less comfortable. It also means it's harder to hold it (especially if the device is too thin as well) and the screen size also causes a direct impact on the battery life: bigger screens, means shorter battery life.

For some, all of those issues are not important, as they are focusing on video experience, pictures, and games, or they need a bigger screen to make the typing experience better. But for many of us, smartphones are mainly used for work, and for those purposes the size requirements may be different.

Camera:

I learned back a while ago that the camera specifications are not enough to know if the camera fits your needs or not. Speed, Shutter, resolution, image processing, auto-focus, video, settings. Those are all technical terms but different combinations of them result in different user experience and picture quality and it's hard to tell just by reading the specs. Here, too, you must test it before you know if it's right for you.

Example: The Samsung Omnia 7 has a decent camera with nice capabilities and a quick invocation button. The problem was that in the first releases of Windows Phone, the camera settings were never saved, and the default settings of the camera were set to "anti-shaking=false". That turned 80% of my pictures to be blurred.
It took me 1 second to open the camera (no need to unlock the device etc.) but then I wasted 10 more seconds to get to the anti-shaking setting and change it manually. It was finally fixed in the Mango release and now I can finally enjoy the camera which is very nice indeed and take high quality pictures such as this one:

Battery life:

Better specs often mean worse battery life. A number of factors can reduce your gadget endurance; thinner designs with less room for the battery, larger screens, faster processors, software that runs in the background, 4G networks, and power-hungry GPS chips all share responsibility.

If you are looking for a phone that will serve you throughout a long working day, the specs above are actually your enemy! You should actually look for a phone with less capabilities (dropping 4G, for instance).

Related article: How to improve your Android battery life?

---

Bottom line:

I can think of so many factors that are much more important than the technical specs of a given phone: the operating system, the size of it and how it feels in the hand when you actually hold it, the design (including things like the back cover, rounded edges etc.), the applications it is running. Even the price (although I would argue that a smartphone deserves a proper investment as it is such an important gadget and your closest companion for at least a year or two)

Like in PC, there is also a hidden factor which is: how it all fits together.

Some people will never replace their BlackBerry devices thinking that they type faster using the physical keyboard (which is not true BTW), others are already hooked to iOS and will never replace their iPhone. For some, widgets are all they care about regardless to the impact those background processes are causing to the battery.

The user interface is probably the most important thing in smartphones. If you mostly care about emails and phone calls – check that area of the phone you are about to purchase. You will find that in many cases, these are actually the weak spots of some smartphones. If you mostly care about sexy UI – you need to check Windows Phone 7 or stick with the king of usability – the iPhone.

Dual core? Quad? 4G? 1GHz? Who cares!?

They are all fast, they are all beasts these days. Now you just need to pick the one you like the best, and I can promise you that the technical numbers are not what you need to worry about.

---

Terms you may have been searching for:

How to select a smartphone? How to pick a phone? Smartphones Specifications, Selecting your next Smartphone, iPhone vs. Android, Smartphones comparisson

3 comments | Read more...

The leaked pictures and specs of HTC Edge are introducing a new "edge" in mobile technology: Quad-core smartphone processors: the soon to become new standard in mobile performance.

Samsung's Super AMOLED plus, HTC's Beats Audio technology, Apple's Retina Display, dual cores, 1GB of RAM, those are just examples of monstrous technologies which are all part of todays' smartphones.

People often think that the better the specs are, the better the smartphone is.

I think it's a mistake.

Specs are numbers, and since most of the leading smartphones these days are so damn powerful, the overall experience is caused by the operating system, the apps, and the combination of them with the hardware design.

The numbers alone will not make you happier smartphone user.

Here are some examples:

Processor:

Better processor does not necessarily mean better performance. Performance depends on some additional spec elements such as memory and mainly the user interface that is part of the mobile operating system. It means that a certain processor running a certain mobile OS will never be comparable to a similar processor running another mobile OS.

Example: Windows Phone 7 devices do not support dual core (something to do with Microsoft aiming to bring solid battery life) and they all have an amazing performance, mainly due to the fact that the OS is mostly designed on typography elements, and a closed/stable UI environment.

Memory:

While memory is important, it is clearly another element that depends on how the mobile operating system is making usage out of it: the iPad 2 and iPhone 4S seem to get along just fine with 512MB RAM, while there are plenty of Android phones with 1GB RAM that end up being clumsy. It relates to the way multi-tasking is implemented (or not really implemented in the case of iOS). The end result is that memory cannot tell how the performance will look like.

Example: Barnes and Noble's Nook Tablet vs. Amazon Kindle Fire.

Here is something from Gizmodo's comparisons article between the two:

The Nook Tablet sports 16GB of storage and 1GB of RAM, compared to 8GB of storage compared 512MB of RAM on the Kindle Fire. And when you compare the two on specs alone, it's no small temptation to think that Amazon is outclassed.
In action today, the Nook Tablet's performance wasn't entirely promising. The custom built UI was noticeably sluggish, as was the web browser. Our first look at the Kindle FIre, on the other hand, revealed shockingly fast and fluid performance even though it's got weaker specs on paper. The Amazon Kindle appears to be built on cheaper hardware but incorporates technologies like Amazon's Silk web browser to help the product run like a much stronger machine.

Screen:

There are different screen technologies (Retina, Super AMOLED, etc.), and it's very hard to compare between them. The bottom line is that it's very subjective.

Nokia's new WP7 Lumia phones do not use any of those shiny screen technologies Samsung or Apple are using, it's just ClearBlack, and yet, the end result, according to many official reviews is damn good.

The Galaxy S2 screen on the other hand, which is considered to be one of the best ones today with Super AMOLED plus technology – is always seems to be too green to me. Everything is … well… green! The UI seems green, the pictures seem… you've guessed it: green.

So once again, specs aside, it's all a matter of personal taste and subjective preferences. There are things that no specs table can explain, and you just need to see it in order to truly know if you like it or not.

Size:

I talked about the perfect smartphone size in the past. People are often excited to get the biggest phones without knowing that the size has a direct impact on usability and battery life.

When a phone is too big it makes it harder to reach certain areas on the screen. If your hands are not big enough, you will actually notice the phone is less comfortable. It also means it's harder to hold it (especially if the device is too thin as well) and the screen size also causes a direct impact on the battery life: bigger screens, means shorter battery life.

For some, all of those issues are not important, as they are focusing on video experience, pictures, and games, or they need a bigger screen to make the typing experience better. But for many of us, smartphones are mainly used for work, and for those purposes the size requirements may be different.

Camera:

I learned back a while ago that the camera specifications are not enough to know if the camera fits your needs or not. Speed, Shutter, resolution, image processing, auto-focus, video, settings. Those are all technical terms but different combinations of them result in different user experience and picture quality and it's hard to tell just by reading the specs. Here, too, you must test it before you know if it's right for you.

Example: The Samsung Omnia 7 has a decent camera with nice capabilities and a quick invocation button. The problem was that in the first releases of Windows Phone, the camera settings were never saved, and the default settings of the camera were set to "anti-shaking=false". That turned 80% of my pictures to be blurred.
It took me 1 second to open the camera (no need to unlock the device etc.) but then I wasted 10 more seconds to get to the anti-shaking setting and change it manually. It was finally fixed in the Mango release and now I can finally enjoy the camera which is very nice indeed and take high quality pictures such as this one:

Battery life:

Better specs often mean worse battery life. A number of factors can reduce your gadget endurance; thinner designs with less room for the battery, larger screens, faster processors, software that runs in the background, 4G networks, and power-hungry GPS chips all share responsibility.

If you are looking for a phone that will serve you throughout a long working day, the specs above are actually your enemy! You should actually look for a phone with less capabilities (dropping 4G, for instance).

Related article: How to improve your Android battery life?

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Bottom line:

I can think of so many factors that are much more important than the technical specs of a given phone: the operating system, the size of it and how it feels in the hand when you actually hold it, the design (including things like the back cover, rounded edges etc.), the applications it is running. Even the price (although I would argue that a smartphone deserves a proper investment as it is such an important gadget and your closest companion for at least a year or two)

Like in PC, there is also a hidden factor which is: how it all fits together.

Some people will never replace their BlackBerry devices thinking that they type faster using the physical keyboard (which is not true BTW), others are already hooked to iOS and will never replace their iPhone. For some, widgets are all they care about regardless to the impact those background processes are causing to the battery.

The user interface is probably the most important thing in smartphones. If you mostly care about emails and phone calls – check that area of the phone you are about to purchase. You will find that in many cases, these are actually the weak spots of some smartphones. If you mostly care about sexy UI – you need to check Windows Phone 7 or stick with the king of usability – the iPhone.

Dual core? Quad? 4G? 1GHz? Who cares!?

They are all fast, they are all beasts these days. Now you just need to pick the one you like the best, and I can promise you that the technical numbers are not what you need to worry about.

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Terms you may have been searching for:

How to select a smartphone? How to pick a phone? Smartphones Specifications, Selecting your next Smartphone, iPhone vs. Android, Smartphones comparisson

The one and only chart you need to understand mobility

I got this one from Sharon today, and I really liked the visual part of this chart called: "the one chart you need to understand mobile…":

So why is it so great?

First of all, it shows you the path each mobile platform has done in the last 22 months or so. Despite the expected organic growth of the smartphones market, only iOS and Android actually had a noticeable growth. All the others did not. You can see, for instance, that RIM didn't do well during 2011, and it is close to going back to 2009's market share, which is really bad comparing to iOS and Android.

Second, you can see that Microsoft was a tiny mobility player 2 years ago and is now a… tiny player.

Third, you see the visual side of Palm's crash… so bad to see Palm's color disappear and no longer part of the smartphones market.

Android and iOS? Well, no need to explain what you see…  We all know the story there, But the interesting part is that huge endless blue area which represent non-smartphones. No matter how giant Android is, it is capturing less than 30% of the phones market (or the potential smartphones market).

Now I understand why Microsoft is not giving up with WP7 despite the poor sales results. Nokia is probably holding the biggest portion of the non-smartphones section. The potential is huge, and Microsoft may actually pull something off with Windows Phone 7.

Or not…

2 comments | Read more...

I got this one from Sharon today, and I really liked the visual part of this chart called: "the one chart you need to understand mobile…":

So why is it so great?

First of all, it shows you the path each mobile platform has done in the last 22 months or so. Despite the expected organic growth of the smartphones market, only iOS and Android actually had a noticeable growth. All the others did not. You can see, for instance, that RIM didn't do well during 2011, and it is close to going back to 2009's market share, which is really bad comparing to iOS and Android.

Second, you can see that Microsoft was a tiny mobility player 2 years ago and is now a… tiny player.

Third, you see the visual side of Palm's crash… so bad to see Palm's color disappear and no longer part of the smartphones market.

Android and iOS? Well, no need to explain what you see…  We all know the story there, But the interesting part is that huge endless blue area which represent non-smartphones. No matter how giant Android is, it is capturing less than 30% of the phones market (or the potential smartphones market).

Now I understand why Microsoft is not giving up with WP7 despite the poor sales results. Nokia is probably holding the biggest portion of the non-smartphones section. The potential is huge, and Microsoft may actually pull something off with Windows Phone 7.

Or not…

Smartphones Market – Summarizing Q3

A new report by Nielsen reveals some interesting mobility market numbers.

According to the report, only 43% of all US mobile phone subscribers own a smartphone. Among consumers aged 25-34 there are over 60% who own smartphones.

Google’s mobile OS now accounts for 43% of U.S. smartphones, up from the 39% in July. Apple’s iOS, has remained lock-steady at 28%, while RIM's BlackBerry has dropped below 20% for the first time in a few years. Microsoft's Windows Phone slowed down from 9% to 7% and if this trend continues I may need to stop writing anything about it at all!

Read more about the Nielsen report in here.

This report is published after Q3 has brought a lot of interesting developments in all leading platforms: iOS5, Android 4, Windows Phone 7 Mango – were all released and the war continues.

While Android continues to gain more popularity, Apple still rules the market when it comes to hardware sales. Apple’s iPhones are used by a full 28% of all smartphone customers, making them the top manufacturer for yet another quarter.

Not only that, but in this quarter, Apple captured more than half of the handset industry’s overall operating profits — 52%, you can read more about it in here.

4 comments | Read more...

A new report by Nielsen reveals some interesting mobility market numbers.

According to the report, only 43% of all US mobile phone subscribers own a smartphone. Among consumers aged 25-34 there are over 60% who own smartphones.

Google’s mobile OS now accounts for 43% of U.S. smartphones, up from the 39% in July. Apple’s iOS, has remained lock-steady at 28%, while RIM's BlackBerry has dropped below 20% for the first time in a few years. Microsoft's Windows Phone slowed down from 9% to 7% and if this trend continues I may need to stop writing anything about it at all!

Read more about the Nielsen report in here.

This report is published after Q3 has brought a lot of interesting developments in all leading platforms: iOS5, Android 4, Windows Phone 7 Mango – were all released and the war continues.

While Android continues to gain more popularity, Apple still rules the market when it comes to hardware sales. Apple’s iPhones are used by a full 28% of all smartphone customers, making them the top manufacturer for yet another quarter.

Not only that, but in this quarter, Apple captured more than half of the handset industry’s overall operating profits — 52%, you can read more about it in here.

What is Responsive Web Design and how can it help you build better mobile web applications?

HTML5 has brought many organizations into building web based mobile applications.

This powerful yet fresh web technology enables building rich UI, plus it can support offline mode along with the database capabilities it brings, and it completely removes the burden of developing an app for each platform (iOS, Android, BlackBerry, WP7), or working with the app stores.

(I've written about HTML5 in the past and also about the raise of Mobile-web)

In order to have one web-based app that can run impressively on each form factor (namely: smartphones and/or tablets and/or laptops and/or desktops) – you can either develop the same application multiple times, each time with a different layout using the same logical code, or – you can use Responsive Web Design and build one app that will support not only all the platforms but also all the form factors. Impressive, isn't it? Let's dig into the details.

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Responsive Web Design is a user interface design approach to create a UI layout that adapts itself to the environment it is running in. Components of a certain website or a web app will adapt to the device they are being displayed on; the screen size and screen orientation.
From mobile smartphones, to tablets and desktops - adaptive layouts will make sure the HTML and CSS code are optimized to the context and the screen, using flexible grids, and some advanced patterns.

Example? There you go – let's examine iOS Adaptive Layout:

• When using the iPhone emails, you see either a list of emails or the selected email body.
• When using the same email app on the iPad – you get to see a dual view – holding both the list of emails and right next to them – the selected email body.

This is, of course not a web design, as this is actually a native iOS application, but the idea is similar: you develop one app that makes the best out of every form factor and screen orientation it is running in.

Now imagine you build a web application. You can assume people will access it from either their smartphones, tablets or laptops – each has different screen size. Responsive Web Design allows you to build a single web app that will be optimized for each of those form factors.

Here's a short video demonstrating some great Responsive Web Designs, notice how the layout keeps changing according to the width of the browser:

 

The principals behind Responsive Web Design:

Fluid Grids / Liquid Layouts:

Fluid grids go a few steps beyond the traditional liquid layout. Instead of designing a layout based on rigid pixels or arbitrary percentage values, a fluid grid is more carefully designed in terms of proportions. This way, when a layout is squeezed onto a tiny mobile device or stretched across a huge screen, all of the elements in the layout will resize their widths in relation to one another.

In order to calculate the proportions for each page element, you must divide the target element by its context. Currently, the best way to do this is to first create a high fidelity mockup in a pixel based imaged editor, like Photoshop. With your high fidelity mockup in hand, you can measure a page element and divide it by the full width of the page. For example, if your layout is a typical size like 960 pixels across, then this would be your “container” value. Then, let’s say that our target element is some arbitrary value, like 300 pixels wide. If we multiply the result by 100, we get the percentage value of 31.25% which we can apply to the target element. Here’s the math

Media Queries:

The second part of responsive design is CSS3 media queries, which currently enjoy decent support across many modern browsers. CSS3 media queries allow you to gather data about the site visitor / browser and use it to conditionally apply different CSS styles. In mobile devices we will typically check for the minimal width and make a decision accordingly.

Flexible Images:

One major problem that needs to be solved with responsive Web design is working with images. There are a number of techniques to resize images proportionately, and many are easily done. The most popular option, noted in Ethan Marcotte’s article on fluid images but first experimented with by Richard Rutter, is to use CSS’s max-width for an easy fix.

More:

You can read more about how to implement Adaptive Layouts and Responsive Design in here:

• Responsive Web Design: What It Is and How To Use It
• Adaptive layouts using responsive web design
• Adaptive User Interface: Smartphones vs. Tablets
• Beginner’s Guide to Responsive Web Design

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So what are the cons?

Of course, building a Responsive Web application or site require some additional investment. There are some acrobatics that needs to be made – loading different images in runtime, showing and hiding some elements, etc.

There are people who believe that those acrobatics are actually bad for mobile devices as playing with images, hiding elements, etc. are all "expensive" in terms of performance and memory – painful areas in mobile devices. You can read more in here:

11 reasons why Responsive Design isn’t that cool!

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So there you go, something to get you going, there's a lot more to learn about before deciding whether to go with a Responsive Web Design or not, but I hope this article opened you mind a bit, and gave you some initial tools to start exploring your options.

7 comments | Read more...

HTML5 has brought many organizations into building web based mobile applications.

This powerful yet fresh web technology enables building rich UI, plus it can support offline mode along with the database capabilities it brings, and it completely removes the burden of developing an app for each platform (iOS, Android, BlackBerry, WP7), or working with the app stores.

(I've written about HTML5 in the past and also about the raise of Mobile-web)

In order to have one web-based app that can run impressively on each form factor (namely: smartphones and/or tablets and/or laptops and/or desktops) – you can either develop the same application multiple times, each time with a different layout using the same logical code, or – you can use Responsive Web Design and build one app that will support not only all the platforms but also all the form factors. Impressive, isn't it? Let's dig into the details.

---

Responsive Web Design is a user interface design approach to create a UI layout that adapts itself to the environment it is running in. Components of a certain website or a web app will adapt to the device they are being displayed on; the screen size and screen orientation.
From mobile smartphones, to tablets and desktops - adaptive layouts will make sure the HTML and CSS code are optimized to the context and the screen, using flexible grids, and some advanced patterns.

Example? There you go – let's examine iOS Adaptive Layout:

• When using the iPhone emails, you see either a list of emails or the selected email body.
• When using the same email app on the iPad – you get to see a dual view – holding both the list of emails and right next to them – the selected email body.

This is, of course not a web design, as this is actually a native iOS application, but the idea is similar: you develop one app that makes the best out of every form factor and screen orientation it is running in.

Now imagine you build a web application. You can assume people will access it from either their smartphones, tablets or laptops – each has different screen size. Responsive Web Design allows you to build a single web app that will be optimized for each of those form factors.

Here's a short video demonstrating some great Responsive Web Designs, notice how the layout keeps changing according to the width of the browser:

 

The principals behind Responsive Web Design:

Fluid Grids / Liquid Layouts:

Fluid grids go a few steps beyond the traditional liquid layout. Instead of designing a layout based on rigid pixels or arbitrary percentage values, a fluid grid is more carefully designed in terms of proportions. This way, when a layout is squeezed onto a tiny mobile device or stretched across a huge screen, all of the elements in the layout will resize their widths in relation to one another.

In order to calculate the proportions for each page element, you must divide the target element by its context. Currently, the best way to do this is to first create a high fidelity mockup in a pixel based imaged editor, like Photoshop. With your high fidelity mockup in hand, you can measure a page element and divide it by the full width of the page. For example, if your layout is a typical size like 960 pixels across, then this would be your “container” value. Then, let’s say that our target element is some arbitrary value, like 300 pixels wide. If we multiply the result by 100, we get the percentage value of 31.25% which we can apply to the target element. Here’s the math

Media Queries:

The second part of responsive design is CSS3 media queries, which currently enjoy decent support across many modern browsers. CSS3 media queries allow you to gather data about the site visitor / browser and use it to conditionally apply different CSS styles. In mobile devices we will typically check for the minimal width and make a decision accordingly.

Flexible Images:

One major problem that needs to be solved with responsive Web design is working with images. There are a number of techniques to resize images proportionately, and many are easily done. The most popular option, noted in Ethan Marcotte’s article on fluid images but first experimented with by Richard Rutter, is to use CSS’s max-width for an easy fix.

More:

You can read more about how to implement Adaptive Layouts and Responsive Design in here:

• Responsive Web Design: What It Is and How To Use It
• Adaptive layouts using responsive web design
• Adaptive User Interface: Smartphones vs. Tablets
• Beginner’s Guide to Responsive Web Design

---

So what are the cons?

Of course, building a Responsive Web application or site require some additional investment. There are some acrobatics that needs to be made – loading different images in runtime, showing and hiding some elements, etc.

There are people who believe that those acrobatics are actually bad for mobile devices as playing with images, hiding elements, etc. are all "expensive" in terms of performance and memory – painful areas in mobile devices. You can read more in here:

11 reasons why Responsive Design isn’t that cool!

---

So there you go, something to get you going, there's a lot more to learn about before deciding whether to go with a Responsive Web Design or not, but I hope this article opened you mind a bit, and gave you some initial tools to start exploring your options.