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Photos: iPhone vs HP vs Nokia
This photo shows Apple's iPhone 3G alongside two other new devices, the HP iPaq 914 and Nokia's E71. As the picture demonstrates, they are all approximately the same size, although varying in weight and thickness.
All three devices represent the latest technology, supporting 3G wireless broadband, Wi-Fi, and GPS capability for navigation and other location-based services. As such, these are all high-end devices and potential rivals for RIM's BlackBerry models in the enterprise.
Of the three, the Nokia E71 is the slimmest and the lightest, while the iPaq 914 is the heaviest and thickest at 154g and 16mm. However, it also appears to have the largest battery capacity, at 1940mAh.
The Nokia E71 has already been reviewed in depth by IT Week here. To sum up: it is a very capable business messaging handset, but its keyboard is somewhat cramped compared to a BlackBerry.
The same criticism can be levelled at the iPaq 914, but I found I could enter text fairly easily. The HP device also has one feature that might please BlackBerry users; a jog dial thumbwheel on the right side of the case, similar to that seen on older BlackBerry models before RIM introduced its 'Pearl' mini trackball. It also supports touch-screen input via a stylus as well as a standard five-way navigation control, giving users more input choice than most devices.
Apple's iPhone 3G has the best display and offers the best web experience through its Safari browser, but has two drawbacks as far as I'm concerned; no keyboard and a battery that cannot be removed by the user.
As with the first iPhone, the device is very simple to use, but I found Apple's on-screen 'soft' keyboard a pain - even compared with the tiny keys on the E71 and iPaq 914 - and kept finding myself hitting the wrong letter. The iPhone could prove a hit with business users that need a decent browser - such as for web-based applications - but I can't see heavy email users or anyone whose job entails entering a lot of data being happy with it.
All three models feature some form of assisted GPS (A-GPS) to speed up the time it takes to get a fix on the user's location. While the E71 has Nokia Maps, both the iPaq 914 and the iPhone use Google Maps. The iPhone version of this application is slicker, but both have pretty much the same functionality, including the option to fix your location GPS and get directions to a specified destination. However, Nokia Maps supports turn-by-turn directions for drivers, although it costs extra to have the directions spoken aloud.
Photo: HP’s sat-nav smartphone
This photo shows the HP iPaq 614 Business Navigator alongside a standard-sized PDA and a smartphone, showing how it fits somewhere between the two in size.
In fact, the iPaq 614 is almost exactly the same size as a Palm Treo, although it has a numeric keypad instead of the Palm’s qwerty keyboard. Like the Treo, it has a touch-screen as well.
The Business Navigator part of the device’s name refers to the act that this iPaq has built-in GPS capability and uses Google Maps to show your location and give directions to a destination when travelling.
This means that the device pulls down the map data as needed, instead of storing it on a memory card, and so you need a live data connection to use the navigation feature.
Fortunately, the iPaq 614 supports 3G with HSDPA where this is available, and also has Wi-Fi capability for speedier web browsing when near an access point. It also supports Bluetooth for hands-free calls. A full review of the HP iPaq 614 Business Navigator will appear in a future issue of IT Week.
Photo: BlackBerry Pearl 8120
This photo shows how small and neat RIM's latest BlackBerry device is. The Pearl 8120 adds 802.11b/g Wi-Fi capability to the basic Pearl handset design that was introduced last year, without increasing the size at all and adding just a couple of grams to the weight.
For workers that already use a BlackBerry, the SureType keyboard will probably count against switching. This puts two letters on each key and uses predictive algorithms to work out what you are trying to type. It works quite well, but slows you down sometimes and is probably not the best solution for those who need to send lots of emails.
However, if your company has a BlackBerry server and you don't necessarily need to respond instantly to every email sent to you, then the Pearl is definitely worth a look. Its size and weight are in line with many basic Nokia handsets, making it easier to carry than some earlier BlackBerry models.
The addition of Wi-Fi means that the Pearl can browse web sites much faster when in range of an access point, but has little real impact on the email service.
A full review of the BlackBerry Pearl 8120 will appear in a future issue of IT Week, and the device is available now in the UK from O2.
Making that first voice-over-Wi-Fi call
I've been trying out HP's iPaq 514 Voice Messenger phone, which turns out to be a very nice lightweight handset despite having built-in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth wireless interfaces.
This Windows Mobile 6 device also comes with a built-in SIP client for IP telephony, which is designed to pair up with a SIP server or IP PBX when a worker is in their office and in range of the corporate Wi-Fi network. The problem is, how to go about testing this without access to such infrastructure?
Fortunately, it turns out that there are online SIP service providers that allow you to access IP telephony over a broadband internet connection. Many of these, such as the one I chose to try out – Freespeech.co.uk – are free to sign up for, and offer free calls to other VoIP numbers.
Armed with an 0844 number and my registration details from Freespeech, I set about configuring the iPaq 514 to connect. However, it turns out that the SIP client cannot be configured from the handset itself. Users instead have to link the phone to a Windows PC and use the HP iPaq Setup Assistant that comes on a CD-ROM with the phone.
This tool turns out to be very handy and lets you configure almost all aspects of the handset, including Wi-Fi access point settings, email accounts, speed dial numbers, and even populate the browser Favourites list.
With all necessary configuration information entered, I turned on Wi-Fi and connected the phone to my wireless router at home. The VoIP client then looked for the SIP server and connected, showing the status message "freespeech.co.uk selected". The "selected" part means that any calls made will now go via the internet instead of the cellular network.
I made a quick call using the phone to a colleague that had also signed up on the same service, and found the call quality excellent, if a little on the quiet side.
Overall, I was surprised at how easy it was to get voice-over-Wi-Fi working on this handset. That said, the settings Freepeech emailed to me did not exactly match those in the iPaq 514 configuration screen, and I had to make an educated guess to bridge the gap between the two.
The only drawback to this setup is that I now have a separate phone number for calls made over VoIP that differs from my landline and the mobile number of the iPaq.
This will probably not be a problem in a business environment, as the SIP service will link to the corporate infrastructure and probably tie in with the user's desk phone. For home users, the Unlicensed Mobile Access (UMA) VoIP protocol, which features in RIM's new BlackBerry 8820, instead links the handset with the mobile carrier's infrastructure.
A full review of HP's iPaq 514 Voice Messenger will appear in a future issue of IT Week.
Photo: RIM's new BlackBerry Curve
RIM is keeping up a brisk pace of handset releases, following its launch of the BlackBerry 8800 earlier this year. The new model is the BlackBerry Curve, alternatively known as the BlackBerry 8300, and I was able to get my hands on it briefly during a demonstration by RIM.
As you can see from the photo, the new model fits neatly between the 8800 and the BlackBerry Pearl in size (the Curve is in the middle), and this also gives you a clue where RIM is positioning it – as a device to appeal to both business users and consumers.
Firstly, the device feels very light – so much so that I had to check whether the battery was fitted. Actually, at 111g it is heavier than many standard phones, but it is noticeably lighter than most smartphones that also have a qwerty keyboard.
Because this is the smallest BlackBerry with a qwerty keyboard (at 107 x 60 x 15.5mm), the keys are also smaller than earlier models, especially those of the popular 7200 series. However, I found it no more difficult to key in text than on other qwerty BlackBerry devices.
Equally importantly, the screen is bright and easy to read, which means this device can just as easily serve as a corporate email device as one of the larger models. The Curve also features the pearl trackball, introduced on the BlackBerry of the same name.
The Curve also features a 2 megapixel camera and has an enhanced media player that handles common music and video formats. While some companies may be wary of having these features in a business handset, RIM said that it enables workers to carry just a single device with them instead of cramming both a Blackberry and an iPod into their pocket. These features can also be disabled by policy settings through a company's Blackberry Enterprise Server, if necessary.
RIM's media player is backed by a new application – Desktop Multimedia Suite – that enables users to manage their music and video files on a Windows PC and convert them into a format that works on the BlackBerry, RIM said.
The BlackBerry Curve comes with an updated version of RIM's BlackBerry Maps application, but the device doesn't have built-in GPS capability (as the BlackBerry 8800 does). If users require a precise fix on their location, they will have to purchase a separate Bluetooth GPS device.
Overall, my early impression of the Curve is that it will appeal to current BlackBerry users, because it offers all the BlackBerry features you would expect in a smaller and easier to carry format.
It's a shame that RIM hasn't seen fit to include 3G network support or Wi-Fi yet, but I suspect many BlackBerry users will cheerfully forego these so long as they can have a smaller, lighter version of the device now weighing down their pocket.
Photos: HTC's new S710 handset
While everyone at this year's 3GSM was getting excited about HTC's Advantage high-end mobile device, the company launched other equally interesting Microsoft-based models, including some running the new Windows Mobile 6.
The S710, for example, is similar in size and weight (about 120g) to a standard phone handset, yet boasts a good-sized colour display and a slide-out qwerty keyboard – excellent for composing emails. When you slide the phone open, the screen also changes to a landscape orientation to match the keyboard.
My early tests soon showed up a few faults, however. The device is often sluggish, sometimes taking a second or two to re-orient its display when opened up. Is this because the handset's 201MHz Omap processor is not up to the job, or because Windows Mobile is inefficient?
Another galling flaw came when I was configuring the phone to access the Internet via GPRS. While entering the IP address of the network's Access Point, the phone seemed to detect a numeric input field and lock the keyboard's 'Fn' key on. This made it easy to key in numbers, but also impossible to type the dots that interspace the IP address.
These bugs are a shame, because the S710 is almost perfect for users looking for a lightweight handset that is also good for email. When closed up, the device looks unobtrusive and could be just a standard phone. Opened up, the keyboard allows for quite a reasonable input speed when composing emails and text messages,
The S710 is a quad-band phone with GPRS (and EDGE) capability, but does not support 3G networks. However, it does have Wi-Fi capability for browsing the Internet when in range of an access point.
A full review of the HTC S710 will appear in a future issue of IT Week.
Business phones launched at 3GSM
Here's the line-up of business handsets launched at the 3GSM World Congress 2007 in Barcelona. You can click each image to see a bigger version.
Read our write-up of the launches for details of what each handset offers.
HP iPaq 514 Voice Messenger:
Toshiba Portégé G900:
Toshiba Portégé G500:
RIM BlackBerry 8800:
Nokia E90 Communicator:
Nokia E65:
Will Apple's iPhone appeal to business?
Apple managed to confound its critics in style at its Macworld show by announcing a product that many people (myself included) believed to be nothing more than vapourware; the iPhone.
The device, which combines the functions of a camera phone and an iPod music player, looks most impressive and is sure to be a hit in the consumer market when it ships later this year. After all, most iPod users seem fanatically devoted to them, and almost certainly have a mobile phone as well. Who wouldn't rather have just a single device to carry around, provided it can fulfil both functions equally well?
But I wonder whether Apple might also find some interest from the enterprise market. Many workers have been crying out for a more intuitive user interface in their mobile devices, and if the iPhone lives up to the early hype about its high-resolution touch-sensitive display, then the company could be onto something.
Even more significant is the built-in 4GB or 8GB of storage, which is primarily there for the iPhone's music player functions. There must be mobile developers out there that are even now dreaming of the kind of applications they might build with this much local storage available in a handheld client device.
Of course, many executives are virtually wedded to their BlackBerry, and enterprises have generally preferred to adopt a Microsoft-based strategy for mobile and wireless applications.
But another factor in the iPhone's favour is that it runs OS X – the same operating system as Apple's desktop systems. This should mean that existing developer tools can be used to build applications for the device, and there are a great many programmers already familiar with these tools.
Depending on how similar the iPhone version of OS X is to the Mac version, Apple might have just handed developers a robust and high-performance platform for mobile applications, one that might give Microsoft's mobile division serious cause for concern.
The iPhone is most definitely worth keeping an eye on.
Vonage V-Phone may be stymied by security
Vonage's recently announced V-Phone is a USB memory stick with a difference; it has a built-in voice-over-IP (VoIP) client, and a jack socket into which you plug an accompanying headset to make voice calls.
The concept behind V-Phone is one of those ideas that seems brilliantly simple with hindsight; you should be able to make a VoIP call from just about any Internet-connected PC, if the software to do this were more widespread. But just about
every PC has USB ports, so why not put the software on a USB device, and carry it around with you? This way, you don't need to install anything, and you don’t leave a data trail behind you, either.
Perhaps the most surprising thing about V-Phone is that it actually works; my previous experience of Internet phone calls led me to expect a crackly, hissing line, with frequent complete breaks in the sound.
Instead, V-Phone provides perfectly good audio quality. At times it was a little quiet, but the Vonage Talk client provides separate volume controls for both the incoming audio and the mic level, allowing you to adjust the sound to suit both you and the person at the other end of the line.
However, anyone hoping to get cheap calls wherever they go in the world should be aware of two things that can get in the way; privilege levels and firewall configurations.
I found that you need administrator rights on a system in order to run the Vonage Talk client, or even to access the V-Phone's built-in Flash storage. I don't know whether hotels and Internet cafés routinely leave their public-access PCs running with full admin privileges, but locked-down systems will prevent you from using the V-Phone.
Then there are firewalls. The Vonage Talk client needs access to a number of UDP ports to make IP calls, and these may be blocked by a firewall on both the PC and the Internet gateway of any network you are connected to.
I was unable to make a connection to the Vonage server from the network in IT Week's offices, for example. At home, I had to temporarily disable the firewall on my Windows 2000 system in order to make calls.
The V-Phone costs £19.99 in retail, with a subscription to the service costing £7.99. This lets you make unlimited calls, and Vonage also assigns your V-Phone a number so that other people can reach you whenever you have the device connected to a computer.
Palm Treo: then and now
I took the opportunity to snap the new Palm Treo 750v smartphone alongside an old original Treo 600 for comparison. As you can see, the new Treo has no antenna, and its keys are actually slightly larger than on the old model.
The major difference, of course, is that the Treo 750v runs Windows Mobile 5.0 instead of a version of Palm OS. Will this make the new model more appealing to corporate buyers in Europe?
IT Week’s news story which covered the new Treo’s announcement can be found here, and a full review will follow at a later date.
