June – 2010 – TechVirtuoso

Decision is final: Apple’s failure is sending me to Android

June 29th, 2010 at 8:28 PM No Comments Michael Stanclift

First it was Eric Iles and his abandonment of Palm WebOS.
Then it was Shane Pitman to quit his crack addiction and give up the Blackberry.
Next came Frank Owen and his betrayal of his longtime Windows Mobile.
And now, it’s my turn. I’m giving up my long time lust for the iPhone platform and making the migration to Android.

Ever since the iPhone supported Exchange, I’ve been a huge supporter. I’ve spent two good years on the iOS with my iPhone 3G. My job bought it for me back in 2008 and I got it shortly after launch. It was a solid phone with a lot of good things to say about it. I evangelized to everyone I knew about how they should get an iPhone, how it’s the best smartphone around. I got a 3GS for my wife, I’ve told countless other family members to get one. In most ways, when it was introduced, it was the best thing around. But things have changed.

When the iPhone 4 was announced, I followed the WWDC keynote with great anticipation. I ooh’d and aah’d at all the advances in design and software. When pre-orders started, our company bought 11 to start, and we waited until last week when they finally arrived (early) from AT&T. I rushed across campus to rip open the box and activate my new toy (err) tool. There it was, the iPhone 4, before most anyone else on the planet had their hands on one. I took pictures, I tweeted about how amazing it looked, how the screen was fantastic (it is) and how fast it was compared to my 3G.

Taking it home that night, I started to notice something was a little off with my phone. In Kansas City, AT&T really is the top carrier, and with my 3G, reception was never an issue. I can think of only one place in the city where coverage is any type of issue, and it’s not an area I frequent. So with the iPhone 4, the fact that I was only holding 4 bars at maximum, and typically 3, seemed a bit odd.

Later, I realized I was on EDGE service with hardly a bar to see, for most of my time before I jumped on my home wireless. As I started reading the news on various gadget blogs, I quickly realized I was suffering from the antenna problems that were plaguing almost ever other early adopter.

I dropped a few calls that weekend, including one to my father who seem’d to have lost my mother, but I could make due. The view from most of the people within the Apple world was that it was firmware related, and would be quickly fixed. Then Steve Jobs opened his mouth.

“You’re holding it wrong.” … or something to that affect.

Excuse me? (more…)

Please, stop asking me if you should get an iPad…

June 23rd, 2010 at 10:44 PM No Comments Shane Pitman

…because the answer is still, and forever will be, NO! I am in and out of many businesses throughout my work week, and it seems that I’m asked this same question at least once or twice a week. People, please, stop falling for the …”but its pretty” or, “I saw this guy who had one and…” traps. Yes, it’s sleek, and yes, you saw someone else using one, but believe me, its beauty is only skin deep, and the person you saw using one, they now understand that previous statement all too well, and it’s killing them.

To put it bluntly, the iPad is a glorified e-reader. Nothing more. The list of things that you can’t do with it far outweighs the list of things that you can. Why would anyone opt for a device that costs a whopping $699, and doesn’t include mobile broadband connectivity (the same unit with a 3G radio costs $829), has no webcam, will likely never never have full flash support (thanks Steve /rolleyes), can’t connect to any USB device (no USB ports), and has a maximum capacity of 64GB? BUY A NETBOOK!

Did you get that last sentence? Buy a netbook already, seriously. If you need ultra-portability, and want to actually be able to use your device in a productive environment, then a netbook is most certainly more in line with what you need. And guess what? You can get an awesome netbook for much less than the cheapest 16GB iPad. But please, don’t take my word for it. A simple Google search will reveal that I’m not alone in my opinion of the iPad.

Research, inform yourself, take a look at reviews, such as CNET’s recent compilation, and then make the right decision based on what you actually want to achieve with the device. But please, if you’re a business user, stop asking your IT people what they think of the iPad, because we think it’s a toy, and that you should grow up, oh, and chill on the Axe, it reeks.

The Calm Before the Storm – HP Tech Forum 2010

June 21st, 2010 at 11:36 AM 1 Comment Frank Owen

I am on the ground in Las Vegas at the HP Tech Forum 2010 at the Mandalay Bay. This event will show HP and their partners newest technolgoy and how they plan on making the “Converged Infastrucure” that we have been hearing about fall in line.

I will be attending keynotes, hands on sessions as well as trolling the floor and talking to the many HP Partners that will be presenting at the expo. I will be tweeting about anything I hear and see that I find interesting and snapping shots and uploading them to Flickr as the day goes by.

If you have anything you would like to see or if you want to get answers about specific technology from HP Execs let me know!

Disclaimer: HP has provided my flight and accomidations for this event. However they have no control over the content I produce. My opinions, tweets and blog posts are my own.

I finally left Windows Mobile, for Android

June 1st, 2010 at 10:26 AM 1 Comment Frank Owen

For the majority of my adult life I have owned and adored Windows Mobile phones. I remember the first one I saw was from HTC dubbed the Blue Angel. At the time this device seemed way to large and bulky to carry in your pocket on a daily basis so I passed. Soon after, I started to hear about the MPx200 and loved the specs and size. As soon as they became available in my local AT&T Wireless store (which turned into Cingular, and is now back to AT&T) I picked one up and I didn’t look back…. until last week.

I received my previous Windows Mobile device, the Touch Pro 2, last October. Overall it has been a good device and it lasted me over 6 months without a major problem. An impressive feat considering most devices only last 3 months without my need to seek out a replacement. I was getting bored with the Touch Pro 2 and Windows Mobile and so I got the choice of a HTC Snap (oh heck no), a HTC Hero or a Samsung Moment. I didn’t particularly like the design of the Moment so I went with the Hero.

I love some of the new features of the new Android device, like Visual Voicemail, push email on multiple types of email accounts and merging contacts/calendars from multiple sources. All of these items are things I wish Windows Mobile offered but never could find a way to do it.

After using the Hero for a week I am beginning to think the Moment might have been a better choice. Sense UI seems to cause some problems on the underpowered Hero processor and the on screen keyboard has been hard to get used to. Some of the features I am surprised that are missing are features enterprises would look for, like enforced security options as well as remote wipe and remote lock. I know these are available as third party apps but without these features built into a centralized console security conscious businesses will continue to shy away from the Android platform.

If Google wants to continue to pull business away from the Google Apps platform I think they need to figure out how to include these advance security features into Android as well as Google Apps.