RSS feedsWhen is a smartphone not a smart phone? That’s the big question for IT departments, but particularly for the small owner manager who lacks the resource of dedicated technical support personnel to help them out if things go wrong.
Take the Sony Ericsson K800i. This is not a smartphone. Granted, it has a diary section and, given the right software and connection, it will link and synchronise to a PC or Apple Macintosh. You can add memory cards, it will hold lots of contacts and it will send and receive emails from multiple accounts. But this is not deemed a smartphone by many people. For that you need to add even more functions. The ability to read email attachments and open office documents is one of them. The ability to integrate with some sort of office network rather than synchronise with a single workstation might well be another.
Looking smart
So, should you advise your clients to look into this and adopt a smartphone strategy? There are two ways of looking at this. First, the positive: a lot can be achieved with one of these devices. Reading emails and attachments on the move and updating small Office documents without a laptop is an asset. The ability to check your diary and make appointments is another.
The real utility of these phones becomes apparent when third-party software is added and when the devices are deployed in a networked environment. Danish company Handstep recently released its TeamCalendar application, which works across Windows Mobile phones and handheld computers. The user logs onto the calendar through the phone and this looks exactly like a mobile version of Microsoft Outlook then enters an appointment. Under the bonnet, this appointment is then entered into the central system at the office level, so if a colleague needs to schedule some time with them later on, they can see the person’s availability immediately.
Are you sure?
The downside to smartphones centres mostly around security. Anything that carries data and synchronises with a desktop computer is a potential source of a data leak. Employees carry gigabytes of sensitive business or client data on these devices, which could represent a security risk if they are lost or stolen. There is also great potential for the introduction of viruses on the company network through these devices.
Another area to examine carefully is the technical limitation of some smartphones.
The Nokia N95, for example, is intended by its manufacturer to eliminate the need for a laptop. In many ways it does which is why it can take the owner some time to realise that on the occasion they want to use their laptop in the field and connect to the internet using their Bluetooth mobile phone, the N95 won’t act as a modem.
Smartphones can deliver incredible benefits to a mobile workforce, but you must consider the business benefits first. If you are not going to be looking at attachments and scheduling in groups, don’t bother. The next step is to research the devices and consider every possible ‘gotcha’. After that there’s a good chance the phones will deliver exactly what is required.
The platforms
There are four software platforms on which mobile smartphones are developed:
• Microsoft windows mobile
Great for synchronising with Microsoft Office applications. Seamless, easily
networkable, but memory hungry.
• Palm
Palm-based devices are often less expensive than the competition as they use
less memory. They offer third-party applications that allow them to take in
Office-compatible documents and have their own diary, task manager and other
applications.
• Symbian
The market leader, which quietly underpins the majority of phones. Third-party
applications allow these to view Office documents and synchronisation with
scheduling applications is relatively simple.
• BlackBerry
The BlackBerry is a powerful phone. Some models have MP3 players and cameras
built in. If the main requirement is for mobile email they have the edge because
of their ‘push’ email function.
Guy Clapperton is a freelance IT journalist
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