Productivity on your smartphone in transit

I find myself in transit for 12.5% of my conscious day. That’s a lot of time spent on a train, in a bus, or in a car. Some days I can’t help but close my eyes and daydream of more pleasant things. (Not usually while driving.) Other days I make the most of my commuting time by knocking off a few tasks directly with my phone. What, besides email, do I usually do? In no particular order:

• Back fill the rest of my day in my calendar. We track time for billing purposes at work, so it helps to keep this logged so it’s a straight transfer at the end of the week.

• Create tasks from emails. A combination of Flexmail and Pocket Informant allows you to do this quite easily by copying the body of regular text-based messages into the notes portion of your task to give you context. The only gripe is how many embedded menus you have to scroll through to get there. I have a quick snapshot of how below:

Screenshot of how to create a task from an email in Flexmail

• Organize inbox. Messages can be moved and filed very easily, even with the native Outlook mobile application.

• Backup my phone. It’s good to do this once in a while, particularly on the windows mobile platform. I’d be lying if I said I’ve never had my device lock up on me to the point that a hard reset was in order. With that said, the WM Standard (non-touchscreen) variants are far more stable than the Pocket PCs.

• Create meeting agendas. I’m in meetings for more than 50% of my work day, and I end up running half of those. Word processing on your mobile devices isn’t great on a 2.4″ screen, but it’s sufficient for simple things like meeting agendas or simple notes.

• Listen to podcasts. Ok, I know this one doesn’t necessarily imply productive work, but it is if you listen to more educational casts like TedTalks or GTD virtual study group.

I can do all of these things directly from the Samsung Jack, although the podcasts are much better suited for the iPod Touch. Some of these activities take longer than others. I’m planning on commenting about the platform and processor issues (i.e. it can be slow!) in a future post.

The list above isn’t comprehensive, so I’ll keep adding to it as other ideas come up. And of course, contributions are welcome…

PSp

Blackberry Pearl – Why It’s Not My Main Device…yet…

The Blackberry is synonymous with the business world, and by extension (rightly or wrongly), productivity. So why don’t I use the Pearl as my main smartphone? That’s a good question, because from pure gut feel alone, it is my favorite device. This instinct is not comprised of any direct objective qualities; I simply like using it the most. However, if I had to break it down to a science, I would qualify my preference based on:

Sound quality: I love the way this thing works simply as a phone.

Size: Reminds me of the old Audiovox SMT5600 I used to use: easy to carry and ridiculously durable.

Suretype: I must be in the minority, but I find I type just as fast with this keyboard as I do with a full one. From what I read, you either like it or you don’t.

Auto light sensor: I know, this one’s pretty ticky tack, and the iPhone has this feature as well, but it’s been implemented really nicely by RIM.

Voice dialing: Their built in application is better than Microsoft Voice Command in my mind. Did I mention that MVC costs a pretty penny?

Now that wasn’t so hard; I guess there’s a science to everything.

So back to the question: why don’t I use the Pearl as my main device? The answer is email.

BIS or BES and other thoughts

Blackberries are known for their incredible implementation of email functionality with their Blackberry Exchange Server (BES). Unforunately, their consumer Blackerry Internet Server (BIS) isn’t quite as powerful and doesn’t lend itself well to managing emails outside of your inbox. That is an absolute productivity killer. Even if I was willing to pay for my own BES plan (far more expensive than BIS), I would need to have my company’s IT department support this for me. This is not something I’m overly comfortable with on a personal device. (Coincidentally, I have just placed an order for one that is provisioned by work, so will have a new toy on our BES in a matter of a week or two – I predict more blog entires in the near future.) There’s actually another option for those of you wanting full access to Exchange Server: Astrasync. Astrasync works much like ActiveSync on windows mobile devices, which provides direct integration with your MS Exchange Server. It seems cheaper than paying for a BES plan with your carrier, but may still be considered a bit costly at $50 a year (this is the equivalent of 50 lottery tickets, 35 cups of coffee, and just under 10 Big Mac combos).

A secondary consideration is the lack of 3g. Data speeds are horribly slow when doing anything other than checking email, although more tolerable with Opera Mini as your browser. The lack of 3g also prevents you from being able to receive emails at the same time as being on a call. Once you hang up, you are bombarded with a slew of emails that are queued up waiting for your connection to open.

Any other knocks I can think of? I guess memory is an issue in some people’s books, but I have actually yet to experience any significant problems in that regard.

If I had it my way and BIS was able to better handle integration of email folders, I may be tempted to turn in the Samsung Jack (which is far from perfect but better than what die-hard mobile enthusiasts would have you believe). So for now, I stick with my trusted but infuriating-at-times windows mobile phone, and wait for the itch to pull the trigger on something new get the better of me.

Are you using the Pearl or another BB on BIS? If you are, I would love to hear about how you organize your inbox…

PSp