Managing Files on your Blackberry – File Manager Pro

Let me start by announcing that I am officially retiring the Samsung Jack as my primary device. I was issued a Blackberry Curve 8330 by my company with full BES capabilities, which renders my Jack obsolete. This will require a separate post to discuss at length, but a segway was necessary to bring us to the reason for this particular post – what do you do when you forget to bring your laptop to work?

This is exactly what happened the other day – working from home in the morning, with my laptop plugged in and on the phone, I ran out of the house to catch the next train and brought with me absolutely nothing…except my blackberry. I managed the day ok due to the fact that i spend 96% of my time in meetings anyway, but there was one thing lacking in using the blackberry as a temporary laptop replacement: the ability to work with zip file attachments.

File Manager Pro

Here’s an excerpt from the developer’s website (www.terramobility.com):

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File Manager Pro

Version 1.1

Intuitively simple. Powerfully advanced.

Introducing the new file and Zip archive manager for BlackBerry. Now you can quickly and easily manage all the files and folders on your device.

• All standard operations on file and folders, including recursive copies, moves and deletes.

• Create, extract and append to Zip archives.

• Select and operate on multiple files and folders simultaneously.

• Modify file attributes and sort file lists by name, size, date or type.

• Favorites list for fast access to folders.

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This is a relatively new application for the Blackberry that allows you to manage your on-device files. To quote the developer’s description, this application offers advanced features like selecting multiple files, sorting files by date, type or size, and letting users make a Favorites list for fast access to frequently used folders. More importantly, it allows you to zip and unzip files which you can then edit or view in Documents to Go or other office application.

I tried this one out a while back on the Pearl when it was in beta; it worked as advertised but was a bit slow in it’s operation (probably the device, but worth mentioning just in case). Well, I’m happy to report that this application is blazing fast in it’s operation on the Curve. The field test went smoothly: moving and deleting files, and unziping attachments were executed without a hitch.

This isn’t much of a review, I know, but is meant to be more of the start of a running list of software that will help make your blackberry a suitable understudy to your computer or laptop.

Note: And in case you were wondering what the WinMo counterpart would be, there’s none better than Resco Explorer…

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

Smartphone Devices for Productivity

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So let’s start with the devices that we’re currently using to increase our productivity. Mind you, there’s a limit to how many devices you can use at the same time before you start to lose productivity. (There’s an article in that thought for the future I think.)

A brief primer

There are 6 competitive smartphone operating systems to choose from:

• Windows Mobile (Standard non-touchscreen or Professional PPC touchscreen)
• Symbian (predominantly Nokia phones)
• Blackberry OS
• iPhone OS
• Palm OS (also known as Garnet OS)
• Andriod (Google’s new OS, currently out on the HTC Dream)

There are scores of information out there on each and it would take weeks to review them at length. I will leave that to the professionals, so you can check out comparisons of the first four here.

Each OS has it’s own strengths and limitations. Personally, I’ve always been inclined to go for Windows Mobile as I like the flexibility it provides as well as the seamless integration with MS Exchange server which my company uses to host email. The platform isn’t without fault, and I’ve had moments where I was just about ready to take a sledgehammer to one or more of my WM phones. All in all though, it seems to work (with the right amount of finessing). I”m sure there are many waiting in the wings to debate this point…

The Devices

So enough jabbering – here are the devices currently in use:

Smartphone devices

From left to right, we have: HTC Touch, Samsung Jack (or Blackjack 2), Blackberry Pearl 8120, and an iPod Touch for good measure. I know, the iPod isn’t technically a smartphone, but it has all of the same capabilities minus the (non-wifi) network connectivity, camera and a mic so am including it in our discussion.

This gives us a fairly solid breadth of experience among three different platforms. I’m eager to get my hands on a Symbian phone, but am paralyzed by the often discussed slow syncing of emails. So for the time-being, I remain out of the market for a Nokia phone (although the E71-2 has subtly caught my attention).

Unfortunately, the idea of carrying around 4 different devices is absurd enough to not do it more than once or twice, so what do I keep with me day-to-day? My primary workhorse is the Samsung Jack, backed up by the uber-revolutionizing iPod. I don’t think I could live without one or the other. The Ipod is essential for ease of note-taking (app: Evernote) and list making (app: ShopShop). I use Evernote as well on my Jack, but it expectedly cannot hold a candle to the usability of the iPod version. And of course, the defacto WM email syncing keeps me forever bound to the Jack. The HTC Touch is impressive for it’s time, but is a bit dated and can frustrate you to no end with the lack of hard buttons (notice that this is NOT a drawback on the iPod).

I have opened a few different doors and will be walking through each of these in due time. For now, I will leave you with these thoughts when it comes to picking the hardware to meet your needs:

Things to look for in a smartphone

The Operating System. See above and choose the one you like. Keep in mind that more mature systems (e.g. Windows Mobile, Symbian) have more 3rd party applications to choose from. The caveat is that both RIM and Apple now have appstores to make it easy for you to download what you want. And don’t forget about email integration. This will be the last time I mention it in this post, but the most powerful integration solution comes with Windows or BB BES. Everything is else is second place.

Keyboard. The most noticeable distinction between phones outside of the actual OS is the presence of a hard keyboard. How often to you plan on typing with your device? How stubby or slim are your fingers? I don’t actually have a strong preference one way or the other as I am just as quick to type on the Touch as I am the Jack, but my general recommendation is to go with a hard keyboard. In addition to providing tactile feedback, the keys make great shortcuts to different applications that can save you time with menu-intensive operating systems.

Physical Phone Size. How do you want to carry your phone? If you have a purse/murse, problem solved. If not, deciding whether or not to wear a holster can be a tough choice. The leather blackberry holsters can seem professional, and the more people that wear them the more natural it looks, but there are still some holdouts that find the “clipped to my belt/pant pocket/waistband” look ridiculously silly, especially in more casual attire. Here’s an example:

Holstered phone. Slick.

Horsepower. If you want to be productive, you need speed (cpu speed, not the drug which also eerily fits this sentence). Phone’s tend to lag when you try to do too much, which is one of the reasons why the iPhone doesn’t allow you to multitask aside from their music player. The CPU speed isn’t always indicative of how fast the device is; the make and model as well as the OS play a big part. Read some reviews, google some performance tests or actually try the thing first if you can.

Resale value. It may not be as important to you if you’re still carrying a Palm Treo 650 or if you’re with a CDMA (Sprint, Bell etc) carrier where the phones aren’t as easily interchangeable. But if you’re on GSM, you might be inclined to upgrade more often than your contract subsidizes for, which means grey market (craigslist anyone?).

What else do you look for in a phone?

Once we get into the tools, it will be easier to make a decision as what you get out of it should be driven by how you intend to use it to enhance your productivity.

PSp