Hype and reality
by Volker Weber
Currently my #1 mobile device: Lumia 920. Reasons: excellent camera, outstanding display, quick. With quick I mean, I can get to stuff really quickly. When I am idle, I am moving more important stuff to the top of my front page.
But I find myself not using the features that Nokia touts as innovation:
- Wireless charging. It's great that you can put the phone on a surface and have it charge automatically. Why am I not using it? I don't have enough of those charging pads. The single charge pad I have lives on my desk. There is none on the coffee table or at my night stand. I do have a microUSB cable at these places so I just plug it in.
- NFC. It lets you pair Bluetooth devices and you can move stuff from device to device. Unfortunately, none of my favorite Bluetooth devices has NFC: Nokia BH-905i, Plantronics headsets, Jawbone Jambox. In theory you can move photos, videos, vCards etc via NFC. In practice this only works between devices from the same vendor: BlackBerry to BlackBerry, Samsung to Samsung, Nokia to Nokia. How do you share? You mail stuff to yourself (or other people).
- Supersensitive touch. Did you know this phone works with your gloves on? Or that you can use any pen? That's a really cool demo feature I have yet to use.
Most likely I just have to order more accessories. If in doubt, always white. ;-)
Reading a book on the Nokia Lumia 920
by Volker Weber
This week I have been reading a Lee Child book on my Lumia 920. The experience has been rather pleasant. I did not expect that.
I am a Kindle user. I love the black & white epaper display. And the Kindle travels with me, whereever I go. But last week, I wanted to leave it behind, because I was about to use Nokia's eBook application. It gives you access to the Nokia store where you can buy books crippled with Nokia's DRM scheme. That used do be the exclusive road to reading content on the Lumias. Then Nokia changed their minds and you can sideload epub files through your Microsoft SkyDrive account.
The Lumia 920 has a large screen with a resolution beyond what my Kindle provides: 1280 x 768 pixels. That is plenty enough for a crisp display that lets you read without falling asleep. You can select any of five font sizes, it lets you lock the screen rotation so you can read on the side (this should be a system wide setting), and you can have either black on white or white on black. Click through and zoom in with the loupe to see how crisp the display is.
There is one catch: if you read on a Kindle you never worry about your battery. It just last a month or more. Different on the Lumia. The phone never goes to sleep and the gorgeous display needs a lot of juice. The Lumia turned quite warm and I had to eventually plug it in. I tried both black on white, and then white on black, but that did not seem to make much of a difference.
That's only an issue if you read four hours straight. If you just read short pieces on the bus, it should not make much of a difference. In my case however, four hours is short. I can read 16 hours in one go, which usually means I read each book in one session. The Lumia does not have enough juice for that.
How BlackBerry 10 connects to your enterprise
by Volker Weber
If you understand German, read this. Otherwise, read on.
There is some confusion about the use of ActiveSync in BlackBerry 10 and how you would provision BlackBerry 10 devices with Exchange and Domino. So I sat down with RIM last week and drew up some architecture charts. Here is what I learned.
BB10 devices have a personal perimeter and a work perimeter. The personal perimeter is controlled by the user, the work perimeter is managed by the enterprise. Both perimeters have their own file system and apps. And they don't touch.
The user can set up email accounts to connect to GMail, or any other public server. They can also set up an Exchange ActiveSync account and provision themselves, if their enterprise lets them do that. However, all data will reside in the personal perimeter.
The work perimeter works similar to the current BlackBerry architecture. It connects to the RIM infrastructure. On the enterprise side you have a server, that also connects to that infrastructure. BB10 devices talk to your server through an end-to-end encrypted connection just like your current BlackBerrys do.
However, there is one important change. The current BlackBerry Enterprise Server (BES) has a sync component that connects BES with your Exchange, Domino or Groupwise Server, and it will forward mail, contacts and calendars to your BlackBerry. With BB10 that sync component goes away. Instead, the BB10 device talks Exchange ActiveSync, through that secure connection, directly to your collaboration server. For Exchange that means, BB10 devices will connect like any iPhone, just from inside the company. For Domino that means, you will have to run Traveler to support your BB10 devices. And yes, IBM will need to support BB10 devices on Traveler. Ask IBM about it.
If your security requirements are low, you don't need a RIM server at all. You can just let users connect the BB10 device to Exchange or to Traveler and you are good to go. If you need the security that RIM provides with current BlackBerry devices, you install a server, buy BlackBerry service from your carrier, and then you manage BB10 devices just like you do today.
Dropping the sync component gives you one additional benefit. You can manage multiple BB10 devices for one user. Currently it's one BlackBerry per user.
What about iPhones and Android devices in that scenario? RIM will provide container apps next year, that let iPhones (or iPads) and Androids use the same secure BlackBerry connection.
I still have some open questions that RIM cannot answer yet, since the answers involve contract issues with the mobile operators. For instance: how do you provide BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) for personal use. BBM depends on the RIM infrastructure.
The biggest benefit of the BB10 architecture is in the BYOD space. Enterprise can manage the work perimeter witout touching the personal perimeter. If you set up a draconian password policy, users will only need to unlock the work perimeter, not their personal perimeter. They can install Facebook, Twitter, etc. without ever touching your business data.
Now the BB10 device just have to be sexy enough that users actually bring their own.
My start screen
by Volker Weber
Windows Phone lets you bookmark almost anything to the start page. Apps, music, books, etc. Hit a tile for a record and it starts playing immediately. Go back to reading your book? Hit the tile.
Some of those tiles are live. The two weather tiles for instance, the photos tile, the battery indicator (54% after 15 hours). Some will show a count like the phone, messages and email tiles. Calendar shows the next appointment.
And you just flick your start screen up and down to glance at all that information. This gets addictive pretty fast. I expect my screen to get much longer over time.
The screenshot above is only 800 x 150. The original on my Lumia 920 is a whopping 4090 x 768. Very crisp. I like.
BlackBerry 10 Launch Event to be Held on January 30th 2013
by Volker Weber
Research In Motion (RIM) (NASDAQ: RIMM; TSX: RIM) announced today that it will hold its BlackBerry 10 launch event on January 30th, 2013. The event will happen simultaneously in multiple countries around the world. This day will mark the official launch of its new platform - BlackBerry 10, as well as the unveiling of the first two BlackBerry 10 smartphones. Details on the smartphones and their availability will be announced at the event.
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Rebranding takes a while
by Volker Weber
RIM in Zahlen
by Volker Weber
Letzte Woche habe ich ein paar Zahlen gelernt, die ich nicht für mich behalten will, aber auch gerade nicht anderweitig brauche. Also raus damit.
RIM weltweit:
- $2,3 Milliarden Cash: keine Schulden
- 80 Millionen Subscriber
- 60 Millionen BBM-Nutzer
- Mehr als 3 Milliarden App Downloads
- Mehr als 200.000 BlackBerry Enterprise Server
- BlackBerry-Netzwerk mit 650 Partner in 175 Ländern
RIM in Deutschland:
- 80% Geschäftskunden und 20% Consumer
- Steigerung BES Aktivierungen um 13,3 Prozent gegenüber dem Vorjahr
- 13 Prozent mehr Geräteinstallationen bei Top 50 Kunden
- 625 neue Kunden mit BES-only Installationen
- 24 Prozent Steigerung bei T-Support Kunden
Noch ein paar Fakten zu Deutschland:
- 450 der Top 500-Unternehmen in Deutschland nutzen BlackBerry
- Alle DAX-notierten Unternehmen nutzen BlackBerry-Lösungen
- Sämtliche Regierungen der Bundesländer nutzen BlackBerry
- Bochum ist erstes RIM Forschungs- & Entwicklungszentrum außerhalb Nordamerikas
- Bisher wurden über 20 Millionen Geräte, die in Deutschland entwickelt wurden, verkauft
Traue keiner Statistik Rhabarber Rhabarber Rhabarber. Das sind natürlich alles positive Zahlen unter Auslassung negativer Indikatoren. Trotzdem beeindruckend.
Windows Phone 8 and background tasks
by Volker Weber
Windows Phone 8 can run tasks in the background. But it won't run apps written for Windows Phone 7 in the background. The track on the left is correct, and then I switched to a different app. Upon return, I pulled up Sports Tracker again and it just connected from the top most point to the end point.
Jared Levy: NYC Dark
by Volker Weber
Unterwegs mit Apple, Plantronics, Nokia
by Volker Weber
Ich bin gerade mal wieder unterwegs. Und ich reise mit kleinem Gepäck. Da oben sind meine derzeit wichtigsten Utensilien:
- Das iPad ersetzt mir das Notebook. Unterwegs brauche ich eigentlich nur zwei Anwendungen: iA Writer und Keynote. Mit dem Writer schreibe ich Texte, mit Keynote halte ich Vorträge. Dazu Email, Twitter, Google+. Alles drumherum ist nett, aber nicht wirklich nötig.
- Das Plantronics Backbeat GO war ein echter Zufallstreffer. Es ist leicht, isoliert mich von den anderen Fahrgästen in der Huschebahn und funktioniert einfach. Ich wünsche mir noch etwas mehr Intelligenz, beispielsweise die Ansagen des Voyager Legend, und die Möglichkeit, mehr als ein Gerät zu pairen, aber auch so ist das schon ein tolles Gerät.
- Das neue Lumia 920. Ich find's einfach super. Es ist breit und schwer, aber das bin ich auch. Ich mag das Windows Phone, und in Version 8 ist es noch mal besser geworden. Ich habe ja schon im Detail geschrieben, was mir alles daran gefällt. Und diese Woche hat gezeigt, dass ich mich nicht selbst hypnotisiert habe. Ich habe nicht mal mein BlackBerry ausgepackt.
Das Headset verbinde ich übrigens mit dem Telefon, damit ich Anrufe mitbekomme. Microsoft hat eine Windows Phone 7 Connector genannte Mac-Anwendung, mit der ich Musik aus iTunes übertragen habe. Das funktioniert zwar, hat aber reichlich Verbesserungspotential. So kann man nach Playlisten, Künstlern und Genres auswählen, aber nicht nach Alben. Das Lumia kapiert auch nicht die Reihenfolge bei Alben mit mehr als einer Disc. Compilations sind dem Music Player ebenfalls fremd, so dass unnötig viele Künstler das Angebot unübersichtlich machen. Da hat Microsoft noch ein bisschen was zu programmieren. ;-)
DNUG und IBM - "it's complicated"
by Volker Weber
"DNUG - The Enterprise Collaboration Professionals" nennt sich die DNUG, die einmal als "Deutsche Notes User Group" gestartet ist. Der Name ist Programm. Man will mehr sein als ein Verein von Notes-Benutzern. Und das beunruhigt die IBM, oder präziser das Marketing der IBM, oder noch präziser, einige Marketing-Mitarbeiter der IBM.
Genährt wird diese Beunruhigung vom Programm der Herbstkonferenz der DNUG. Da tauchen mit Jive, Microsoft, Novell und Salesforce.com auch andere Hersteller mit ihren Produkten auf. Muss sich die IBM mit ihren Produkten fürchten? Ich glaube kaum.
Dies ist die 37. Konferenz der DNUG. Ich war zum ersten Mal bei der 7. dabei. Das war 1997 in Frankfurt. Zu der Zeit legte Lotus Notes erst so richtig los. Und es war vor 15 Jahren schon totgesagt. Seit dem ist viel passiert. Die Mitglieder der DNUG haben viel gelernt, was über die Nutzung eines Software-Produktes hinausgeht. Lassen wir mal das Denglisch weg, aber hier trifft man tatsächlich Menschen, die professionell eine computergestützte Zusammenarbeit betreiben. Die Produkte haben sich verschoben. Wo man früher mit Fileservern und Notes arbeitete, trifft man heute Sharepoint und soziale Netzwerke an.
Bei der Einführung und dem Betrieb solcher Lösungen gibt es neue technische Herausforderungen, aber die selben alten organisatorischen Hindernisse. Wie gestaltet man, wie motiviert man Mitarbeiter, zu teilen und teilzunehmen. Da gibt es so viel Erfahrung zu vermitteln und auszutauschen, dass die DNUG auch über Notes hinaus eine Mission haben kann.
Der neue Anspruch will mit Inhalt gefüllt werden. Da reicht es nicht, einmal ein paar andere Hersteller zum Vergleich antreten zu lassen. Die DNUG kann auch nicht der verlängerte Marketing-Arm der IBM sein. Keynote-Vorträge, bei denen altgediente IBM-Mitarbeiter ihren Foliensatz herunterbeten, locken keine Teilnehmer mehr an. Die Propaganda-Maschine hat längst neue Kanäle gefunden, frohe Botschaften zu verbreiten. Wer gerne Geschichten liest, die die IBM gut findet, der kann sich dort informieren.
Aus Lotus wurde "IBM Collaboration Solutions", aus der Deutschen Notes User Group die "DNUG - The Enterprise Collaboration Professionals". Wird die DNUG jemals eine Interessenvertretung von Sharepoint-Nutzern, Jive-Anwendern oder Salesforce.com-Kunden? Kein Chance. Die sind längst woanders organisiert. Aber sie kann sich um das IBM-Portfolio herum breiter aufstellen. In 2012 sind 15 neue Firmen Mitglied geworden. In Fulda hat man eine "Boygroup" von etwas jüngeren IBM-Mitarbeitern konkrete Neuigkeiten von Connections 4 vorführen lassen, statt "Death by Powerpoint" zu veranstalten (ein paar Slides gab es natürlich). Ich finde das gut. Und ich meine, IBM sollte das auch gut finden.
PS: Der Designer des neuen Logos ist eine Naschkatze.
Nokia 920 - the first week
by Volker Weber
Last week Nokia sent me the new Lumia 920 with Windows Phone 8. Over the course of the week I have posted quite a few remarks. Without a final verdict so far. I just like to let things sink in a bit.
Time to come to a conclusion. Actually, two conclusions:
- Nokia has done an outstanding job. I did not find a single flaw in the Lumia. It's a wonderful phone, it has the best display I have seen so far, I just love the design and the materials chosen. It's fast, has a great camera, voice calls are perfect, it did not drop a connections once, neither a voice call nor the Internet connection. It may be a bit big and heavy but I do like it just as it is.
- Microsoft however has not finished their homework. The Windows Phone ecosystem is very incomplete. I can do a lot more things with an iPhone than I can do with a Lumia. It does not matter how many apps there are in the Store, as long as the ones you need are available. And that's simply not the case for me. I cannot control my Sonos system in style (yes, some 3rd party second rate apps, but none from Sonos), I don't have a Google+ client nor one for Path. ZDF Mediathek is available but not Tagesschau or Arte. There are just a lot of front page apps missing.
I can work around those things since I also carry an iPad where ever I travel. It fills in the missing blanks. And since I can tie both machines into Skydrive, I can move files back and forth.
One more thing: There has never been a device that fell off the table as often as the Lumia 920. I dropped it at least six times this week. There is nothing broken, no scratch anywhere, just a tiny ding in one of the corners it fell on. But why is it happening? The Lumia is extremely slick with a glossy finish. That makes it pretty, but it also slides easily on hard surfaces. And I have plenty of those. If you connect a cable and let it hang over the edge of a glass table, that's already enough to pull the phone over the edge if you bump the table or the phone vibrates.
Anyway. I love this thing.
Mixed Tape 48 "Prime Choices" is out
by Volker Weber
01 VOICES | VAGUE-À-BONDE | 3:06
02 NU INDIE | THE JUST | 3:47
03 SIDEWINDER | PAPA LE GÁL | 3:30
04 WOLFMOTHER LOVER | MYKONOS FLAME | 3:41
05 RAILROADS | ASHLEY MACACHOR | 2:28
06 ACORNS | JUST KIDS | 3:16
07 FALLING A LITTLE | JOANNA COOKE | 4:27
08 SINGING WITH LOVE | ANTIENTERTAINERS | 3:57
09 FLYING HIGH | KALI & EVIL NEEDLE | 2:48
10 PAIN | SOULAR | 7:15
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Nokia Music is kinda awesome
by Volker Weber
I am playing around with lots of devices. That lets me try iTunes and Google Play. I get to upload my own music to mobile devices, I am using Spotify and Rhapsody. But I have yet to put my teeth into Nokia Music. Boy, did they have a bad start with Ovi, but now I am getting the hang of it.
What's important to know is: there is no sign-up.
Got that? No registration, no login, no monthly fee. Yes, there is a store, but you don't need to go there, if you don't want to.
What I have done here is upload a few Coldplay tracks. You can select by artist, album, let it play random, you know all that. But then it pulls in more information from the web. A photo album, the gigs the band is going to play.
And then you just go ahead and let it stream stuff from the web. So you get more songs than you have. It's kind of a radio. You can skip a song you don't like, until you hit your limit that the record companies allow until they think this is not a radio.
You don't have to upload any of your tracks. Nokia Music has lots of Mixes you can chose from. And you can just mark four of them to be available offline. And once you are online again, you can refresh them and get new songs on your phone.
And it kind of looks cool, doesn't it? Did I mention you are not paying a thing?
Making Windows Phone work with Mac
by Volker Weber
If you get this stupid error message, you need to go to this menu and allow access to your music folder. I was scratching my head for quite a while until I started hunting through the menu.
It's quite easy once you know what to do. ;-)
Another interesting GBS filing
by Volker Weber
Another $1,000,000 loan at 20% interest, first priority security, plus options to purchase 500,000 shares of common stock at an exercise price of $0.20. And finally, the company borrows $145,000 at 20% interest from the German subsidiary to pay the October payroll.
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Quote of the day
by Volker Weber
When lawyers roamed* the earth.SM
— Rob Novak
Der Himmel fällt uns auf den Kopf. Mindestens.
by Volker Weber
Bei RIM will man aktuell wirklich nicht die Pressearbeit machen. So schreibt Tagesschau.de:
Mitarbeiter erhalten neue Smartphones
US-Pentagon kündigt Blackberry-Vertrag
Klare Sache, BlackBerry fliegt raus, nicht wahr? Lesen wir mal genauer.
Das US-Verteidigungsministerium hat angekündigt, seinen Exklusiv-Vertrag mit dem Blackberry-Hersteller Research in Motion (RIM) aufzulösen. Das Ministerium habe bereits andere Smartphone-Produzenten wie Apple um Angebote gebeten. Wenige Tage zuvor hatte schon die Immigrationsbehörde mitgeteilt, sie schwenke vom Blackberry aufs iPhone um.
Klare Sache, BlackBerry fliegt raus. Oder?
Das Verteidigungsministerium will Bl