Beyond The Specs

So i know there are lots of applications out there for travelers, as someone who travels a lot i still havent found what i am looking for. When i travel i have a few routine needs.

1. Flight Times & Calendar Integration
i need to know what time my flight is, and have that information put on my calendar. I need that information updated automatically if it changes, either by my direction or by the airline (e.g. Cancellation).

2. Upgrades & Seat Assignments
i need to be able to request and view status of upgrades and also view and change my seat. Would be great to have seatguru.com information integrated to help with my selection.

3. Flight Status Notifications
while #1 will reflect that in my calendar. I need some type of notification feature to pop up and tell me there has been a change. Right now i get a sms from my airline and an email. Which is nice but would love it to be part of this app too, and run as a system process so it could just pop up in my notification area on my mobile.

4. Weather forecast
i need to pack for these trips. Would be great the night before to tell me what the weather forecast is for the trip duration and location i am heading to and tell me the day i return as well (not fun to leave chicago a 50 for BKK and come back to a blizzard).

Thats all i want! What about flight tables for all the airlines, flight tracking, schedules for airports? I just dont do that. For that stuff i pick up the phone and it’s handled for me. There are very few business travelers who will try to self manage their flight plans when a major incidents arises that would mandate the need to know flgiht tables, airport schedules, etc.

I want all of this in an app that has both a widget for my homescreen and a full app if i want more. I want the notifications to run in the background. I want to be able to just link this to my travel records with my frequent flier account information. And i would pay about $100 for it. This is real utility that right now takes time out of my day to do and i would rather have that time back for my family and friends, and i think a lot of really frequent fliers would use it.

Some may say Worldmate. I do like that program but its not fully integrated. I want my information in context to the way i run my life. Ideally i never have to open up the main app.

United as you listening? I am a Global Services member, help us out? Or Worldmate team, lets get going!

Anyone out there have something they love?

Chock this up to a rant, but the advancement of technology and minituarization has been amazing over the last decade. What the latest wonder devices can do is truly amazing. Its great that my phone can record video, get email, stream BBC, update my friends on my lastest conquest. But what good is all that if you can only do it for 6 hours. I am en route home from a business trip to LA where we had an exec board meetings. So as we are all gathering for the midday meeting, and greeting one another, about 3/4 of us were searching the room for plugs for our phones and/or computers. I will admit i am a “power user” but i believe the devices that are marketed to me should perform their intended function for the duration needed by users. The mighty iphone on a corporate exchange server will last no more than 6 hours with actual use (e.g. Actually writing the people back that write you), Blackberries do fair significantly better lasting a good day or real use, but they suck for anything more than email. The mighty Nokia N900 i am typing this on has lasted only 8 hours and thats with it in offline mode for about 4 of those houirs (though i am writing this post on it). If we turn these devicespassive and just let them recieve information vs create then youl might make a day, but then whats the point of that? The web in your hand but don’t actually check the scores.

At this point i want no new features from the mobile landscape, i want more time to use them. Part of the problem is design driven. Designers all wan thin, small, and light. Don’t get me wrong. I like those too. But only when they enhance function. Take the n900 and the Motorola Milestone (or Droid is verizon). They basically have the same specs but the Moto is thinner and has a bigger screen and has a bigger battery. In the next round i am sure that Nokia will become smaller and svelte but screw that, stay this form and beef up the battery. I want 2500 mah in a handheld. I know it can be done aftermarket, but there are compromises when the aftermarket community has to make up for manufacturers. Take the Mobijuice pack. Those things are huge! Your ihpone is no longer the slender pocketable partner in crime. It becomes a jug of a device, but is instantly useable the entire day. Manufacturers need to solve for this at the high end/ business targeted end of the market. I bet Apple could do a much better job build additional battery capacity at the onset of design than Mobijuice can create an appendage. Now we as consumers and users are at fault as well. Rise up! Stop making excuses for your devices. The tech exists, ask for a couple more grams and a fewq more millimeters so you can make it through your day. Don’t say you can carry another battery, or the device is a tech marvel you can’t expect it to last an entire day. Hogwash. And for those that say carry a spare battery? With the exception of the Samsung Blackjack i have yet to see a viable portable way to keep a spare battery charged. I freaking loved that little spare battery and case that had a micro usb connector. Not to mention good luck keeping a spare back battery cover around, because the plastic tabs that keep them attached break after about 100 removals or so.

The point is the utility of all the technology in the world goes to zero without the power needed to run it. So manufacturers please more power please, so i can do everything i see in the commercials… Anytime during the day i want…

My rant is now over…my n900 is about to die. Shame that when i go to the Civial Rights Museum in memphis after i land that i won’t be able to take any pictures. But man the last 8 hours have been grand.

So i have been using the nokia n900 for about 2 months now and have been putting it through it’s paces. This mini review will cover my thoughts on the device as my main email tool for both personal and professional use.

Set-up
All of the major email providers are supported with Nokia providing all the pertinent application settings. Just put in your user information and it all gets set up automaitically for you. Cool. Its also has a SUPER smart logic that senses when certain cell companies require you to use their smtp server to send mail. For example with at&t, they require you to use cmwx.com as the smtp server, or your mail will not send. Well the settings database in the n900 knows that, and so if you have the AT&T sim card in it will use that smtp server to send your mail. But the really cool thing is that it will automatically use that server when you are on the cell data connection but the standard server when on wifi. Very very smart.

Settings & Flexibility
You can easily adjust the settings for the frequency that it retrieves mail (5 minutes is the most requent), but you can not easily set the size of the messages that it recieves. It has its own set of rules. It fetches all of the message text but does not fetch images unless told, and attachments also have to be manually fetched. This is a bummer because if you are like myself now and on a plane you have to remember to both open the messages and request the images and attachments. Not smart, and not practical if you have lots of messages.

Personal Use
For personal email use the n900 is sufficient. Google, yahoo, aol, all work and co exist together. There is nothing special or remarkable about the experience but it works great for casual email.

Business Use
Most of us have a lot higher demands for business email devices. We have to link to corporate servers and integrate with existing IT policies. We have to be able to forward, reply, save and add attachments, and work offline and online. The list of requirements becomes significantly more taxing. We need a bullet proof device that just works and dissappears. This is where the n900 fails horribly down and i am actually shocked at how poorly it performs.

IT Infrastructure Compatibility
The first major issue is compatibility. I work for a large multinational corporation (Fortune 100) that has tens of thousands of employees around the world. Like most large companies we run a microsoft exchange server and a blackberry enterprise server. Also like most large companies it’s data integrity and security are paramount, so they enforce encryption and security settings. If all of that sounds like your situation, the n900 is not going to work in your work environment. It does not support encrypted communication and the enforcement of security policies on the device. You can go to Maemo.org and search and read the huundreds of posts on the subject. The lastest firmware update brought compatibility for Exchange 2003 in addition to 2007 but the big caveat is that your IT admin can not require secuirty policies (like lock codes and auto wipe) on the device. Right now Nokia’s stance seems to be that those policies conflict with the open source principles or some crap like that and to go to your admin and ask to have the policy changed. That’s completely not an option, as my email data IS extremely sensitive and there is no way my IT dept is going to go for it. This is a huge problem. For those that have use the Mail For Exchange program on other Nokia devices particurlarly the E Series. This a departure for Nokia. All of the previous E Series devices and most of the most current N Series devices (e.g. n86) have supported security policies with Exchange servers. But if your exchange does not require security policies then you ARE compatible and push email works very well.

If your company has moved to the google platform for its email, then you are able to get to your email just fine. But other PIM sync functions will still be missing (more on that later in another post)

Business use in action…
So assuming you can actually get it synced with your corporate email, how does it stack up for business use? Overall there are some particular issues you should be aware off. First there is no efficient search function for mail boxes and folder support is not well implemented. On the search function, this is not an issue for me as i normally only keep the last couple of days of email on my device so its not hard to find what i need in my inbox. If you are used to keeping a larger inventory or are accustomed to that behavior then that could be a deal breaker for you. The next issue is folder support. Currently Mail For Exchange doesnt natively support multiple folders. So you have to pick a single folder for it to sync, and its not partical to open up the settings change that often as it can take quite some time to sync. So if you are used to using multiple folders this will be a deal breaker. The third limitation is that if you are using a regular IMAP account you can not tell the device to retrieve ALL of the message. So offline working is not efficient. This a huge problem for me. I do a huge volume of email on planes. And need access to attachments and images in my emails. If you are primarily reading text then you wont have a problem.

Soooo.. Is it good or what?
For light personal email use the N900 is sufficient. The keyboard is great and the email client is reasonably fast. For business use the n900 is not ready for prime time and you should carefully look at your IT dept requirements and also how you work to ensure you can work within it’s limitations at this time. I fully expect this will change with future firmware updates from Nokia. But its important to note this MUST be fixed by Nokia as Microsoft’s Exchange protocol is not a open platform and is licensed.