Tech Bitch

The tipping point for widespread adoption of business mobility is upon us, and it will take new levels of performance, greater functionality and interoperability, and broad access to mobility solutions beyond the executive suite for customers and operators to realise the benefits of anytime, anywhere productivity and collaboration. Now is the time for business users to demand a new standard of intelligent business devices.

Designed exclusively for working titans, Nokia’s outrageously expensive E90 Communicator (£625) forms part of the company’s second wave of E-Series devices (there’s actually been eleven Communicators released over the last 10 years). Each E-Series device features a combination of relatively advanced technologies designed to enhance the way business users experience work in a mobile world, by allowing faster and better quality access to important information for greater collaboration and productivity.

Nokia’s E90 Communicator (132×57x20mm, 210g) is a brick compared to a regular mobile phone (even Apple’s iPhone), but it’s one of the most capable business devices in its class. Based on Symbian OS 9.3 (the latest release is version 9.5) and the S60 3rd Edition platform, the latest technologies at the core of the device bring business necessities and personal amenities to the hands of those looking for office autonomy. Fast and inexpensive connections over WLAN and HSDPA-enhanced 3G (up to 3.6Mbit/s) accelerate the mobile use of data- and transmission-rich applications, and integrated GPS helps finding routes and locating services.

Plus, two displays mean you can operate the phone however you wish - the inner active matrix colour display (800×352 pixels) is used for serious messaging, while the outer colour display (240×320 pixels) provides quick navigating of the phone’s most frequently used features. The E90 Communicator is also equipped with an FM radio, music player, video player and two cameras - a 3.2-Megapixel autofocus camera with flash and a second front-facing camera for videoconferencing (up to VGA at 30fps).

More important is its support for the most popular e-mail and business voice solutions, plus its ability to operate across different continents using quadband GSM (850/900/1800/1900MHz) and 3G network frequencies, in addition to broadband data connectivity with 3G WCDMA and WLAN. It supports POP3, IMAP4, and SMTP messaging protocols, as well as the ability to view, open, and edit e-mail attachments with Quickoffice (documents, spreadsheets, and presentations), create and open ZIP files, and read PDF files. There’s also a text-to-speech message reader.

Voice features include voice dialling, voice commands for menu short cuts, keypad lock, and profiles, as well as voice recording for making notes or recording conversations. Internet Call release 2.1 lets you make VoIP (Voice over IP) calls, there’s an integrated hands-free speaker for conference calling (or giving your arms a rest!), and Push to talk (PoC) is also supported.

Other key specifications include up to 128MB free memory for user data and applications, extendible up to 4GB with a microSD memory card, 802.11b/g, USB 2.0 port, Bluetooth, 2.5mm Nokia audio connector with ECI, and an infrared port. Nokia claims up to 5.8 hours GSM talktime, or up to 14 days standby from the fully-charged 1500mAh Lithium-ion battery (BP-4L). Despite the GPS aerial, the device does not come with pre-stored maps for UK roads. Instead, you get Nokia’s own Maps service, which allows you to download (using Wi-Fi or a 3G link) the cartography that you want for the part of the world that you are in or are travelling to.

Nokia’s E90 Communicator is bulky and butt ugly compared to most shiny handsets on the market today, but its no-nonsense features list makes it the easiest and most effective solution for business professionals to get mobilised. The keyboard is a joy to use, the device sits nicely on a flat surface, and the widescreen display makes browsing the Web and working with office documents a whole lot easier than other smartphones. Since the E90 Communicator’s Web browser shares similar code-base as Apple’s iPhone Safari browser, most iPhone Web Applications are accessible through the E90 Communicator’s browser as well.

Though it is pitched squarely at heavy SMS/MMS and e-mail users, the E90 Communicator is limited in significant ways compared to Windows Mobile 6 devices. Most noticeable, the device does not have native support for common HTML e-mail, nor does the supplied Microsoft Exchange client, Mail for Exchange, support folders. This means that you cannot access ‘Sent’ items created on other Exchange clients, or sort e-mail into folders.

However, it is the first device of its type to support the Blackberry Connect Version 4 software. Overall the E90 is a fantastic smartphone if you prefer its form factor over Nokia’s also excellent E61i. Its size and styling won’t appeal to consumers, but for no-fuss business users needing to stay in touch with the office and customers, it can’t be beaten. [9]

Today, pretty much everyone has a mobile phone and there are even those who have two. While some of us are still using traditional mobile handsets to make calls and send text messages, there is a growing percentage of the population that is using more advanced functionality, such as e-mail and payment services.

To all intents and purposes, mobile devices are a far cry from the simple handsets that took off so dramatically during the 1990s, moving from becoming a business tool to something that everyone had and quickly grew to depend on. We now manage our lives - both professional and personal - not only using our computers but increasingly using mobile devices.

When it comes to computers and the Internet, we’ve had more than twenty years to learn about the need to consider security, and in many cases, experience has taught us much about what to look out for. Whether it’s a virus or a phishing scam that has caught us out, we’ve come to realise that our use of technology can make us a target for those who want to make use of our personal machines to either spread their evil malware or attempt to profit from our misfortune.

We saw a similar scenario with mobile phones, albeit not with the volume that we’ve seen on PCs: mobile devices can carry sensitive information as easily as PCs and while malware for mobile platforms has not been on the same scale as for computers, threats have been seen, and as mobile networks are used for more and more purposes, it’s probable that the volume of malware will continue to grow. Therefore, it should be no real surprise a recent survey demonstrated that more than one third of us question the general safety of mobile devices and services.

So what does this really mean for you - for the individual making use of the functionality that your mobile device can offer? In the first instance, you’re by no means immune to the threat of malicious code and more than one in ten (14%) mobile users have already been exposed to mobile virus incidents, whether this is personally or knowing of someone who has been infected. In the old days of simplistic handsets on voice networks, this would be an inconvenience, but today, with mobile messaging and Internet use growing, more information is send and stored using our mobile phones, which - quite simply - means that there is more at risk.

It’s interesting to note that this incident rate, while seemingly small compared to the PC world, is actually eating into users’ confidence, and 80% of mobile users cite virus infection as a legitimate concern. Furthermore, irritation levels are set to soar as mobile spam continues to grow: more than a third (38.6%) of us receives spam on our mobile devices at least once per month. These two points alone make it clear that mobile threats are out there and slowly gaining ground, but become even more serious when it is highlighted that 86% of us are concerned about security risks such as fraudulent billing issues or information theft.

The challenge is how we can respond to such issues, especially as we bought into the whole concept of mobile devices based on them being a phone, with no technical expertise required to operate it. Regardless of that, as handset manufacturers have created more advanced hardware in-line with the services introduced by the network operators, we’ve all got a little bit of technological genius in our pockets and we need to know how to deal with that.

Security software for mobile devices has a lot in common with the programmes we have installed on our PCs at home and at work - it has to be advanced enough to deal with the range of threats we face now and in the future and it has to be kept updated. But where do we get it? We don’t walk into the mobile phone shop on the high street and see boxes of software lined up next to handsets and hands-free kits. With these challenges in mind, it’s worrying, yet not altogether surprising, to learn that 79% of us are knowingly using unprotected devices.

Neither is it shocking to discover that 59% of global mobile phone users feel that mobile operators should be responsible for this and 56% of us think that security features should be pre-installed on the handset … after all, we’ve got used to Internet Service Providers highlighting the value of their security.

Only time will tell if the same approach is taken by network operators but in the meantime, it’s clear that we need to use our mobile devices with some awareness of how much more than a phone they really are and use some common sense to avoid becoming a victim. We know that replying to spam on our PCs will only confirm that our email address is valid and in use, so the same approach should apply on mobile devices.

Furthermore, we know that an e-mail offering us money if we reply with our bank details is not really what it claims to be. Above all, we have learned not to launch attachments and download files in e-mails and we have to take the same cautious approach with messages to our mobile devices.

In the world of information security, a little caution really can go a long way and while there is no substitute for sound security technology, being aware of the threats and knowing what to look out for can help us to deal with the risks we face as we continue to get the most out of the miniature computers call our phones.

Thanks to Greg Day for getting this off his chest

Castle View School, a comprehensive school situated on Canvey Island, Essex, claims it has successfully reduced its truancy rates to 0.5% - this includes parent approved truancy - the total opposite of the recently published governing figures for 2006-2007, which, it is stated, show that truancy rates in England are worse than ever.

Castle View reduced its truancy statistics from 2% ten years ago using a combination of strategies - the presence of a dedicated Attendance Officer working within the school, computerised lesson resignation and a text messaging solution linked to its electronic ‘registers’. Non-attendance notification can be automatically communicated to parents and this has proved to be a good ‘deterrent’ to errant pupils.

Staff registers pupils’ attendance at each lesson, with the first period acting as the statutory morning registration. By running a report, the Attendance Office can monitor general attendance at school and also any trends affecting a particular lesson or subject.

Parents are immediately notified by text if their child fails to turn up for registration, with a request to contact the school to provide a reason for absence. The text messages are created and sent from the desktop through Text Message Server and delivered directly to the mobile phone.

There will always be a degree of absence because of illness and unauthorised absence, but it looks like general truancy can be identified and dealt with using modern technology. Well done Castle View for believing!

Onyx is a new UK company that’s carving out a niche for unique lifestyle mobile products. The first device in its mobile phone range is the Liscio, a miniscule handset that’s actually a rebranded Haier Elegance. Liscio is one of the most compact and lightweight phones on the market. Heck, it weighs just 60g! Its design is totally original, and its rounded edges make it perfect for emos and their skinny jeans.

Beyond the plastic exterior it’s equipped with tri-band GSM (900/1800/1900MHz), mirrored 1.10-inch OLED colour screen (96×96 pixels, 65k colours), 128MB built-in memory, Bluetooth v1.2, Micro SD slot, MP3 player and FM radio to blast out your latest tunes (the dedicated music buttons in the centre of the phone are useful), as well as a world clock, stopwatch, voice recorder and alarm clock. There are a couple of games too, though they are pretty basic.

The keypad is easy to use, but the jog dial on the side of the phone will take a little getting used to. Managing your contacts can also be a pain due to the size of the screen. Other grievances are modest call quality and a talktime of just 3 hours.

Sold as a SIM-free handset and available for £129, Liscio is worth a closer look if you’re looking to make and receive the odd call and don’t care too much about a large screen and tons of features. It doesn’t have a camera, or any data functions beyond SMS text messaging. For some, that should be enough. It’s totally gay for alpha males, but the chicks will definitely dig it. [6]