Getting more done with converged device?

[echernosky]

Are people getting more done with these new converged devices?

I know that being connected all the time is attractive. Very attractive! But I wonder, are people accomplishing more now that they're connected all the time?

Of course I understand that we can send/receive e-mails, browse the web, check weather, read rss/news, IM etc... things that we couldn't do with our previous unattached devices (like my present hp 2215)

Are these devices helping us achieve more in life or are they just alot of fun to have?

Ed

[Ripper014]

Wouldn't you think it would be the other way around...??? Having a seperate phone and PPC would seem the way to go with me. Isn't easier to access your PPC to make notes while your on the phone if they are seperated devices...? Unless of course you have a BT headset... but then that could be the same if you had a dedicated phone. A converged device has a smaller screen allowing less realestate to do work so I can't see how it could be more productive... but if for some people it means actually carrying their PPC's then I guess I can see it.

[JesterMania]

Of course I understand that we can send/receive e-mails, browse the web, check weather, read rss/news, IM etc... things that we couldn't do with our previous unattached devices (like my present hp 2215)


I'm not really understanding you when you say you can't do these with a regular PPC. You can do all of these if your PPC supports Wi-Fi (such as my hx2790). Ultimately, it's up to what purpose your PPC is used for. My first and only PPC, being an hx2790, has a 624MHz processor and I couldn't imagine running anything less than that, as my primary usage of my PPC has been a laptop substitute. It must be fast and handle a variety of applications/games. Most converged devices sacrifice "computing power" to pack the phone feature and a bad-quality camera into it. Given that most of these converged devices have no regular SD/CF support (mini-SD...lol), slower processor speeds, less filestore, and maybe even a square screen (240x240...ouch), I think converged devices are best for people who regard a PPC more as an organizer and less as a PC. I'm not saying converged devices are organizers at best, the ones with 640x480 VGA screens are quite attractive, but I'm just emphasizing the difference in power/storage.

Both have their advantages though, as the converged device is a 2-in-1 deal. You just have to ask yourself what you're using the device for.

[r@dimus]

A lot of people must think so otherwise Blackberries and other smartphones would not be so freakin popular.

I don't know if it lets people get more done or just be able to handle some issues more quickly and somewhere other than at their office. If your a manager whose job consists of approving stuff a lot, or getting status reports and updates from subordinates, and you can handle all of that over email then such a device lets you do that from wherever you can get a signal. The same goes for tech support workers and consultants who can handle most of their issues over email.

Consquently, these things can make it too easy to work too much. Usually to the detriment of social and family life.

Although mostly I think they're a lot of fun.

[darkdestroyer]

I think it's the keyboard on the converged devices. I no longer need to whip out my stylus and sit down to reply to emails. I can just flip up the keyboard and just my thumbs to type as I go about doing my tasks. Also the phone tools are very important. TXT messaging is much easier with a dedicated phone and the ability to ignore callers with an SMS message is extremely nice. Contact dialing is also easier with a converged device because one no longer needs to flip through pages of contacts with millions of clicks. You can now tap on their face (via photo speedial as today plugin) and Bam, your calling them.

The above can be accomplished with separate devices but who would want to whip out their iPAQ, use it to "dial contact number via bt", then switch to his phone and talk. (THat was my previous setup)

With a converged PDA my day has gone a lot easier. Pockets are lighter too. I also didn't sacrafice much speed (624Mhz down to 520Mhz Samsung i730), speed in everyday task isn't noticable at all. Actually I havn't noticed a speed differece period. WM2003se Samsung i730 > WM2003se iPAQ 4700 in terms of regular usage.

My .02$

[Darius Wey]

Are these devices helping us achieve more in life or are they just alot of fun to have?

Staying connected is half the fun. The other half is having your contact list on an all-in-one device. It gets messy when you try to keep them separate on two devices. ;)

[Darius Wey]

Wouldn't you think it would be the other way around...??? Having a seperate phone and PPC would seem the way to go with me. Isn't easier to access your PPC to make notes while your on the phone if they are seperated devices...?

The problem here is, with one hand holding the phone, how do you use the other hand to simultaneously hold the PDA and write? Now I could see this working if you had a table to rest the PDA on, but it's hard to imagine this happening when you're on-the-go.

Unless of course you have a BT headset...

...which I would definitely recommend with any Phone Edition device. :)

but then that could be the same if you had a dedicated phone.

Not really. The headset is a lot smaller, and it can be clipped on to your ear. The phone can't.

A converged device has a smaller screen allowing less realestate to do work so I can't see how it could be more productive...

It might have a smaller screen size, but the typical QVGA resolution remains the same. A lot of the reasons for why a Phone Edition might be more productive are expressed in Janak's recent front-page post. (http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=48066) I think he really nailed the key points. Of course, there are exceptions, and as always, YMMV.

[r@dimus]

Are these devices helping us achieve more in life or are they just alot of fun to have?

Staying connected is half the fun. The other half is having your contact list on an all-in-one device. It gets messy when you try to keep them separate on two devices. ;)

I keep almost 550 contacts synchronized between two PC's, a PPC, a Blackberry, and keep a smaller subset of those sync'd between one PC and a phone. My Dell X51v syncs with Outlook at work and at home with no trouble. The Blackberry 7780 wirelessly syncs it's address book with Contacts at work with no trouble. A change made on either device, or on either copy of Outlook, gets sync'd all around with no problems. At home I keep a subset of my most dialed contacts in a subfolder under Contacts in Outlook called Phone and the software for my Motorola V180 keeps that sync'd. It all works and it was not that hard to set up.

Where's this mess you speak of?

[r@dimus]

The problem here is, with one hand holding the phone, how do you use the other hand to simultaneously hold the PDA and write? Now I could see this working if you had a table to rest the PDA on, but it's hard to imagine this happening when you're on-the-go.

Simple. Hold the phone between your head and shoulder. When you're done making notes, go back to holding the phone with the other hand.

Unless of course you have a BT headset...

...which I would definitely recommend with any Phone Edition device. :)

Problem is now you've got Bluetooth running all the time, further reducing your battery life. Second, you've opened your PPC up to being pwned within a 30m or better radius from wherever you are. Probably not a likely event, but a possibility nonetheless. Third, you end up keeping the geek muff clipped to your ear, looking like a Borg in the beginning stages of assimilation with a little blinking blue light on the side of the head.

I wonder if they'll come out with a geek muff with a red laser shinging out the front of it.

[Nurhisham Hussein]

Problem is now you've got Bluetooth running all the time, further reducing your battery life.

BT drain on battery life is negligible - I've never seen much of an impact on either my cellphone or my PDA.


Second, you've opened your PPC up to being pwned within a 30m or better radius from wherever you are.

Set visibility to none, and only allow paired devices to connect - very basic security measure but at least you can now control access.


Third, you end up keeping the geek muff clipped to your ear, looking like a Borg in the beginning stages of assimilation with a little blinking blue light on the side of the head.


In my case, the headset blinks red :lol:

[r@dimus]

Second, you've opened your PPC up to being pwned within a 30m or better radius from wherever you are.

Set visibility to none, and only allow paired devices to connect - very basic security measure but at least you can now control access.

Run some Google searches on "bluejacking" and I think you'll see that this approach really doesn't secure much of anything.

Is it likely that you'll get bluejacked? Probably not in most situations, but as more people use Bluetooth enabled devices the script kiddies might pick up on this for fun and profit. Converged PDA's with GRPS and Bluetooth can have sensitive data on them (ie. lot's of people probably keep some sort of password locker installed on theirs). Then there is the fact that at some point these things will get connected directly to a PC, so there's exploits to be had there as well.

It's an issue to be aware of, regardless of the level of risk.

[Darius Wey]

Where's this mess you speak of?

Ah, Crackberry. ;) Try another phone (e.g. Nokia, Sony Ericsson), and I can tell you now that it's not as simple.

[Darius Wey]

Set visibility to none, and only allow paired devices to connect - very basic security measure but at least you can now control access.

Run some Google searches on "bluejacking" and I think you'll see that this approach really doesn't secure much of anything.

Fair enough. Simply turning off discoverable mode might not be the most secure method, but if you disable all services, that's something else.

And back to the topic of battery consumption, I also believe it's negligible. I can let my Phone Edition go for days without a charge and still have Bluetooth running 24/7.

[r@dimus]

Where's this mess you speak of?

Ah, Crackberry. ;) Try another phone (e.g. Nokia, Sony Ericsson), and I can tell you now that it's not as simple.

I'll take your word on that. The last time I used The Nokia Data Suite they had not added the ability to sync with Outlook. I'm hoping to replace the Crackberry and the phone with a Nokia 9300, so I guess I'll get a taste of that again.

I do sync my Motorola V180, but like I said with a subset of my full contacts. This mainly due to the fact that trying to navigate that many contact items on this phone is a pain.

The funny thing is, the only time I've really had any sync mess was with Activesync. If I ever had to break the partnership or install the program it always wants to do a combine or replace the PDA data with that from the PC. A pain, but managable.

[r@dimus]

Set visibility to none, and only allow paired devices to connect - very basic security measure but at least you can now control access.

Run some Google searches on "bluejacking" and I think you'll see that this approach really doesn't secure much of anything.

Fair enough. Simply turning off discoverable mode might not be the most secure method, but if you disable all services, that's something else.

And back to the topic of battery consumption, I also believe it's negligible. I can let my Phone Edition go for days without a charge and still have Bluetooth running 24/7.

Okay, two reports of Bluetooth have nill effect on battery life. That's good to know.