Striking the right balance with mobile devices (Galaxy Note 8)

Tuesday, February 26th, 2013 Tom Truong, Product Manager

Remember when I had a hard time choosing which tablet to bring with me to MWC 2013? Well Samsung just made it even harder with their just announced Galaxy Note 8”. How is it different from the recent Galaxy Note II? I got a hands-on this morning at the Samsung booth and here are my initial impressions. While the original Note had a solid “oomph” and weight for a phone, the Note 8 seems to be a bit too light for a tablet–the plasticky feel is even more pronounced with the wider bezel design. Other phone makers are going for a ‘right to the edge’ screen, so the Galaxy Note 8 feels like a bit of a step backwards in design. What do you think?

On the other hand, the software and hardware on this device are definitely improved from the original Note–the S pen finally works the way a real pen should (no lag, no need to hold the pen at a special angle) and it feels natural to the jot down notes, diagram some ideas–all very slick. Still a bit awkward is how one is supposed to use the S Pen. There are about 8 or 9 apps to showcase the S Pen–I was able to jot notes, edit photos, annotate, and share. Some of the apps are more of a novelty, and my general sense is that it feels like it should just be a single notepad app that prioritizes basic functions and lets users discover more advanced capabilities intuitively and on their own.

So how did I fare with my device selection on the first day of MWC? I decided to bring a small, yet manly, hand bag which stored my iPad Mini, Galaxy Note, some biz cards, and a portable 4000 mAh battery. I pictured myself getting to a table somewhere to take notes and write another post.

WRONG.

Mobile World Congress is a behemoth of a conference with some local news stations estimating the crowd to be about 100K people. My iPhone was great at my hotel where I had iPass Wi-Fi roaming (wasn’t subjected to the free guest access that was limited to 256Kbps and 100MB transfer), but at MWC, I had to go to specific places to get on the conference supplied Wi-Fi. This meant taking my devices in and out a lot–so I pretty much left my tablet in my bag the whole day. Both smartphones were very useful for the intermittent connectivity, and I especially liked how my Android was able to smoothly transition between the prepaid sim I bought and the Skype/Talkatone app whenever I had Wi-Fi.

In retrospect, I would have kept things super light and just brought one smartphone for the first day. With decent iPass coverage in Barcelona and Wi-Fi at the event itself, I had enough connectivity to schedule meetings, send emails, and keep in touch throughout the day.

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Which mobile devices should I bring along to Mobile World Congress?

Monday, February 25th, 2013 Tom Truong, Product Manager

As the smartphone product manager at iPass, the question of which devices to take with me actually comes up on a daily basis. There are usually 7 to 8 devices that manage to find a spot in my bag, but today was going to be different. I had to pack for four jam-packed days at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, and space and battery life were going to be key considerations.

The phone candidates were:

• Samsung Galaxy Nexus – a good Android device that has NFC, but how prevalent was NFC going to be in Barcelona? Also, battery life would be good for 4.5 hours and then it’d be a gorgeous desk weight.
• Apple iPhone 5 (64GB) – This is my personal device, with tons of music and room for photos. They battery life seems to be worse than previous iPhone incarnations, but could still muster about 6 hours of moderate use.
• Samsung Galaxy Note – aka the Android “phablet”. Okay, so it might look a bit ridiculous with its 5.3” screen against my ear, but I barely use it to talk anyhow. Running the latest Jellybean OS, the year-old device already feels slow, but the upside is definitely its 9+ hour battery life with normal use.

Here, I went with the iPhone 5 for the storage, battery life, and the competent picture & video capabilities. However, I couldn’t resist the possibility of the phablet device possibly being the jack of all trades for all the phone stuff as well as being an e-reader for those long trips, so the Galaxy Note found a spot too.

Now was the tough choice: which tablet to bring? Consider the options:

• Apple iPad 3rd generation – My favorite tablet for much of 2012, it was also the heaviest one. The retina display on it makes it great to use remote desktop software like LogMeIn or CloudOn to easily access all my corporate resources. They battery life wasn’t too shabby either, usually lasting about 8 hours.
• Apple iPad 2nd generation – This one has absurdly good battery life, still running over 12 hours after more than a year of battery charges. Sure, it doesn’t have the retina display, but it’s also a bit thinner and lighter than the 3rd gen. One small detail that makes the 2nd gen great is that it has twice the ram as the first gen, and it isn’t finicky about needing a high amp charger like the 3rd gen.
• Samsung Galaxy Tab 7” – If you thought holding up a 5” phablet to your head was strange, then you’ve yet to see me with my Galaxy Tab. Back in 2010, I bought this 3G-enabled Android tablet with the goal of flashing the European firmware on it so I could use it as a phone too. The fact that I still have this 3 year device around is a testament how ahead of its time it was. The sad thing about it is that I haven’t had time to upgrade the OS on it, it’s sputtering along with Froyo 2.2.

• Random thought: the older Android OSes seem to actually run faster on lesser hardware and also had better battery life with the smaller batteries they packed. Case in point: this device still lasts a whole day and evening of heavy use.

• Apple iPad Mini 8” – While this one is definitely thin and light with a 10 hour run time, I haven’t found an ideal time to pull it out over a phone or a full-sized tablet yet. Not having a retina display could be part of the reason I don’t reach for it as much. That said, it’s still a great screen and size for reading books.
• Microsoft Surface RT 10” – I love the idea of having a keyboard and kickstand built into a sleek slab. This may be the work tablet for the economy class flyers like myself. Having Microsoft Office and USB ports is a breath of fresh air in the world of mobile devices. I haven’t found it to run any longer than 6-7 hours, but it seems to be the low end of what is acceptable for battery life.

Considering all this, I decided to give the Surface RT a shot. Perhaps I could even use it as a laptop replacement. I also found room for the iPad Mini. I’m not a fan of typing on it since the keyboard takes up so much of its screen, but its size, weight, and battery life won me over.

All right, with four devices, it may not seem like I made any real decision, but for me, this is a personal best in terms of slimming down. Hey, 4 out of 8 ain’t bad. I’ll follow up with another blog entry as I push these devices to the limit during my trip to Mobile World Congress.

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Wi-Fi on the Apple iPhone and iPad will never be the same again…

Wednesday, January 23rd, 2013 Tom Truong, Product Manager

“Your app status is Ready for Sale.”

As any iOS app developer knows, there is an indeterminate mixture of excitement and relief when these words show up in your inbox. It’s often the culmination of weeks and months of friends, colleagues, and customers asking when the app will be available. It feels like you cannot get to the next phase until this notice of approval.

And getting approval isn’t a one-time event, as we start all over again for every upgrade or bug fix. The anxiety for a major upgrade can be incredibly high–one that our merry band at iPass had just survived with the arrival of iPass Open Mobile v3.0 for iOS.

So what’s the big deal with v3.0? For iPad and iPhone users, the basic matter of knowing which networks to use is almost the entire user experience. With v3.0, iPass networks are now labeled in the standard iOS Wi-Fi network list.

The new world for our users is simply this:

1. Get iPass on your iOS device.
2. The iOS Wi-Fi network list will now tell you which networks are iPass and will log you with a single tap.
3. Now every time your device sees the same networks, it will automatically connect you just like at home and on corporate networks.

Other than finding more hotspots and checking on your data usage, our users no longer even have to launch iPass Open Mobile to get online at any of our hotspots.

At over one million hotspots, our users can now expect a seamless auto-connect experience across Windows, Mac, Android, and now, iOS operating systems.

Being able to guide our users to the iPass service by integrating right into the normal user experience on Wi-Fi is a huge win for the end-user and a fantastic milestone for our team. Well done team, and happy connections to everyone in 2013!

Get the app today! >>

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