Mobile Communication Devices

Ben Poliakoff , System Administrator
Ethan Benatan, Director of Computer User Services

Objective: Identify a highly portable device that will provide seamless, easy access to email for Reed staff and faculty who are traveling.

We evaluated a 'Danger Color HipTop/Sidekick' with service from T-Mobile.  The HipTop is an interesting 'smartphone' that offers all of the standard services available on a GPRS device today:

    - GSM phone

    - GPRS Internet access:

        + web browser

        + email client

        + AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) client

        + PIM software

        + optional ssh client for remote terminal login

        + optional camera (newer models feature an integrated camera)

        + additional optional software (ringtones, games, utilities)

The form factor of the HipTop is more useable than that of many other smartphones.  This is primarily due to the screen orientation being in landscape mode (most smartphones and PDAs have a portrait orientation) and the cleverly designed keyboard (which is substantially larger than most smartphones or PDAs).  The availability of software for the HipTop is limited to offerings from Danger.  This software can be previewed and purchased on the device itself.

PIM (“personal information management”) data and email is automatically synchronized with T-Mobile's servers and is available via a web page.  In the case of a hardware failure, data is readily and automatically restored to a new unit once the SIM card has been transferred.  During the evaluation period the screen on the original model broke, a replacement unit was shipped (thanks to our subscription to an extended warranty service).  Once I transferred the SIM card, all data was automatically downloaded to the replacement device.  This was elegant and impressive.

Conclusions

While this technology is very exciting.  There are some very tangible shortcomings.

    - T-Mobile's coverage is spotty and the HipTop's radio could be

      stronger (apparently the HipTop II has better reception)

    - Data Bandwidth is limited (substantially slower than a 56k modem).

      This results in slow Internet access.

Improvements are coming along all the time.  As stated above, newer models of this device should have better reception.  But we'll really have to wait for 3G service (featuring bandwidth in the 300k/sec range) before we'll be able to enjoy using Internet based services on such mobile devices.

The speed/bandwidth issues are quite obvious to the user.  I would not recommend a large scale deployment of such devices to end users until notably higher data bandwidth is available.

_____________________________________________________________

Evaluation: Treo 650
By: Ethan Benatan
June 17, 2005

Summary

The Treo 650 is an excellent device for simply and easily maintaining basic email contact while travelling.  It excels at reading email and sending simple replies.  It is possible to use it for much more advanced tasks including web browsing, editing documents, shell access, and more.

Some users will make extensive use of thse features but others may be unwilling to invest the time necessary to learn a new interface, or may not tolerate the inherent physical limitations of a tiny screen and slow input.  The device is highly customizable.  The Treo is supportable in the Reed environment as long as the configuration is kept fairly standard and support staff have access to the devices to keep up to date.  The Treo 650 costs about $500 to buy and equip plus somewhere in the vicinity of $1000/year for service.

Evaluation

The field of portable email-capable devices is changing rapidly.  The following criteria were used to limit selection (in rough priority order):

 -seamless access to Reed's email infrastructure

 -ease of use

 -quality of service

 -supportability

 -cost

 -feature richness

Device Selection

The available devices include mobile phones with Symbian and other OSs,  Blackberry devices, PocketPC devices, and Palm devices. An initial evaluation showed that most of these are developed to work with vendor-specific solutions or with only insecure solutions.  Of all the devices those from Palm were a clear choice in terms of their support for open standards, security, and customizability to work with Reed's infrastructure.  In addition, the Palm user interface is mature, well-known to many Reed users, and well supported at Reed.  The Treo 650 was chosen because it offers substantial advantages over the other models in terms of battery life, persistent memory, data speed,  and screen quality.

Carrier Selection

Cingular was chosen as a provider because of the price, data speed, and coverage.  Other providers can provide the same device and other than these three factors the experience should be identical.  In particular, Cingular's service is apt to be best in urban centers and may be less good than some competitors' service (especially Verizon) outside these areas.  The device was purchased for $450 with a one-year contract at $70/month, which provides unlimited data transfer and 200 minutes per month of peak voice time.  Long distance and unlimited nights and weekends are included in the plan.  The cheapest Cingluar plan would be $50/month; a typical plan for an excutive would probably be $90-100/month.  The device was acquired with a one-year contract.

Device Highlights

The Treo 650 from Cingular is a GSM phone and Palm PDA integrated into one package. It includes a small, high-resolution screen; a small keyboard or "thumboard"; and a digital camera of modest quality that can also record short movies. It includes an expansion slot for a storage card, a standard 2.5mm headset jack, cable to connect to a computer for data synchronization, and infrared and Bluetooth connectivity.  As a cellular phone or as a PDA it has all the regular features one might expect: address book, to-do list, calendar, vibrating alert, SMS messaging, and so on.  The Treo has good battery life (hours of phone and online use; I've never run down the battery in one day).  It also has an easily removable battery so a spare can be carried; it is possible to change batteries without losing any information.

As a phone, the Treo is a bit larger than normal--about 6 oz where modern phones are often between 3 and 4 oz--but not particularly uncomfortable to hold like a telephone receiver.  However, use of a headset makes the device even more appealing because Palm features such as calendar and address book can be used during a call.   A wired headset comes with the device, and wireless headsets (using Bluetooth) are available for $50 and up. The Treo also features a moderately good speakerphone.  I would not choose to carry both the Treo and a separate cellular phone.  For occasional use of a smaller phone, the SIM card could be transferred to another device.

Data access

The Treo comes configured to automatically make a data connection using the cellular phone service.  This is analogous to a preconfigured modem dialup. No user intervention is required (though the device can be set to ask for permission before connecting).  Data service in urban areas is generally fairly good.  As cellular service quality drops off in dead spots or at the edge of a coverage area, data service drops off in speed.  The Treo cannot use non-cellular connections such as WiFi.  As with a phone line and modem (and unlike DSL) the Treo can be used for either voice or data, but not both at once.  It is possible to access Palm programs (eg calendar or address book) while using the phone.

The Treo is capable of acting as a cellphone modem, providing data service to a laptop.  This option is not supported by Cingular at this time but I was able to make it work; Cingular has indicated that they will support this service at a future date.  The performance at its best is a bit better than a modem connection.  It is not trivial to configure this, but once supported by Cingular it could be evaluated for consideration as a supported service.

Email service

Just like a desktop computer, the Treo uses an application program to access email.  A variety of Palm email programs ("clients") are available.  The Treo comes with two built-in email clients, but neither of them work well with Reed email.  The add-on program "Snappermail" was chosen because it is fully featured and integrates well with Reed's open-standards-based email systems.  Snappermail costs about $60 for the Enterprise edition (required to work with Reed security).

Once Snappermail is configured to work with Reed's IMAP service, it is capable of synchronizing with any IMAP folders on the server.  If it were set to synchronize all folders, it would behave just like any IMAP client (eg Thunderbird or Webmail).  However, the synchronization can take a long time over the cellular service, and storage on the Treo is limited.  So a more common approach is to synchronize just a few folders, and the most simple default setup is to have it synchronize only with the Inbox.

Snappermail is typically configured to download only part of long messages, for the sake of speed.  However, arbitrarily long messages and attachments can be downloaded as desired.  This setting can be made globally or on a per-message basis (the user can see the start of the message, then request a complete download).   Snappermail does a very good job of rapidly making the Inbox available.  I am in the habit of keeping less than 100 messages in my Inbox; I did not evaluate how Snapper might handle very large Inboxes.  After the first synchronization, updates usually take just a minute or two.

Addressing  email with Snapper presents a (relatively minor) challenge. Snapper does not easily synchronize with other email address books such as Mail.app or Thunderbird, nor does it automatically connect to Reed's directory server.  Snapper can use the Palm address book (called "Contacts") and it is possible to keep these addresses synchronized with a desktop computer.

Composing email with Snapper is straightforward.  Text entry can be done on the thumboard, or optionally may be done by writing with the stylus on the screen using the Graffiti text-entry system.  There is also an optional add-on full-size folding keyboard.  The choice between these modes of text entry is a matter of user preferences.

Email can be filed and deleted using Snappermail, though in order to file email to a server folder, that folder must be synchronized with Snapper.

Attachments

Snapper works remarkably well with attachments.  Working with another program, Documents To Go (included with the Treo), it is easy to view, edit, and send Microsoft Word and Excel files.   Text entry can be limiting; this can be overcome by using the add-on keyboard.  Screen size can also be limiting; this can be alleviated by printing documents if necessary.  It is also easy to view and send pictures, and to record and send short sound snippets (and receive and play them).  An optional memory expansion card (about $50) is a good idea when working with many (or large) attachments.

Web browsing

I did not evaluate alternative web browsers, just the one supplied with

the Treo. The lack of speed was an issue, mostly for poorly structured

sites which assume reasonable bandwidth and large displays; better (and simpler) sites were accessible.  It was for example not difficult to do a Google search for a nearby restaurant and then call them for a reservation, the whole process taking not much longer than it might have taken with a paper phone book.  Google, however, presents customized pages for PDAs and correctly identified the client; not all web sites work as well.

Printing

The easiest way to print from the device is to use one of the "internet printing" or "print to fax" features, in which the matter to be printed is emailed to a particular address, possibly including special codes in the email to define what should be done (eg print the email body versus an attachment).  A service then receives the email and routes the job to either a nearby fax machine or a nearby printer.  There is a modest charge for these services, which can be purchased on a subscription basis.

Customization

Because it is a PalmOS computer, the Treo is extremely expandable and customizable.  Thousands of third-party applications are available for it.

Conclusions

The Treo 650 is well suited to providing basic email service for those who are traveling.  It connects cleanly and securely to Reed's email servers, so no special setup or extra email accounts are necessary.  Snappermail offers a simple, easy-to-use interface to Reed mail that is consistent with other clients supported by Reed.

The Treo has some understandable limitations in screen size, data speed,  data coverage, and input methods.  Some of these may be acceptable to particular individuals, and some may be overcome (eg by using an add-on keyboard).

PDA support at Reed has been rather ad hoc in some regards, and users who have needed a device like this might feel like they are on their own at this point.  Standardizing on one type of unit could make it possible for CIS to do a better job of support.  The Treo would be a good and supportable choice for Reed users as long as it is possible to stick with fairly standard recommended configurations, and as long as resources are available for support staff to learn and test on and to keep up to date.

The Treo can also be successfully used as a short-term loaner, though in this case it would be essential to stick with a basic configuration and we would not be able to support desktop synchronization or other advanced features.  As long as the basic configuration is acceptable, it is quick and easy to return the Treo to a basic state and then set up email for a new user, and show them how to read and reply to email.

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