Still, it’s worth pausing to look into what BlackBerry brought to mobile email, and to point out how iPhone and Android users can replicate some of RIM’s best features.

The Core Difference Between BlackBerry and iPhone/Android: Email

In full disclosure, I began writing this post after a bunch of former BlackBerry users moved to AwayFind.  I started digging deeper into what AwayFind had to do with BlackBerry, and it all made sense: BlackBerry is a server-to-server enterprise email tool with a mobile device serving as the frontend.  Android and iPhone are mobile computers with email clients as one of their applications.

What these different architectures mean for smartphone users:

• The BlackBerry Enterprise Server (BES) sits behind a corporation’s firewall and talks directly to a mail server, in realtime.  It stores all the mobile device’s settings, and thus only communicates with the BlackBerry when there’s something it needs.  The BES is designed to make email on the BlackBerry as fast and efficient as possible, and utilizing the phone (and its battery) only when necessary.
• Android and iOS devices check the email on their corporation’s mail server directly, over the internet.  This happens in one of two ways, either the phone asks every few minutes, “is there any new mail?” or the phone does its best to maintain a connection with the mail server(s) directly, waiting for a change in the inbox.  In either case, it takes up battery life, and is neither as quick nor as reliable.  Without a server in the middle, the phone does the hard work.

The reason for this is simple: BlackBerry is an enterprise email device; Android and iPhone are consumer devices with software that checks email.  If you’ve ever traveled with a laptop, you know that email software sometimes works great and sometimes works unreliably—email isn’t at the center of the universe on laptops.  And the same is true on Android and iPhone.

Without a server-to-server mail environment, iPhones or Androids will never perform the same as BlackBerry devices, but the gap in capabilities is narrowing.  There are now both native and third-party ways to bring the worlds together.

In case you’re curious: the parallel to AwayFind is that the AwayFind server talks directly to the mail server and only notifies an iPhone or Android device when necessary, similar to BES.  Since AwayFind uses the push notification service provided by Apple/Google, it’s usually faster than SMS.

Features that BlackBerry Users Miss on iPhone and Android devices.  And how to replicate them…

AutoText / Word Substitution

BlackBerry has a robust shortcut-> common phrase tool, that even lets you insert variables like the current date/time.  For instance “lmk” can automatically turn into “let me know.”

With iOS5, this is now relatively easy…but Android still hasn’t quite caught up.

On iOS, go to Settings > General > Keyboard > Shortcuts.  Type the full phrase in the “Phrase” and the abbreviation in the “Shortcut.”  You can see some of my examples to the right…

On Android, you most likely won’t find Auto Text with the keyboard that comes pre-installed.  Even Swype (the most popular third-party keyboard) does not include it.  Auto Text Keyboard is one the most popular apps for this.  Just be aware that when installing a tool like this, you are changing the entire keyboard on your phone, and not just adding Auto Text.

Once you have Auto Text available, I’d recommend taking a couple minutes to insert common phrases.  As you can see in the image above, I have shortcuts for my email address and common phrases.  For instance, “afloc” transforms into “I’m at 169 11th St, SF — http://bit.ly/sfawayfind” (which is my office address).

Blinking Indicator for New Emails

BlackBerry is perhaps best remembered for its multi-colored blinking LED, which let you know of various states for the phone.  By default, red means “new message,” green means “low battery,” and blue means “bluetooth.”  People were particularly keen on the red display (more on this in the next section, in the video especially).

On Android, there are many applications that allow you to customize the color and behavior of the LED, however not all work on all phones.  One popular application is called Blink (pictured to the right), which can display a particular color indicator for an SMS or phone call.  While this won’t let you know about new emails, you could use a program (like AwayFind ;-) that converts an email into an SMS to accomplish this.

On iPhone, you can navigate to Settings > General > Accessibility > LED Flash for Alerts and turn it On.  If you place your phone face-down on your desk, you’ll see the LED flash light up once for any notification.  There isn’t a way to set a persistent blink (without jailbreaking it and using a program like FlashEnhancer).

Notification of Only Certain New Emails

On BlackBerry, one can even further customize their LED to only blink for emails from certain specific people.  This is one of the most popular BlackBerry features, since it can be distracting to see a blinking light every time an email arrives.  A quick story about why BlackBerry users love this this:

If you use Gmail and Android, you have the ability to send specific senders to specific labels.  Then on the Android Gmail app, you can set specific labels to trigger a notification.  (On the Android Gmail app, Go to Settings, click on your email account, and then click setup both Email Notifications and Labels to notify.

At present, iOS does not offer this.  However, on iOS6, they’re introducing an Email VIP feature where you can star specific people.  Then, when those people email you, a notification will appear with the context of the message.

Even with these features, this need is one of the main reasons people come to AwayFind.  AwayFind offers this for both iPhone and Android, integrates with Exchange, Outlook, Gmail, and Google Apps, and can be deployed throughout a company (even for non-smartphone users through SMS).  It’s also much faster than the push functionality built into the iPhone and Android OS because AwayFind talks directly to the mail server.

Keyboard Shortcuts for Compose

On the BlackBerry, it’s always quick to create a new email. From the Home screen, you need simply press C (since there’s a physical keyboard!) to create a new email or SMS. There are all kinds of shortcuts for similar things.

While this might be possible with iOS’s new AssistiveTouch, it’s definitely not designed for this, and I wouldn’t recommend trying. Fortunately, tapping the Home button, clicking Email, and pressing Compose shouldn’t take more than 2 seconds. The Compose button is available from every email display view (except when you’re already composing an email).

On Android, it can take a little longer to navigate to Compose (about twice as many clicks in some cases), but you can use a gesture to navigate straight to the Gmail application. My Gesture Shortcut Launcher is one application to try, which will at least cut a few steps.

BlackBerry vs iPhone and Android for Email

If you spend all day replying to emails on-the-go, BlackBerry will be faster.  But not because of the above features—it just comes down to the keyboard.  Swype for Android may help, and the iOS keyboard is pretty good, too…but nothing beats a physical keyboard.

On the other hand, if you spend more time reading and processing email, then the bigger screens and easier navigation will make the email experience more pleasant, and perhaps as productive.

And, it goes without saying that iPhone and Android have a much larger array of both productivity applications and games.  From multimedia to news to task management, and even just keeping the device in sync (with things other than Enterprise mail), BlackBerry still needs to catch up.

How Have You Found the Switch?

While many individuals made the switch a long time ago, a lot of enterprises are going through the jump just now.  If you’re running into difficulties getting your users moved over, I’d be curious what challenges you’re experiencing?  Maybe there’s something I can help answer in the comments or in a future article…  Feel free to respond below or email me at jared A technotheory.com.

If you plan to travel domestically or abroad, I hope this will save you some money and help you travel lighter…while still staying connected (if you’d like). If you have other tips to share, I’d enjoy them, too!

Over the next 3 weeks I’ll be abroad.  I’m writing now from Keflavik, Iceland.  On Monday I’ll head to Barcelona, Spain.  That Friday takes me to Bangkok, Thailand.  And I’ll finish the week in Kowloon, Hong Kong.  The temperature gets hotter in each place and I’ll have some work to do, but this is mostly for fun.  Exact info are on Dopplr.  If you’re in any of these places at the same time, drop me an email and let’s get together!

I’m not going to pretend I’m the most well-versed world-traveler.  It’s been a while since I’ve visited Europe and I’ve never been to Asia (well, does Israel really count?).  So I needed to hit the web.  The following are resources and tips that were not readily apparent to me when I first started.  I hope they’ll help you!

Organizing With a Custom Map

For various destination I’ve made maps (some to share with others, some for just myself) that outline where I’ll be staying and where I’d like to visit…so as to get a feel for the transportation requirements.  I highly recommend creating a Google “My Map” in Google Maps by visiting maps.google.com and clicking the My Maps tab.  Then click Create New Map.

Search for a destination and then right click it and choose Add a placemark.  For more information on using custom maps in Google, visit the official user guide.

Finding Which Sites to Use

Maybe I’m exaggerating, but there appear to be tens of thousands of travel sites, and all of them are vying for a top ranking on Google.  So I skipped Google when looking for sites to use.  Many of my searches instead started on del.icio.us, so I could see, for instance, which hostel website was most popular.

Getting the Right Flights

After some research with del.icio.us, talking to friends, and using some of my old favorites, here are some tips for getting the right flights and spending a little less in the process.

• Kayak.com – where I always start for flight searches.  Their multi-city and filters are simply amazing
• EasyJet & RyanAir – so this isn’t news to most people, but it’s how a lot of people travel within Europe for crazy cheap (less than $50 for many flights)
• Microsoft’s Farecast is a great place to learn whether or not you should buy your tickets now, especially for domestic flights
• FlyerTalk’s Mileage Run Deals is THE place for fares that really are incredible deals.  Check here often!
• Elizabeth Terrell highly recommended I visit this site about cheap travel abroad
• Having knowledge of the major airline alliances is essential for frequent flier programs.  This way you can ensure that you’re always accumulating miles for the airline of your choice (since each of these groups has reciprocity with each other).  This is also helpful to know when you get errors trying to buy flights that don’t “have reciprocity”
  • Star Alliance includes Air Canada, Air China, Air New Zealand, ANA, Asiana Airlines, Austrian, bmi, EgyptAir, LOT Polish Airlines, Lufthansa, Scandinavian Airlines, Shanghai Airlines, Singapore Airlines, South African Airways, Spanair, SWISS, TAP Portugal, THAI, Turkish Airlines, United, US Airways, as well as regional airlines Adria Airways, and Blue1
  • SkyTeam includes Aeroflot, AeroMexico, Air France, AirEuropa, Alitalia, China Southern, Continental Airlines, Copa Airlines, Czech Airlines, Delta, Kenya Airways, KLM, Korean Air and Northwest Airlines

Choosing a Place to Stay

I’m not going to throw out some panacea for a cheap hotel.  But here are some sites that might alter your approach for finding a place to stay…

• Check your Facebook networks to see if you might have any friends in the area you could crash with (or at least hang out with) while in town
• Dopplr is a good site for seeing if other friends are traveling to those destinations at the same time as you
• Hostelworld is a good place for inexpensive hostels and hotels…and is a bit less expensive than the results you’d find on, say, Expedia (which I also used)
• If you’re really trying to travel on the cheap, check out CouchSurfing or the recently launched AirBed & Breakfast

Deciding What to Pack

• Flickr.  I went to Flickr and searched for each city I planned to visit (this is an example).  Then I clicked on the link for “Most Recent.”  This showed me a snapshot for how locals/tourists dressed in various circumstances
• Weather.com.  If you type in the city you plan to visit and then choose a period of time in the future, they’ll tell you the historical highs, lows, and other information

General Stuff to Pack

I’m not listing everything, just the stuff I chose after some time/thought/energy was expended.  I assume you can figure out to grab Woolite packs for washing your clothes, taking something that’ll wake you up, ear plugs, locks, etc.  The only real goal for me was that I could fit everything (including my laptop) into one carry-on size bag

• Tim Ferriss’ Guide to traveling the world in 10lbs or less was very helpful.  Though I’m a little skeptical of the tiny towel I bought at his recommendation…  The best purchase so far has been my tiny Marmot windshirt.  (Take your pick they’re all tiny and warm.)  I also have enjoyed my Kiva bag
• At REI, I bought more nylon/polyester stuff than you could bat a stick at.  I chose this backpack (medium gray), Ex Officio underwear and pants, as well as a nylon dress shirt, some Teva flip flops, etc.  This alone paid for my lifetime REI membership (via the discount)
• Where would I be without Zappos?  I was very happy to find a super light pair of shoes with which I could get in my morning runs and still wear with jeans/nylon pants

Geek Stuff to Pack

Your needs may vary from mine, but I plan to do some serious work on the road, since I have to help keep people moving at work.  Here were my picks.

• Extra, brand-new laptop battery
• Extra camera battery
• Clipping my Kiva bag (above) to my tiny day bag, which is just a WaterField laptop sleeve
• A power converter, of course. I went with this Belkin one
• Quad-band, unlocked phone.  A good place to find one is on eBay and this site (which I attempted to use but they canceled my order, so don’t order there at the last minute).  I ended up borrowing a friend’s unlocked T-Mobile Dash, which I wanted since it has ActiveSync and thus also doubles as a calendar/contacts/task list.  Turns out T-Mobile will unlock phones you’ve had for a little while.
• SIM card for each area – for phone or SMS.  I ended up going with one of Telestial’s passport cards, but if you want to be organized before you arrive somewhere they have a huge list of SIM cards to purchase in advance here.  (I found this on del.icio.us, where it had been quite popular)
• USB charge cables for my iPod and phone
• Plantronics Foldable Skype headset.  It’s a bit chunky and there are probably better models for portability…but the quality has been fantastic
• And if you’re curious, though you likely aren’t buying these just for a trip, I took a small wide-angle Canon point-and-shoot and a 12” Dell XPS laptop.  (photos so far are here)

I’m going to write a follow-up piece to this about the software and tricks for traveling abroad (in the next week).  For instance, AwayFind has helped a lot and I plan to explain how.  You can subscribe via RSS or email to stay in the loop.

Got any other tips for planning a long trip abroad?

Flickr photo credit: iNmO_Khem

Above you’ll find a video from Jonny’s Partay, where I was interviewed on Wednesday, July 9 at 9pm.

There’s a bit of talk about AwayFind, some news about DC, and of course much of what I’ve been up to. From lifehacks to batching email to mobility and travel, hopefully this’ll keep you entertained.

This is a 60 minute show (my piece starts about ten minutes in), so you might want to hold onto this and watch later. If I can find a way to get a better player for this I’ll try to post it.

Thanks so much to so many of you for coming out to watch this live last night! And especially to Jonny Goldstein and Scott Stead for hosting me and putting this together.

I’ll admit it, I like productivity for the sake of productivity–I’ll put off folding the laundry until I’m on the phone with a friend.  But there’s more to it: when I’m stuck in traffic or waiting for a train, especially during the business day, I get frustrated that I could be doing something more useful.  That’s where audiobooks and podcasts enter the picture: they make me feel I’m using my time more wisely.  I love music, and sometimes prefer it, but I’d recommend having some good podcasts or audiobooks handy.  Many tips and download recommendations follow…

• You can easily subscribe to a dozen shows, ranging from news to education to comedy (new to podcasts, just click here [free Podcasts downloads in iTunes] if you have an iPod)
• If there’s a book you’re interested in, you can likely grab it from Audible.com inexpensively (with this link you can download your first read free)
• If there are conferences you missed, see if the speeches have been made available (talk about a great use of your time + a big cost savings!)
• Short of carrying an expensive Kindle, it’s difficult to carry more than one printed book…but one MP3 player will handle many books and podcasts

Consider for a moment whether you have a variety of shows and books at your disposal on your iPod.  Be diligent–have shows for different moods and synchronize every day.  The key isn’t just to have some shows, it’s to have stuff that you want to listen to when you need it.

When I was stuck in traffic tonight, it helped to have This American Life playing.  Some of my favorite things to listen to (I don’t do mobile video …but feel free to leave a comment with video recommendations):

• NPR: This American Life (awesome stories), Future Tense (2 minutes of technology, daily), Car Talk (comedy and cars)
• SXSW (my highlights) and TED (audio podcast) conferences – these are two incredible events.  If you’re not into tech, you’ll still find some of the most fascinating and important speeches at TED.  Check it out!
• TWiT (This Week in Tech): TWiT, Windows Weekly (sadly, it’s more talk than news/analysis these days)
• 60 Minutes – they broadcast the whole thing
• Audible – lately I’ve been reading Natalie Angier’s The Canon (everything you never knew about how science is cool), Ayn Rand’s unabridged Atlas Shrugged (needless to say, those 52 hours will take a while), and some old interviews (like this Mike Wallace interview of Frank Lloyd Wright)

I hope this inspires you to get some audio ready for you whenever you have a commute or a big trip ahead.  It makes for a good use of a time.  What do you do when you’re stuck waiting?  Any recommendations for great podcasts or audiobooks?

Photo credit: Hamed Saber

Note: I’m making the assumption here that using Gmail to manage your domain-branded email is better than using the basic POP or IMAP provided by your ISP. The main reason I switched to Gmail is its superior server-based spam filtering and server-based rules–which means crap doesn’t ever make it to me, especially on my mobile devices.

The first feature is what’s known as Google Apps. While it’s ostensibly an online productivity suite, it includes the ability to use your own domain through Google’s Gmail system. “But wait, Jared, I’ve always been using my domain-branded email through Gmail.” No, you haven’t quite. In the past Gmail emails for your domain have looked like this (though many people don’t even bother and just used their main gmail address for replies):

Call it what you want, but this isn’t professional enough for me. Google does this to get around spam filters (see Sender IDs for a technical explantion). Once you sign up for Google Apps, you’ll be sending mail through the appropriate (SMTP) server for your domain and your email will look this:

There were two other reasons why I wouldn’t use Gmail (or any web based email system) much in the past:

1. If I worked offline or on a mobile device, there were things I couldn’t access (like filed messages) or synchronize (like filing and deleting messages)
2. The primary place for me to work with Gmail (if I wanted all the functionality) was the web. While this sounds reasonable, it meant that my offline copies were difficult to maintain. POP access (the option other than IMAP) didn’t manage folders other than the Inbox

Gmail now offers IMAP, which means that all your folders can be synchronized between the web and your email clients–any activity performed in one place will be mirrored on the others. You can even use Gmail as an archive for all the old messages you previously had only stored locally (I just moved 3gb of old mail to the Gmail server so that it’s now backed up, searchable, and available anywhere).

If you’re not using IMAP on your mobile devices, laptop, or desktop, consider switching. It’ll give you a copy of your data and many more options for working offline or on-the-go.

Signing up for Google Apps (free for up to 6.5gb) [click here]

There’s a caveat here: you need to control your own domain. If someone else is managing your domain’s DNS then you’ll have an annoying (but most likely worth it) battle getting this in place. I imagine many readers of this blog own their own domain and this is an available option. If you don’t have access to your domain and your company doesn’t use Microsoft Exchange or Lotus Notes, bring this up with your administrator as you can host up to 100 email accounts at 6.5gb for free! (Or $50/user/year for 25gb each)

If you own your domain, you’ll have to point your MX records to Gmail to do this right. It only takes a minute to copy and paste Google’s instructions into an email that you can send to your web host support contact, but it’s a pain. Google also provides plenty of do-it-yourself instructions, but be careful if you go that route.

Configuring your Gmail and email application(s) for IMAP [click here]

If you don’t plan to use a desktop or mobile client, IMAP doesn’t matter much for you. I do encourage you to try a program such as Outlook, Thunderbird, or Penelope/Eudora. It should be faster than Gmail and is available when you’re not online. Personally I just like the comfort of knowing my data is not only stored on the internet (as Google doesn’t offer us data reliability unless we pay $50/year).

Run into snags? Have suggestions? Let me know in the comments and I’ll try to help…

It remains to be seen exactly how ActiveSync will be implemented on the iPhone (though the Microsoft Exchange blog says that Apple’s implementation will include both HTML email and Auto Discovery for any Exchange 2007 users), but a business user will regardless benefit greatly from automatic (“push”) wireless synchronization of the following:

• Email
• Calendar
• Contacts
• Global Address List

As you can see, ActiveSync is superior to IMAP in that it handles more than just email. And personally I prefer ActiveSync over BlackBerry and GoodLink technologies because only ActiveSync is available at no additional cost with a Microsoft Exchange server. (GoodLink and RIM BlackBerry both require custom software/servers.) ActiveSync is out of the box functionality that many more businesses support.

While wireless synchronization is a highly desired feature of business users, ActiveSync’s Mobile Device Policy is the selling point for IT administrators. At the server level, an Exchange administrator can invoke the following two settings:

• Password Requirements – after a designated period of inactivity, a user can be required to enter a password (of designated complexity) on their device [I have not yet confirmed that this feature will be on the iPhone, but I'm guessing it will]
• Remote Device Wipe – at will, an administrator can wipe all the data from a device. If the device is stolen or an employee fired, this helps to ensure that proprietary data is removed [confirmed]

(Note: there is speculation as to whether all music/videos would be wiped. I don’t feel it matters since that data will all be synchronized regularly in iTunes anyhow.)

Mobile Device Policy and wireless synchronization are very compelling features for a business interested in iPhones. These will no doubt further iPhone adoption, but there are still other barriers:

• Lack of keyboard – the iPhone is not a fast communications tool for those who type a lot (writing emails, not just reading them) on their mobile devices
• Price – the iPhone is more expensive than BlackBerry devices and most existing Windows Mobile devices
• Carrier support – AT&T is not the dominant cellular brand of corporations. When the iPhone is available to Verizon customers in the US, we can expect much more widespread business adoption
• Data transfer – the iPhone still does not offer a high speed internet option–neither AT&T’s HSDPA nor Verizon/Sprint’s faster EVDO

When ActiveSync support is (hopefully) released in June, it will be interesting to see how it plays out. New business applications (developed with the SDK that’s released at the same time) may offer additional value, as well. I’ll keep you apprised of any updates (feel free to subscribe via RSS or email) in the meantime.

1. Google – www.google.com/m – does this really need an explanation?
2. Metro [Your stop] – www.meenster.com – This is the only DC specific one on the list, but knowing how many minutes until the next train is immensely helpful for planning when I leave. The other day it was 12 degrees out and it saved us from standing outside for 18 minutes. It also helps me to decide whether to transfer an extra time or just walk (hooray for underground internet access!). I have separate favorite links for the stations I use most often (thanks to Justin Thorp for this, though it works just fine without an iPhone)
3. Weather – mobile.srh.weather.gov – navigate to your local zip code and then store it there as a favorite
4. Wikipedia Mobile – www.wapipedia.org or axa.instinct.co.nz/wiki – I use the latter site more, but they both are useful and do the same thing. If you’ve ever tried wikipedia’s main site on a mobile browser you’d know how horrible an experience that is
5. Orbitz Flight Status Search – mobile.orbitz.com/mobile/App/ViewTravelWatchHome – When I’m checking on a friend’s flight status, this is immensely helpful. Since Southwest isn’t listed there, however, I just go to Google and type “Southwest 1234″ where 1234 is the flight number
6. Yelp Mobile – mobile.yelp.com -When I need a restaurant review at the last second, this is the place to go
7. Amazon Mobile – www.amazon.com/gp/aw/h.html – I mostly use this to look things up, either descriptions or comparative prices. If you use Amazon’s Wish List or One Click this could be very helpful for those. You can even see shipping status!
8. Netflix Mobile – www.netflix.com/Mobile – I use this both to look at my queue whenever I’m at the video store (so I can rent something I’ve wanted to see)…and whenever someone suggests a movie (to add it to my queue)
9. Washington Post (or NY Times) – mobile.washingtonpost.com (or nytimesriver.com) while I personally use the Post, both of these are easy to read on the go
10. Twitter and Facebook – m.twitter.com/home and m.facebook.com/home.php – I’ve listed these together since they’re both all about being social. The thing I like most about Facebook Mobile is it has a great way of listing out all the recent status updates that aren’t as easily available on the web version
11. Kayak – www.kayak.com/moby – the best internet flight search engine is now mobile
12. Flickr – m.flickr.com – It’s great to bring up photos when they come up in conversation!

Those are the sites I use, and many of my choices have to do with how I handle email, maps, and RSS, but that doesn’t mean you wouldn’t want access to popular versions of some of those sites/services:

• Gmail – www.google.com/mobile/gmail
• Google Reader – www.google.com/reader/m/view
• Google Maps – www.google.com/gmm
• Bloglines – bloglines.com/mobile
• Netvibes – m.netvibes.com/index.php
• MSN Mobile – mobile.msn.com (it’s actually pretty good!)

And some other mobile sites that might be very helpful, many of which I found via Mobile Mammoth:

• Dictionary service – lookwayup.com/free/x.xhtml
• Digg – diggriver.com
• IMDB- wap.arune.se/imdb/index.php – not sure who made this, but it’s great. And may soon move to my list as I frequently look up details on movies when they come up in conversation, and the IMDB is much more thorough than Netflix
• The Onion – mobile.theonion.com/content
• YouTube – m.youtube.com

Additionally, Shashi recommends Phonifier, www.phonifier.com, which is a way to view normal websites on your phone, as it adapts them to your mobile browser. And I’m very curious about www.mailme.info as that offers the answers to mobile questions via email (as opposed to SMS’ing 466453 to Google things).

Any sites you’d recommend?

If you like this entry, which is the first I’ve written in this style, please Digg, Del.icio.us, Stumble, or Mixx me!