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Submitted by cwatine on
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I love my iMac 24" and I would change also my viao to a mac if I was sure about its perf under Windows.

I love my BB too (hey : never in meetings!) because it allows me to stay in touch with the office when I am away, browse the internet, have my 3000 contacts at hand, carry my calendar, etc All of this easy and light.

I am now considering the iPhone 2 ... To see if I can have the best of 2 worlds.

I am not especially interested in pictures, music or anything ... Just in "work applications" (cary outlook and data files), and internet surf.

Any opinions on that?

Thanks.

Ced.

asteriskrntt1's picture

NO MUSIC????? GASP! :wink:

cwatine's picture
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Well I have my Ipods ! :wink:

Gareth's picture

The iPhone while in its second version is still up and coming, the 'app' store has only just opened and will take awhile for those business type apps to be released.

The iPhone will allow you to review documents but not edit them, Microsoft has stated that it will release apps for the iPhone but no information on what.

The iPhone will certainly allow you to keep in touch with the office (e-mail, text & Phone), browse the internet in a very effective way and have your contacts and calendar in your hand.

What kinda of system do you have in place at the office, office exchange?

cwatine's picture
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We have an externalized exchange server (hosted exchange).

I am an avid user of outlook (I have a thread on this forum about how i use it and have released a small pdf about how I use it).

I am using the tasks (gtd way with categories) very much and synchronize everything on my blackberry.

I really like the blackberry because :
- it allows me to carry my organization system just anywhere and update it anytime (contacts, mails, calendar and tasks - with categories)
- I can surf the internet (just like now)
- it has an excellent battery
- the keyboard is just perfect

I had some bried trials with some friends' iphones. I find it a very "sexy" object but it seems very full of gadgets compared to my bb. I did not find any task management (just very limited notes). I had a hard time with the keyboard (typing with my thumbs !).
But maybe v2 is better (more pro) ?

sklosky's picture

Ced.,

Have you considered Windows Mobile 6 based devices?

Also, there's Google's Android on the horizon.

Regards,
Steve

jhack's picture

The iPhone rocks! It's not just that you [i]can[/i] use it for the web, but that you can use it efficiently and effectively. No other device comes close. It's calendar, however, is weak.

WindowsMobile has great calendar integration with Outlook (my SDA even knows to go on silent mode when I'm in a meeting!) but the mail functionality is clumsy.

The blackberry is great for mobile email. I use a Pearl - it's lightweight and small.

My 2 cents.

John

PierG's picture

The iPhone rocks ... and I can't use it for business (I'm a user of the 1.0) ... and it's not because of the absence of direct Exchange integration.

To tell the truth I don't use BB too for security reasons, even if I think it's the best from a business point of view (I've tried it for a while).

PierG
http://pierg.wordpress.com

HMac's picture

I still prefer to keep my phone and my email on separate devices.

It's about how I want to be "reachable" during non-business hours. I never mind slipping my phone into my pocket evenings, weekends, doing errands, traveling, on vacation, etc.

I don't feel the same way about slipping email into my pocket, and there are a lot of times when I'm carrying my phone, but not my blackberry.

The downside: OK, I'm carrying two devices a lot of the time. That makes me less than cutting edge (but not a Luddite :lol: )

The upside: I keep the choice of NOT carrying email and calendar with me at all times.

And before you go typing a response that [i]just-because-you're-carrying-email-doesn't-mean-you-have-to-check-it-all-the-time[/i], I know. But I don't even want it near enough to tempt me! I'm weak!

-Hugh

ctomasi's picture

FYI:

iPhone and iPod Touch now integrate Exchange calendars and email (to Exchange) VERY nicely, with the updates on July 11. Tasks are still TBD (I haven't tested yet) and Memos/Notes are a future thing.

sholden's picture
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How 'unproductive' is the lack of cut-n-paste features on the iPhone?

I keep seeing that as a feature that was very requested in v1.0 but apparently is still not in v2.0?

Thanks!

Steve

Gareth's picture

[quote="sholden"]How 'unproductive' is the lack of cut-n-paste features on the iPhone?

I keep seeing that as a feature that was very requested in v1.0 but apparently is still not in v2.0?

Thanks!

Steve[/quote]

It will be released in a feature software upgrade but to be honest I've had no use for it. A personal thing I guess!

I'm not sure how the tasks/notes are implemented with the iPhone and Exchange HOWEVER there are a number of free and paid apps that deal with tasks.

PierG The 2.0 (free) upgrade for the iPhone 1.0 works well with exchange!

jclishe's picture

If your organization is an Exchange shop and you're looking for a phone as a productivity device, the Windows Mobile platform is hard to beat IMO.

The basics of email and calendar management have already been discussed here, but there are some additional features on WM that I can't live without:

- Task integration with Exchange (I'm a heavy task user)
- The ability to flag emails
- Corporate address book integration (so I can look up a co-workers cell phone number, etc)
- Manipulate your out of office from your phone
- Full support for meetings requests: accept, decline, create, search free/busy, etc
- Full support and integration with subfolders in your mailbox. And since I also use Outlook as my RSS feed reader, this means that I can get all of my feeds on my phone as well, without having to install any additional software for this
- The ability to search your entire mailbox on the server, from the phone. This is not a prioritized list, but this absolutely huge for me.
- While not related to Exchange, a WM device can be tethered to a laptop for Internet access anywhere

The iPhone is a very very cool device, but a phone is a productivity device for me and the iPhone simply doesn't hold a candle to WM, based on my needs. I love that everything that I need to do is natively built into the WM platform; I don't need to purchase or install any 3rd party apps to do anything that I mentioned above.

cwatine's picture
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Very interesting, thank you.

I think I will wait a little bit more for the iPhone.

When I read you, it seems that Windows Mobile is even more adapted than BlackBerry to business?

Gareth's picture

[quote="cedwat"]

I think I will wait a little bit more for the iPhone.
[/quote]

Not a bad idea, until there is task and note integration then its difficult to justify the move to an iPhone. I personally see the iPhone as the future device to get for business and pleasure, its getting there anyway!

jclishe's picture

[quote="cedwat"]

When I read you, it seems that Windows Mobile is even more adapted than BlackBerry to business?[/quote]

Well it depends on the business requirements, but for organizations that already have Exchange, Windows Mobile will usually come out on top of Blackberry in a feature by feature comparison. Assuming there are no political influences one way or another.

Here's a good comparison of Windows Mobile Vs the iPhone 2.0:

http://blogs.msdn.com/jasonlan/archive/2008/07/18/iphone-2-0-windows-mob...

cwatine's picture
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As I really like my Blackberry, I have more questions about WM6 :

- are there on the market WM smartphones with a real keyboard and that don't necessitate a "pen" ?
- do you get the categories on WM (for tasks and notes especially) ? They don't appear in our web-access
- do you get sync in an effective way ? My experience with WM is not good in that regards (lots of contacts where duplicated, etc.)
- Is the task pad manageable ?
- can I read attachments in tasks and calendar events via WM6? I often drag and drop an email to a task.

Many thanks!

jclishe's picture

Great questions!

[quote="cedwat"]
- are there on the market WM smartphones with a real keyboard and that don't necessitate a "pen" ? [/quote]

Usually a Smartphone is referred to as a device that does not require a stylus, while a Pocket PC phone usually refers to a device that does require a stylus. That said, the technical answer is that WM6 Standard Edition does not support touch input, while WM6 Professional Edition does. So if you want a device with no stylus, you want to look for WM6 Standard Edition devices. There are tons on the market but the Motorola Q and the Samsung Blackjack are two of the popular ones.

[quote="cedwat"]
- do you get the categories on WM (for tasks and notes especially) ? They don't appear in our web-access [/quote]

Categories are stored in the registry on your computer and therefore, unfortunately, are not portable. You will not have access to your categories from OWA, Windows Mobile, etc. Outlook 2007 makes it a little easier to share categories across multilple PC's (if you have multiple PC's) but it still isn't perfect.

[quote="cedwat"]
- do you get sync in an effective way ? My experience with WM is not good in that regards (lots of contacts where duplicated, etc.) [/quote]

Interesting. Was this a very old version of Windows Mobile, perhaps WM 2003? Windows Mobile / Exchange integration with ActiveSync is better than any other platform, including BB, because the funcationality is native in the device and does not require additional software to make it work. It just works. I've seen some sync issues on early versions of Windows Mobile but WM6 (and WM5) has been flawless for me.

[quote="cedwat"]
- Is the task pad manageable ? [/quote]

Sorry, I don't understand the question.

[quote="cedwat"]
- can I read attachments in tasks and calendar events via WM6? I often drag and drop an email to a task. [/quote]

I just tested this, as I wasn't sure of the answer. I took an email in my Inbox and coped it to Tasks as an attachment, and then copied it to calendar as attachment. The attachement did not show up in either the appointment or the task. Then I tried again using copy as with text, and the text of the email showed up in the appointment on my device but not in the task.

Is this possible on the BB?

[quote="cedwat"]

Many thanks![/quote]

No problem, hope it helped!

Jason

cwatine's picture
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[quote]Great questions![/quote]
Great answers. Thank you.

[quote]You will not have access to your categories from OWA, Windows Mobile, etc. [/quote]

Sorry I was unclear here. When I sync, I get Emails, tasks and contacts. Each of them can have a category affected to it (from Outlook). Will the task (for example) "carry" that category on WM6 ?
On my BB, I get them (for tasks). It is very important to me because I use a context for each task. For example : if I put a filter on "@phone", I will get the list of action I can do when I have a phone with me.

[code:1]- Is the task pad manageable ? Sorry, I don't understand the question.[/code:1]

Sorry, unclear again.
Can I filter my tasks following different criterias like we can do on the Outlook taskpad. For example : "I want the tasks not done and with a due date before current date and with @phone as the categorie", etc.

[quote]I just tested this, as I wasn't sure of the answer. I took an email in my Inbox and coped it to Tasks as an attachment, and then copied it to calendar as attachment. The attachement did not show up in either the appointment or the task. Then I tried again using copy as with text, and the text of the email showed up in the appointment on my device but not in the task.
Is this possible on the BB?[/quote]

No. I use it a lot on Outlook but I can't on my bb.

[quote]No problem, hope it helped![/quote]

It does!
[/code]

jclishe's picture

Sorry Ced, actually your question about categories was plenty clear, I just had a brain fart when I responded.

You have access to your Outlook categories from your tasks on WM6, and the category setting sync's between Outlook and the phone, but not on appointments. And yes, you have the ability to filter your tasks by category on WM6.

As for your second setting, you do not have very rich task filtering options on WM6. You can filter by category and by active / completed, but that's about it. So yes you could filter on all active tasks with a specific category, but you can't create a more sophisticated filter like you can in Outlook.

Hope that helps.

Jason

cwatine's picture
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It does.

BB task management and WM6 task management are pretty same, then. I don't have too many reasons to change now.

Thank you for saving me a lots of time (and desapointement !)

jclishe's picture

Glad I could help!