Proactive Networking Blog

We had the opportunity to test out a Google G1 phone for a couple of weeks.  I had really hoped that it would live up to the hype and I would end up keeping it.  It was not to be.  The form factor of the phone is nice.  It feels good in the hand, although not as good as the iPhone.  The G1 fixes what I thought was a major iPhone problem - annoying keyboard.  The G1 has a snap out keyboard that is pretty large and allows for very rapid thumb typing.  When you snap the keyboard out, the screen automatically changs from portrait to landscape.

Problem number one is no support for Exchange Active Sync, which is a must for the business user.  Hopefully, this will be fixed in the next version.  I think it was a mistake even to release the phone without this functionality.  Apple released the first iPhone without Exchange Active Sync and it hurt the iPhones adoption with business users.  Although, Apple had the built in killer app of the iPhone being an iPod.  I couldn’t find the “killer app” on the G1.

Problem number two, or maybe this is even more glaring than problem one, is Google’s choice of T-Mobile as the only provider.  T-Mobile’s network is generally useless in my experience, unless you are in a large city.  Even in suburbs of Indianapolis, coverage was spotty.  Or, even if I was in coverage, I would often not get what I would consider to be 3G speeds.

I hope that Google will add Active Sync and allow other carriers to sell the next version.  For now, I will continue to use a Windows Mobile based phone.

Unfortunately, I decided to return my iPhone 3G.  I had hoped it might replace my Sprint Treo 700wx.  I found out that ATT would let me return the iPhone within two weeks no questions asked if I didn’t like it.  I took the Treo and the iPhone out to California with me when I went hiking with my father.  The iPhone was nice, easy to watch Youtube videos (actually more fun for my son than for me), Exchange Active Sync email was very easy to set up.  The screen is just amazing.  Don’t know why Palm or HTC can’t come up with something to match this.  My father has the Sprint Instinct which is supposed to compete with the iPhone, based on screen alone, it comes up short.

The main problem for me was coverage.  ATT claims to have the best coverage, but I didn’t see it.  Driving into Death Valley from Vegas, I lost ATT signal 15 minutes before losing the Sprint signal.  Coming out of Death Valley, had Sprint signal 20 minutes before ATT picked up.  Neither phone had a signal on top of Telescope Peak, which didn’t surprise me, as this mountain is very remote.

Driving up 395 from Lone Pine, CA to Mammoth Lakes, CA, I was constantly losing signal on the iPhone, while the Sprint signal was solid.  On Mammoth Mountain again no signal on the iPhone, and although the Sprint signal wasn’t good.  I could find a few spots where both my phone and even my Sprint laptop card would work (we rode the gondola up Mammoth, why hike when you can ride!  It was our rest day anyway and I conducted some profitable business sitting in the cafe up at 11,100 feet.)

On Boundary Peak, no signal from either phone at the top (although I was darn near too tired to care), but got Sprint signal numerous times on the way up. Again Boundary is very remote, so no surprise.

No signal from either phone at Cottonwood Lakes, basecamp for Mt. Langley.  We decided to go light and fast, so I didn’t take either phone up, but last time I I climbed it had a great signal for the Treo on top of Langley.  I assume the iPhone would have worked too, as you can see Lone Pine, CA from the top and the iPhone works in Lone Pine.

We rock climbed in the Owens River Gorge, and amazingly the Sprint had signal, I can’t imagine where it was coming from.  The Gorge is pretty deep.  Again, iPhone was a useless brick.

Since for me it is important to be able to keep in contact easily,  I decided to stick with the Treo.  Plus the mess with trying to get six business phones out of our Sprint contract.

Maybe someday I’ll buy that Satelite phone and then I can go for the iPhone.

Been running off and on for a couple of years with an iPod.  Never have been impressed.  I always have experienced a rhythmic loss of treble as I run.  It sounds similar to when I used to run with a cheap Walkman playing cassette tapes.

Yesterday, I finally broke with what seemed like an unbreakable protocol and stuck the right earbud in my left ear and left ear bud in my right.  Unbelievably, the sound is now perfect.  I guess the fit of the buds was pressing against my ears and cutting of the sound as I ran.  I’m astounded that it took me this long to figure this out.  I would think that I would have at least put them in the wrong ears by accident once.

When I see R & L, I figure there must be a reason and I never questioned it.  I guess I need to see what other inviolable rules I need to break.

If you want to continue answering mindless emails while you’re away on vacation, keep a few things in mind.  First, make sure you have access to webmail.  If you have POP email, you’re going to be frustrated.  Almost all hotels are blocking sending outgoing email from your POP account now.  This would be the time to talk your boss into RPC over HTTP email which is generally unaffected by firewalls as it talks over the same port that you surf the web over, and your hotel is probably not going to block that. (This type of setup requires you to bring your own laptop, use Outlook 2007 or 2003, and for your company to have a Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 or 2007).  In my opinion this is the slickest way to do email that there is.  It also has the nice feature of seamlessly syncing your Smartphone, your laptop, your desktop, and Outlook Web Access, when all else fails.  You delete an email on your phone, it’s gone from your laptop and the rest of your devices.

If a new Exchange Server is not in your budget, and you have a POP account on your laptop, take the address of your ISP’s webmail service or your company’s Outlook Web Access URL with you, at a minimum.   This will prevent you from spending your first hour of vacation getting IT support from the hotel desk clerk, or spending time on the phone with the hotel’s ISP.  If you like talking IT when you are on vacation, they can show you how to change the outgoing SMTP server on your laptop to their ISP’s server.  Change it back when you get home.

Connect to the internet with a wire whenever you can.  If your wireless connection is not strong, you will be annoyed.  A low signal strength wireless connection can play havoc with your ability to get anything done, and can make you think that your laptop is on the fritz.  Go to the lobby for the best signal, get your emails answered, and then get back and cannonball your kids in the pool.

I love the internal Sprint EVDO card in my new Dell D830. On a 10 day trip throughout western Colorado and Eastern Utah, it never let me down. Almost always had 5 bars wherever I fired it up (always within a town). No more worries about breaking the antennae off of the PCMCIA card.