Posts Tagged ‘Microsoft Exchange’

The Problem With Technology

Tuesday, August 17th, 2010

Recently we had a client come into our computer and IT repair facility in Clifton Park.  He was having an issue with his BlackBerry from Sprint/Nextel.  The problem was centered on connecting to his Microsoft Exchange Server.

We followed our advanced diagnostic procedures for this type of issue.  When this didn’t lead to a solution, we had to contact the vendors of the product.  When all was told, we spoke with six people from three different companies.  With the exception of one person, the others weren’t even able to grasp an understanding of what the issue was.

Fortunately for our client, he didn’t have to deal with the frustration as our motto is “Eliminating HI-Tech Frustration” and we took the brunt of it.  These days there are so many variable and so many products from different vendors involved, determining exactly where the issue originates is no longer as simple as 1, 2, 3.

The problem with technology is too many large companies cut corners by providing inadequate technical support staff to properly resolve their customer’s issues.  One of our advantages is with the example of the person who brought in their BlackBerry: we are all power users and run a variety of smartphones with different operating systems such as: BlackBerry, Palm WebOS, Android and Windows Mobile.

Information provided by: HITman Services, a computer and IT services company located in Clifton Park, New York.

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Microsoft Windows Mobile Devices – Samsung Omnia II

Friday, July 16th, 2010

The latest Windows Mobile device tested on Verizon Wireless, is the Samsung Omnia II, running Windows Professional 6.5.3.

The Samsung Omnia II uses an AMOLED display.  AMOLED stands for Active-matrix Organic Light-Emitting Diode.  A benefit to using an AMOLED display is that the screen can be seen without having the backlight on.  This saves quite a bit of battery life for other functions.  The backlight does need to be turned on in order to see the screen in bright sunlight.  The display size is 3.7″ with a resolution of 800 x 480.  Images, photos and videos are all very clear and vivid.

The Omnia II measures 4.75″ high by 2.38″ wide and .53″ deep, and weighs 5.08 ounces with the standard battery installed.

Input is done via a resistive touch screen.  While many resistive displays do not work very well, the one used in the Samsung Omnia II is exceptional.  The options include landscape and portrait qwerty keyboards and swipe.  Swipe is an extremely fast method of entering text.  It can be done via a finger or the built-in stylus.  Getting use to swipe is easy.

Call quality with the Omnia II is very good regardless of the number of bars displayed.  Bluetooth integration works well.  One consistent hiccup has been the first time a call is attempted via Bluetooth, it is lost.  Once the second attempt is make all further connections work flawlessly.  The Omnia II features a proximity sensor which turns the display off as it nears the face.  Sound level is decent for hands free, speaker and headset.  The Airplane mode is quick to activate.

Based upon recent calls made, the estimated batter life with consistent phone use is about 240 minutes.  A nice feature of the Omnia II is the ability to swap in spare batteries when recharging is not an option.

Key for our business use is integration with Microsoft Exchange Server and here the Omnia II performs extremely well.  Calendar entries, tasks, email and contacts are all synchronized wirelessly.  Connecting the device to a notebook with Microsoft OneNote also allows synchronization of OneNote files, once configured.

Browsing on the Omnia II using either Microsoft Internet Explorer or Opera Mobile is just fair.  The speed is good but the viewing experience is not the greatest.

Overall, the Omnia II by Samsung is a very good smartphone for people who need integration with Microsoft Exchange and are looking for an alternative to a BlackBerry.

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Has the BlackBerry Enterprise Server Lived Beyond Its Time ?

Tuesday, June 22nd, 2010

For quite, BlackBerrys and the BlackBerry Enterprise server has been a hard combination to beat because of RIM’s (Research In Motion) push technology.

Setup a Microsoft Exchange account on a BlackBerry and you have a very powerful combination.  Email is sent both inbound and outbound with almost no delay. Additionally, the calendar, contacts, notes and tasks are also synced wirelessly.

Companies such as Fox News have created apps which take advantage of the push technology and send news alerts as they happen.

All of this is great, but there is one exception, Microsoft Sync.  Microsoft Sync offers many of the same features as the BlackBerry Enterprise Server, but with less cost.  RIM has recently tried to remedy this by providing small businesses with a slimmed down version of the server software, and at zero cost.

The problem is, the overhead is still there and owners of BlackBerrys are required to pay a higher fee to their wireless phone provider.

Recently I had a conversation with an insider from a Fortune 100 company who stated they have more issues with syncing BlackBerrys than other devices by a very wide margin.

Time will tell which system offers the best business solution.

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Benched

Friday, February 5th, 2010

Recently I have been having a go around with my BlackBerry Tour and a BES (BlackBerry Enterprise Server). I am a big fan of the BlackBerry interface, as I believe they got a lot right. Switching between tasks handling email and appointments and other items which need to be addressed throughout the day, makes the BlackBerry a worthy tool. However this past week we implemented a BES server to sync our Microsoft Exchange accounts. The ability to browse folders on the BES server from my BlackBerry is very handy, however RIM’s (Research In Motion) policy is only a 2 week retention for calendar entries. Since my calendar dates back substantially longer than 2 weeks, this posed a big problem.

So at the moment I had to bench my BlackBerry Tour and am trying an HTC Imagio.  I am using Active Sync for the connection between my HTC Imagio and our Exchange Server.  One issue which has been resolved is the ability to set the retention policy for calendar entries.  At first use though, it looks like I may have to give up quite a bit in functionality.

Update

I have been able to restore all calendar entries to a BlackBerry Curve using the following procedure.

First I set the BlackBerry Calendar option to keep appointments forever, then I disabled the Wireless Synchronization on the BlackBerry.  Next I connected the BlackBerry to the BlackBerry Desktop Manager I set the Desktop Synchronization to only the calendar entries and to transfer all of them.  I then ran the synchronization.

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