Monday, May 08, 2006 7:31 AM
In this post I would like to share some the comments about the QTEK 9100/I-Mate k-Jam/HTC Wizard devices that I’ve had in the field since mid February.
The feedback is from ordinary users where I.T. isn’t their primary function. Some of them have used Palm-Pilots in the past, for many this is there first experience at a Microsoft platform based devices.
I should also explain that my organisation has both Lotus Domino and Exchange thanks to mergers and acquisitions, so many users use Lotus Notes as their main email client.
I wanted to keep the comments as raw as possible so I've performed very little editing and they are in no particular order.
Initial Thoughts - February
• Windows OS is a bit 'pretty'
• Applications take a little while to start up
• Device seems quite fat/deep
• Screen is a bit small - this can be mitigated somewhat by changing the text size
• Keyboard seemed like a gimmick, but actually is good once used to using it
• Microsoft Activesync doesn't work with Notes, so we got a copy of Intellisync. This was really good. It does mangle the Notes Journal though. There was also an initial problem where it got a bit confused over calendar invites and tried to duplicate them with some odd information, but that was overcome!
• Phone/Contacts information is very useful.
• User interface is non-intuitive - there are hot keys for many things but I find myself using the stylus most of the time because it's clearer how to perform the action than using the buttons
• The stylus withdrawal and expansion is fiddly and seems unnatural (especially compared to the Palm Pilots that I am used to). This is an incentive to learn how to use the hot keys properly
• The 'Today' screen is useful, once it's been configured to show the right information
• The Wireless LAN did not seem to work with a home wireless access point - further experimentation required
• I am not yet convinced about the quality of the mobile phone, but I suspect that's primarily due to the lack of experimentation
• Inbox view is broken in landscape mode
• The camera seems quite powerful, but possibly a little unnecessary?
Second round of feedback - April
• Still don't really use the camera
• I'm not really using it as an input device too much. This is probably because I'm still spending quite a lot of time around my desk, so I tend to use Notes more often. I also don't find myself using email from it at all yet. Perhaps if I had push email that would change? The other aspect to this though is that email here is not so time sensitive, so it can be left for a day or two. That may change? Push email would definitely be fantastic
• The device seems quite fat still, and I suspect that's because of the pop-out keyboard. Although the keyboard is good, I hardly ever use it. This could be because I am reluctant to use it as an input device? I am not yet convinced whether the additional 'fatness' is justified by the keyboard
• The synchronisation between MS Mobile and Lotus Notes is not always clean. If the MS Mobile settings override the Lotus settings for a meeting, then it can clobber your Notes! I have on at least one occasion lost a whole load of data out of my Lotus Notes due to misunderstanding a setting!
• I have a suspicion that I hang up on people when they are ringing me and I am pulling the phone out of my pocket
• It has been great to have a portable copy of Powerpoint to be able to show presentations to people while sitting round a meeting table
• The screen does seem quite small given the size of the device
• The system does perform quite well, though it's often worth closing down used applications that are still running in memory as that speeds things up a bit. You don't know that it's doing that unless you check
• I'm not comfortable about the data that it stores on it. I've set a PIN with a timeout, and the guy from MS suggested that this was a good mechanism for the onboard memory as it would take specialist equipment to extract data from the PDA if it's protected with a PIN. The PIN is more of a hassle, as you don't want to have to enter a PIN when you want to glance at your PDA. However, once you starting using memory cards you have to start encrypting the data using a third party application, as you can just pop them out and stick them into a normal cardreader to extract the data. I think we'll need a policy statement on this sort of stuff! I know the contents of my email inbox should be considered confidential company information at the least, which means that there is a minimum requirement.
• Understanding the way to set up Connections settings is quite difficult
• The phone itself is not great, as I have to use the stylus to dial numbers, and there is no way to use the 4-way button to do that. There isn't a numeric keypad on the keyboard either
• The speakerphone quality is appalling. I've used it 2 or 3 times, and the other end of the line has found that they can't hear me. I've used much smaller mobiles with a speakerphone for far better quality
• I've found out that there is supposed to be an O/S upgrade for this phone - http://www.microsoft.com/windowsmobile/business/5/default.mspx - However, I don't know how I'm supposed to get hold of it. The site suggests that it's not possible without a named distributor?
• I've occasionally looked at additional applications for my phone, but haven't found anything of any real use. There does seem to be a whole let less for Windows Mobile Smartphone than for the PDA, which is odd, as it's about the same add and only has more functionality. Maybe they are thinking of smaller phones?