The Mobile Experience Challenge: iPhone

(Define "the mobile experience" challenge)
I've taken this challenge for the past 5 days. I've decided to pass the iPhone for its well-roundness. From web research, checking emails, to downloading Media (MP3/Movies), the iPhone took on my requirements with ease. The iPhone has its flaws, for example, when downloading songs from iTunes, WiFi is a must, EDGE is just too slow. Also, upon heavy web surfing, the phone will crash occasionally. It crashed a couple of times where a hard reset was required to take control of the phone again. iPhone is definitely a great companion if you do not want to strap a laptop everywhere you go. Many of my colleague would tell you the same. Please enjoy what I have documented below:

2/27 - "So the Test Begins!"
8:00PM - Took my wife's iPhone out of her hand and pulled up The Mobile Experience Challenge article to exlain to her why I'll be hogging her phone in the next week.
8:30PM - Checked Gmail over Safari, obviously successful. Attempted to use Google Analytics, all the figures on the page loads up, but ajax graph and calendar range would not work over iPhone. I can technically fail the test at this point but this portion isn't a "necessity".
8:45PM - Emailed Robert some Picasa web photos. I found an old email and forward it on. Not sure how I would have done if if old email is not available. (iPhone lacks copy and paste function)
8:56PM - Completely realized all this time, my web experience could be 10 times better if I turn on WiFi radio
8:57PM - WiFi turned on.
9:00PM - Safari crashed while reading some product reviews on Amazon.com
2/28 - Day 2 - "Basic Tasks, no problem"
9:00AM - I was underdressed for a 20*F winter day, wife warns me on my way out to work, in a hurry, I checked weather widget and was reassured that the wife is always right
9:15AM - Listening to iPod on subway... obviously, a device intended for such activity
1:00PM - Updated my office with several pictures of my daughter, took some pics and emailed to my wife, she loved the new decorations.
10:00PM - American Idol is doing something smart this year, every song performed on stage is available for purchase on iTunes. Using some credits I had on my acct, I successfully downloaded David Archuleta's "IMAGINE" performance for $0.99. There are three important points here: 1). I watch American Idol, 2). This is the first MP3 I've ever purchased, 3) This is the first MP3 I've purchased on iTunes over iPhone.
2/29 - Day 3 - "Easy Does It"
8:00PM - Looked up phone number to a nice neighborhood wine shop - Apellation Wine & Spirits and ordered two bottles of 03 Blacksberg
9:00PM - Researched some roadtrip destinations for tomorrow. Narrowed down to Mystic, CT.
10:00PM - Looked up Hyatt Place and called in to reserve a hotel... sometimes calling in gets better rates
3/1 - Day 4 - "Road Trip"
8:00AM - Phoned parking lot attendent to pick up Car. Excited about this trip, been wanting a good drive since a while.
9:00AM - Looking up some stores to stop by on the way... Costco, or Target using Google Maps. Too bad the "My Maps" function is not supported by iPhone (yet).
10:00AM - Hooked up iPhone to Monster Cable Ultra-Low Profile iPod iCharger, this is nice if your car has aux in, cranked up the MP3 all the way while charging
12:00n - Arrived Mystic, took a tourist map from the hotel and matched the city up on iPhone Google Maps to be more acquainted with where I am going.
1:00PM - Took some pictures of the famous "Mystic Pizza" and "Mystic River" and emailed to friends.
2:00PM - iPhone crashed completely when browsing the web. To the point of a hard reset.
5:00PM - For some reason, when calling a friend this afternoon, the phone crashed again. This time, it stuck on the screen of dialing a number. Its time for me to upgrade the firmware to 1.1.4.
3/3 - "Back in the City"
8:30AM - Routine weather check, beautiful day today, high of 50*F
7:30PM - Looked up Menupage for Pepe's Menu, ordered a Salmon dish and a Penne Vodka dish by calling in.
8:30PM - Decided to pass iPhone for The Mobile Experience Challenge
10:45PM - Watching Anthony Bourdain's "No Reservation" on TV, he is visiting Hawaii. Suddenly, I get the midnight munchies... looking up Menupages again for the L&L Hawaiian BBQ in Financial District... too bad they are closing at 11PM. Hmm... maybe I'll run down to the corner gas station to see if they sell SPAM.

The Mobile Experience Challenge: HTC Trinity

(Define "the mobile experience" challenge)
Blogger GetSomeHairapy! emailed me her experience with HTC Trinity smartphone. It is such an important part of her life in every aspect (work, personal, business, etc.) Her original posting can be found on Gearydiary.com which includes all sorts of nice links, I've taken a partial copy of it and posted below. Enjoy!

I used to keep a laptop at my work station, but when my husband lost his laptop to a job change and needed mine, I found I could do without it by relying on my HTC Trinity Pocket PC. Let me tell you a little about me, about my business, and about how my machine holds it all together.

I own a small hair salon. Not only do I spend 35 hours a week seeing clients, I am also responsible for every other aspect of running the business. I do the marketing, keep the website and blog up to date, pay the bills, and anything else you can think of. I also travel teaching classes to hairdressers, and as the author of Get Some Hairapy – a hairdresser’s prescription for happiness, do some book promotion in my spare time. Oh yeah, and I have a family, as well. People need to be able to get a hold of me, and I need access to my data.

Without my calendar, I am dead in the water. I keep my Trinity with me at all times and I count on it to tell me where I need to be and what I need to do. My salon uses an on-line appointment book service that allows our clients to schedule their own appointments at any time. We love it because it cuts down on how much the phone rings and clients love it because they don’t have to wait for us to be open in order to get on the books. When an appointment is made, the system sends me an email. Direct Push gets it to me in a flash, and when I click on the attachment, all the data is entered into my Pocket Informant calendar. This keeps my calendar on track at all times. So if I run into a client in the grocery store and they ask if they can get in for some highlights on Friday, I can look at my schedule and give them an answer.

Using the contacts section of Pocket Informant, I keep the client’s personal data and I store their chemical formulations in the notes field. If I make changes during their visit, I can input the new formulation immediately. Good records make good customer service easier!

Recently I was at a photo shoot and wanted to take some candid, back-stage shots when I realized I had forgotten to charge the battery in my digital camera. Trinity to the rescue! I took still pictures and videos that were good enough to put on the blog and share with others. (A Treo owner in the room tried to do the same, but her results were less pleasing. I took out my mini SD card and she uploaded all my photos to her laptop, emailing them out while we were still on the shoot.)

While getting in the car for my drive to work, a text comes in from a client. She’s running late and wonders if she is 15 minutes late should she still come or should she reschedule. I check my calendar and determine that she can still come. I send the text and am off to work.

When a client is “in the chair”, we try to give them as much attention as possible. The people in my life know that when I am at work, the best way to get to me is through my Trinity. Text and email are easy to read while a color is processing and also cuts down on the phone ringing in the salon. And if I don’t have time to answer a call at home, at work, or on my cell, Callwave sends me an email with an audio attachment that I can listen to much more easily than I can call to check messages.
Continue reading here...

The Mobile Experience Challenge!

The Mobile Experience Challenge: HTC Trinity
The Mobile Experience Challenge: iPhone

I came up with an idea, a test for the ultimate mobile experience. The contributors and I are obviously very passionate about our choice of smartphones and our mobile experiences. I wanted to see if I can rely on my smartphone for 1 week without the use of a laptop to carry out day-to-day tasks. For those familiar, you'll know that detaching myself from my laptop is nearly impossible. This test will confirm if today's mobile technology is advanced enough enhance our lifestyle without the use of a computer. We may be a little early, but I think we are getting close, lets find out together.

Here are the parameters for the mobile experience challenge:

1. Not allowed to use a laptop or other gadgets at home for 1 week while performing basic tasks
2. I'll use my phone to take on every task that comes up: look up restaurants/menus, directions, GPS, listen to music, take pictures, blogging, shopping, paying bills, movie time, watch youtube, etc... I won't go out of my way to test a certain function, only if it is part of chores during the one week span. If a bill came during this week and I normally pay via online, then I will attempt to do the same using my smartphone
3. The phone function can play up if need be, for example, if I can't login to a bank account via mobile web, I am allowed to call in to check my balance (old school technology baby!)
4. As soon as I am forced to use a laptop for whatever event, I will fail the test for that device
5. Exception1: I will use my laptop for Skype video conference during the week
6. Exception2: I will continue to use my laptop at work... hey, it pays my bills
7. Exception3: The test is mostly confining to the day-to-day "necessity" tasks, ie. bill pay, directions. For advanced tasks (web design, adobe photoshop, compiling codes), should be excluded; so carry on with those routine tasks with a laptop if need be.

The test has been planned for the following weeks:
week 2/27 to 3/4 - Apple iPhone
week 3/12 to 3/19 - Nokia N95
Other test potential: AT&T Tilt, BlackBerry...

This test stemmed from a shift in mobile usage from my household. Every morning when I wake up, I used to turn on my PC to check email and weather. Now days, I just use iPhone's weather widget... the load time is faster than anything I have experienced. Sometimes when I am sharing a story about a Youtube video, I'd rather use N95's Youtube app or iPhone's youtube widget instead of waiting for my laptop to boot. When my daughter was born, I snapped a bunch of photos using AT&T 8525 and emailed them real-time to friends and family immediately.

As you can see, day-to-day tasks are being replaced by our smartphones and I want to know if we can rely on it completely. Most of my friends I ask to participate already believe we are very close and Japan is obviously moved on to this behavior.

I welcome anyone who's interested to doing this test from their home to submit their results. I will post your story on this blog. Enjoy!