WorkMobile Blog

Posts Tagged ‘Android’

A few days at Mobile World Congress…

February each year, for one week, the entire mobile phone industry camps out in the tapas bars of Barcelona.

Occasionally, some people might stray into the Mobile World Congress, a magnificent event in which the likes of Microsoft, Nokia and Research in Motion try to convince us that the products they showed us last year are somehow newer and shinier this year.

Those sober enough to make it to RIM’s developer event on Monday were treated to a free PlayBook each. Meanwhile, Nokia had a beach party. The Far Eastern companies, like Samsung and LG, were less imaginative. Rather than trying to disguise their lack of innovation with cunning free gadgets and liquor, they actually had some new products. “Phablets” are all the rage. Not quite a phone and not quite a tablet, a phablet is, essentially, a very, very big phone. Samsung’s Galaxy Note has a 5.3 inch screen (compare to 3.5 inches on the iPhone). Some of you will be glad to know that the stylus is back. Sorry, I mean “S-Pen”.

Here at eSAY, we’re dedicated followers of fashion, so expect to see WorkMobile® on the PlayBook real soon, and optimized for tablet and phablet Android devices later this year. Now, if you’ll excuse me, these patatas bravas won’t eat themselves…

Graham (Senior Developer)

WorkMobile® Website

Last week the WorkMobile® website had a little revamp!

If you have visited the homepage recently, you will notice that there are now six rolling images across the top of the screen. These are to provide more information about what WorkMobile® can do for you and where you can use it within your business. Hopefully, first-time visitors will understand more quickly what WorkMobile® is.

There are a few new sections to the website including the Small Business Solutions and Large Business Solutions sections. By choosing the solution most suitable to your needs, you are able to find out about the best ways that WorkMobile® can fit into your business. You will also be advised of the benefits to your large or small business and the Return on Investment for either a 10 man team or a 50 man team.

Website visitors can now find out about the Partner Programme more easily, as there are clear links on the homepage to direct potential partners to find out why WorkMobile® is the ideal new revenue stream for them. Once a Partner signs up, they receive a partner code and are able to access the Partner Portal where useful documents are made available so that they can go and gain new business.

The Help & Resources section contains FAQs, various helpful documents, user guides and tutorial videos. Visit this section of the website if you need any help or support with creating forms on the www.esayworkmobile.co.uk website.

Earn while you sleep

The latest issue of Mobile News features an article about the WorkMobile™ Business Partner Forum and an interview with Keith Curran.

“As Keith Curran unveils the “revolutionary” WorkMobile™ to the dealer channel, Michael Garwood talks exclusively to him about the product that captures form data on a mobile.

When former Yes Telecom CEO Keith Curran was asked to speak at a venture capital event last year, he was asked to describe his ideal business. His response was simple: to offer something every business in the world needs and can save money using, and would make him money while he slept……”

Click to read more.

Full article in Mobile News issue 493 (July 4, 2011).

Form Headaches? Try Tablets!

When WorkMobile™ was originally envisaged, the drive was to harness the incredible power of mobile phones to replace that nasty, heavy laptop for high quality data capture. In the last year, we’ve seen a huge surge in tablets… lightweight, powerful devices, with large touch-screens, that can provide a whole new experience in mobile computing. Hot on the heels of the iPad, new devices from HP and BlackBerry are pushing the bounds in computing power and portability, along with a wide range of Android powered devices.

One of the great challenges for all companies delivering mobile solutions is to leverage their solution across this ever-increasing range of platforms. New operating systems create new technical challenges, and new device form-factors create new opportunities to improve the user experience.

In the WorkMobile™ development team, we’re excited about these changes in the market, and are working hard to take advantage of our existing cross-platform development strategy that already enables us to deliver our solution to more than 95% of smart phone users worldwide. We’re already working on tablet optimised versions for iPad and Android (users of which can already use the smart phone versions). Our device team are looking closely at the new BlackBerry PlayBook and it’s new Tablet OS operating system, and at HP’s new web OS-based TouchPad, both of which are due to hit the streets in June.

Getting WorkMobile™ to work on every device we can (currently, everything from an iPad down to a €30 Nokia) is what excites eSay’s device team, and is a big part of what makes WorkMobile™ such a unique product. We’re looking forward to delivering exciting new ways to use WorkMobile™ to you over the coming months!

Graham (Senior Developer)

Sony unveils its S1 and S2 tablets running Android 3.0 Honeycomb OS

Consumer electronics giant Sony has taken the wrappers off its first two tablet devices, which will be taking on Apple’s iPad 2 from this Autumn.

The two devices are codenamed the S1 and S2, and will both run Google’s Android 3.0 Honeycomb software, which is powering an increasing number of tablets in 2011. The S1 will have a 9.4-inch touchscreen, while the S2 will have two 5.5-inch displays that fold up, in a similar way to Nintendo’s DS and 3DS handheld gaming devices.

Both devices will be tightly integrated with Sony’s cloud entertainment services, including its Qriocity music and video offerings, and its PlayStation Suite gaming service. The Sony Reader e-books store will also be preloaded on the devices, and they’ll be able to stream music and video to TVs and wireless speakers.

“Sony Tablet delivers an entertainment experience where users can enjoy cloud-based services on-the-go at any time,” says Kunimasa Suzuki, SVP and deputy president of Sony’s consumer products & services division. “We’re aiming to create a new lifestyle by integrating consumer hardware, including Sony Tablet with content and network.”

Co-incidentally (or perhaps not) the announcement comes as Sony faces high-profile outages for Qriocity and PlayStation Network – both services were taken offline last Wednesday after what the company describes as an “external intrusion”, and have yet to come back online.

Windows Phone 7 will be in second place behind Android by 2015?

According to the latest report by the research firm International Data Corporation (IDC) shows the smartphone market will grow 49.2% in 2011, with Android taking over as the leading smartphone platform. The firm predicts Windows Phone 7 will race to second place behind Android by 2015, boosted by its recent partnership announcement with Nokia.

IDC figures show Nokia’s Symbian will lose 65% share of the smartphone operating systems market by 2015. In comparison, Windows Phone 7 and Windows Mobile will increase its share by 67% in the next four years.

Ramon Llamas, senior research analyst at IDC, said: “Up until the launch of Windows Phone 7 last year, Microsoft has steadily lost market share while other operating systems have brought forth new and appealing experiences. The alliance brings together Nokia’s hardware capabilities and Windows Phone’s differentiated platform,” said Llamas.

“By 2015, IDC expects Windows Phone to be the number two OS worldwide behind Android,” he added.

Nokia expects the transition to Windows Phone to take about two years, which could erode its currently strong brand identity worldwide, damage its Symbian product quality and cause loss of market share.

Google filling mobile payments space?

According to a Wall Street Journal report, the web giant is working on a mobile payment technology system. Teaming up with Citigroup and Mastercard, Google are looking to create a mobile payment system that will turn Android phones into electronic wallets.

The new technology, which is in its early stages, will allow consumers to wave their Android phones in front of a small reader at the checkout counter to make payments, according to the report.

The planned payment system would allow Google to offer retailers more data about their customers and help them target advertisements and discount offers to mobile device users near their stores, sources told the WSJ.

Google is not expected to get a cut of the transaction fees, the paper said.

Initially, holders of Citigroup-issued debit and credit cards would be allowed to pay for purchases by activating a mobile payment application developed for one current model and many coming models of Android phones, the paper said.

Near-field communications (NFC) and mobile payments were the talk of this year’s Mobile World Congress (MWC) event in Barcelona.

Android apps quickly approaching iOS numbers, while Windows Phone 7 hits 10k

App count is often a contentious issue – the argument goes that in this app-driven market the one with the most apps (that’s Apple) is king. It appears Apple won’t be able to make such boasts for long, though.

According to a report issued by Business Insider, while Apple remains in front with 350,000 apps available on its App Store, Google has closed the gap significantly with 250,000.

Yes, 100,000 apps still sounds like quite a gap, but when you consider the relative growth from June 2009 – when Apple had 50,000 and Google had just 5,000 – you’ll realise that the Android Market is growing at a far greater rate than the App Store.

Plotted out as a graph, it shows that Android app growth is rapidly accelerating while iPhone app growth continues to increase at a steady rate. Projecting a little further down the line, it seems the two great app store rivals will be equal within a few months.

According to the report, BlackBerry and Windows Phone 7 would appear to be eating the leaders’ dust with around 20,000 and 9,000 apps respectively, although in the latter’s case that’s not bad going.

In fact, it’s been reported elsewhere that Windows Marketplace has just passed the 10,000 apps mark. This landmark has been achieved in less time than it took both iOS and Android.

Google Instant Previews goes mobile

Android and iOS users can now preview web pages before diving in. Instant Previews has been available online for some time. It lets users visually compare search results from webpage snapshots to improve the efficiency of browsing.

It is accessed by clicking on the magnifying glass next to a web page in search results. Starting today, Google Instant Previews is available on Android (2.2+) and iOS (4.0+) devices across 38 languages.

Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 definitely coming soon…

Despite reports that Apple’s iPad 2 reveal had given the company pause for thought, Samsung says the Galaxy Tab 10.1 launch will go ahead as planned.

Translated comments attributed to Samsung’s Lee Don-joo suggested that the company had been taken aback by the iPad 2‘s slim chassis and aggressive pricing, prompting a resolve to “improve the parts that are inadequate” on the forthcoming Android 3.0 tablet. Many took this to mean that the launch of the device would be delayed to allow for modifications.

However, the South Korean manufacturer has moved to reject these suggestions, confirming that the Galaxy Tab 10.1 would be launched on the planned (though as yet unspecified) date.

Samsung’s executive vice president Lee Don-Joo confirmed that the company would “continue to make every effort to provide the most powerful, well-designed and productive mobile device to customers,” though this will not involve a dramatic reshaping of the Galaxy Tab 10.1.

Now we just need to know when the device will arrive.