Save even more battery life on your Motorola Razr Maxx HD

Takeaway:  Explains how you can use Smart Actions to eek even more battery life out of your Motorola Razr Maxx HD smartphone.

If you’re a proud owner of the Motorola Razr Maxx HD, you already enjoy the best battery life of any smartphone. But if 380 hours standby and 21 hours talk time isn’t enough battery for you, you can still gain a bit more juice by taking advantage of the built-in Smart Actions feature.

Motorola’s Smart Actions automate tasks based on a wide range of triggers. One of the best features of Smart Actions is its ability to help you save battery life. New to the latest release of Smart Actions is the Low Battery Saver. This feature helps extend the ability of Smart Actions to save your battery from prematurely running dry.

Let’s walk through the process of setting up the Battery Saver and Low Battery Saver Smart Actions so that you can get the most out of your Motorola Razr Maxx HD battery.

By default, you should see the Smart Actions launcher on your home screen (Figure A).

Figure A

Here you see the default home screen on the Verizon-branded Motorola Razr Maxx HD.

Tap that launcher to open the Smart Actions tool, and then tap the Get started button. On the welcome page is a button labeled Learn More. You should give this help system a try if you have questions about using Smart Actions.

Here’s how Smart Actions work:

1. You create a trigger (such as being at a specific location or during a specific time)
2. You create an action (such as setting brightness or adjust background data)
3. The defined trigger is tripped
4. The defined action occurs

Battery Saver

Open up Smart Actions, scroll down, and tap Battery Saver.  From this screen (Figure B), we’ll first create a trigger.

Figure B

By default, there is one trigger and two actions set.

Tap the plus sign [+] for Triggers. A new window will appear that allows you to select from a number of possible triggers. Let’s create a trigger for a specific time. If you know between the hours of 3:00 PM and 6:00 PM that you don’t need data flowing on your device, reducing this can easily save battery life. So, tap “It’s during a specific time.” In the new window that appears, you’ll see five default times:

• Morning: 5am-8am
• Evening: 6pm-10pm
• Weekend: 10am-7pm
• Night: 10pm-4:03am
• Work: 8am-6pm

To create a custom time, tap the plus sign [+] in the upper right corner. In the new window (Figure C), give the time a name and select the necessary options for a 3pm-6pm timeframe.

Figure C

You can make this an all day event if you like.

Tap the I’m done button, and you’ll see your newly created timeframe already selected. Tap the I’m Done button again, and your new trigger is created.

Now, let’s set the action. Tap the plus sign [+] associated with Actions. In this new window, scroll down and tap the Set Mobile Data entry. In the resulting window (Figure D), select Turn mobile data off, and then tap I’m done.

Figure D

You’re almost done with this battery saving action.

You might find that you need to create a new, time-based action that turns data back on. To do this, create a new trigger for the 6:01pm-3:59pm timeframe and an action to turn data back on.

If you need to temporarily disable this action, long-press the action and select Disable. Smart Actions indicates a trigger is disabled by breaking the connection on the left side (Figure E).

Figure E

A disabled action is displayed at the bottom of the window.

You can re-enable the action by long-pressing said action and selecting Enable.

Low Battery Saver

Go back to the main window of Smart Actions and tap the plus sign [+]. In the Smart Action listing, select Low Battery Saver. The default triggers and actions should be good enough, but you can modify the settings. For example, if you want to lower the trigger from 25% to 10%, tap the trigger (Figure F), and then tap Less than 10%. Once you’ve configured this Smart Action exactly how you want it, tap Save.

Figure F

The Low Battery Saver is a really good way to extend your battery.

Though you are, most likely, already happy with your Motorola Razr Maxx HD battery life, there’s always room for improvement. Give the Motorola Smart Actions a try, and see if they don’t help you get even more life from that incredible battery.

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Manage BYOD corporate email with Gander

Takeaway: Sees the future of BYOD email management in Gander, an upcoming cloud service from Riparian Data.

Focusing on Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) management and security can be a lesson in scalability for larger enterprises. I’ve been following a company called Riparian Data for a while, and they’ve developed a cloud-based email management solution called Gander. This solution is still in beta, but it points to a future for large enterprise management of email on BYOD for security administrators.

The concept behind Gander comes from Riparian Data’s work with the open source Timberwolfemail management application that pulls data from Microsoft Exchange into Hbase. Once the email server data is in HBase, Timberwolf enables you to analyze the data using common query languages. When a New York City investment bank saw Timberwolf, they encouraged the company to commercialize the product, which led to the company developing what is now Gander.

Gander isn’t an end user email solution. Riparian Data is targeting large enterprises with this solution, so we are talking thousands to tens of thousands of email accounts and the mobile users who want to access their accounts from mobile devices.

Getting started with Gander

Riparian Data gave me access to the private beta of Gander. I used an iPhone 5 and had it filter my Gmail. When you login to the Gander beta, it asks permissions for the following:

• View and manage your email
• View basic information about your account
• View your email address
• Perform these operations when I’m not using the application

Ultimately, when it launches, Gander will also support Microsoft Exchange email because of its dominance inside corporate enterprises. Figure A shows the current Gander login screen:

Figure A

Gander login screen.

The Gander setup is easy. While I’m sure a large company using Gander would automate setup as part of a BYOD onboarding process, the setup is easy enough for a tech savvy user and even less savvy users with some phone support or training.

Manage mobile email with Gander

Using Gander for BYOD email means using a mobile web browser. This can be a risky move in terms of usability and sometimes performance, based on my experience with similar browser-based services on mobile devices. However, Gander has a streamlined HTML 5 interface that shouldn’t require much, if any, user training. Figure B shows an inbox as seen through Gander:

Figure B

Email as seen in the Gander inbox.

When I sent my Gmail account through Gander, I also did a good job of picking up the categories from my account. Figure C shows the categories Gander brought over from my Gmail account:

Figure C

Email categories as seen in Gander.

Gander also has some user features for customizing the Gander experience. Figure D shows some of the available Gander features:

Figure D

Gander settings.

There’s no need for user intervention to make this mail processing happen. However, if Gander miscategorizes an email, a user can drag and drop the email in its proper place. Gander offers a minimalist email user experience, and its simplicity lends itself better to interacting with email on a mobile device. In fact, I think this approach could help some users get a better handle over their email inbox.

Gander keeps email handling simple with only two sections:

• Main, which consists of email from people that you know and email that seems important
• Skim, which includes email from strangers and robots

The processing and analytics takes place in the cloud, so mobile users don’t have access to any of the information, but they do benefit from tighter email inbox management. Using Gander as an email standard for BYOD users should also benefit the help desk by providing a consistent email user experience instead of dealing with multiple email apps. Likewise, keeping email off BYOD devices is a boon to security, and being able to shut down email access is easier when a device is lost, stolen, or the employee leaves the company.

Is it a goose or Gander for BYOD email?

Riparian Data has the potential to bring some original ideas to BYOD email management, and I rank them as a company and Gander as a product to watch for when it launches.

Gander’s cloud approach to managing corporate email access from mobile devices could be a timesaver when devices come onboard. This method also has storage on its side to aid in faster processing and analytics vs. an iPhone app that needs to phone home to a server to process email.

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Infographic: Running a small business from a smartphone

Takeaway: Find out which smartphone apps are best suited for small business owners.

The following infographic, created by Salesforce & Desk.com Customer Support Services, looks at some of the leading apps in the management space to inspire entrepreneurs to get things done via mobile. Find out which smartphone apps — for financial management, file storage, document editing, communication, and customer support –  are the best suited for small business owners.

Are your favorite apps featured in this infographic? If not, share your business apps of choice in the discussion thread below.

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Top 5 smartphones (February 2013 edition)

Summary: Five of the best smartphones. Something for those who like iOS, Android, and Windows Phone.

Introduction

Whenever I present a list of what I believe are the best smartphones and tablets, I invariably bet comments from readers who feel that it is artificial and arbitrary for me to break down devices by operating system. They feel that the 'best' device should come down to the hardware, and not the operating system it runs.

OK then, let's do that.

Here are five of the best smartphones currently on offer.

Apple iPhone 5

In my opinion—and in the opinion of millions of buyers ever quarter—the iPhone 5 is the king of the smartphones.

Not only is the iPhone 5 a solid, reliable smartphone, but it is backed by a massive ecosystem of apps, and an equally robust ecosystem of physical hardware in the form of docks, camera accessories, toys, and much more.

• iOS 6
• 1.3 GHz dual-core Apple A6 processor
• 4-inch 640 × 1136 pixels (326 ppi) display
• 8MP rear camera
• 1.2MP front camera
• 16/32/64GB internal storage

Credit: Apple

Samsung Galaxy Note II

The Samsung Galaxy Note II is Android smartphone those people with large hands to hold it with, and large pockets to keep it in.

The Samsung Galaxy Note II really is a solid handset packed with an array of high-end features. It even comes with the S Pen that can be used to copy text, crop images, and even to share content.

• Jelly Bean (Android 4.1)
• 1.6 GHz quad-core Samsung Exynos processor
• 5.5-inch Super AMOLED HD display
• 8MP rear camera
• 1.9MP front camera
• 16/32/64GB internal storage
• microSD slot 

Credit: Samsung.

Google Nexus 4

The Nexus 4 is the smartphone that Google thinks Android should be loaded on.

One of the downsides to the Nexus 4 is that it doesn't come with LTE support despite having a supporting integrated modem. According to LG, the manufacturer of the Nexus 4, the LTE modem requires a signal amplifier and filter to work, and these components have been omitted to keep the cost of the handset down.

Despite this, the Nexus 4 is a solid, well-made Android handset.

• Jelly Bean (Android 4.2)
• 1.5 GHz quad-core Krait processor
• 4.7-inch WXGA IPS display
• 8MP rear camera
• 1.3MP front camera
• 8/16GB internal storage

Credit: Google.

Motorola Droid RAZR MAXX HD

The Motorola Droid RAZR MAXX HD is Motorola's latest high-end smartphone and it brings both a high-definition 4.7-inch display and a massive 3,300 mAh battery, good enough for 32-hours of use.

It's also tough, constructed form DuPont Kevlar fibre and Corning Gorilla Glass, and features water-repellent nanoparticles to shield against water, even on the internal circuit boards.

The only downside to this handset is that it is powered by Android 4.0 "Ice Cream Sandwich," but an upgrade to Android 4.1 "Jelly Bean" should be available before the end of the year.

• Ice Cream Sandwich (Android 4.0) but an update is on the way
• Dual-core 1.5GHz processor
• 4.7-inch Super AMOLED HD Display, 720p (720x1280)
• 8 MP rear-facing camera
• 1.3 MP front-facing with 720p HD video capture
• 1080p HD video capture
• 32 GB internal storage
• microSD card slot 

Credit: Motorola.

Nokia Lumia 920

It's easy to think that the smartphone market is stitched up between iOS and Android, but it's not. Microsoft's Windows Phone operating system is a small but influential player, and the new Lumia's from Nokia are a solid basis for taking the platform to the next level.

The Lumia 920 is a solid piece of kit. Undoubtedly one of its strong points is the PureView technology camera featuring a Carl Zeiss lens, and a wireless charging station that means no more having to plug in cables into the handset.

• Windows Phone 8
• 1.5GHz dual-core Snapdragon S4 processor
• 4.5-inch IPS LED, 1280 × 768 pixels (332 ppi)
• 8.7 MP rear-facing camera
• 1.3 MP front-facing with 720p HD video capture
• 1080p HD video capture
• 32 GB internal storage 

Credit: Nokia.

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MailDroid: A more versatile, user-friendly Android email client

Takeaway: Find out what Jack Wallen thinks MailDroid is one of the best suited mail apps for business users.

I like the built-in Android mail client, but there are times when more is simply necessary. Fortunately, with Android, you have options. One such option (one that offers plenty of power for business users) is MailDroid.

As a powerful, flexible email client, MailDroid offers the following features:

• A powerful search filter
• Threaded view
• Bookmarks (for quick access to folders)
• Rule-based connection management
• IMAP idle push
• Save/download attachments from email to SD
• Settings support for signature, font size, ring tone, led color etc
• Custom mail rules (like Outlook and Thunderbird)
• Spell check
• Search mail online (for IMAP only) or offline
• Password protection
• Microsoft Exchange 2003, 2007, 2010
• Full WYSIWYG editor
• Split screen (tablets only)
• Cloud storage integration (dropbox)

NOTE: In both versions, calendar integration and ActiveSync are in the works

There are two flavors of MailDroid:

• Free: Add-based
• Pro: $17.99 (USD)

The Pro version adds the following features:

• Up/down arrow in email to move to next or previous emails
• Ability to set where to go after deleting an email (next/previous or back to inbox)
• Two widgets

But is MailDroid the right app for you? Can it help you better communicate with your business and your clients? I believe so. Let’s dig into this replacement mail client and find out just how it works.

Installation

As you might expect, the installation is quite simple. Just follow these steps:

1. Open the Google Play Store
2. Search for “maildroid” (no quotes)
3. Tap the free version
4. Tap on the entry titled “Maildroid - Email Application”
5. Tap Install
6. Tap Accept & download
7. Check the box for Automatic Updating (if you want to make use of that option)

After the app is installed, you’ll find the launcher for the app in the app drawer.

First usage

When you first fire up MailDroid, you’ll be prompted to accept the EULA. Tap the Accept button, and then tap Next. Once you’ve made it through the EULA and/or the feature listing, you’ll be prompted to set up an account. You have three options (Figure A):

• Auto Setup
• Manual Setup
• Import Settings

Figure A

MailDroid as seen on the Verizon-branded Samsung Galaxy S III.

Most likely, you’ll want to walk the path of Manual Setup, as that’s often the best chance for success. Tap the Manual Setup button, and then select between the following types of accounts:

• IMAP
• POP3
• Office365
• Exchange 2003/2007
• Exchange 2007/2010

Tap the account type necessary to continue on. Depending on the type of account you need, the configuration options will vary. Most of the account types will require the following:

• Email address
• Username
• Mail server

In some cases, you might need (again, depending upon the type):

• SSL settings
• Ports
• Domain
• Outgoing SMTP server

Once the account has been created, you’ll see release notes. Tap on the home button (upper left corner) to go back to the account listing page (Figure B).

Figure B

MailDroid as seen on the Verizon-branded Motorola Razr Maxx HD.

Obviously, you can have multiple accounts on MailDroid. Tap the account you want to view, and you’re ready to start managing your email.

Cool features

There are a couple of nifty features I want to highlight for MailDroid. The first is the Connection Management. With this feature, you can dictate exactly how MailDroid connects to your mail server. You can use the Connection Manager to remain connected (Push) to your server, close connection upon exit, check email on intervals, never check email, and more.

Let’s walk through how to use the Connection Manager.

1. From within MailDroid, tap the menu button, and then tap Account Preferences
2. Scroll down and tap Connection Management
3. Tap New Rule
4. Give the new rule a name, and tap OK
5. If you need to define the rule by time or day, tap those options and configure
6. Tap Connection Management
7. Select the options you want to associate with this rule (Figure C)
8. Tap the back button to return to the rule

Figure C

Here you see some of the options for the Connection Manager.

If you do not want to create multiple rules, you can always re-configure the default rule by simply tapping on Default (within the Rules List) and configuring that rule to meet your needs.

Another cool feature is Bookmarks. With Bookmarks, you can set up quick access to folders within your mail account. This will help make an account with numerous folders and sub-folders more efficient. To bookmark a folder, follow these steps:

1. From within the account, tap the folder icon (Figure D).
Figure D


The icon in question is highlighted here.

2. Once you’re within the folder listings, scroll to the folder you want to bookmark, long-press the folder, and select Bookmark (Figure E).

Figure E

Creating bookmarks for folders will give you more efficient access to specific folders.

MailDroid is probably one of the best suited mail apps for business users. Its flexibility and ease of use can make on-the-go email management much less of a hassle, which means you get more work done.

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Infographic: Samsung leads the smartphone market

By Sonja Thompson

Takeaway: According to a Statista infographic by IDC, Samsung has taken the lead in the smartphone market. Has the iPhone finally met its match with the Galaxy S III?

TechRepublic blogger Jack Wallen recently wrote about his amazing experience with the Samsung Galaxy S III. According to Jack, the Galaxy S III is so powerful and impressive that it will win you over and make you want to drop whatever device you’re currently using.

Interestingly, Statista published an infographic by IDC about Samsung’s lead in the smartphone market, which confirms the Galaxy S III popularity on a large scale.

“The Korean electronics giant sold more than 50 million smartphone from April through June and cemented its position as the world largest smartphone maker. Samsung reportedly sold 10 million units of its new flagship model Galaxy S3 in a matter of weeks and now holds a global market share of 32.6%. Meanwhile, Apple sold 26 million iPhones last quarter and saw its market share drop from 23% to 17%. The fact that the iPhone’s design hasn’t been changed since June 2010 is obviously starting to hurt Apple and Samsung looks very capable of seizing the moment and running away with the market.”

What are your thoughts about this market shift? Has the iPhone finally met its match with the Galaxy S III?

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Verizon-branded Samsung Galaxy S III: An impressive phone for IT

By Jack Wallen

Takeaway: Find out why Jack Wallen believes the Verizon-branded Samsung Galaxy S III will impress end users and IT admins alike.

Over the years, I’ve used a lot of smartphones. Some of those phones weren’t so smart. Others were powerful but had horrible design elements. A few had great size and feel but horrific performance. It’s a rare occasion when you come across a device that’s about as close to perfect as possible — a phone that would impress end users and IT administrators alike.

The Samsung Galaxy S III is that impressive. In fact, this is the first Android phone I’ve tried with a UI that performs as smoothly as the iPhone. Granted, the iPhone has an advantage over Android in that Apple only has to develop for one piece of smartphone hardware. Because of this, optimization is a no-brainer. The Galaxy S III not only bridges that gap, but it sails past the iPhone in performance.

(Note: The device that was used for this review was from Verizon; however, the Samsung Galaxy S III is also available at AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, and U.S. Cellular.)

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Specs

The specs for the Galaxy S III are:

• Network: Wireless and 4G LTE
• Body: 136.6 x 70.6 x 8.6 mm Weight 133 g
• Display: Super AMOLED capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors Size 720 x 1280 pixels, 4.8 inches (~306 ppi pixel density)
• Memory: Card slot microSD, up to 64 GB Internal 16/32/64 GB storage, 1 GB RAM
• Camera: 8 MP, 3264×2448 pixels, autofocus, LED flash
• OS: Android OS, v4.0.4 (Ice Cream Sandwich)
• CPU: Quad-core 1.4 GHz Cortex-A9
• Battery: Li-Ion 2100 mAh Stand-by Up to 590 h (2G) / Up to 790 h (3G) Talk time Up to 21 h 40 min (2G) / Up to 11 h 40 min (3G)

The good

Everything. Period. This phone is truly one of the most powerful mobile devices I’ve ever used. The UI (Figure B) is perfectly smooth, performance is off the charts, the handset is incredibly light, and Ice Cream Sandwich is a dream to use.

Figure B

The Verizon-branded Samsung Galaxy S III has plenty of home screen real estate for everything you need.

But beyond the general, there are plenty of features to really love about this phone. Let’s touch on some of the highlights.

S Voice: That’s right, Siri has competition now. The built-in Samsung Voice command system is a brilliant system that not only has the user-friendliness of Siri, but the typical Android ability to configure it to work exactly how you like it. To configure this tool, do the following:

1. Open the App Drawer
2. Tap S Voice
3. Tap the menu button
4. Tap Settings
5. Scroll through the new page (Figure C) and configure to suit your needs

Figure C

You can configure all of your S Voice settings.

With S Voice, you can set your wake up command, set S Voice to wake up from locked, set your home address, and much, much more.

Display: The display on the Galaxy S III is, hands down, the best of any smartphone on the market. Colors are brilliant, response is instant, and the size is stunning. In fact, the size and crispness of the display will enable you to actually handle remote management (using a tool likeLogMeIn or SSHDroid) much more easily than any other handheld.

Sound quality: I have yet to hear a smartphone offer the same quality as a traditional, wired phone. The Galaxy S III comes the closest. And, ultimately, the phone is the single most important aspect of a smartphone. I’ve experienced every level of sound quality with handsets from every provider, and the Galaxy S III is unrivaled.

The bad

It’s so hard to find something to not like about the Galaxy S III. Yes, some of the proprietary software isn’t the best, but that’s just a matter of either uninstalling or not using it. One could easily knock the phone down for being so large, which might be a challenge for those of us with small hands. And of course, there is the usual battery life issue when using 4G. Outside of those things, the Galaxy S III is the first phone in a long, long time to make me say, “Wow!”

The IT conclusion

The IT crowd should certainly embrace this mobile powerhouse for its speed, UI, and screen size. Regardless of what sector of business you work in, the Galaxy S III will impress you. Believe me, you’ll want to drop whatever mobile you’re currently using so that you can take advantage of Verizon’s most powerful, well designed smartphone on the planet.

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