Mobile devices and Me

Posted: Thursday, October 6th, 2011 by Amy

BlackBerry
The BlackBerry Curve is easily my favorite device for email. I like the keyboard and the ease at which I can send/receive emails and texts. I used a BlackBerry Curve for several years, and a Torch for a few months. The Torch, with it’s slide out keyboard and touchscreen was an awkward combination.

iPhone
I decided to switch over to an iPhone a couple of months ago, and the the transition to a touchscreen keyboard was challenging, but it worked out okay. The App store has all kinds of cool little games to keep the kids occupied when I need a moment of peace, and there are lots of apps to keep me entertained as well. So, I feel good about the iPhone.

Droid
Today I got a Samsung Galaxy S II, my first experience with the Droid OS. It’s a pretty phone, with a nice big screen. Given that email is what I use the most with any of my devices, I configured my Exchange account on the Droid. It didn’t work. I would call a help desk, but I AM the help desk for this sort of thing. Customers call every day for help configuring wireless devices. I passed the phone around the Lanlogic support staff, and no one could get the account to work on the device. Now, I have heard that the Exchange experience on the Droid OS is inconsistent at best, and just plain doesn’t work at the worst. I just didn’t believe after the OS has been out for a few years now that it would still have these kind of issues. So, we tell our customers who have problems with their Droid OS and Exchange to try an app from Marketplace called “Touchdown for Exchange”. I loaded up the trial version on my phone, and like magic, the Exchange account is working great on the phone now. I’ll have to spring $20 for the app once the free trial runs out, but I have my email.

If I didn’t support mobile devices, I would go running back to the BlackBerry Curve with no hesitation. However, since I support these other devices, I feel it is beneficial to have some real working experience with them. So, I’m going to stick with my Samsung Galaxy S II running Droid, and will continue to recommend TouchDown for Exchange to all those Droid users who cannot get their Exchange account working on their phones.