Category: Small Biz Go Mobile

Making A Match: Which Mobile Device Is Right For You?

by Curlis Phillip

Curlis Phillip is a Senior Marketing Manager at AT&T. You can find more blog content from Curlis and other experts on mobility on the AT&T Networking Exchange Blog, where this post originally appeared. AT&T has sponsored the following blog post.

Consumer demand and competition among handset makers is driving innovation in mobile devices. Business users have a plethora of mobile devices to choose from, from touch screen smartphones, to hybrid tablets and netbooks, to eco-friendly laptops, each with features and capabilities that help improve productivity and efficiency of the mobile workforce.

The type of device you carry as a business professional really depends on a few factors: business need, personal preference, and your IT department’s ability to support if you are planning to use a personal device for work purposes.

What type of business professional are you?

No fuss business professional
Just about every business professional carries some type of mobile device.  For those that take short day trips and want to avoid the hassle at the airport, a smartphone such as the BlackBerry Bold 9900 may be ideal. You can check email and appointments, participate in conference calls, and  access corporate networks and the internet.  An obvious limitation to a smartphone is the miniature keyboard and small screen size, thus limiting mobile computing capabilities. If you plan on typing long emails or doing more word processing, a tablet device or smartphone-tablet hybrid with PC-like performance is a better option.

Agile road warrior
mobile solutions for business travelersRoad warriors are constantly on the go. They live out of a suitcase and pack only what is essential to streamline life for business travel.  Although smartphones are a staple for that businessman or woman on the road, the larger screen size makes tablets and lighter, slim-framed laptops more attractive to road warriors needing to access business apps, create and edit documents, stream product demos, and deliver customer presentations.
Flexible telecommuter
mobile solutions for telecommutersMore and more companies are adopting telecommuting programs to help reduce real-estate and overhead cost, support sustainability efforts, and increase employee morale and productivity.  While smartphones and tablets are the hottest technology products right now, laptops and notebook PCs are still very relevant – at least for the short term.  The new breed of laptop and notebook PCs with their high processing speed and storage capacity make these devices ideal for employees that work from home on a part-time or full-time basis.

Choosing the device is only half the battle. Organizations have embraced mobile technology as way to get more done; however, just as important as the device is the need for adequate connection and coverage. Workers need secure and reliable voice and data coverage, whether broadband or WiFi, both in their local area and the places they may travel to.  Selecting the right carrier goes a long way in ensuring that business users are able to service customers and get their job done anywhere, regardless of the device.

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SXSW: How Merchants Can Accept PayPal Payments With a Smartphone

by Katherine Elsasser

PayPal Here and Wallet appsLots of companies are working on ways to use smartphone payments to streamline the ordering process. PayPal’s entry into the market is particularly interesting, since so many people have a PayPal account already. Plus, their app isn’t tied to ordering from a specific establishment (like paying with your phone at Starbucks). Instead, PayPal’s app could let you order just about anywhere.

From the customer side, the app is called PayPal Wallet. The merchant app is PayPal Here, which lets merchants accept and send money.

So how would it work? Check out the demo video below from SXSW. You use your phone to “check-in” at a destination, which automatically lets a merchant start a tab for you. The example below is ordering drinks, but it’s easy enough to imagine lots of possibilities for the app in the future!

Mario Armstrong’s CUBED — AT&T Connect

by Mario Armstrong

In this episode of CUBED, I visit Barb at Clapp Communications, a boutique public relations agency. Barb is having trouble communicating with a team split between two offices, one in Baltimore and the other in Charlotte, with employees constantly traveling all over the map to meet each other and to meet with clients. Does this situation sound familiar? These days, offices are much more decentralized and connecting everyone on your team regularly and reliably can be difficult.

Enter AT&T Connect. Connect is an integrated audio, web, and video conferencing solution that can help to bring your team together and help you work more efficiently when everyone can’t be in the same place at the same time. With low per-minute costs and deep integration with Outlook, AT&T connect provides conference tools no matter what platforms and devices your business uses, whether its PC, Mac, Android, iPhone, iPad or Android. But it’s more than just a Skype alternative—AT&T Connect brings in tons of features like whiteboarding, shared presentations, and file sharing to make an AT&T Connect meeting just as productive and useful as a real world one. Plus, if some colleagues or clients can’t make it to the meeting, the whole thing can be recorded and shared via email! How great is that?

Anyone can learn to code – why I’m backing code.org

by Mario Armstrong

The fact is, anybody can learn how to write computer code. It isn’t like basketball or football. where you either have the talent or don’t—learning to write code is something that can, and SHOULD, be taught to everyone in school. The problem is, not all students have access to computers and the training materials or teachers necessary to actually learn how to do it. That’s why I’m getting behind code.org, an organization dedicated to getting programming curriculum and technology into every single classroom.

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CC Chapman at SXSW: Amazing Things Will Happen (If You Work At Them!)

by Katherine Elsasser

CC Chapman at SXSWMany of you may have already seen our SXSW interview with CC Chapman. But it’s worth reposting here, because he talks a lot about something that’s important to all of us: how to get where you want to go. As he says in the video, it’s not enough just to be unhappy with what you’re doing: you have to make changes if you want to make progress, and those changes take hard work.

One great point he raises is that if you know where you want to go, you can make an action plan to get there. That means trying to work backwards from your end goal, and setting up concretes milestones (with deadlines!) you think will get you there. But starting from the end result is key.

It’s also important to remember that your plan will change along the way: it’s important to be flexible and respond both to positives and negatives that may come up. That may mean changing your plan slightly to accomodate a new opportunity that presents itself, and it also means constantly evaluating what you’re doing: if it’s not working, it’s time to change the plan!

For more info on CC Chapman, check out his new book Amazing Things Will Happen or find him on Twitter at cc_chapman.

Three Lessons in Brand Marketing & Activation from SXSW

by Katherine Elsasser
chevy sxsw brand
Chevy at SXSW. Courtesy sxsw.com

South by Southwest, especially the interactive portion of the festival, is all about brands. They’re there to get your attention, either as sponsors, party hosts, service providers or more. The tough part is competing for eyeballs in a space crowded with other brands out to do the exact same thing. Sure, that’s true in the marketplace all the time, but SXSW is a distilled, concentrated version of the attention problem. We were there, we saw what worked and what didn’t, and we’ve got a couple takeaways you can apply to any brand marketing opportunity for your small business:

1. Have something to say

The most successful companies at SXSW timed their participation with a major product, app or feature announcement. It’s not enough to show up: there’s got to be something to catch everyone’s attention. That’s especially true if your audience knows you already: giving them something new gives them another reason to pay attention to you again!

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Making Your Business Connections Count – Master the Art of Human Networking

by Mario Armstrong

Networking online, through social media channels, email, and LinkedIn, is something everyone I know does pretty well. After all, you can take all the time you like to compose your pitches and online networking comes without the stress and anxiety that often accompanies face-to-face interaction. But by no means should online networking be the only kind you do! There are certain things that can only get done when meeting and pitching someone in person.

I’m at the South by Southwest (SXSW) conference this week in Austin, Texas, and it occurred to me that while I’ve gotten tons of amazing opportunities through my own networking, including television and radio appearances, this isn’t a subject that’s necessarily taught at business school. Many of you, I’m sure, are constantly attending conferences, events, and speaking engagements but if you struggle with getting up the nerve and pitching your idea then I’m going to try and help you by giving up my best tips. Here are the steps I would take before, during, and after an event to ensure I make the absolute most out of my face-to-face networking.

1. Know your subject

Before heading to an event or conference, get a copy of the program or print one out. Make sure you really study the entire program—you should know ahead of time what all of the panels are about and who all of the speakers are.

2. Make a hit list

With your knowledge of every nook and cranny of the program, you should be able to make a “hit list.” A hit list is your personalized list of everyone who will be speaking or attending the conference that you want to get in front of. Do you have an idea you’d like to run by them? An opportunity to present to them? Whatever it is, come up with more names than you’ll ever be able to meet (after all, some opportunities may pass for reasons outside of your control) and then prioritize them. This means making hard decisions and deciding on a #1, a #2, all the way down.

Read the rest of this post on AT&T’s Networking Exchange Blog

The 7 Biggest Culprits of Smartphone Battery Drain—And How To Fix Them

by Doug Sillars

doug sillars at&t networking exchangeDoug Sillars is a Sr. Product Development Engineer at AT&T. You can find more blog content from Doug and other experts on emerging technologies on the AT&T Networking Exchange Blog. AT&T has sponsored the following blog post.

 

Do You Have Enough Juice for the Big Call?

It’s going to be a big day. All you need is to get one phone call from the VP to approve the final provisions, and the deal of the year will be closed.  You’re working remotely at a client site for the day, but that’s no big deal because the super-powerful, do-anything smartphone in your pocket lets you work onsite AND take the big call. But then, just as you’re tackling big issues, handling e-mails, and anticipating that important call, you notice that your battery is quickly dying… and you forgot your charger!

Will you have enough juice to take the big call? Maybe – if you stop your phone’s battery from draining. Here are the 7 biggest culprits to battery drain, and how you can reduce their impact on your phone or tablet.

1. Screen settings.

Check your screen settings to preserve your battery power.

  • Screen Timeout: Choose the shortest time you can stand. I use one minute on my Samsung Galaxy Note II, and my battery life suits my needs. I tried 15 seconds and 30 seconds for time out, but the timer always caught me mid-email.  When my kids turned the setting on my wife’s phone to ten minutes, her battery was dead in four hours.
  • Brightness: I use the automatic setting – that way, I minimize power in dark rooms, and crank it only when I need it in a bright location.  Sure, sometimes it takes a second to set up, but my battery life is better.
  • For LED (or OLED or AMOLED) screens: Black and dark colors use less power than white. When possible, use a darker background image or screensaver.
  • For LCD screens, color does not make a difference in power drain. So, when in doubt as to the technology of your screen, darker screens are better.

2. Radio.

On mobile, each connection stays active for a period of time after each connection.  This is to reduce latency on future connections. However, this “tail” radio time can be a significant draw on the battery.

Here is a pretty technical video, but it outlines best practices.  If you are a developer, and you want to test your mobile app, check out ARO (developer.att.com) to see if there are ways you can optimize your mobile app to reduce battery drain.

blackberry q10
BBM email can be a huge battery drain

3.  Email.

If you use ActiveSync or BBM e-mail servers, you can specify how often e-mail is delivered. Depending on how much e-mail you get per hour, you can change the settings.

4. Vampire apps.

These sneaky apps connect in the background and drain out your battery.

  • There is a popular news app that pings the internet for information every 3 minutes (24 hours a day). That’s 480 radio connections a day (as much as 10-20% of your battery).
  • If you install an app, and notice a degradation in battery life soon after – try uninstalling that app.
  • For active usage – Wi-Fi is usually more efficient than cellular (sometimes even to cellular, rarely worse).
  • Turn off LTE. LTE uses more power than 3G.
  • Turn off data or go into Airplane mode for ultimate savings.

4. GPS.

Everyone knows that GPS consumes a lot of energy. Here are some tips to minimize the drain:

  • When you are finished with an app that uses GPS (like Google Maps), make sure you quit the app (the back button on Android), and don’t send it to the background.  If the app is still running in the background, it may still continue to ping the GPS radio to get your location.
  • GPS on standby DOES use a small amount of power. If you are not using GPS, just turn it off.  This is not a big savings – it won’t add hours to your battery life, but it will save minutes… and it could be enough to make a difference in catching that important call!

5. Wi-Fi.

Switching between Wi-Fi and a mobile network requires energy, too.

  • If you are not using Wi-Fi, the Wi-Fi radio will continuously ping for a new network that it might join. This can use up a lot of power.
  • If you are associated to a Wi-Fi network, it is not as big a drain.  Just stay associated with it to avoid #1.
  • If you are not planning on using Wi-Fi for a long period of time, just turn it off.

6. Processors.

Some games or bigger apps use a lot of processor power (the CPU or GPU).  Just know if you play “Bad Piggies” for an hour, you will use up a lot of battery.

7. Bluetooth.

There is a power drain here, too, and the solution is simple:  If you are not using a Bluetooth accessory, turn off Bluetooth.

Bonus: More random thoughts.

Here are a few more ideas to help you conserve battery power.

  • In general, different chargers should not make a difference.  If you use a higher amp charger you COULD damage your battery.
  • Watching video or listening to music generally means that the screen is on, the radio is on, and the processors are running.  Guess what – lots of battery drain potential. Some streaming services are more efficient than others, so if you have issues with one service, try another, and it may last longer.
  • Ads in the app are being sent down by the radio, so they do incur battery drain. If it becomes an issue for you, buy the no-ad version.

 

Do you have some additional tips for extending your phone battery life?  Please share your ideas with us so we can all be ready to take that important call when it comes!

 

SXSW: Prince Plays Live and Samsung Announces the Galaxy S4

by Katherine Elsasser
samsung galaxy s4
Samsung Galaxy S4

Prince closed out the South by Southwest festival on Saturday night, wrapping up the music portion of the festival. But big tech companies were there for music, and not just the interactive portion: Samsung sponsored Prince’s performance, and made tickets available to owners of the Galaxy Note who completed a scavenger hunt throughout Austin (using the Note, of course).

Prince’s show was the most talked about event of the week, and it was the hardest ticket to come by, so it’s hard not to respect Samsung’s ability to drive some serious buzz at the event. With hundreds of companies and brands competing for attention during the festival, that’s no small feat.

And it makes sense Samsung would want all eyes on them: the show corresponded with their announcement of the Galaxy S4 smartphone, the successor to the incredibly popular Galaxy S3. The Galaxy S3 represents a huge comeback for Samsung, which has managed to position the device as the top competitor to the iPhone over the last year and a half.

So what can expect from this new release of the flagship phone? Mostly enhancements: a larger 5 inch screen, 1080p resolution, a better battery, and faster processor. It remains to be seen whether these minor improvements will drive the sales Samsung is looking for, but given the S3’s popularity, it seems like it will be a hot seller.

Want to be the first to know when the Galaxy S4 will be available? ATT already has a page up to let you sign up to receive a notification once the phone is available. Go here to get on the Galaxy S4 notification list.

 

SXSW: We’re Going and We Want to Help You

by Katherine Elsasser

sxsw logoA couple of the Mario Armstrong team members will be heading out for SXSW at the end of the week. In case you’re not familiar, the interactive part of the South by Southwest festival is basically the biggest tech tradeshow/party of the year. It’s also a place where new companies and startups go to try and make a splash, so it’s perfect for scouting trends and new services. We’ll be there, and even you aren’t going, we want to bring you the news and updates you’re curious about.

This is your chance to get info from the front lines of SXSW without actually having to stand in any lines! Check out their lineup of keynotes, featured sessions and workshops, and let us know which ones you’d be curious to hear about. You can leave your requests here in the comments or get us on Twitter at smbizgomobile. We’ll do our best to bring you the coverage you want!