The Switch: Episode 3

As I posted before, my BlackBerry Bold arrived without any special BlackBerry data plan. Just the smartphone and packaged data plan from the service provider (T-Mobile Poland). This selection turned out to be a disaster for two reasons.

First: the way the Bold handles packet data connections (aka GPRS) combined with the way T-Mobile bills packet data (even in packages) results in an average bill to reach 150MB a month (the real amount of transmitted data is far less than that, but BlackBerry applications open and close data sessions very often, so every 3kB or 5kB session is rounded up to the so called "first 100kB"). While this can be handled at home by selecting a large enough data plan (500MB a month in my case), any trip abroad will likely bring you close to Chapter 11...

Second: there are a number of very useful applications (namely: Facebook Mobile, Google Talk) that do not work without any subscription to BlackBerry services (BIS - prosumer or BES - corporate). So even if you have a mobile data plan and your BlackBerry has a WiFi radio, you won't be able to run those applications. I was fully unaware of that and so was my T-Mobile sales person, as when purchasing the Berry, I explained everything I was expecting form the device to him, and he suggested selecting just the terminal (the BlackBerry Bold) and a generic packaged data plan. That sounded reasonably and would certainly work in Windows Mobile environment, where applications are completely agnostic of the way data packets are routed underneath. In the BlackBerry world however, things are different... Surprisingly VERY different...

So after painful three weeks of using the Berry and learning its way of handling Internet connectivity, I decided to go back to T-Mobile and turn on the BIS service (BlackBerry Internet Service). Basically it does two things: routes data packets via the [blackberry.net] APN and lets you configure your email to work the "push" way (the core feature and philosophy of the BlackBerry platform). I never really needed the push feature, as the native GMail application from Google worked really well, generating almost instant notifications of incoming emails. But on the other hand GMail was the main consumer of my data plan (generating a lot of tiny data sessions, probably polling servers for new emails). I wanted to have the other applications (Facebook, Google Talk) working too, and that was the real reason for turning on the BIS service.

Some three hours after the BIS was turned on, the first sign of life could have been spotted in the upper right corner of the screen - lowercase "edge" changed to uppercase "EDGE", meaning the Bold connected successfully to its associated BIS account using the [blackberry.net] APN instead of the previously used [erainternet] generic APN. And when I got back home, the little WiFi symbol that used to stay gray before, changed the color to white. Also on the Connection Manager screen the WiFi line was showing a green check mark right to the associated network name, instead of the white dash that used to be there before. My understanding of this is the phone uses WiFi and Internet to tunnel traffic to the BIS servers.

I started checking the applications and several suddenly started working. The Facebook application displayed a list of friends, offering poking them or sending messages and Google Talk automatically logged on to my profile setting my status to green (available) and even started receiving conversations, letting me to reply.

The next experiment was to turn the mobile network off and see what (if any) applications continue to work over WiFi. Facebook reported it could not connect, so did GMail, but - surprise, surprise - Google Talk kept on working fine. Later on I also discovered the BIS connectivity is maintained over a WiFi connection, so the messages are delivered without interruption even if the cellular is turned off.

Unfortunately, the real-time services bill by T-Mobile was still showing a total mess. Still a lot of very short data connections (nicely rounded up by the carrier to 100kB each), some to the [blackberry.net] APN (unlimited plan when not roaming) and some to the default [erainternet] APN, eating up the monthly 500MB plan fast. So now the goal was to find exactly what activities materialize as charges on the bill. The day before I spent two hours with a T-Mobile sales representative trying to press him to explain how the services and connections are charged. All he could say was they bill for the first 100kB, but he could not explain when the "first 100kB" occurs. Looking at my bill I happen to have about one hundred "first 100kB" items a day. Seems as any activity - a key press on a link in the Web browser generates some data transmission (usually 2-5kB) that gets immediately rounded to 100kB, being treated as "the first 100kB". The good thing is, I do not pay for that, as my monthly plan is 500MB (I estimated I would need about 170 data sessions a day to reach that limit). The bad thing is, such setup would generate a massive bill when roaming. 100kB outside the EU costs me $2, so a hundred 100kB sessions a day would cost $200 and month-long holidays in the US would result in $6000 for data transmission alone!

On the New Year's Eve I turned off all applications: logged out of Google Talk, Facebook, promised not to touch any Internet browser. Changed the APN setting from [erainternet] to [blackberry.net] (in a silly hope this will redirect some more traffic to the BIS). Turned off WiFi and started examining my real time bill. Nothing. Email messages kept on arriving via the BIS push service, I could reply to them and nothing showed up on the bill. I was expecting at least a few connections to the [blackberry.net] APN to appear, but they were not present. Not a single activity billed.

36 hours later (afternoon on January 1st) I touched the Web browser, just to check the T-Mobile real time billing system survived the New Year celebration and immediately four data sessions were logged (that would be $8 if I were roaming...). So the first suspect was clear: the browser on the BlackBerry Bold uses cellular packet data and eats the monthly data plan (or is charged extra when roaming). I kept on searching the Internet for more information to confirm my theory and the best article describing the insanely complicated approach to Web browsing configuration on the BlackBerry was found on the Crackberry site: http://crackberry.com/blackberry-browsers-explained. It would almost help me understand what was going on on my Berry, but unfortunately for some reason, the "Internet Browser" that "is on every BlackBerry", was missing on my device. All I have is the "Hotspot Browser" (uses Wi-Fi) and a "blueconnect" browser, keen on eating the generic data plan. I will keep on digging...

Then I turned on Facebook. When the Facebook application was off, I noticed the Facebook notification emails sent to my GMail account were relayed by BIS to the BlackBerry device as ordinary emails. Turning the Facebook on, resulted in messages showing up in the Facebook application, while simultaneously the emails were no longer appearing. It seems the Facebook application intercepts the Facebook notification emails relayed by BIS and uses them as triggers to fetch the real Facebook messages. Unfortunately, it immediately starts eating the generic data plan. Facebook DOES NOT work over the [blackberry.net] APN. When I had [blackberry.net] as an APN in TCP/IP options, it could not connect complaining about inappropriate data plan. When I changed the APN in TCP/IP options to [erainternet] (put your standard WAP APN here), it started working. But now what happens. Somebody sends you a Facebook message. The notification email is intercepted by the BlackBerry application that in turn opens a new data session to the generic APN, fetches the message and closes the session. This results in two data items being deposited on your bill (carriers bill separately for uplink and downlink). Again if you do this at home, it usually does not hurt, as most of us have sufficiently unlimited data plans. But as soon as you roam into a foreign territory, it starts costing you a fortune. Two data items, two dollars each total $4 for a delivery of a single Facebook message, such as "Hello!". Do you feel like being ripped off? I do... Stay away from the Facebook application when roaming... However silly it sounds... As Facebook Mobile SHOULD be what you use when traveling. But not for $4 a message, thank you!

Another experiment was to move to Google Talk. To make things clear, I logged off Facebook, so it did not interfere. I also changed the APN in TCP/IP options back to [blackberry.net]. Facebook was not working in such conditions blaming it on the lack of connectivity... But guess what - Google Talk logged on successfully, presenting my status and a list of friends with their statuses. Nothing on the bill at this moment... This somehow proves the theory Google Talk works over the [blackberry.net] APN (or over WiFi when present, but you have to be a BIS subscriber). This is good news, and if confirmed in the long run, would make Google Talk the application of choice when roaming... I really wish I had a Web browser on the Berry, working the way Google Talk does. And the real shame is GMail and Google Maps cannot use the [blackberry.net] APN. Probably because they are provided by Google and not by BlackBerry (which is the case with Google Talk).

It has been a long week... some questions answered, even more raised... So far the BlackBerry Bold has been the good (hardware, native software), the bad (third party applications) and the ugly (complete unclear services model outside the core messaging). I will continue to investigate things and keep you posted... stay tuned!

The Switch: Episode 2

Having the hardware covered a week ago, today I wanted to touch a little bit on the software on the Blackberry Bold. Hardware - wise the device is almost perfect. How about software then? Well... the first impression - as with the hardware - is it's extremely well implemented, with a lot of attention paid to the details.

I started my journey with the Blackberry installing the PC software in order to migrate my contacts stored in the Microsoft Outlook. I did not expect any difficulties here, and they did not happen. Both the installation process and the transfer went smoothly. On thing that can be noticed on the first encounter with the Blackberry PC software is it is designed to help you migrate from one device to a new one. These days we rarely start with smartphones from scratch. Usually we have a lot of data and meta-data to move, and sadly, very often we move the meta data manually. Re-entering passwords, Internet bookmarks, wallpapers, ringtones etc. People hate doing this (and this is one of the reasons companies like ZYB are sold for millions). Phone manufacturers generally do not care nor the carriers do so... At least with Blackberry migrating from one model to another one seems at least to be covered by the PC companion software.

The next day I was on a train spending some time getting used to the Blackberry philosophy and sending hundreds of SMSes notifying about my new phone number. SMS interface is very good. It works especially well in tandem with the address book. Little things like sending a message to the first ten contacts (alphabetically) and then having the address book positioned at the last picked entry matter. There is a very tidy delivery notification mechanism. No outbox / sent items / inbox philosophy. Just a flat list of all messages (composed / sent / received), with simple icons by every message meaning it has not been sent yet, it has been sent, it has been delivered. Getting rid of messages is very fast too, just by pressing the [del] key on the keyboard. No unnecessary re-confirmation dialogs.

Voice calls are a pleasure too. The sound quality is the best I ever had and the call progress screen is very well designed too. Again the devil in the details, like presentation of your own number (how often you have been asked for a number while having a conversation and had hard time spelling it?). It also shows very clearly if the sound is routed to your Bluetooth or speakerphone.

Selecting a contact to call from an address book (or home screen) is as easy as typing a few characters matching the entry and a filtered list appears. There is absolutely no lag in any operation. Everything is just instant. The Bold owes this to its very fast processor (clocked faster than 600MHz), but the underlying OS does not eat the CPU power, springing into action at every keypress instead.

You can assign speed dial entry to most of the QWERTY keys - press and hold will dial the number, and there are two user - defined buttons on the left and right side of the device. I assigned a key-lock function to the left one and a connection manager (where you enable / disable network / WiFi / Bluetooth and manage connections) to the right one.

But let us move now to the packet data and related applications. To be honest this is where my current disappointment has its roots. Just to be clear: I have not subscribed to any special Blackberry plan yet. My initial idea has been to use it as a smartphone, with a standard packet data plan. First thing I could not understand were two (virtually identical) Web browser applications sitting side by side. After examining their configuration options I found they differed in configuration, one being labeled as a "Hotspot Browser" and the other as a "blueconnect" (blueconnect is the name of a packet data plan offered by T-Mobile in Poland). It seems the Blackberry OS and applications really care which pipe they connect to the Internet. This has been shocking to me and I still find it hard to get used to after a month. Windows Mobile used to route Internet packets via the cheapest and fastest connection, meaning WiFi route was preferred over 3G / GPRS route and applications were agnostic of the route. This is not the case with the Blackberry and to be honest something I never expected.

First, on the browser (or even a bookmark) level you select the connection. Whether it is cellular packet data or wifi (hotspot). And then the device complains about a lack of packet data coverage when opening a bookmark, even if it is connected to a WiFi network. And what is strange, sometimes it does not complain, just connects. But very often a page that was displayed over cellular connection would not refresh over WiFi. Strange, strange, strange... Otherwise the browser is very good. I will not claim it is better than the Safari on an iPhone, but pretty comparable. Very fast zoom in / out and the little thumb trackball is fantastic for scrolling pages. Again a lot of attention to details. Like space key entering dots in http addresses (no need to use alt-M combination for a dot). And many keyboard shortcuts I love. G (ofr GoTo) brings Web address entry / bookmarks form), R refreshes the page, J refreshes with JavaScript enabled (for pages that need special care), I and O zoom In and Out, space scroll down a page and so on...

But the disappointments related to the weird design of packet router philosophy continue. I have to admit There was one factor that contributed heavily to my decision to get Blackberry - Google Applications. There are a bunch of them, designed for the Blackberry platform - Google Mail, Google Talk, Google Sync and Google Maps to name the most important ones. I have all of them installed. But this is where my real frustration begun:

• Google Talk does not work at all. It seems it needs a subscription to a special Blackberry service called BIS (Blackberry Internet Service), that among other things routes data packets to a [blackberry.net] APN. I will verify that soon, as the main conclusion now is the BIS subscription is [unfortunately] absolutely necessary to run the device to its full capabilities. One of them being Google Talk.
• Google Mail works over standard cellular APN (no need for BIS), but does not work over WiFi (says it requires a working data connection, not noticing the phone is logged on to my home WiFi...). That is just stupid. I cannot just take the phone out at home (where I have very bad cellular coverage, but plenty of WiFi) and check my email.
• Same for Google Sync, but it just fails to sync, saying nothing and coming to life only when I pick a cellular signal.
• And same for Google Earth.

So yes, the Bold has WiFi, but the only application that works over WiFi so far seems to be the Web browser. The Crackberry Forum lists applications working over Wifi, but I suspect many of them require the presence of BIS service. As far as I understand BIS works over WiFi and enables other applications over WiFi too. Pity was the sales person offering me the Blackberry did not explain that phenomena, claiming the BIS service is only for the Push Email functionality. I will report on that once my BIS service is activated, which, by the way is not that straightforward, as it requires a dedicated consultant meeting me in person. They better send a good one, as I feel I have a lot of down to the metal detailed questions...

The final and positive comment today is on the Media Player application. Kudos for integration with iTunes. There is a Blackberry Media Sync PC application allowing me to pick any or all iTunes playlists and synchronize them with the Berry. I popped in a 16GB micro-SD card and half of my entire music collection (and basically everything I listen to) has been transferred in a matter of minutes. Flawlessly.

The conclusion so far is I feel like the concept of data connections in Blackberry is unnecessarily complicated. It was so plain and easy in the Microsoft world: any TCP/IP worked. And here it does make a day and night difference if you are on GPRS (and what APN!) or on WiFi.

The second disappointment is there is no Skype or other VoIP application. The Bold has enough horsepower to run even the most demanding VoIP codecs. Hopefully it is coming sometime in future.

Stay tuned to the Episode 3, I will update my report when the BIS service is finally enabled for me. They promised 72 working hours to do that... It still may happen this year :)

The Switch: Episode 1

So from time to time I make a switch from one platform to another. From one device to another one. From one service to a new, better (do not laugh, please!) one. They are stories worth telling. I wish marketing departments were reading them. Who knows , may be they do?

So the Episode 1 of the Switch saga is going to be about my new Blackberry Bold. Faithful readers are probably aware I was a long time user of various Windows Mobile platforms, actually starting from the i-Mate SP3 in 2004 (actually still one of the best phones I had), then moving to the SP5m, and after a short period with JasJar and TyTN, I settled for the Samsung SGH-i600 almost two years ago. It was a great ride with Windows Mobile, unfortunately the platform has been steadily losing its edge. iPhones hit the market and revolutionized the way manufacturers (and users) think about smart phones. I was considering iPhone for a long time. I even got one (the 3G), but as great as the device is, it proved to be somehow pathetic in real life, with all this kinetic scrolling and the lack of simple cut and paste, not to mention the lack of real keyboard.

So the other day I decided to buy a Blackberry Bold 9000. I spent about three hours in the store, first trying to figure out if the device was not too bulky (physical dimensions are about the same as iPhone's, but somehow the Bold looks bigger). Fortunately it fits in a pocket almost the same way the iPhone does. I do not have a problem taking it with me to an all-night dance party, so the size is just right. As with every device of this type it is always too bing in your pocket and too small in your hands and before your eyes. So once it is comfortable in your pocket, it should not be any smaller...

Focusing this time on physical attributes, the Bold has gorgeous screen. I have not seen anything like that before. Forget Nokias E71. Forget iPhones. The fantastic LCD coupled with the best automatic brightness control I have ever encountered delivers perfect picture in full sunlight and in full moonlight. A class of its own. Second revelation is the thumb - operated trackball. Precise and natural, makes UI naviation a pleasure. And it is one-handed, opposed to the two-handed navigation on iPhone. Love it. Then there is a real keyboard. Very good. Thumb typing does not take long to get used to. The only thing I miss from the Samsung i600 days are comma and dot keys. They used to be separate on the i600, but require on the Bold. Audio quality blows away. The built-in earpiece sounds great, but in the speakerphone mode you can fill the entire room with music. And it has a 3,5mm mic/phones jack (Nokia, have you seen that?).

But what really wins my heart are the numerous design / implementation details proving a very long experience Blackberry engineers have building top class phones. There is a standard mini USB chargng / communications port. No fancy connectors, just standard USB. The plug has one side clearly marked "UP" so you never try to connect it upside down. The when you plug the charger - guess what happens. A clock appears with easy way to set up an alarm. Clever... Think when you charge your phone? Whenever you go to sleep, right? Get yourself the original charging pod. Place it by your bed. Throw away the alarm clock you used to use... Gently pop in the Bold in the pod and it enters the "bedside mode", turning off keyboard backlight and dimming the clock display so it is just visible in the dark room. And optionally it can even turn the radio off when in the bedside mode, so no unwanted phone call will wake you... If somebody cares of you when you sleep, it is Blackberry engineers who definitely do... There is more clever things you'll like. Like the leather holster. Slide the phone in it and it automatically locks the keyboard. Take it out and the keyboard is unlocked. Lovely.

Hardware - wise the Bold (probably as any other Blackberry) is the winner. I love it. The story will continue. Stay tuned for the Episode 2.

Dual Core 1,5GHz WSXGA Mobile Phone

It has been a while since I mentioned Qualcomm here. They are pushing ahead on full throttle. A few days ago Qualcomm demonstrated a couple of devices powered solely by their latest Snapdragon chipsets. I posted a short entry on the Snapdragon platform two years ago. At that time it all was like a fantasy... Today the chip is ready and OEMs are building new devices based on it. The specs are impressive:

• Two 1,5GHz cores (my latest high end laptop has two 1,86GHz cores...)
• Built-in Bluetooth, WiFi and GPS (no GPS on my laptop!)
• Mobile broadband (of course, Qualcomm is a modem chipsets manufacturer)
• Accelerated WSXGA (1440x900) video (same as in the latest 15,4" MacBook Pro)
• 720p HD Video output
• 12 megapixel camera

Judging by the above, we will hardly be able to call what is built on the Snapdragon a cellphone. With high resolution screen and two application cores, it will be a powerful teleputer. And we should see a number pof these devices flood the netbook market, currently occupied by Asus EEE and the likes, based on the Intel Atom. And this will be the moment of truth for Intel, when it comes to battery optimizations and power consumption. A few years ago people used to say you had to be on ARM architecture to have really good battery run time. Things are different now. I am writing this on a Lenovo X200s. This laptop is based on the SL9400 Penryn Core Duo processor, and with widescreen WSXGA display can run for more than 9 hours on batteries. Full day, high performance computing at last. Let us wait and see what the Scorpion - powered netbooks will bring to the table.

By the way: with the X200s Lenovo has left Apple in the dust... Less than three pounds, 9 hours battery, superb widescreen, standard hard drive (meaning you can have like half a terabyte of storage at hand) and full connectivity: 3USB, LAN and even analog modem (who on earth uses that thing nowadays?).

FlyWire: Multiroom Video

Multi room audio has been relatively easy to solve. One central storage / Internet audio services gateway appliance (in my case the faithful ReadyNas running the SlimServer software). And a number of players (in my case a number of faithful Logitech duets) connected over the home WiFi LAN. The standard Ethernet / IP network layer has been more than enough to stream high quality audio around. And the standard Ethernet / IP network layer has given the ultimate flexibility in building / converging the network topology. Bringing audio to just another room? Piece of cake... Make sure the room is within the range of the home WiFi network and plug just another audio receiver to an amplifier and speakers. Remote controllers operate over WiFi too, so no problem there either.

But when we move to multiroom video, we are far, far from where the audio solutions are present now. The reason is the bandwidth. FullHD, or 1080p uncompressed high definition video stream requires a network capable of carrying some 3 GIGA bits per second. That is ten times more than the fastest 802.11n is capable of (provided it works). And that is three times more than the four - pair copper CAT5 wires can handle. We won't fit video over existing technologies. We need a new foundation.

Belkin has recently announced the first FlyWire product. Technically the FlyWire is based on the WHDI (Wireless Home Digital Interface). Operates in the 5GHz band, with 100ft / 30m range and latency below a millisecond. From the user's perspective it is just a wireless hub / networking adapter, but capable of delivering FullHD video. The price tag is shocking $1500. And you canot buy one now, Amazon is only taking preorders on this gadget. Eventually the price will come down, as it is not more than a product made of sand (silicon) with some IP (Intellectual Property) in it. Still it will in some way solve the multiroom video problem. It even streams back the IR (Infra Red) remote controller signals, so you will be able to control your HD receiver or your BlueRay player and watch its output on any screen in the house. Sans wires.

So just when it has almost been clear Ethernet and WiFi would be the only network you needed in the house, you see there will be at least one more. I just wonder how they will compete for bandwidth... Well... At 5GHz, at least they won't have to fight with the 2,4GHz microwave oven :)