Chris_B Posted March 19, 2008 Report Share Posted March 19, 2008 Mainly for fun, but with a bit of a serious question behind it. We're looking at CrackBerry for sales/management types, but also considering Windows Mobile (XDA Stellar or similar) for engineers/support/techie people. I'm a techie manager, so I don't know what I'd prefer! What would you prefer, and why? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mook Posted March 19, 2008 Report Share Posted March 19, 2008 Implement the same platform everywhere - don't mix it - easier to support. Go for Windows Mobile, so you have full access to Outlook including calendar, as long as you're running an Exchange server. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shark_90 Posted March 19, 2008 Report Share Posted March 19, 2008 WM across the board from me. I have some experience in the field and I'm running a HTC WM6 device for work and a Sony P1i with ActiveSync at home off my SBS2003. I do like the BlackBerry devices (has a Pearl and loved it) but I just can't deal with all the extra integration required when MS can now do it off the shelf in Exchange 2003 SP2. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nordberg Posted March 19, 2008 Report Share Posted March 19, 2008 It's not that simple. The biggest deciding factor is the quantity of handsets you will require. BB's are much easier to configure in bulk than WM devices. On the other hand, WM devices give a familiar interface for people to get to grips with whereas BB's can be a bit daunting to technophobes. We sell both and I would say our split is 75% MS to 25% BES. Personally, I hate BB's but I also understand why lots of people love them. My XDA Graphite is an absolute dog of a phone but I will always choose WM over BB. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
simkna Posted March 19, 2008 Report Share Posted March 19, 2008 Windows Mobile, no contest (if you are running exchange server). Si. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rachel Posted March 20, 2008 Report Share Posted March 20, 2008 If you can wait a few months - the iPhone with the v2.0 software... Active Sync with Exchange (contacts, calendar, mail), Cisco VPN, WPA2/802.1x, remote wipe, etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colinc Posted March 20, 2008 Report Share Posted March 20, 2008 Windows mobile for us, for all of the previous reasons, no extra server hardware, full integration with Exchange 2003. Battery life on WM6 devices seems to be the real issue especially with push email, anecdotal evidence seems to be that BB are better but I have no experience with this. We suggest that users switch to "pull" email synch when travelling without the charger or when abroad this also cuts down the roaming data charges which are pretty high on Vodafone, having said that, the data charges are still a lot cheaper that the £41 per month per handset BB charge Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brabus Posted March 20, 2008 Report Share Posted March 20, 2008 Blackberry here but then I'm one of those "sales" type people Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mac Posted March 20, 2008 Report Share Posted March 20, 2008 [ QUOTE ] If you can wait a few months - the iPhone with the v2.0 software... Active Sync with Exchange (contacts, calendar, mail), Cisco VPN, WPA2/802.1x, remote wipe, etc. [/ QUOTE ] I like the iPhone now but as a corporate tool it's about as useful as a pair of used underpants even with 3G, WPA2 etc. It's still very much a consumer device IMO. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soapsuds Posted March 20, 2008 Report Share Posted March 20, 2008 Chris - it really does depend on what you are looking at doing with them. If you are looking at BlackBerry for pure email access for management / sales, then i would personally go with this for the sales force - BUT only if you do not intend to roll out further functionality in the future...... Also, you need to factor in a BlackBerry server licence - easy to set-up, but an additional cost. A WM device is overkill really just for email and they simply are not as robust as a BB device..... For your field-force, you should consider nothing BUT WM devices. Going with anything else will severely limit your access to software that will only run on Java or Browser-based. You cannot do as much within these applications. Essentially, you do not need to consider this hardware choice alongside eachother, as the functionality offered to each party is very different. So, as per the post above, I'd personally look at splitting it. PM me if you want any more info on Mobile Working Jon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cupramax Posted March 20, 2008 Report Share Posted March 20, 2008 Blackberry here, we also have a few XDA and Nokia devices running BB connect and they are a prize pain in the @rse and regularly need re syncing with the BES. Notes integration for calendar and scheduling is great with Blackberry devices if your not using Exchange Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mac Posted March 20, 2008 Report Share Posted March 20, 2008 [ QUOTE ] [ QUOTE ] If you can wait a few months - the iPhone with the v2.0 software... Active Sync with Exchange (contacts, calendar, mail), Cisco VPN, WPA2/802.1x, remote wipe, etc. [/ QUOTE ] I like the iPhone now but as a corporate tool it's about as useful as a pair of used underpants even with 3G, WPA2 etc. It's still very much a consumer device IMO. [/ QUOTE ] Ok, I may be a little wrong Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rachel Posted March 21, 2008 Report Share Posted March 21, 2008 See - you guys just don't listen, maybe it's because I'm blonde or something... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mac Posted March 21, 2008 Report Share Posted March 21, 2008 It's cos you're a girl Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris_B Posted March 21, 2008 Author Report Share Posted March 21, 2008 [ QUOTE ] If you can wait a few months - the iPhone with the v2.0 software... Active Sync with Exchange (contacts, calendar, mail), Cisco VPN, WPA2/802.1x, remote wipe, etc. [/ QUOTE ] Now that's interesting, because when I saw the iPhone, the first thing I thought was that it needed proper Exchange sync and enterprise auth/VPN support. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris_B Posted March 21, 2008 Author Report Share Posted March 21, 2008 [ QUOTE ] If you are looking at BlackBerry for pure email access for management / sales, then i would personally go with this for the sales force A WM device is overkill really just for email and they simply are not as robust as a BB device... [/ QUOTE ] Cheers, that's pretty much what I figured - sales types can't be trusted with something like a WM device, so even if it's higher cost to implement and support both, it's probably easier than dealing with the constant complaining of sales types when they don't fit in with the rest of the BMW-driving, Stellar-drinking, BlackBerry-using crowd in the gym for an early morning powerlifting and grunting session. Likewise, fat and lazy keyboard slob techies (and I include myself in that category!) wouldn't like the fact that BlackBerry is a 'cool business' thing to have, and they'd prefer to be geeky and have a WM device. Of course, the development guys will want a Linux handheld, and won't accept anything else, but I won't have to buy and support those, as they probably own them already, and have their own cheeky unauthorised SSH tunnels into the corporate LAN to use PINE on a Linux box anyway... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris_B Posted March 21, 2008 Author Report Share Posted March 21, 2008 [ QUOTE ] See - you guys just don't listen, maybe it's because I'm blonde or something... [/ QUOTE ] Pardon? Did you say something dear? Anyway, what are you doing away from the kitchen sink? Joke! Please don't hurt me! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris_B Posted March 21, 2008 Author Report Share Posted March 21, 2008 Thanks to everyone for their input. It seems to me that the best answer is to whack a sinle BB in on the free one-user BES license, and let my business partner have it, and drop ISA in (which we're looking at for managed browsing anyway) and get an HTTPS cert on it and publish Web Outlook and WM synch over it, and buy a Stellar for me to trial. Once we've sorted out any issues with both, pick up another couple of BBs for sales guys and up to half a dozen Stellars for technical guys so they can L2TP in for access to the helpedesk (web/Java-based) and TS/VNC for accessing servers for support. Just need to find the damn time for the team to get on with it now - should be a gap in our current projects by about May... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soapsuds Posted March 25, 2008 Report Share Posted March 25, 2008 [ QUOTE ] sales types can't be trusted with something like a WM device, so even if it's higher cost to implement and support both, it's probably easier than dealing with the constant complaining of sales types when they don't fit in with the rest of the BMW-driving, Stellar-drinking, BlackBerry-using crowd in the gym for an early morning powerlifting and grunting session. [/ QUOTE ] Hey, cheeky. Good luck with the implementation Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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