Picking the "Right" Smartphone for mLearning

In our role of assisting customers and partners with planning and deploying successful mobile project projects, one of the key requirements every team wrestles with is where they need to "set the bar" when determining the target mobile devices they'll need to reach and support.  If the mobile audience is well defined, say the sales team and everyone has one of two different BlackBerry wireless handhelds configured the same and using the same carrier, your set of challenges is defined and well contained.  But if you're planning to support a broader audience where every mobile user picks their own devices for their own personal reasons, your set of challenges grows wide and varied.

The reason is simple: mobile devices -- especially smartphones -- were not created equal (or under the same rules or conditions). 

Everyone talks about how smartphones are really "pocket computers" -- and to some extent they are -- but the reality is some of the older mobile devices are not as capable as the vendors lead you to believe.  If we employ a computer laptop analogy, some mobile devices still in active service are more akin to an early Osborne 1 luggable portable PC (circa 1981) than they are to a sleek and powerful modern Dell Precision laptop or Apple Macbook Pro.
 
Generally, older data-enable mobile phones have smaller screens, less storage capacity, slower processors and operate on slower 2G networks. They also probably lack Wi-Fi and have web browsers that make Internet Explorer ver 5.0 seem advanced. 
 
Another set of challenges inherent with enterprise mlearning stems from the fact that teams want to prepare, distribute and track the kinds of compelling, informative and visually interesting content their users want/demand but they also need to ensure the content is still easy to create, distribute and secure when deployed out to the audience.  Older, less capable devices generally don't provide the ideal access and playback experience enterprise workers expect.  For example, a short 3-minute video sales presentation or marketing update that must to be encrypted and secured when stored on a standard BlackBerry Pearl smartphone can take as long as 45 seconds to unencrypt and launch on that older smartphone versus less than 3 seconds on a newer BlackBerry Bold, Tour or Storm2 device.

A broader challenge is derived from the fact most project teams are new to mobile learning and while experienced and uncomfortable creating, publishing and deploying content in the "e"-learning space, they have limited or no experience performing these same tasks in the "m"-learning space where their many lessons learned don't always transpose well into mobile content planning, authoring and distribution.  Moreover, mlearning content that seems to work well on one class of mobile device, say an Apple iPhone 3GS, may not work well or even at all on other popular smartphones like the RIM BlackBerry Curve 8300 -- the most popular device deployed throughout the corporate market to mobile workers.
 
With the many 100s of smartphone devices out there that seem like they'd work for mlearning delivery, where does someone start in making their selections when drawing their "line in the sand"?   From our experience, we'd offer the following list of "Highly Recommended versus Minimum Recommended" smartphones for mobile learning content access, delivery and security.   


“Highly Recommended Devices” include:

Devices:                      Reasons:
Android G1, G2*, Nexus One*   High-res screen, Wi-Fi, media support + encryption
Apple iPhone*, iPod Touch        High-res screen, Wi-Fi, media support + encryption
BlackBerry Bold 9000*, 9700*   High-res screen, Wi-Fi, media support + strong encryption
BlackBerry Storm/Storm2*        Large screens/best BB display, Storm2 preferred with Wi-Fi
BlackBerry Curve 8900*            High-res screen, Wi-Fi, media support + strong encryption
BlackBerry Tour 96xx                 High-res screen, media support but NO Wi-Fi!
BlackBerry Curve 8520              Acceptable display/performance but bottom of the BB devices
Nokia Symbian/S60 Rel 5          High-end Nx, Ex Series devices, good browse + media
Windows Mobile v6.1 or 6.5       High-res screen, Wi-Fi, media support w/ touch UI interface

“Minimum Recommended Devices” include:

Device:                        Reasons:
BlackBerry Pearl Flip 8220        Faster processor but small display and no Wi-Fi
BlackBerry Pearl 81xx               Slow processor, tiny screen, no Wi-Fi, slow media playback
BlackBerry Curve 8310-8330    Same as above
BlackBerry World 88xx              Same as above
Palm Pre, Palm Pixi                  Fast, running WebOS, great browsers, Wi-Fi but no Apps
Nokia Symbian S60 Rel 3         Lower end devices but margin media and browser support.
Windows Mobile v5.0 or 6.0      High-res screens but lack of functionality + no touch screens

* = preferred devices for pilots or POCs

If you're interested, I also recommend you check out our Mobile Device Comparison Matrix that helps provide a detailed side-by-side analysis of the more popular mobile devices and what's possible when trying to use them for your mobile learning projects.


As always, your own personal insights and feedback are appreciated.

Read More

A Big Week for Smartphones

Everyone involved in mlearning -- from the learners themselves to the good folks designing and creating the content -- is set to benefit from the flood of positive news and announcements this week coming from both device OEMs and the wireless carriers. 

The net result: faster, cheaper and more capable devices as more easily adopted by mobile learners and enterprise workers and, when so equipped, they will help drive demand for more and better mobile learning.

Here are a few of the key announcements this week and my take on the overall impact we might expect:

1. Google's Nexus One Device Smartphone Announced. The Android movement takes another step leap! down the path with the introduction of a top shelf smartphone designed by and sold direct to market (at US$529 unlocked).  Yes, you can still get a carrier subsidized device if you want (T-Mobile offers it now with Verizon and Vodafone slated to come onboard this Spring), but these mobile powerhouses are designed to work with any carrier network and boast an impressive array of features including a super fast 1GHz processor, the best display yet on a phone (480x800), and voice-enabled access to virtually ever device feature (including email, twitter, etc.).  Running Android v2.1 (no cute baked good name this time around like "Cupcake" or "Donut" or "Eclarie" this time), these new devices will soon sport the new Adobe 10.1 Flash Player as well adding another viable mlearning content type to the mix for these well-equipped learners. If you want to read a nice summary about the device, here's a link to a Tim O'Reilly posting I received today (courtesy of Tom Stone over at ElementK) that highlights the cool features and compares/contrasts the latest round of Android versus iPhone.  
2. AT&T Adds Android & WebOS Devices.  AT&T is set to expand their smartphone stable by announcing the coming availability of new Android and Palm WebOS-based devices later this Spring.  In the case of Android, they are planning to release devices from Motorola, HTC and Dell (rolling out their first non-Chinese smartphone).  We can only assume the Palm devices will be the Pre and Pixi or some as yet unannounced varient.  With these additions in place, "Ma Bell" will now have support for virtually every major smartphone device under one roof and key enterprise accounts may start to move to diversify their mobile device portfolios meaning the days of "BlackBerry Only" for mobile workers is nigh.
3. Apple's Tablet Emminent Debut.  Finally, many of us sit in rapt anticipation for Apple's upcomg iSlate/Tablet announcement later this month, rumored to not only have built-in Wi-Fi but possibily having wireless data capabilities too. Several vendors at this week's CES in Las Vegas have already announced or previewed their own tablet offerings and virtually any of these devices will prove compelling mobile learning platforms in the right environments. 
   

Given we're only six days into the New Year and new decade, I think we're about to reach a Tipping Point (thanks Malcolm Gladwell) in the enterprise mlearning space as highly capable, affordable and compelling hardware running on virtually any network gets combined with heightened levels of market demand, learner interest along with a proven set of flexible and capable authoring tools and platforms.  And after 6+ years of playing in the space, I'm pleased to finally witness the sea change too.

Read More