Archive for the 'Mobile Markets' Category

AT&T’s new data plan not so bad

Published June 4, 2010 Mobile Document Worker , Mobile Markets Leave a Comment
Tags: , , , , ,

If you’ve been following the buzz the past days, you know that there’s a lot of bellyaching about AT&T’s new data plan pricing for the iPhone. Everyone seems to be complaining how this is going to stifle innovation and not thinking about how it will make it a lot more affordable for most people. Heresy you say? Let’s take a closer look.

I have an iPhone that I use every single day. I run lots of apps, do email, watch videos, Skype, everything.  Sometime I have to charge my phone midday since it’s been onso much. I use a LOT of data. So how would it affect me? I got a snapshot of my data usage over the past months. Here it is below.

I never went over 2G in past 6 months

 

Under the new plan, I would only be paying $25 a month! This is a savings over what I pay now. Only in Feb when I was travelling did my usage go past 1GB – and I tether my phone. (That’s theorhetical of course). How can this be?

The fact is that wifi is so prevalent now that it’s available everywhere I am. Hotels, restaurants, starbucks, airports, and other places I visit all have free wifi. So I really don’t have use data over the cellular network. So this plan works out well for me.

Another example of this is my Virgin mobile pay-as-you-go broadband modem. When I first got it, I purchased a 1GB data package for the month. I never got close to using it up. I even lent it out to friends. The fact is, leaving it connected all day in the office would consume about 80MB. It takes a lot of surfing to eat up 1GB. The one caveat is if you watch videos. I don’t know about you, but I don’t have time to watch a lot of videos in transit.

So that’s my experience. What are you seeing? Do you know what your data usage is? You can get a usage graph like I did right from your online account. Go take a look and understand how you use your data.

Mobile Adaptations

Published March 12, 2010 Mobile Document Worker , Mobile Markets 2 Comments
Tags: , , , , , , ,

Did you know that Soonr can change the mobile UI based on the device used to access it? Ever since its inception our service has had a focus on mobile devices. It’s one of the things that make Soonr so unique. Today we can recognize over 817 different types of devices that access the system with a mobile browser. In many cases, we optimize the user experience based on the kind of device you are using. If you’ve ever tried Soonr on a Windows Mobile, BlackBerry, S60, iPhone or Android phone side by side, you’ve probably noticed the interfaces are slightly different in subtle ways. Each takes advantage of the uniqueness of the browser.

Native vs. Webkit browser UI

BlackBerry browser UI

The Blackberry browser has traditional menu links in the header

About a year and a half ago, we introduced the first native Soonr application for the iPhone. It has been very well received and gave capabilities never before seen on a mobile phone. Last year the Android phones came to play. One of the major features of the Android OS was its openness. Android was designed for developers to be able to add functionality and we quickly took advantage of this to enable upload and download of files to the phone.

You see, the iPhone has a pretty closed file system. You can’t easily write to or retrieve files from the phone’s memory without going through a very strict program interface. Android is different. Programs have direct access to the storage on the phone. Because of this, it’s easy to download files onto the phone and also upload photos from the phone. We’ve taken advantage of this in the Soonr native application for Android.

Note the "Download" option for the file. You only get this in the Android native applicaiton, not the iPhone.

This is especially useful for cases where you might want a document for offline viewing. Maybe when you are on a plane you’d like to look over a presentation or a sales proposal. With the Android application for Soonr, you can download those to your phone and look them over in places that you don’t have any kind of internet connection. This adds a new level of flexibility to business and personal users alike.

No matter what phone you or your team members use, Soonr will give you a great user experience. Check out the Soonr for Android application in the Android Market place. Download it to your phone for free and have an easy and robust way to access your Soonr account which is connected to your computers and your team members.

Greetings Earthlings, Soonr for Android is here!

Published November 4, 2009 Mobile Markets , New Features Leave a Comment
Tags: , ,


Today Soonr announced the widespread availability of Soonr for Android available in the Android Marketplace. Can’t wait to get it? Jump to the bottom of this post for the easy Account Set Up instructions.

There has been a huge ground swell of support for the Android SmartPhone operating system. Last week Motorola announced the “Droid” phone that they will be launching in conjunction with Verizon wireless, the largest carrier in the USA. This is just the latest in a long line of Android announcements.

Soonr for Android quietly appeared on the Android Marketplace last week, bringing all the goodness of continuous backup, remote access, and collaboration to the Android community. The android application works in conjunction with the Soonr service to give you the ability to protect your computer files and have access to them from anywhere.

Like Android, Soonr was built using industry standard APIs linking the native mobile application to the Soonr Active Backup platform on the internet. The application has been optimized for the Android environment. For example, there is also a unique navigation bar at the bottom of the screen with the major components of Soonr.

Your Computers on Motorola's Cliq

KEY FEATURE AREAS:

Dashboard – important events
Projects – online workspaces
Computer – your computers
Search – Find anything
Logout – self explanatory

Only Soonr seamlessly combines Backup, Access, and Collaboration features so that you can work from your desk, a remote computer, or even on your Android phone. Even the largest files can be easily viewed on your phone because Soonr will transform each page into a simple JPG rendering. You will only get the pages you need.

COLLABORATE WITH PROJECTS:
You can create an area where teams of people can share files in online workspaces. These Projects can contain files from multiple people and multiple computers. You can even email files into your projects. Collaborate on files by sharing comments and editing with full version control.

WEB SERVICES:
After collaborating with your team, you can act on the files. Send a Fax to your customer or print a proposal to a color printer in a co-worker’s office across the world! Only Soonr can add powerful web services to your backed up files and make them available on your Android phone.

SET UP YOUR ACCOUNT:
So what are you waiting for? Get a free Soonr account today! It’s an easy 3 step process.

1. Sign up for a Soonr account at www.soonr.com
2. Download the software to begin backing up your PC or Mac.
3. Head to the Android Market and get your phone application.

That’s all there is to it! Using your phone, log into your Soonr account and you’ll see all your PC or Mac files on your phone. It’s like magic.

Take a look at Soonr in action! watch the Soonr for Android Video

Riding the Wave – Google Wave

Published May 29, 2009 Mobile Markets Leave a Comment
Tags:

Well it seems that Google has really upped game in the online collaboration and social media space with the introduction of Google Wave. In one swoop the guys who created Google Maps is trying to apply the same kind of sea change to the way we do email, IM, and just about anything else that involves interacting with another human.

Google Waves Interface is fascinating and complicated!

Google Wave's Interface is fascinating and complicated!

Collaboration in all its forms appears to be the next frontier. But what determines if a new tools is great or just another way to make your head explode? After all, Soonr has some similar issues in that it does so much but must work on even the smallest interfaces (mobile phone).

The key is a maniacal focus on what people are doing with your product and how. In business, there are specific workflows and tasks that must be accomplish. We focus on those tasks and make them as efficient as possible. For example, how do you share a set of files with multiple people who are working on a project and always traveling? This was the question the led us to online Project folders.

Recently Storage Switzerland, a technology analysis and assessment firm used Soonr to distribute their printed and video reports. It was very easy to do and now their clients can view the information from any device anywhere. This solved the problem of multiple formats and the complex delivery mechanisms needs that they had encountered. We will be doing a full profile on Storage Switzerland’s use case in the near future. Just watch or subscribe to this blog to be informed about it.

Back to Wave. Trying to make a complex thing simple is one of the hardest things in the world to do. We know this first hand at Soonr. I suspect that Google will discover that they will have to focus on a fewer number of use cases and craft their solution to meet those needs. But then again, this is Google. They may just open up the API and let developers go to town. Kind of like they did with Google Maps. That didn’t turn out so bad!

Netbooks and collaboration are the key!

Published April 22, 2009 Events , Mobile Markets , New Features Leave a Comment
Tags: , , , , ,

Well, the news hit at 8am this morning and the blogosphere is buzzing. Soonr released its new version 3.0 today and people have noticed a little. Among the publications writing stories are:

TechCrunch – Soonr Updates It’s offering….

Cnet – Revamps Search, iPhone feature

Venturebeat – Soonr gets more collaborative

It’s great to see our efforts picked up by these premium sites! It’s like a who’s who of the tech industry. I’ll continue to post more as we see more. There’s a lot of people running around at the company right now. Trying to keep up with all the buzz.

Next Page »

Looking for Technical Support?

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Soonr's Facebook Page
Soonr's Facebook Page
Promote Your Page Too
Add to Technorati Favorites

Categories

The Archives