The painful side of the mobile bleeding edge

[Bob Russell]

Have you ever counted the problems and wasted time dealing with bleeding edge mobile devices? UMPCs, PDAs, smart phones, tablet PCs, Vista PCs. How much time do they waste and how many headaches do they cause? Unless a device needs to be reloaded, it's usually just small things once you get started, but they can really nickle and dime you to death.

How many "workarounds" do you have to figure out? How many software or hardware failures have ruined your day or caused you extra work? How much time do you invest because things aren't simple and easy? How often do you sit there waiting for something to finish instead of doing real work? Personally, I'm beginning to long for a simpler and kinder sort of technology.

Let me give you a couple of quick examples that only touch the surface:

Tablet PC

I could have bought a standard XP laptop like I use for work. That's a solid laptop, and except for all the overhead that goes with security and workplace software for a computer, it's reliable and nice to use. But instead I bought the new Lenovo tablet with Vista with all kinds of dreams about mobile computing in conjunction with my desktop.

On the surface, it's a wonderful hardware device, a powerful laptop, a great companion to my desktop PC, and I love the tablet functionality.

But it has it's issues when you want to be mobile. It's too bulky and expensive to just grab it when I am on the go. I don't know that I really want to take all my important files on the go anyway, due to the potential for data loss. Backups are a pain. I have to be careful what I put on it if I'm going to be mobile and don't trust Vista's total encryption solutions. It takes too long to undock it or start up or enter sleep/hibernate. Updates and access control windows keep popping up, and delaying me just at the time I turned it on because I wanted to get something done.

Battery life is good when I'm careful with it and the battery is new and charged, but even 4-5 hrs means I need an A/C cord which is a pain to carry around, or I need an extended battery for the docking station. The docking station undocking procedure is time consuming and annoying. It doesn't always deal well with screen orientation and settings or KVM switches. Vista and software updates or background processes interrupt me and waste battery. Plus you have to be there during updates to keep hitting "Okay". And, of course, there are some application incompatibilities with Vista as well.

My dream of making it a paper organizer and paper file replacement and ebook device is clearly not practical for me when I consider all the ramifications. Could it be done? Yep... if I were still in high school and could revolve my life around making it work. But is it worth the headaches for my busy life now? No way!

Was the ThinkPad was a bad choice? No. It's a great computer. But trying to work it as a true mobile device in conjunction with my desktop was too much to aim for. Instead it's probably going to become my primary computing device as soon as I can wean myself off of the desktop PC. (And that transfer in itself is going to be a project.) Of course, I chose a lower screen resolution in order to get dual Wacam and touch screen capability, so now I'm also stuck with an underpowered and low resolution display for everyday computing.

Bottom line... nothing I've mentioned is really a show stopper. But all together, these things make me wonder if it's worth the trouble. And lest you think it would work fine if I made the right decisions about how to use it, remember that most users have no clue how best to use a mobile device. We all have to learn by trial and error what process and usage patterns work best, and what sort of system backups, maintenance and security issues each of us cares about.

Smartphone

With smart phones it's even worse because you are dealing with very limited devices to start with. Playing media (audio, audiobooks, video, movies, etc) comes with all kinds of format and media management challenges already. You need to get just the right peripherals. Whether it's BT headphones or earpieces or wired accessories, or simply choosing the right carrier and plan for phone and data services, it's a chore. Then you have to find and load and configure the right apps and keep track of registrations. You find that it takes too long to turn on the phone or connect to the internet or switch applications. You have to take care of security and backups. Even when you're on the internet, you need to figure out which sites are actually useful and not just frustrating or slow. And you have to deal with crashes or application software peculiarities. Like when I switch to another call, now I have the option to switch back or hang up on all calls. All I want to do is hang up on the current call. Do I hit the hang up button, or will I lose everyone. That happened to me the other day and I had to just say, "Let me hang up and call you back!"

Not to mention hardware problems. My Treo 700p has had an interesting history. Besides returning the first one after a day because of a bad keyboard, I had to recently replace it because of a digitizer problem and audio problems. Found out later after some research that it's an issue with the impedence of the headphones that can cause you to hear audio in only one ear. I shouldn't have to research to find out something that simple. I shouldn't have to buy Palm headphones to be able to hear stereo sound.

So now my replacement Treo 700p is eating my expensive SD cards. Guess what? It's been about 60 days so my last replacement device from the extended warranty is no longer covered, and it takes another warranty replacement if I can't get it serviced at a Sprint service center. That also means that my extended warranty no longer covers another incident for probably another year so it's worthless. I don't mean to pick on the Treo - while I'm fed up with this one, Treos are pretty nice. The ones I've had are still slow and limited, but they are about the best we can do these days with the current technology.

My point is that I (and probably most of our readers) could likely write 100 pages about things that are a hassle or are time consuming or that require some effort to figure out. Take listening to music wirelessly from a Treo. Did you know it takes a program to provide the protocol for that and some stereo bluetooth headphones? Or you could plug in a transmitter into the plug to use with it if you don't mind another piece of equipment to deal with and keep charged. Suppose you want to listen to audiobook rentals from your library. You have to get set up on line with the library. For me that meant getting another library card and talking with the library to get the info. Then confirming the formats work. Finding the autiobooks on line. Configuring WMP and getting the device to show up properly with WMP. (Btw you probably also need the very cool Pocket Tunes Deluxe to even be able to do this at all.) Downloading them to the device which takes longer than you would expect. Etc etc.

No wonder consumers are looking for "consumer" devices that are advertised to be simple like the iPhone. It's also a huge advantage for the Sony Reader with the Connect e-book store. A simple solution that requires minimal effort to use it. I'm convinced that everyone wants the same basic sorts of things to one degree or another, but people just don't know it yet and technology can't quite support it very well yet. They are scared off by difficulty and uncertainty. They just want something that works and doesn't take a lot of effort and time. Even if it's just a clever ad that makes it look smooth and simple. I used to consider that such a shame. Now I'm one of "them", looking for something easy and simple!

MP3 Players

Even my Zune mp3 player drives me nuts because things are not as simple as they should be, and I could make a career out of getting the most from the limited 30gig space. So I basically just settle for what I loaded in mass the first time around. I could use a workaround to put DivX files on it, but it's not worth the effort. I could hack the registry a bit to make the device show up as a mass storage device, but it's not worth it either.

No wonder Blackberries are becoming so popular despite limited functionality. People like the way that they just work.

Wrap Up

Anybody else out there starting to weary of chasing technology which is not quite ready yet? Are you ready to choose less sophisticated product types or settle for more basic types of usage patterns in order to get some peace of mind and relief for the wallet? Or have you just got the mobile technology bug, and love to stretch the bleeding edge to support your favorite capabilities no matter the cost in time and money?

Maybe it's a sign that I'm an old "fuddy duddy", but right now, I'm becoming convinced that reliable and easy is better than time consuming and problem plagued. Even if it means I have to do less with my devices. Well, that's how I feel today, until I get my next great idea about what I could do with a handheld if only I had the new model which comes out next month...

[RWood]

Leading Edge is fine, Bleeding Edge is just too painful.

I have always favored stable systems over the latest whiz-bangs. Maybe my laptop is still stuck back in the Win98SE days at 450 MHz on a P-3 chip, but it works very well and delivers the critical functions I need. (It is also one of their old Z505 ultra light series so it is easy to throw in a briefcase and take with me.)

For a phone I have the old Samsung i500 which has Palm OS 4.1 on it. Likewise my Creative Zen only plays MP3s and the rest of the portable electronics would draw only a sneer at a garage sale.

What is critical for me is that I can depend on what I have. Clients will not remain with someone that blames his or her equipment (no matter how true it is) for any delay or failure. I am slow to change the desktop -- the last upgrade was to a dual core 3 GHz Intel chip on an Intel board. It is not going to win any awards for speed from gamers but it will be there when I need it. The disks are mirrored RAID and backed up. Again, remove as many points of failure as possible.

I feel for you Bob, I too have ventured into unknown areas. Sometimes with good results such as the Sony Reader I picked up last November, and sometimes with results that are sitting in a box in the basement or have already gone to a recycle center because everyone on eBay was smarter than I was about the device.

[watcha]

Well, as far as 'readers' go then, the most hassle free, reliable and light weight is the paperback!

I agree that we spend an inordinate amount of time, frustration and stress trying to get our technology to work. But oh, the joy and freedom - not to mention the potential for creativity it can unleash - when it does.

[petermillard]

Hmmmm.

Tablet PC; Treo smartphone, WMP. Zune.

Do you see a pattern emerging here? Too many vendors, maybe? Too many software left-hands not knowing what the hardware right-hands are doing? Simply too many variables, perhaps...

Just buy an Apple. And when people complain that they're expensive, they're only eye candy, they're nothing new, you can't hack them, it's too proprietory... you look them in the eye, shrug and say, "so what; they work."

Oh, and Bob; you not one of 'them' - you're one of 'us' ;-)

Cheers, Pete.

[mores]

Originally Posted by Bob Russell

[...] I'm becoming convinced that reliable and easy is better than time consuming and problem plagued. [...]

that's exactly why i switched to the mac operating system. i found it was simply an OS that WORKED, and i didn't have to fiddle with it all the time.

but i agree with you, using bleeding edge tec usually means being a beta tester. and if you are not the only one with problems, maybe the next bleeding edge device will be improved, leaving you with an outdated and buggy device.

[rlauzon]

Originally Posted by petermillard

Tablet PC; Treo smartphone, WMP. Zune.

Do you see a pattern emerging here? Too many vendors, maybe? Too many software left-hands not knowing what the hardware right-hands are doing? Simply too many variables, perhaps...

Actually, too many PROPRIETARY vendors, who assume that you will use their devices only in the ways they approve.

I don't have any of Bob's problems with my Linux laptop (all standard based), my Archos devices (all standards based) or my new Nokia N800 (running Linux and standards based).

[vivaldirules]

Nice post, Bob. I hate the time I spend on stuff and usually shy away of the "bleeding" edge. I feel for you. About juggling multiple PCs, I had three work PCs (one company-issued dog of a desktop, one screamer for data crunching, and one laptop) a few years ago and I found the organizing, synchronizing, and backing up chores to be never ending. When I replaced those with a single, newer laptop, it felt like a great load had been taken off my shoulders. I will never again go back to using multiple computers.

[Steven Lyle Jordan]

I generally try to avoid too many hassles to accomplish tasks. When the level of hassle gets too high, I give up on it.

A prime example was getting personalized ringtones into my Razr. Essentially, it involved buying data cables, buying software, recording the material (which in itself could involve 2 PCs and 6 individual pieces of software), transferring the file, finding out the volume wasn't set right, and starting all over... oh, no, I'm not. Not worth the hassle. End of project.

These days, I get the most hassle out of dealing with online books and music. Buying either often involves 3-4 pieces of software re-recording, converting, transferring, downloading, etc. Making them myself isn't much better. Creating art can be the same. But I consider the goal worth the hassle, so I keep at it.

Mostly I keep my hardware simple, running Win2K for (Windows-relative) security and robustness, and I avoid going too far overboard with the power-user software. That way, the machines behave, and I get my work done.

Patience helps, too.

[slayda]

You know, when I was a kid - back in the good old days, we didn't have indoor pluming. It was much simpled. no burst pipes in the winter. No leaky toilets to keep us awake in the night. Just dig a hole & put a little shed around it with a seat with a hole in it. Worked great. Of course it bred flies and stank quite a bit & was a little uncomfortable on frosty mornings but "it worked".

I'm glad to have those little problems that our technology brings to us even though they are not perfect. Sometimes that's the fun of it.

[Adam B.]

I love the bleeding edge. But I have a feeling I'm not in the majority. I bought my laptop a week after it was released, my smartphone on the day, and a few months after the iLiad was.

Hacking software, finding workarounds, modifying files are all part of the fun of owning a new device.

[HappyMartin]

Mac just works? Sorry but that is a lot of hooey. Consider the following.

A few years ago I bought 2 new macs for my studio. Within 6 months the change to system 10 was announced. It did not run well on the "older" machines so we were stuck on system 9, then the next version of photoshop was announced but it did not run well on system 9. Lots of crashes and very slow. The result was 2 machines a year old running software that put me at a competitive disadvantage. Did not cheer me up.

A year or so later when I upgraded to new machines again we had a much more expensive fiasco with the change to intel chips. I now run my new MacBook pro on XP. Camera drivers come out quicker for XP and I can use local Garmin GPS maps and my Polar heartrate monitor with ease.

Don't want to start a religious debate here but I see far more posts on this forum from mac users having hassles with simple stuff like dos formating cf cards then would leave me to believe they are trouble free and just work.

Before anyone attacks me over this I own 4 G5's, a Macbook Pro, emac, ipod and several pc's. I would not say I am against macs but consider myself realistic. If I was smart enough and interested enough I would give Linux a go.

[Steven Lyle Jordan]

HappyMartin, based on my wife's regular comments and beefs about her Mac, I'd agree with you. Macs aren't "perfect machines" that just do everything well. They do well what they're specifically designed to do, which is great... as long as you don't deviate from what they're specifically designed to do. They may be better at it than PCs, but since the platform is kept relatively more tightly controlled by Apple than Windows by MS, it's no wonder.

I've had much better success avoiding the bleeding edge, waiting until new products become old products and initial prices come down--sometimes into the basement, just before they're discontinued--then taking advantage of all the forums and the discovered fixes and workarounds that one can find on the web.

[NatCh]

"The painful side of the mobile bleeding edge"

But ... isn't the "bleeding edge" pretty much painful by definition?

[jharker]

I would generally agree with previous posters: Macs are good when you want to easily and quickly do only what they're designed to do, and if you want more power and versatility, choose Linux.

Specifically, choose Ubuntu. It supports most hardware automatically and comes with a nice simple UI by default, but still has all the power of Linux available in the background.

I don't know how well Ubuntu works with Tablet PCs (it works pretty well with my Thinkpad G41), but as I was reading the problems the first poster had with his laptop, I kept thinking to myself, "ah, Ubuntu doesn't have that problem... or that problem... or that problem..."

Of course, many people have to use Windows because they're locked into software that's only available for Windows. If you're one of those people, you still might try a Windows emulator in Linux, though. And some of that software (i.e. Photoshop) is available for Macs, so now might be the time to switch to a Mac.

I haven't tried any Linux-based portable devices (except the iLiad, which I like), but based on rlauzon's suggestion, I would...

[slayda]

Originally Posted by NatCh

"The painful side of the mobile bleeding edge"

But ... isn't the "bleeding edge" pretty much painful by definition?

Hey Nate, if you get far enough out on the Bleeding edge, you don't even feel the cut it's so smooth.