As ever with BlackBerry Live new handsets are announced, this time the BlackBerry Q5, heralded as the new business entry level device.

As you would expect the BlackBerry Q5 is running BlackBerry 10. With a QWERTY keyboard and a confident design, this new BlackBerry smartphone has been built to provide a fast, effortless experience that helps you explore, create and share while on the go.

I’ve been using the BlackBerry Q10 for a few weeks now and I’m already in love. It fits into my lifestyle perfectly offering the powerful experience I need and allowing me to flow seamlessly from task to task throughout my day.  So with the launch of the new BlackBerry Q5 we are going to see a great new device, priced to appeal to business mobile users, with a great battery life and excellent functionality.

Highlights and features of the BlackBerry Q5

• The evolution of the classic BlackBerry Keyboard: The BlackBerry Q5 features a classic BlackBerry Keyboard with discrete keys that has been re-engineered and elegantly designed to help you type fast, accurately and with the least amount of effort. Plus with Instant Action shortcuts you can type to perform tasks faster. The BlackBerry Q5 smartphone gives you the best of both worlds – a classic QWERTY keyboard for optimized communications and a 3.1” touchscreen for all the rest.
• Create the perfect shot with BlackBerry Time Shift mode and Story Maker Create the picture perfect shot with BlackBerry Time Shift mode, then create and share your story, weaving together your photos, videos and music into a movie with BlackBerry Story Maker.
• Share and be seen with BBM Video with Screen Share Instantly switch your BBM (BlackBerry Messenger) chat to a BBM Video conversation and catch up face-to-face. You can even share your screen, whether it’s a photo, a page in the browser, an idea, or a view from your camera.

• Stay close to what’s important to you with BlackBerry Hub With BlackBerry Hub, all of your messages and social conversations are only one swipe away. There’s no need to stop what you’re doing. Simply peek into the BlackBerry Hub from anywhere with a swipe to effortlessly flow in and out of your messages and conversations.
• BlackBerry World delivers a rich, thriving app and content ecosystem Discovering and sharing great apps and content is easier than ever with recommendations based on similar purchases, and access to more than 100,000 apps on the BlackBerry World storefront.

We have been told to expect delivery of this device around the start of Q3 this year and if it’s as good as the BlackBerry Q10, expect sales to hit the roof, as business users flock back to their preferred secure platform.

Check out the hands on video of the BlackBerry Q5 below:

This article is copyright © 2013 Mike Bowers.

A selection of BlackBerry Q10 shortcuts for your pleasure

So you’ve bought your new BlackBerry Q10 and you want to know how to get the best out of it, then read on.

1. Home Screen Shortcuts

You can quickly perform a number of tasks when you type certain commands on the home screen on your BlackBerry Q10. For example, some of the shortcuts you can use are:

• Make a call – Type “call contacts name” or “call phone number”
• Send an email – Type “email contacts name” or “email email address”
• Send a text message – Type “text contacts name” or “text phone number”
• Start a BBM chat – Type “BBM contacts name”
• Update your Facebook status – Type “Facebook status update”
• Post a tweet – Type “tweet tweet”
• Post a LinkedIn update – Type “LinkedIn status update”
• Add a note to BlackBerry Remember – Type “note note details”
• Add a task to BlackBerry Remember – Type “task task details”

To learn more shortcuts, check out the Home screen shortcuts section within the BlackBerry Q10 user guide or open the Help app and search for “Home screen shortcuts.”

2. Easily insert symbols such as ® and ™

Looking to insert some symbols? All you need to do is press and hold a key at which point a dialog will appear with symbols. For example, holding R will display an option to select the registered mark, ®, along the bottom of the screen.

3. Hold 0 for Voice Control

The Voice Control app can make multitasking easier by allowing you to perform a variety of actions and tasks with your voice. To use Voice Control, you can open the Voice Control app, press and hold the Mute key or, my preferred method, press and hold 0.

To learn more, when Voice Control is open tap on the “i” that appears next to “What would you like to do?” and you’ll be able to review a list of the various actions with examples of how to use them.

4. Customize your Automated Assistance Options

Make sure you review the Prediction and Correction options that can be found within the Language and Input menu. Within this screen you’ll be able to customize several options that can help you type faster. For example, you can turn on Prediction Display which will cause your device to suggest words as you type. To try this feature out, complete the steps below and make sure you review the Help app to learn more about these options if needed.

• While viewing your Home screen, tap Settings
• Tap Language and Input followed by Prediction and Correction
• Turn on Show Predictions

5. Text Selection and Cut, Copy and Paste To help manage text, here are a few important things you should know!

• Cursor Indicator – Drag the cursor, or tap left, right, up or down on the cursor itself to move it to a specific location.
• Selecting Text – Touch and hold the text, then move the cursor indicators to change your selection.
• Copying Text – Tap and hold the highlighted text and select Copy
• Cutting Text – Tap and hold the highlighted text and select Cut
• Pasting Text – Touch and hold where you want the text and select Paste

This article is copyright © 2013 Mike Bowers.

The Samsung Galaxy S4 a life companion you’ve been waiting for?

Well the Samsung Galaxy S4 is here and many are calling it the ultimate life companion, true only time will tell, but lets take a look at the latest offering from the powerhouse of Samsung.

The design of the Samsung GALAXY S4 defies what’s possible. The incredibly-wide FULL HD Super AMOLED screen fits perfectly within an extraordinarily slim bezel that’s encased in a special polycarbonate body, making this the lightest and most sophisticated GALAXY yet.

Display

• 5inch Full HD Super AMOLED (1920 x 1080) display, 441 ppi

• AP

  • 1.9 GHz Quad-Core Processor / 1.6 GHz Octa-Core Processor
  • The seletion of AP will be differed by markets

• Network

  • 2.5G (GSM/ GPRS/ EDGE): 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 MHz
  • 3G (HSPA+ 42Mbps): 850 / 900 / 1900 / 2100 MHz
  • 4G (LTE Cat 3 100/50Mbps) : up to 6 different band sets (Dependent on market)

OS

• Android 4.2.2 (Jelly bean)

• Memory

  • 16 / 32 / 64GB memory + microSD slot (up to 64GB),  2GB RAM

• Camera

  • Main(Rear): 13 Mega pixel Auto Focus camera with Flash & Zero Shutter Lag, BIS
  • Sub (Front): 2 Mega pixel camera, Full HD recording @30fps with Zero Shutter Lag, BIS

  

• Camera Features

  • Dual Shot , Drama Shot, Sound & Shot, 360 Photo, Animated Photo, Eraser, Night, Best Photo, Best Face, Beauty Face, HDR (High Dynamic Range), Panorama, Sports

Video

• Codec: MPEG4, H.264, H.263, DivX, DivX3.11, VC-1, VP8, WMV7/8, Sorenson Spark, HEVC
• Recording & Playback: Full HD (1080p)

• Audio

  • Codec: MP3, AMR-NB/WB, AAC/AAC+/eAAC+, WMA, OGG, FLAC, AC-3, apt-X

• Additional Features

  • Group Play: Share Music, Share Picture, Share Document, Play Games
  • Story Album, S Translator, Optical Reader
  • Samsung Smart Scroll, Samsung Smart Pause, Air Gesture, Air View
  • Samsung Hub, ChatON (Voice/Video Call, Share screen, 3-way calling) Samsung WatchON
  • S Travel (Trip Advisor), S Voice™ Drive, S Health
  • Samsung Adapt Display, Samsung Adapt Sound, Auto adjust touch sensitivity (Glove friendly)
  • Safety Assistance, Samsung Link, Screen Mirroring
  • Samsung KNOX (B2B only)

Google Mobile Services

• Google Search, Google Maps, Gmail, Google Latitude Google Play Store, Google Plus, YouTube, Google Talk, Google Places, Google Navigation, Google Downloads, Voice Search

• Sensor

  • Accelerometer, RGB light, Geomagnetic, Proximity, Gyro, Barometer
  • Temperature & Humidity, Gesture

• Dimension

  • 136.6 x 69.8 x 7.9 mm, 130g

  

• Connectivity

  • WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac (HT80)
  • GPS / GLONASS
  • NFC,  Bluetooth® 4.0 (LE)
  • IR LED (Remote Control), MHL 2.0

• Battery

  • 2,600mAh

This article is copyright © 2013 Mike Bowers.

Sage CRM Sales Lite app for iPhone & Sage CRM 7.2 has been released.

You’ll need your CRM administrator to do some small work first.  You can then download the Sage CRM app for your iPhone from the Apple iTunes app store.  Want some help ask Derek Curtis how to do this TODAY.

The app gives you offline access to your people, opportunities and calendar and you can track communications you make through the app (SMS, phone calls and emails), by adding these as communications in CRM. You can also view and add notes about people and opportunities. There are a few more handy bits of functionality, which are detailed below.

When you open the app, you will be asked for your username, password and CRM URL. The URL is what you’d enter into your browser to access Sage CRM (e.g. http://server/CRM). When you login it, the app will validate your credentials, and if you have the required access, you’ll be brought to the home screen. Your CRM data will not be downloaded until you press the “Update data from Sage CRM” button. Pressing this button will download the people, opportunities and appointments & tasks in your calendar. This may take several minutes depending on the number of records, so we recommend that you do this when you’re connected to WiFi. Don’t switch out of the app while it’s downloading, as this can cause problems

When you press the “Contacts” menu option, you will see three tabs. The first one is a list of the CRM people you have access to. The second one is a list of your iPhone contacts. The app will ask you for access to your iPhone contacts, so you will need to approve this if you want to view your iPhone contacts. The third tab is a list of CRM contacts that you have marked as favourites. This is a handy way of creating a shortcut to contacts that you use frequently.

You can filter the list of contacts by entering their name in the search box at the top of the screen.

When you look at a phone contact, it will display the first name, last name, company name, work phone and mobile number. If you press the “Add to CRM” button at the bottom of the summary, then this contact will be added to CRM as a new Lead.

When you look at a CRM contact, you’ll see all the fields that are available in the standard CRM person summary screen. Their contact details (work and mobile phone numbers, email address and business address) are displayed at the top of the screen.

The star at the top of the screen indicates if the contact has been marked as a favourite contact in the app. Press the star when it’s grey to mark it as a favourite. The star will turn green to show that it’s been marked as a favourite. Pressing a green star will remove it as a favourite, and it will turn grey.

At the bottom of the screen are links to that person’s history (quick view of  their opportunities, communications and cases), a link to their notes and a link to their opportunities.

Using the contact details

If populated, the email address, business address, and phone details can all be pressed. Pressing a phone number will prompt you if you want to send an SMS or make a call.

If you choose to send an SMS, then you will be brought to a new screen where you can enter the text of the SMS. When you click send, the native messaging app will open, and the text of your message will automatically be populated. When you press send, the app will automatically create a communication in CRM containing a record of the SMS.

f you choose to send an SMS, then you will be brought to a new screen where you can enter the text of the SMS. When you click send, the native messaging app will open, and the text of your message will automatically be populated. When you press send, the app will automatically create a communication in CRM containing a record of the SMS.

If you choose to make a phone call, then you’ll be prompted to dial the number. When the call is complete, you’ll be brought to a screen where you can enter details of the call. If you could not get through and left a voicemail, then you can just select the “Left Voicemail” button instead of writing a note. The details of this communication will be logged in CRM when you press the “Log Call” Button

If you choose to send an email, then you will be brought to a new screen where you can enter the text of the email. When you click send, the native email app will open, and the text of your message will automatically be populated. When you press send, the app will automatically create a communication in CRM containing a record of the email.

If you click on a contact’s address, then the local map app will open and try to find the location of the contact’s address:

Other details for the contact

At the bottom of the contact screen are the links to other details about the contact.

The history menu is a snapshot of their most recent communications, opportunities and cases.

The opportunities menu is a list of opportunities for that contact that have also been downloaded to the app

The notes menu is a list of CRM notes that have been saved against that contact. You can add a new note from this screen by pressing the “plus” icon at the top of the screen. This will open a new screen where you can enter the note details, which will be saved in CRM. You’ll then see the new note in list of notes.

Working with Opportunities

To view the list of opportunities, select the “Opportunities” item from the home screen, or from the bottom of the screen. You can filter the list of opportunities by entering the description in the search box at the top of the screen.

The opportunity screen has all the fields from the standard opportunity summary screen. The star at the top of the screen indicates if the opportunity is marked as a favourite contact in the app. Press the star when it’s grey to mark it as a favourite. The star will turn green to show that it’s been marked as a favourite. Pressing a green star will remove it as a favourite, and it will turn grey.

You can also see a list of notes about the opportunity, and add a new note just like you can for a contact.

Working with your calendar

The app will download your appointments and tasks for next 14 days.

If you press one, a notification for the entry will be added to the phone. This will give you an alert 30 minutes before the start date. If a notification has already been added for the entry, then pressing it will remove the notification.

The notification will appear both inside the app and in your iPhone notifications

Viewing your favourites

As well as viewing your favourite contacts from the contacts list screen, you can view both your favourite contacts and opportunities from the home screen. Press the favourites menu item, and you’ll see a list of favourite contacts. You can press the opportunities button at the top of the screen to show the opportunities instead. You can filter the list of contacts and opportunities by entering some text in the search box.

Viewing your app history

The history menu item on the home screen is a handy way of viewing the records you’ve viewed, and communications you’ve made in the app

Working Offline

You may need to work with the app when you don’t have any internet access. To do this, just press the “Offline” button from the home screen. You can still view all your contacts and opportunities. You can even record communications, add notes and import leads. These records will be stored locally until you press the “Go Online” button on the home screen. This will upload the data you’ve added while offline, and then download the data from CRM.

That’s a lot to remember!

Don’t worry – the app has its own help contents! Just press the “info” button at the top of the screen, and you can see the help contents there.

This article is copyright © 2013 Mike Bowers.

This real world ‘work on the move’ Samsung Galaxy Tablet, delivers professional performance, making it the perfect addition to any business, it packs multimedia, communications and top internet functionality in one highly versatile tablet device, making it ideal for sending and receiving data, staying in touch with clients and delivering outstanding presentations.

The Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1, also with the S-Pen (comes as standard), which is pressure sensitive, you can now draw and write, directly into the tablet screen, opening up some very interesting applications and business uses.

Sporting a 1.4Ghz Quad core processor, with 2GB of RAM and a 10.1” WXGA screen, you have the power, performance and looks to win them over.

The Galaxy Tab 2 includes access to the Samsung Multimedia hub. So apps and entertainment are a few taps a away. And the MircoSD slot means you can expand your tablet’s memory so there’s no limit to what you can store. You’ll also get one of the latest Android operating systems so it’s easy to use from day one.

Then we have the Samsung ATIV Tablet, which encapsulates Windows style and desktop comfort into stylish portable 10.1″ display tablet. The dynamic tile design interface gives you the same experience across Windows compatible devices, applications and accessories. If you prefer a regular PC desktop look, just switch over, it’s up to you. ATIV Tab gives you Windows RT and comes fully loaded with MS Office Suite including Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote. This tablet is a Wi-Fi only version.

Now all Samsung Tablets come with the limited time offer of a mobile broadband SIM to allow this to function on its own right from £5 per month with 1GB of data, now is the time to pick up your professional tablet.

CALL your account manager today and take one for a test drive…

This article is copyright © 2013 Mike Bowers.

The BlackBerry Q10 is undoubtedly the worlds smartest QWERTY Smartphone.

The much anticipated BlackBerry Q10 delivers what BlackBerry have been promising for some time now and hopefully heralds with it a new era for the Smartphone manufacturer.

The classic BlackBerry keyboard has been re-engineered for the most effortless typing on the market.  Plus with instant Action it allows you to type and perform tasks fast than by using shortcuts directly from the home screen.  See this demo for an example of what we mean.

It has been launched with a new ultra sharp and vibrant 3.1 inch OLED touchscreen, allowing for stunning images during playback and gaming.  Perhaps one of the more endearing features if the weight and quality feel of this device, its light, yet oozes a quality feel with the material and design.

As with the BlackBerry Z10 the BlackBerry Hub allows you to stay close to what’s important to you, without the need to close other programs to check who the messages came from or from what medium.  Check out our short video on this below:

For BBM lovers the ability to now have BBM video is a must, but also the BBM Screen share feature has a real word business and social level, not seen in Smartphones before, see what we mean below:

This article is copyright © 2013 Mike Bowers.

This article is copyright © 2013 Mike Bowers.

The acquisition makes Cellular Solutions a truly integrated communications provider providing an unsurpassed suite of products and services to North East businesses. Their existing portfolio of mobile and landline telecommunications, broadband and email services will be extended to now include business software delivered by the experts at Bond Solutions, one of the UK’s leading business software resellers and three times winners of the Sage Circle of Excellence Award.

Mike Bowers (pictured above with Derek Curtis, MD of BOND Solutions), Managing Director of Cellular Solutions explained – ‘Our existing clients often ask us to recommend reliable software resellers. We’ve worked with Bond for many years and so it made sense to ask them to become part of our business.’ Derek Curtis, former MD of Bond Solutions added – ‘Our clients continue to be our priority and by joining forces with Cellular Solutions, we know they will receive unsurpassed levels of service, with industry leading technical solutions. The Bond Solutions team have been established for 12 years and bring their sales and technical expertise as well as an established, customer base. Their customers will continue to benefit from their specialized knowledge as well as, the multi award winning customer service, Cellular Solutions are renowned for.

This article is copyright © 2013 Mike Bowers.

BlackBerry 10 smartphones support ActiveSync as standard to connect to Microsoft Exchange, Microsoft Office 365™ and other on-premise, hosted and cloud-based messaging platforms that support the ActiveSync protocols. This allows a quick setup to synchronize email, calendar, tasks and contacts when advanced security and management is not required. No additional software is needed.

Why ActiveSync?

• Gives us greater flexibility and scalability to support more devices per user and more email platforms

• The use of ActiveSync gives customers greater choice in how they connect BlackBerry 10 smartphones and PlayBooks tablets to server-based, hosted and cloud email systems

• The secure BlackBerry DNA remains; no need to invest in additional VPNs and no need to expose corporate data to the internet

Below will help you get your BlackBerry 10 device connected to your Microsoft Exchange server through ActiveSync:

Information you will need to properly connect:

• Username

• Email Address & Password

• Domain

• Server Address

1. Open the accounts option from the setup screen or the settings menu

2. Select “Add Account” at the bottom of the screen

3. Select “Advanced” icon at the bottom of the screen

4. Select “Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync

5. Fill in the blanks with the below information:

• Description = Anything you want (Work, Business, Corporate)

• Domain = Company network domain

• Username = Corporate user name

• Email Address = Corporate email address

• Password = Corporate network password

• Server Address = Sync address provided by your corporate IT department.

6. Additional settings should be left as is, unless directed to change by the corporate IT department

• Port = 443

• Use SSL = On

• Use VPN = Off

• Push = On

• Sync Interval = Manual Optional Info

• Days to keep Messages = Up to you (1-30 Days)

• Sync Timeframe = Up to you (1-30 Days)

7. After the appropriate information is entered select “Next” in the top right corner

8. You will then be ask for your sync preferences – Select the items you wish to sync

9. Select “Done” in top right corner

This article is copyright © 2013 Mike Bowers.

Adding an ActiveSync Enabled Account on Your BlackBerry 10 Smartphone

Adding an ActiveSync enabled email account to your BlackBerry 10 smartphone is simple and straightforward.

1. While viewing the home screen, swipe down from the top of the screen
2. Select Settings > Accounts
   • If this is your first account, select the Advanced icon that appears along the bottom toolbar.
   • If you have other accounts already, select Add Account followed by selecting Advanced
3. Select Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync from the Advanced Setup options (for all ActiveSync based accounts regardless of mail platform)
4. Enter in the required information, which includes:
   • Username
   • Email Address
   • Password
   • Server Address
   • Port (443 by default)

Note: optional fields include Description, Domain, toggles for SSL, VPN, and Push, as well as the Sync Timeframe.

1. Tap Next to finish configuring the account, and then tap Done.

That’s it! You should now have a BlackBerry 10 smartphone configured with work email via Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync.

BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10 is the ideal method of deploying, managing and securing BlackBerry 10 smartphones. It delivers rich enterprise mobility management features, BlackBerry Balance, BlackBerry World for Work, and other capabilities that businesses need to realize their full mobility potential. But, we recognize that some customers or groups of users may have their mobility management and connectivity needs met by using a basic ActiveSync connection on a supported mail server without the use of BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10.

This article is copyright © 2013 Mike Bowers.