In short, Bob believes that RIM will not only survive but that BBOS10 will thrive as the number three OS in the market behind iOS and Android. This position also suggests that Windows Mobile Phone 7 will lag behind and be stuck at the number four (or worse) position. Bob felt that RIM’s success would be based on the company’s ability to provide value to multiple stakeholders. Here is a summary of his positions.

Carriers

Obviously the goal of carriers is to generate revenue while creating a positive customer experience and minimizing data usage. The last point is critical because one of the big challenges with smartphone customers and iOS users in particular is that they use massive amounts data. This creates significant network congestion and is frequently used as justification for why carriers can no longer provide unlimited data plans. The argument for RIM is that their unique Network Operations Center centric model includes unique efficiencies that significantly reduce cellular network utilization without impacting customer experience. The result is that a Blackberry uses significantly less bandwidth (1/3 was the number I heard) as compared to an iPhone while accessing the same web content. This benefit is enabled by unique technology in the Blackberry platform that is missing from iOS, Android and others. Bob believes that this differentiator is so compelling that carriers will actively support and promote RIM both now and into the future.

Businesses customers

Many businesses are concerned with the security of their critical emails and other corporate data. Bob argued that the encryption built into the Blackberry platform is far superior to anything available in iOS and Android and thus for corporations that really care about security, RIM is the only real choice. Additionally, he believes that RIM’s new Blackberry Fusion application will further expand RIM’s market position and extend its management and security excellence to non-BBOS platforms like iOS and Android.

Developers

Devices thrive based on the larger application ecosystem. Apple was the pioneer here with their AppStore and Google has followed with Play. Bob believes that BB10 provides one of the most developer friendly environments including unique technology to address the following:

1. Gaming – The new development BB10 platform offers a unique environment that is optimized for gaming performance by providing low level hardware access and graphic acceleration.
2. HTML – The platform also offers simplified HTML5-based development options and so developers looking to port web-based applications will have little difficulty.
3. Native SDK – While the first two are new, this third option has been the basic development model for years. It provides low level OS access and enables the fastest performance for traditional applications. Of course the trade-off is additional development complexity.
4. Emulation – Bob had a Playbook and stated that it was trivial to run Android applications on the tablet with an emulator. Thus a fourth option would be to productize this functionality and to attempt to leverage the Android ecosystem.

The core argument is that RIM’s development environment is easier and more powerful than the competition.

Device manufacturers

Bob suggested that device manufacturers are aggressively looking for alternatives to Android or WMP7. His theory is that BB10 provides a significantly differentiated smartphone platform and that RIM will aggressively license BB10. The hope is that phone manufacturers will adopt BB10 resulting in a much larger ecosystem of phones including units with physical keyboards and touchscreens. The argument further suggests that the range of phone options will allow RIM to access new market segments and accelerate phone adoption.

Consumers

Historically, RIM has focused on corporate customers with consumers taking a secondary priority. Bob believes that the combination of the enhanced application ecosystem (due to simplified development as described above) and the range of phone hardware options (due to multiple device manufacturers) will jump start consumer interest in the platform. Obviously if consumers aggressively adopt the platform then RIM could get in a virtuous circle where application developers follow which drives more consumers due to the enhanced application ecosystem, etc…

Summary

In conclusion, Bob believes that even with its many missteps RIM is still poised to be a strong number three in the market. My opinion is far more pessimistic since RIM has clearly made many mistakes and I do not believe that they can recover in a timely fashion. What do you think? Do you agree with Bob or with me?

Fifteen of us met at 7AM(!) on Sunday morning to carpool to the event. It was a ridiculously early hour made worse because many of us were up late the night before. We were all excited and I was particularly happy that we were fully prepared including an appropriate car decal. Another colleague brought “The Antidote” (also pictured) and “The Accelerator” to help things along. I have no idea what was in either, but they did not seem to help me in the race.

When we arrived at the zombie site, the first thing we saw was an extremely steep incline after the starting gates. This was surprising giving this quote from the event organizers:

“It’s not overly challenging, it’s geared toward everyone, not just the people that go to the gym everyday. It’s for people that like video games that come to life, it’s for people that like beer, and with zombies chasing you throughout the course, it’s a good motivation to run.” - Source

I was hoping that my intensive preparation of drinking beer and watching “The Living Dead” would properly prepare me, but once I saw the hill, I knew that I was sadly mistaken. To be clear, I am in reasonable shape, but am not a runner. Of course, the idea of training never occurred to me either.

Upon arrival, we immediately checked in and found that we were the first runners. Our organizer, Jonathon, was determined to avoid the crowds and he was successful. However, we also avoided the staff because they were unprepared for people arriving 2 hours early. Eventually we were given our race packets which included a bib with a number and a belt with three flags velcroed to it. You wear the belt as you race and the zombies are tasked with trying to grab your flags which represent lives. As we waited in the staging area, the temperature dropped precipitously. Our two hour wait (thanks Jonathan!) was long and cold and here is a picture of the freezing team.

As the time wore on, we began encountering “zombies.” Ironically, they were doing entirely normal things like stowing their bags, going to the bathroom and in general prepping for the upcoming assault. However, I felt that they were eyeing the crowd, and they reminded me of lions studying a heard of antelope looking for the weak ones. This clown made me particularly nervous and I began to wonder if the organizers had found a small cache of real zombies somewhere.

Prior to the event we had discussed strategies to “survive” the event in numerous emails. My friend Kevin came up with the most interesting approach. He wore pink pants based on a bet and the belief that the “zombies” would see him and dissolve into uncontrollable laughter. Unfortunately, it had the opposite effect and I believe that he was actively targeted. I think that the prevailing wisdom was that someone wearing pants like that did not deserve to survive.

As the race started, I tired rapidly as I climbed what felt like Mount Everest. Stupidly, I ran with the rest of my group who had decided in a testosterone laden moment to start in the lane for 9 minute milers or better. I was clearly outclassed, but continued even so. As my lungs burned, I began to mentally curse Ed for getting me involved. My feelings were further reinforced when I encountered my first batch of zombies waiting to attack the weary runners cresting the hill. My keenly designed avoidance strategies failed and I immediately face planted as my dodge maneuver went horribly wrong. I ended in a pile of dirt with a zombie taunting me with my flag. That was it, game on! (Of course, this statement assumes that I had some game and sadly, I had very little.)

As the race continued, we ran/jogged/walked through miles of wooded paths. The organizers had also decided that mud would be fun and so we trudged through 3-6 inches of mud and crossed waist-deep muddy streams all the while trying to avoid zombies. The good news is that some zombies just stood there and moaned. I called these stumblers and they were my favorite, if you can have a favorite zombie. The worst were the zombie runners. These were undead who would trudge along and moan and then as soon as you pass them would sprint after you. This was particularly troublesome because they were extremely persistent and would chase you for 200-300 yards. Furthermore, they would often team up with stumblers and the two of them made a difficult combination.

As the run progressed, I finally settled on a strategy. I kept all my flags on one side of my body. This also allowed me to fulfill my NFL fantasies and perform frequent spin moves to protect my precious flags. This worked until I was double-teamed. The onslaught of multiple runners and stumblers overwhelmed me and I eventually succumbed. (Note that you can still finish the race when you lose your flags.) To be fair, the ratio of undead to human runners was higher than normal because we only had 75 people racing while a typical race has closer to 400. Thus, very few people survived with a flag intact.

One of my favorite moments was when I encountered a bride zombie. She was clad in a wedding address that had clearly seen better days. I figured that I would try the charm strategy and so as I ran by I said,” Gee you look a nice woman and it seems that you have fallen on hard times. How about we meet for drinks after the race?” Clearly she did not appreciate my overtures and grunted and started running after me. Fortunately, I was able to outrun her as I think that she tripped on her dress. There could be a much larger metaphor that comes out of this encounter, but I refuse to go there.

At the end of the race, we rode two slides into large mud pits. The first one was short while the second consisted of a tarp spread on a tubing hill where you slid down uncontrollably. The long one looked like fun until I started zooming down and realized that the tarp was coated in fine dirt. Sliding felt a bit like running a belt sander with fine grained sandpaper on my legs. It was decidedly unpleasant, but, hey, I was just happy to finish. Here is a picture of our team after the race.

On an ironic side note, I was not the last person in our team. Our fearless leader Ed was even slower than I. He was so far behind that we were concerned that something had happened to him and so we sent an emissary to the medical tent to review the casualty list. Fortunately, he was not on it. He eventually appeared spouting a lame excuse about a shoe getting stuck in the mud. The great news is that everyone completed the course without major injuries and one of us even finished with a flag remaining.

Update: You can see a YouTube video from a race from Saturday, here.

1. Be prepared
It is hard not to be a little flustered when there are flocks of 4-year-olds swirling around you in concentric circles with soccer balls. It is barely organized chaos, but having a formal plan can significantly help. When things go downhill, as they inevitably do, having a practice outline can make the difference between success and failure and will help youstay on track and focus on achieving your objectives whether playing Sharks and Minnows or speaking to a CIO. From a presentation standpoint this means you should have a clear vision of what you are presenting and the key audience takeaways.

2. Know your audience
As you can imagine, Pre-K soccer players are usually interested in immediate gratification and fun activities. Thus, trying to lecture them on complex subjects like the relative merits of the 4-3-3 vs 4-5-2 soccer formation is entirely pointless and will result in extreme chaos, boredom and in some cases, even tears. Remember, many of these kids do not even know the basics and so why bother with anything other than simple games that teach them how to shoot, dribble and have fun? The same challenges apply to public speaking. You must know who are speaking to and what their interest and knowledge is. There is no faster way to lose an audience then by delivering content that is not appropriate for their interest or knowledge level. While a misaligned presentation won’t result in tears (although there have been presentations where I felt like crying out of boredom!), the analogue for public speaking is mobile phones. If you see the majority of your audience fiddling with their phones, you have lost them.

3. Be yourself
4-year olds can sense when people are uncomfortable or acting unnaturally and they will respond in unusual and typically challenging ways. As a coach, it is critical to be yourself. Your players will recognize the honesty and it will provide a better experience both for you and your team. The parallel to public speaking is obvious. A critical part of presenting is building a rapport with the audience. If you present in a way that is unnatural or exude discomfort, your listeners will sense this and the impact of your presentation will be significantly diminished.

4. Keep it moving
Let’s face it, 4-year olds have short attention spans. They start enjoying an activity and then rapidly get bored and want to do something else. This is natural and explains why practice plans must include multiple different game options. Thus as your players get bored, you can instantly switch to an alternative activity. The same strategy works for public speaking. Audiences are often stuck in their seats for extended periods of time and can rapidly get bored with similar content and presentations. A presenter must be prepared and create presentations that move rapidly and includes a range of different content to keep the audience interested and involved. This rule is familiar to anyone who has sat through long text heavy presentations that were boring and uninteresting. Also keep in mind that incorporating a range of content including images, animations and videos can really help here as well.

5. Don’t be afraid to change strategies
4 year olds are extremely active and enthusiastic about things they like. Unfortunately, they are often even more vocal about things that they don’t. As a coach your job is to ensure that practice centers around your team’s likes. The challenge is that you never know what activities are liked or disliked because the cateogization can change by the week, hour or even the minute! You need to watch your players and know when it is time to change the strategy based off of their level of enthusiasm and engagement. The problem is similar when speaking in front of audiences. You will have specific content to cover, but as you progress you must gauge your audience’s involvement. Simple things like looking at cellphones, reading documents or even sleeping are signs that you need to change your strategy! If this occurs you need to be flexible and willing to modify your presentation and/or delivery to recapture the audience’s attention and interest.

6. When all else fails call a water break
Sometimes things can just go downhill during practice. I never know why, but if you ask any Pre-K coach they will concur. Typical symptoms include tears, distracted players and sometimes team wide rebellion. When faced with toddler mutiny, there is one sure solution. I call it the “nuclear option” otherwise known as the water break. Obviously, your ability to call the break is limited, but it always provides a respite as the kids run off briefly to see their parents and drink water. It also provides an opportunity for you as the coach to assess where you went wrong and to strategize how to engage the team when practice resumes. The brief break also helps the team re-focus and often the practice improves significantly afterwards.

I hope that you never get to the “water break” stage in presenting, but it can happen. If you are significantly frazzled and struggling to get on track, you may want to consider this option. You have two potential strategies. The first is a simple pause to drink some water and regain your focus. The second and more extreme one is to call a brief break in the presentation. This is most applicable to long presentations that already include a break and thus you have the opportunity to call it earlier, if needed. However, be warned that if you choose the second strategy and things are really bad, you run the risk that your audience will not return! (However, if your presentation is really that bad then you may be doing everyone a favor.)

Summary
These six tips will provide immediate benefits to both coaches and speakers. I encourage you to consider each of these and think about how you could these points to improve your prowess in both activities.

Historically, the choice of inkjet versus laser printers was clear. Laser printers were more expensive to purchase, but were significantly cheaper when it came to buying toner and inkjets were the opposite – inexpensive to buy with expensive ink. Thus when it came to purchase a new printer, I assumed that these long held assumptions were still true and was I ever wrong!

Below is a simple chart comparing two HP MFN devices one being an inkjet and the other a Laserjet. The two printers were chosen due to similarities in functionality and acquisition cost.

The biggest surprise was the cost per page. I was shocked to see that the 8600 Plus was more than 50% cheaper per page than the LJ Pro. The inkjet further benefitted from the ability to include color and to provide speeds that are comparable to the laser. To be fair, if you print in full color, you will need to purchase additional ink for the OfficeJet which adds to the price. However, I was only comparing the cost for pure black since that is the configuration most comparable to the Laserjet. On a side note, it is trivial to configure the 8600 Plus to print only in Black and White.

In summary, this analysis suggests that inkjets have come a long way in performance and price since I last looked. Clearly the historic assumptions about the two technologies no longer apply and inkjets now appear to provide a compelling value. Needless to say, I bought the OfficeJet Pro 8600 Plus and have been very happy with it.

Disclosure: I work for HP in the storage group.

1. Generator size

There are two differing perspectives on this question.

The first strategy is to use a very large generator (someone recommended a 20Kw to me). The benefit of this approach is that the large unit would power everything in the house and so you could run all your appliances including air conditioners, electric dryer and even electric stove without a problem. However, there is a trade-off. The larger generator typically means higher cost, more noise and increased fuel consumption.

The alternative approach is to choose a smaller generator (~10Kw). These units will not power the entire house, but rather are used to power critical systems such as heat, lighting, refrigerator and selected outlets. These smaller units will not power electrical intensive devices like electric dryers, stoves or ovens. However, they are less expensive to purchase, often are smaller in size and use less fuel. The installation process can also take a bit more work since someone has to identify which circuits to include and exclude. If you are considering this approach, you should review your circuit breakers to understand which you will power with the generator and which you won’t. These circuit choices will impact the generator size you need.

2. Manual or Automatic

Power outages can happen suddenly and so a generator needs to be prepared to come online rapidly. A big question is how the generator is started. Common options include automatic start, manual electric start (push a button or turn a key) or manual pull start. In general, the first option requires the least intervention (actually none), while the second two require the owner to start the generator manually. Obviously, the automatic option is extremely convenient and beneficial because it will start regardless of the hour and whether anyone is available. However, you will typically pay a premium for this feature and you rarely find it on anything but dedicated home generators. The price difference between the first option and the second two can be orders of magnitude different and so this really comes down to a question of budget versus convenience.

On a side note, with whatever generator your get, you will need an electric transfer switch. This device will enable your generator to power the house and will also disconnect your house from the electrical grid. This is critical because without it, your generator could push power back into the grid which could hurt power workers trying to fix the lines. There are a variety of switch options available some of which are manual and others that are automated. As you can imagine, the automatic start generators typically come with automatic transfer switches while manual generators often require you to purchase a separate manual or automatic transfer switch. Clearly, if you have a manual generator you are probably better served with a manual transfer switch since this is significantly less expensive than an automatic one and manual intervention is required to start the generator anyway.

3. Fuel

The next question is which fuel to use to power the generator. The choice of fuel can vary widely with the most common options including natural gas, propane and gasoline.

Natural gas is a good option for the homeowner who is already using this fuel. It is relative easy to plumb the generator into the existing natural gas line. Gas is also helpful because it does not require manual fuel deliveries or pickups and can effectively run the generator in perpetuity. Obviously, you would need a competent plumber to connect the generator and the cost can be significant. Note that most dedicated home generators support natural gas.

The next option is liquid propane (LP). Propane is an equally powerful source of fuel as natural gas although it requires external tanks. Thus, when installing a generator using LP, you also need to think about installing propane tanks and tank sizes. Bigger LP tanks extend run times, but are larger and can be more difficult to place and hide. Conversely, smaller ones are easier to conceal but will provide shorter run times. Additionally, LP tanks need to be refilled and so if a significant outage occurs, you may need a propane supplier to visit your house. This could be an issue if the roads are blocked or otherwise inaccessible. (This should factor into the tank size since larger tanks will allow for longer run times and thus fewer fill-ups.) Note that most home generators offer the ability to support either LP or natural gas and represent a good option if you are unsure if you will change fuel in the future.

The final option is gasoline. Obviously this is an extremely common fuel and can easily be retrieved at any gas station. The challenge is that gasoline-based generators have smaller fuel tanks thus requiring more frequent fill-ups. Thus, a gas generator owner would either need to have a significant store of gasoline at their house or make fairly frequent trips to the gas station. This can also be problematic if the gas station is inaccessible or worse, is sold out of gas. For example, I have a friend who has a gas generator that works well, but it only delivers about 10 hours of run time and so he needed to refill it at least twice a day. He was okay with this requirement, but not all users may agree. The benefit of this fuel is that it is ubiquitous since there are gas stations everywhere. Similarly, gas generators tend to be much less expensive than their natural gas and LP counterparts.

The choice of fuel is significant and there is no right choice for everyone. Clearly, natural gas provides the least human intervention with automated fuel availability; however, it requires that the house already have the fuel. LP provides shorter run times than natural gas and an external tank, but the larger tank sizes (than gasoline) can provide power for extended periods. Additionally, refueling from a propane company simplifies the process of refueling, but still introduces risk. Finally, gas provides the most ubiquitous and inexpensive fuel source; however, it requires significant owner intervention to ensure that the generator is fully fueled and running.

4. Budget

The final issue is budget. Regardless of the route you take, a transfer switch is required and so you will need to pay an electrician for installation. However, the scope and complexity of the job can vary widely. Often the biggest cost is the generator and there is a huge price range. You can purchase an inexpensive portable gas generator for as little as $500 while a fully automated 20Kw home generator can run $5,000 or more. Clearly, the more you spend, the bigger and more automated the solution becomes, but the largest options may be beyond the reach of many. You also need to keep in mind other installation costs which can include plumbing the natural gas line or purchasing, installing and filling LP tanks and pipes. Finally, there may also be a cost to prepare a location for the generator and/or fuel tank including leveling ground and preparing a pad.

Summary

In conclusion, there are many different elements to consider when purchasing a home generator. The options range from a quick and inexpensive approach with lots of manual activity to a fully automated whole house unit that will essentially run forever. The choice of option really comes to budget and desired functionality.

I was recently traveling in Bogota, Colombia and received a curious email from American Express which stated that there were some questionable activities on my card. Obviously, I assumed that this was due to charges on my corporate card, and called AmEx to confirm the transactions. However, the American Express representative stated that the charges were placed on my personal card which was troubling since I had never used it in Colombia. I have no idea how someone got my card information but was thankful that AmEx flagged the charges instantly. Naturally, I reviewed the situation with the operator and she suggested that we cancel the card and overnight a new one to my house to arrive on Friday. (This was Thursday) This worked well since I was leaving Friday night for the weekend. I hung up from the call feeling very positive about American Express and their customer service. Unfortunately, the experience rapidly went downhill.

Friday was a busy travel day and so I did not have a chance to check on the delivery status until late in the day. Unfortunately, there was no sign of the card and so I promptly called American Express. The representative indicated that a replacement had not been ordered on Thursday as promised, but instead was requested on Friday for a Saturday delivery. This statement conflicted with the previous conversation. When I raised the issue on the phone, the response was, “I have no idea what they promised you, but this is what the computer says.” Gee, thank you for the insightful and helpful reply! My frustration was rapidly growing, but I maintained my patience. However, the situation would get worse.

As previously stated, a Saturday delivery would not work due to my travel plans for the weekend. When I mentioned this to the AmEx representative, she was perplexed and indicated that we needed to engage a card replacement specialist. Once the specialist joined the line, I explained the situation and she suggested canceling the card that was to be delivered Saturday and issuing a new one to arrive on Tuesday. I wanted to put the situation behind me and so immediately agreed. Well, guess what? Today is Tuesday and still no card. The AmEx representative I spoke with this evening said that their computer had no record of a conversation on Friday and that none of the promised actions had taken place. She was offered more apologies and to overnight yet another card for Thursday arrival. I cannot believe that AmEx has messed up two simple card deliver requests. How hard can this be? As a customer, I am extremely frustrated with the situation.

American Express did a fantastic job identifying potential card fraud using automated software and their instant notification was impressive. Unfortunately, the performance by their human support team paled in comparison. American Express’s continued inability to deliver on a simple card replacement request is shocking. I am fortunate that this was not an urgent situation; what would have happened if my wallet had been stolen and I needed an emergency replacement? AmEx’s human customer service team has neither been pro-active nor supportive and instead seem to prefer hollow excuses and weak apologies. I am extremely dissatisfied with this situation and am beginning to question AmEx’s entire organization. Is this the level of customer service that the company deems appropriate? At this point, I have no idea and am seriously considering closing my account.

Update: I tweeted about this blog post late in the evening and included @AmericanExpress and @AskAmex.  @AmericanExpress provided a canned and decidedly unuseful response.  @AskAmex replied in the morning and was much more helpful and pro-active.  Rachel from AskAmex took control of the situation and addressed my concerns.  She is currently researching why these issues arose in the first place and is getting me a new card in the timeframe I require.  In short, she has done a great job!

However, the situation does leave you wondering why it took a blog post and multiple tweets to get this attention.  How would a non-techie get treated in a similar situation?

There are a myriad of Social Media tools and networks and as a potential user you need to rationalize the innumerable options.  I have found it simplest to categorize my primary social networking tools into buckets which define when to use what.  Here is my categorization:

Twitter

A great real time interaction tool that has a massive audience and is based on relatively mature technology.  I really enjoy Twitter and the many conversations on a variety of topics.  The service is very eclectic which is a good thing.  The content varies from personal to business with the only commonality being the near real-time interactions.  This is the network that I frequent and you can find Tweetdeck (or the equivalent) on all my personal computers and smartphones.  You can view my Twitter stream here: @jlivens.

LinkedIn

This service is business-centric with an emphasis on work experience and broad content expertise.  I find it extremely useful to keep track of past colleagues and friends and their current work endeavors.  It was particularly invaluable when I was job hunting a year ago because it provided a method to leverage my network of friends and past co-workers.  LinkedIn also maintains consistent contact information so you can reach past colleagues whose email or phone numbers may have changed.

Facebook

This is where I connect with past classmates, family members and friends.  The content is personal and is not geared towards business or career.  I like the idea of Facebook, but I am not entirely convinced of its value and often ask myself whether I would really miss connecting with some of these people.  Of course, I cannot mention Facebook without highlighting the security issues that many have complained about.  My opinion is that Facebook is a nice-to-have and not a must-have.  However, I know plenty of people who swear by it.

What about Google+?

I have clearly defined mental models for each of the above services which allows me to cleanly separate the streams, and I am struggling with Google +.  Is it a real time communication medium like Twitter, a professional medium like LinkedIn, a medium to talk about your dog like Facebook or something complete different?  Truthfully, I have not decided and this limits the service’s usefulness to me.  If I had to categorize G+ now, I would suggest that it replaces Facebook in my mental model, but the newness of the product and limited subscriber base makes it a poor substitute.

In summary, I am in a quandary about Google +.  I really want to like the service, but am not certain how to use it.  This situation reminds me of Google Wave.  Wave was a shiny new toy that was fun to use but users rapidly lost interest since it provided limited value.  I think that G+ has a far better chance of succeeding, but that it must find a personality that resonates with its users for it to maintain relevance.  Which brings the final question: is G+ a significant contender to the other other networks or is it a Wave-like attempt to usurp the competition?  Time will tell…

What do you think?

1. Cost – These repeaters are expensive luxuries and the longer internal range units are sold at a 57% premium.  This is a significant additional cost.  I called Wilson Electronics and asked if the higher end units provide any superior external amplification, and their answer was “No, it just provides a more powerful internal signal.”
2. Installation difficulty – I wanted a repeater that was highly portable and easy to install.  One of the challenges of these systems relates to spacing of the internal and external antennas.  The 801247 has a relatively small spacing requirement (~10 feet) while the longer range unit requires around 50 feet spacing.  This spacing requirements creates significant installation challenges and lends itself more to permanent installation than the portable approach I am looking for.
3. Specific area coverage – My most critical need is providing signal to my desk.  Any additional coverage is a welcome improvement.  The nice thing about the 801247 is that I can put the internal antenna on my desk and know that I will get the signal exactly where I need it.  The 841262 will require a more complex installation and antenna placement can be a much more significant challenge.  Additionally, given the amount of signal broadcasted internally, I am not sure if I want it on my desk!  The result is that I think that the 801247 is better if you want to cover a specific and relatively small area.

In summary, both the 801247 and the 841262 provide significant benefits.  The question of which is a better fit for a given environment will vary depending on specific requirements and situations.  At times, I waver on my choice, but always remember the above points which reinforce my decision.

Note: I just realized that the Wilson Electronics website no longer lists the above products and is selling a new version.  They have added some kind of gain control and I wonder if this new functionality makes a significant difference.

Before delving into installed apps, it is important to understand my application strategy.  My experience with previous phones (non-Android) suggests that an excessive number of applications can impact phone performance.  Thus, I am quite selective when choosing applications and will often remove ones that I either don’t use or use infrequently.  With that said here is a list of the ones that I find most valuable.  Any feedback or suggestions on alternative applications is welcome!

Productivity Apps:

1. KeePassDroid – Great open source password tool – Must have
2. Open Signal Maps – Used for configuring my wireless repeater.  Candidate for removal
3. gReader – A great RSS reader that integrates with Google Reader – Must have
4. ESPN ScoreCenter
5. Google Shopper – This one seems cool, but I never use it.  Possible deletion candidate
6. Dropbox – Works great especially with KeePassDroid – Must have
7. Movies (aka Flixster) – Great when looking for movies
8. DoggCatcher – A great podcast player
9. FlightTrack – Fantastic for flight information including real time updates – Must have for frequent travelers
10. HotelsByMe – Used infrequently and so I might delete it
11. Photo Tools Pro – Great tools for advanced photography
12. Seesmic
13. K-9 Mail – An alternative to the GMail client used to send large files
14. TripIt
15. Google Music
16. TweetDeck
17. MyAT&T
18. YouTube

Third party tools:

1. XFinity – Painfully slow and kludgy, but the channel guides are beneficial
2. Bank account application – (Prefer to keep the bank info private)

Keyboards – Still testing out options:

1. Swiftkey X
2. Perfect Keyboard
3. Smart Keyboard Pro – Currently my favorite – A must have
4. Gingerbread Keyboard

Utilities:

1. Setting Profiles Lite – An indispensible ringer profile tool – A must have
2. Digital Clock Widget – Did not like the native clock widget
3. Battery Monitor Widget – Love the granular battery life information – A must have
4. OI File Manager – Required by some application (Drop Box?)
5. Juice Defender Beta – Not currently using this; it is a candidate for removal
6. WordPress – A great tool to review and edit WordPress blog content and comments
7. AndroBlip – Application to manage and view postings on Blipfoto
8. Vlingo – Powerful voice recognition.  Works great! – A must have
9. Google Maps
10. Speedtest.net Mobile Speed test
11. Any Cut

Games – Still looking for really good ones

1. Air Control – Fun!  I like this one – My current favorite game
2. Airport Mania – Fun! But buggy because I cannot save a game.  It is on the list for removal
3. Mouse Trap – A fun maze game
4. Shaky Tower – Trying this one out and deciding whether to keep it
5. Tank Hero – Still in trial like Shaky Tower

The keyboard that came with my Motorola Atrix (running Android v2.2) was adequate; however, I had some significant challenges. The biggest problem was the positioning of the period key. For whatever reason, it is located next to the space bar and I inevitably hit it mistakenly when typing fast and trying to add a space.  This creates all kinds of weird spacing and capitalization issues, and is supremely annoying.  Additionally, the relatively small keys on the keyboard often caused typing error which were not always auto-corrected. My goal was to find a keyboard that could address these challenges and I was fortunate that Android has many options to choose from. Here is a review of the ones I tried out:

Swype

My Motorola Atrix came with Swype embedded and it was the first one I tried. My initial experience was uncertain because the keys were relatively small and difficult to type. It was only after further research that I realized that Swype incorporates a completely different typing paradigm. The idea is that you trace the word by dragging your finger over the various letters. Many people swear by this approach, but I never became comfortable with it. Perhaps I would have liked if I dedicated more time, but my goal was to find a keyboard that would better fit with my typing style rather than changing my typing style to meet the needs of the keyboard. Thus, Swype was disqualified.

SwiftKey

After doing substantial research, this option seemed to be top rated and indeed, I liked it. The size and spacing of the keys is better than the stock keyboard and so in general typing was improved. However, it still has the annoying period problem. I particularly liked the ability to delete a word by swiping across the keyboard. In general, this keyboard was much improved over the stock unit. However, I still found another option that I liked better.

Gingerbread Keyboard

Gingerbread is the next major release of Android and includes a new keyboard. An intrepid developer ported that keyboard to earlier versions of Android and provided additional customization options. My immediate impression of this keyboard was mixed until I reviewed the customization features which truly differentiated it. This keyboard offers unique customizations including the ability to remove the period and microphone buttons which results in a larger space bar and is exactly what I wanted. Furthermore, it also offered the ability to change key size and spacing to further optimize the keyboard. My custom configuration included the removal of the voice and period key and increased key size. These seemingly minor enhancements made a massive difference and this keyboard is currently my favorite and is highly recommended.

SwiftKey X Beta

After the initial test of SwiftKey, the company released an all new beta version of the keyboard. This one is dramatically different from the previously reviewed model. I like the new layout and increased key size. However, it still lacks the customization options of the Gingerbread keyboard and so while it  looks promising, I still favor the Gingerbread keyboard. On the bright side, the beta software is free and so I recommend experimenting with it.  I Tweeted about my desire for further customization and the developers indicated that they were working on adding this feature.  (Kudos to the SwiftKey team for responding via Twitter!)

Clearly a benefit of the Android is flexibility and the many keyboard options are a great example. Each of the keyboards provide a good typing experience, but in my opinion the Gingerbread keyboard is the best of the bunch. However, honorable mention goes to SwiftKey X Beta since the product is still under development and the final product may include additional customization options to meet my requirements.