Smartphones, netbooks and ebook readers - an essential guide

It’s easier than ever to work out of the office, whether you’re at home, on the train or on a client site. We’re even seeing a trend towards virtual law offices – legal practices that are not attached to a bricks-and-mortar building but operate from the homes or satellite offices of their fee-earners. There are now so many devices available for the mobile worker that it can be hard to choose which is best: do you need a smartphone? A netbook? An ebook reader? Or possibly all of them? This article guides you through the options.

Smartphones

Most lawyers are fond of their BlackBerrys, but there are increasingly sophisticated alternatives, notably the iPhone and the various Windows Mobile devices. One of the main things to watch out for these days is 3G connectivity – a mobile version of broadband, which means that information flows faster.

Here’s a quick run-through:

BlackBerry
The BlackBerry, made by Research in Motion (RIM), is a favourite of lawyers– the perfect device for reading and sending emails on the move. But the BlackBerry now comes in numerous different flavours – so which one to buy?

BlackBerry devices work with the BlackBerry Enterprise Server – a piece of software that sits on the office server and synchronises information from messaging systems, such as Microsoft Exchange, with the BlackBerry devices. All BlackBerrys offer phone, email, instant messaging, text messaging capability. They also have a personal organiser, which includes a calendar, address book, task list, calculator and memo pad. Most BlackBerrys come with a traditional QWERTY keyboard.

Here’s a summary of the distinctive features of the main BlackBerry models:

• Pearl – a sleek, lightweight phone aimed at the consumer market. Pearls all have cameras, audio players and multimedia players, while the 8110 and 8130 models have GPS (satnav) functionality. The Pearl doesn’t have a full QWERTY keyboard but saves space by using a SureType keyboard with two characters per key. This makes typing a chore (though the predictive text element helps): probably not one for the serious emailer.
• Curve – another light, elegant device, and unlike the Pearl, comes with a full QWERTY keyboard. All the Curve models have cameras and media players, while some models also have GPS functionality.
• Bold – aimed squarely at the business user. As well as a camera and media player, it comes equipped with GPS and BlackBerry Maps. Phone calls travel over the 3G network if it’s available, offering a higher-quality connection.
• Storm – a high-end model aimed at the power user. Regarded by some as RIM’s answer to the iPhone, the Storm has fast 3G network connectivity, a high-resolution display and an in-built video camera. It’s particularly useful for the global traveller, as it has a subscriber identity module (SIM) that enables it to work on GSM networks worldwide. However, the Storm lacks a keyboard and is operated via a touch screen (just like the iPhone).
• Tour – another high-end model, which also uses the 3G network, and has a feature set that is almost identical to that of the Storm. It has a keyboard, however, rather than a touchscreen.

Apple iPhone
Usually seen as a consumer device, the iPhone is becoming more attractive to business users. The latest model, the iPhone 3G, offers, as its name indicates, fast connectivity over the 3G network. It lacks a keyboard, or even a number pad, operating instead via a touchscreen interface so you can, for example, call a colleague by tapping their name in the contact list. Tap their address and the iPhone launches the Maps application so you can see directions.

As well as making phone calls, the iPhone can be used to read and send email, browse the internet, take photographs, download music and watch video. What makes it attractive to business users is that there are thousands of applications (‘apps’) that you can download from Apple’s iTunes store, some of which we’ve listed below. It also doubles as an ebook reader, though the screen is too small to enable you to read whole books comfortably.

Windows Mobile devices
Windows-based smartphones run a cut-down version of the same operating system you use on your PC, which is useful both for familiarity and compatibility. Currently most phones are running version 6.5 of the operating system, though version 7 has just been announced.

Windows smartphones all run Internet Explorer Mobile, which works in very much the same way as Internet Explorer on the PC. Some Windows Mobile phones have a stylus pen for entering information, rather than a keyboard or touchscreen.

Several manufacturers make phones that use the Windows Mobile operating system. They all come with email and Microsoft Office Mobile (mini versions of Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint). There is a wide range of Windows Mobile phones available, all offering similar functionality – the difference comes in things like the size of the screen or the inclusion of a keyboard.

• Samsung Omnia II – uses the Windows Mobile 6.5 operating system, a camera, 3G connectivity, Bluetooth and an AMOLED screen (which offers a brighter picture than a traditional LED screen) and an onscreen QWERTY keyboard that uses Swype technology, which means that you can drag your finger from letter to letter and the phone will work out what you’re trying to type. It also uses Samsung’s TouchWiz interface, designed to make it easier to access applications.
• Verizon HTC Imagio – also runs Windows Mobile 6.5, and has a large screen (including onscreen QWERTY keyboard) and stylus, a camera, Bluetooth and 3G connectivity.
• Sprint Palm Treo Pro – runs Windows Mobile 6.1, has a touchscreen with stylus, GPS and Bluetooth and a camera. It has GSM rather than 3G connectivity, but is small and compact.

Netbooks

The netbook sits snugly in that narrow space between a low-end laptop and a high-end smartphone. Originally developed for the One Laptop Per Child project, which aimed to provide portable computers to children in the developing world, netbooks proved a surprising hit when Asus launched its Eee PC range in 2007. Since then, several other vendors have chipped in with their own offerings. For lawyers, the beauty of netbooks is their portability – if you want to use email and browse the internet, but don’t feel like carrying a heavy laptop around, and find smartphones too fiddly, then a netbook could be the answer.

Here are some of the main netbooks on the market, at around the £300 mark. All of these run Windows XP, use the Intel Atom processor and have 1GB of memory and 160GB storage space:

• Acer Aspire One 751 – the Aspire One weighs 2.8lb, has a slimline design, a large (11.6 inch) screen with 1024x600 pixels resolution and a keyboard that is more spacious than usual for a netbook. Speeds are reported to be slow, however.
• Asus Eee PC 1000HE – the design of the 1000HE is generally regarded as an improvement on earlier models, with a less cramped keyboard. It has a 10 inch screen, 1024x600 pixels resolution and, at 3.2lb, is a bit heavier and chunkier than the Aspire One.
• Dell Inspiron Mini 10 – weighing just 2.6lb, the Mini 10 has a 10.1 inch screen, a high 1366x768 pixels resolution, and is one of the lightest netbooks on the market. Its main flaw is battery life – it has a 3-cell battery, which lasts only two or three hours.
• HP Mini 311 – the 311 has an 11.4 by 8 inch screen with 1366x768 pixels resolution, weighs 3lb, and can run Windows XP or Windows 7. The keyboard is slightly larger than on most netbooks, making it easier to use.
• Sony Vaio W – with a 10.1 inch screen, the Vaio W is another netbook with a high resolution of 1,366x768 pixels, making it good for watching videos and therefore perhaps more suitable for consumer use. Weighing only 2.6lb, it is impressively light. Like the Inspiron Mini, however, it only uses a 3-cell battery, so battery life is short.

eBook readers

Although relatively new to the UK market, eBook readers are already proving their worth, particularly to professionals such as lawyers who need to access large amounts of information – you can effectively take your law library with you wherever you go. Here are the main ones:

• Kindle – Amazon’s Kindle is still the best-known of the ebook readers. Although it has been criticised for its clunky design and its heavy feel, it’s proved popular, both in the US and the UK, where it launched last year (though it still has to be ordered from the US) The newest version of the Kindle holds up to 1,500 books.

  The great advantage of the Kindle is that it has wireless functionality, which means you can use it to browse Amazon and download the book you want instantly. It also offers subscriptions to a wide variety of newspapers, including the Financial Times, the Daily Telegraph, the Times and the Wall Street Journal.

  One additional handy feature is that it has a dictionary, so if you highlight a word, it will automatically display the definition. It also has Wikipedia access if you want more detail.

  Prices range from $259 or $489, depending on version.

• Sony Reader – thinner and lighter than the Kindle, the Sony Reader is attractive to look at and easy to use. Because the screen isn’t backlit, it’s gentle on the eye. The Reader comes with 100 titles, but you can buy more from Waterstones.com and then transfer them to the Reader – it will hold 350 books altogether, though by using a memory stick, you can add thousands more. It is not yet wireless-enabled in the UK, although a wireless version is available in the US.

  Earlier this year, Sony signed a deal with content distributor NewspaperDirect, which means that users will be able to access 1,400 newspapers and magazines from 93 countries.

Prices start at £234.

• Que – the new Que, from Plastic Logic, is aimed firmly at business users who need to do a lot of reading, rather than at the person who wants to read a novel on the train. A lightweight device, it has an A4 size screen and a touchscreen interface, and provides plenty of tools for annotating and organising documents. Other very handy features include the ability to drag and drop Microsoft Office files from your PC to the e-reader and the ability to transfer files from your BlackBerry to the Que. A content deal with book chain Barnes & Noble will provide access to several hundred thousand digital books, and deals have also been struck with business content providers such as the Financial Times. Although the Que has been launched in the US, a UK release date has not yet been announced.

Price: not yet available.

• iPad – Apple’s new iPad, due to go on sale in late April, isn’t strictly an ebook reader, but it’s not quite a laptop computer either. The company has taken the iPhone’s interface and transferred it to a tablet computer with a 9 inch screen. At 1.5lb, it’s lighter than any netbook on the market, and can be used to send email, browse the web and watch videos. The iPad has a touchscreen for text entry rather than a keyboard, though you can purchase a keyboard if you want. Sadly, the ibBooks application, allowing users to download and read ebooks, is currently available only in the US. The iPad can also run all the applications available from Apple’s App store. The New York Times will be available on the iPad, Associated Press has announced plans for a paid subscription app, and it seems likely other news providers will follow suit.

Kim Thomas is a freelance journalist

This article appears in the Gazette's forthcoming In Business supplement focusing on Cloud Computing, which will be published on Thursday 18 March.