Windows 8 Critics: You’re using it wrong

Leave a reply

Lately Microsoft has been taking a beating. From badly handled product launches (Surface Pro) to product confusion (Windows 8/RT), it seems to be piling on lately for Ballmer and crew. But for all the critiques and MS bashing, little is ever said or advertised about when they get something right, or when they deliver a technology that can be deemed best in class. As a big user of Microsoft’s services and technologies both at work and home, I can say that lately Microsoft has blown my socks off when it comes to making technology solutions that work seamlessly. So what brought me to this point? 3 words… Windows To Go.

I will preface a few things. First, this is coming from the perspective of a power user. I am an IT executive and I get hands on with my tech and gear. I am someone who uses Windows 8 as their primary OS comfortably. I am not the vantage point of the average consumer who is mostly turned off by what has been perceived as Windows 8′s identity crisis. I will admit Windows 8 has its faults, but I also defer to it over WIndows 7, which is also a competent OS. With that out of the way…

When I read about Windows To Go, I became intrigued by what it could accomplish. Basically, it’s a full Windows 8 environment in your pocket. That was interesting to me because this is something I have wanted for a long time. Just the idea of being able to pack a flash drive that had my full desktop, files, and software on it was just the thing I have been looking for on occasions when I travel or work out of another one of our offices. So I set up a Windows 8 desktop, got a Windows To Go certified flash drive (Kingston Workspace in my case), and off I went.

Once it was done, I booted from it and that’s when the awesome began….

When I saw the BitLocker prompt, I knew it had done as advertised. After entering my password, it walked me through the standard Windows 8 setup, which included the option to log in using my Microsoft account. This was the 1st time I was truly enlightened by the power of how MS is using the cloud. After entering my username and password, it cranked away for a minute before loading up….. My desktop.

The same desktop that is on my Surface, the same as the one on my laptop. Microsoft pulls off this sorcery thanks to syncing your desktop settings in the cloud via your Microsoft account. Gold star for them on this one. But they weren’t done impressing me yet. What I still needed to do was install Office. I was excited because this is the first time I was going to install Office since buying my Office 365 subscription. With Office 2013, Microsoft is offering a subscription model. For $99 a year, you get Office on demand more or less. You can install Office on up to 5 PCs, cloud storage via Skydrive (I already had 25GB and my Office subscription added another 20GB), and access to Office on the web (superior to Google Docs in every way). I can’t say I had ever been this excited to run Office, and yeah, it was a treat!

Once you start the web install, Office streams to your computer. Yeah, as in starts to run on your computer. You can even start using it while it continues with the installation. I don’t know about you, but this is straight out of the Jetsons, yet it really does begin to feel like Microsoft doesn’t get the credit due for when they do things right. I would agree their marketing and product launches (XBox aside) leave a lot to be desired, but when it comes to the cloud, they get it, unlike Apple. But they somehow get a pass. I read a great one liner about Microsoft not being ‘hipster cool’, which is spot on when it comes to why MS doesn’t get the mindshare Apple usually does.

Don’t get me wrong, I like Apple’s hardware. I run Windows 8 on a Macbook Air. I own several iPads, though I haven’t used one extensively in a while since getting my Surface RT. The main reason being that being in a Windows world right now works best for me. Personally, they have the best cloud experience I have used, especially when it comes to syncing my desktop and data across all my devices. But not for everything. I still use Gmail for email and calendar, I prefer Google to Outlook.com. The nature of my work has me using all kinds of things all the time. I am not a fanboy of one company or product. I use the tools and services that integrate best into my particular use case. Which brings me back to Windows To Go.

I have used my Windows To Go on a 3yr old Dell laptop, my wife’s 2 year old Thinkpad, and a brand new HP desktop. It has worked flawlessly every time so far. That is how it is supposed to work. This has me thinking of the bigger picture. Microsoft would like us IT folks to roll this out to our mobile employees. And in concept, it makes sense. BYOD gains more traction every day and from an overhead standpoint, I see the appeal in just handing a user a Windows To Go flash drive with their entire setup and saying ‘Go plug this in on your home computer’ and have them off to the races with all the access and services they need. Add to that the security layer of BitLocker and it’s an IT department’s dream scenario vs buying and deploying PCs one by one as most companies do now. But going back to the perception problem, that’s where it gets dicey. See, with all the confusion over Windows 8 among consumers (I blame bad marketing by MS), most average people either aren’t familiar with it, or are bypassing it altogether by buying a Mac or a non Windows 8 tablet. This makes supporting it unfeasible for shops with limited resources. The reality is as much as I like and prefer Windows 8, I don’t see upgrading my company to it anytime soon. We will stay on Windows 7 for the foreseeable future. There is too much of a learning curve and again, my IT resources have to be utilized carefully. I shudder to think of the spike in help desk calls we would get if one Monday morning we just plopped Windows 8 on everyone’s desk. It would create chaos, people don’t like change, especially when it comes to technology. And again, I think the onus was on Microsoft to educate consumers, and so far they could be doing more, a lot more.

So for now, I will reap the benefits of Windows To Go on my own and probably within my IT department. It’s a shame too because more people should be exposed to the really cool things Microsoft is doing. But that’s for the big minds in Redmond to figure out. But if they want some help with that, I can be reached on Twitter

Windows Phone 7.8 on my Nokia Lumia 900

Leave a reply

When Nokia announced they were rolling out Windows Phone 7.8 to Lumia devices, I was anxious to get it for my Lumia 900. Though I use a Lumia 920 as my primary phone, I still get a ton of mileage out of my 900 mainly for use as a music player with my XBox Music Pass and the Zune client. I promptly plugged in my Lumia 900 and checked for the golden update. After the first couple of days, no dice. I even tried the trusted ‘disconnect’ trick that I used to install Windows Phone 7.5 Mango with no success. After searching Twitter updates from the usual Windows Phone sites, I reached out to Windows Phone Daily via Twitter and my timing was perfect. They had breaking news about a tool that sidestepped Zune altogether and if all went well, would bring me the instant gratification I was seeking. The result?

Again, big thanks for Windows Phone Daily for the tip. It worked as advertised for me, though your mileage will vary. I should also point out that besides the start screen changes, you can also now choose to have Bing wallpapers as your lock screen background. And though my Lumia 900 is only serving Zune duties for me, I am still impressed with the update and Nokia’s continued support for the Windows Phone 7 platform.

2013: The year BYOD will not be ignored

Leave a reply

Full disclosure: I am a Good Technology customer and am a member of their Customer Advisory Board. This is not a paid endorsement. I am nothing more than a very happy and satisfied user of Good’s products and services.

I recently filmed a series of testimonial videos for Good Technology. They are short snippets where I briefly describe the features and benefits of their products and services from both an enterprise and user standpoint. They can be seen below. If you are an IT decision maker on the fence over BYOD, Consumerization of IT, or whatever buzzphrase comes to mind for the proliferation of personal devices in your corporate environment (Yes they are out there), 2013 is the year you take action if you haven’t already.

As most of us have already learned, BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) wasn’t a fad, a blip on the radar that would eventually go away. As much as some in the IT trenches were hoping for that, it is now evident that the people have spoken. The walls that once were erected to protect and preserve ITs stranglehold on choice and control have come crashing down. We can thank the iPhone for what is now the new ethos of the modern worker… “Here is my device, make it work on the network.”

I doubt that by now, anyone in an IT leadership role can say they are blindsided by this. The new reality is here and you need to have a plan. The ‘Good’ news is that companies like Good Technology can save the day. Whether you need ironclad containerization of data, or you just need a simple dashboard that gives you visuals and details about what devices are in your infrastructure, a solution like Good can make all the difference in successfully taking back the reins of your mobile workforce.

There are other solid and mature platforms to choose from. Even RIM is back in the game in their last attempt to stop their customer exodus. No surprise that their focus is more towards MDM and BYOD support for iOS and Android along with their upcoming BB10 hardware. Most of my experience has been with Good’s products dating back to 2010. It is now the only solution I use (I decommissioned our Blackberry Enterprise Server in early 2012). No matter what you choose, the end goal should be to take back your mobile enterprise. It’s 2013, no more excuses!

A day of work and play with my Nokia Lumia 920

Leave a reply

Mixing business with pleasure thanks to my Windows Phone

Being an IT Executive usually means occasional travel. I chronicled a recent business trip I took to Las Vegas with only my Nokia Lumia 920 smartphone. It was actually my first such travel with it so I thought it would be interesting to document and share my experiences with Windows Phone and Nokia’s flagship hardware since it has become my primary mobile device.

I focused on the 1st party apps and services from Microsoft and Nokia. My goal here is to highlight that despite Windows Phone’s lack of apps, I still consider the Lumia 920 a best in breed smartphone that *SPOILER ALERT* made an excellent travel companion for both business and pleasure.

As I mentioned, I was in Las Vegas for the day scouting out datacenters for the company I work for. Since it was a quick turnaround, I didn’t pack my laptop or iPad for that matter, just my Windows Phone. I thought this would be the perfect time to put it through it’s paces. Without further ado….

Email/Calendar/Contacts:

I won’t spend too much too much on email and calendar. Every smartphone does a serviceable job of push messaging. And the Lumia 920 is no exception. Being that we are a Microsoft back end, the native Exchange connectivity works well as you would expect.

SharePoint/Lync/OneNote:

By now, most businesses have turned to tools beyond email and phone calls for communicating and managing work. Windows Phone has built in integration with SharePoint, Lync, and OneNote.

SharePoint is Microsoft’s file sharing and collaboration platform. It makes it easy to view, edit and update all types on MS Office files right on the fly. So if I need to give an approval for a change made on one of our operation logs for instance, I can quickly view the file and if necessary, make any changes I need and save right back up to our shared team document library. My team then gets pinged that I made changes and it’s all set. It’s that simple.

If I need to send a fast FYI, I can go into Lync, our corporate IM system which is also native on Windows Phone. I can see who on my team is available and in turn, they know I am reachable as well even though I am out on the road. But back to my FYI, I can see if the person who is waiting on me is online and if they are, I just send a message with the update I made.

On my trip, I was scouting and evaluating various datacenters in the Las Vegas area. I had done research and reached out various points of contact via email and phone. Rather than try to organize all of this in my email, which I find counter productive, I used a much better solution: One Note!

One Note is Microsoft’s version of a digital notebook. I am a recent convert to it and it has become an indispensable tool I use daily. Similar to something like Evernote, it is a way to take free notes, emails, web pages, almost anything you can type, copy, paste, speak, and compile and categorize it into notebooks, tabs, pages, etc. Much like you would do in an ‘analog’ notebook. The One Note desktop program is a part of Microsoft Office, so there is a lot of integration across the suite. In the case of my datacenter trip, I would take the prospects that emailed me and after I made arrangements to visit them, I would send the emails over to One Note, a 1 click process from Outlook, my default email program. The true power of One Note is when you have your notebooks in SkyDrive, Microsoft’s cloud storage service and yet another baked in Windows Phone goodie. Once in SkyDrive, you can access and sync all of your notes across any myriad of computers, phones, tablets, you name it. You can also share your notes if you need to.

For my trip, I had proposals, contact phone numbers, and addresses all in the One Note library I created for my trip. I even added notes from my visit to each site right from my phone. When I was back in the office, I could open up One Note from my laptop and organize and edit further if I needed to. Since I sync to SkyDrive, the changes were already on my screen. In the short time I have used One Note, it has quickly become a big part of my personal workflow. It really has gone a long way towards keeping me organized and not having to wade and plow through piles of email, a welcome time saver.

Maps/GPS

While in Vegas, I was driving around from place to place. Though I’ve been there lots of times, I don’t claim to know it like the back of my hand, far from it. This is where my Lumia 920 and Nokia Drive shined bright!

This was the 1st time having to use Nokia Drive extensively and it did not steer me wrong once (no pun intended). It’s fast, current, accurate, and keeps you up to date on traffic and other real time info along the way. It’s as good as Google Maps, no hyperbole. And yes Google does have an advantage when it comes to how Maps ties into Google Now and contextual directions. But for everything else, Nokia provides an outstanding GPS and mapping experience.

Work hard Play hard

With my datacenter visits complete and some time to kill before my flight home, I had some time to find a gym and get a good workout in. Hitting the gym is my therapy, it helps me clear my mind and refocus after a long day. I’m always trying new workout routines and eating regimens. I keep my workout plans on SkyDrive, that way I can access it anywhere as I mentioned before with One Note. Since I have 25GB of storage on SkyDrive, I am moving more and more documents and other personal data to it. It is also where the photos and videos I take with my Lumia 920 get auto uploaded to. So now I know what workout to tackle, it’s time to play my workout tunes!

Bing/Xbox Music

My workout was complete and it was time for some dinner before heading to the airport. It was then that I discovered the power of Bing and XBox Music. As I got in the car and turned it on, there was a song on the radio that I liked. I hit the search button on my Lumia, which opens up Bing. Besides search, there is also a Music button. This works just like Shazam, but it’s baked into Windows Phone, which is important to how this played out. Once I tapped Music, I held the phone by the speaker so it would tell me what song was playing. When it returned the result, it not only showed me artist and title, it also gives me the option to open up the XBox Music store. The beauty of this was because I have XBox Music Pass, Microsoft’s all you can eat music service, rather than give me the option to buy, I had access to download the entire album (EP) onto my phone.

Wrap your head around that for a second. This seamless sequence of events is ONLY possible on Windows Phone. As in on iOS and Android, you need 3rd party apps to make it happen. Neither offer a streaming/download service. And despite Google’s power in search, they can’t offer music discovery without an app like Shazam. So on an iPhone, I would open Shazam, it would give me song artist and title, and then an iTunes link to BUY the song or album. I would then go into iTunes. Same on Android. This example exemplifies Microsoft’s approach. Apps are important, in today’s mobile landscape they make or break your platform (ex. WebOS). And while Windows Phone still needs the top apps like Instagram and Flipboard to be a strong and relevant mobile player, what they can already deliver with the ecosystem and services already at their disposal sets them apart, and impressively in my opinion. With Windows Phone, Microsoft has deemphasized apps and has concentrated more on a comprehensive 1st party experience without the need to pop in and out of app after app. From the built in Facebook and Twitter integration, to the Office Hub, Windows Phone brings a lot to the party without the need for a 3rd party. That fluid functionality is what sold me on it from day 1.

Now it was time to fly back to LA with my newly acquired music. Once I got home, I put my Lumia on its charging stand (wirelessly) and declared it a successful business trip. And thanks to my Windows Phone, I didn’t skip a beat.

Scoble’s monkey wrench

2 Replies

My plan was in place. When Google announced they were dropping Active Sync support for Windows Phone as part of their ‘winter cleaning’, my wheels began to spin on how to move on from Gmail. Particularly now that there is Outlook.com, I saw no reason I would need Gmail moving forward. As I evaluated my tech arsenal, what stood out most importantly was that I now used Windows Phone 1st and Android sparingly. Add to that my increasing use of Skydrive, OneNote, Surface RT and decreasing use of my iPad, I was firmly positioned to view Google’s email in my rear view mirror. That was until last Friday.

During the Gillmor Gang, Robert Scoble did one of his customary (and mostly fascinating) camera turns to give us a glimpse into his desktop world. It’s always a flurry of activity with Twitter, Facebook, and Google Plus mainly flowing like a busted dam of real time feeds and streams. This time however, he focused on his Gmail and went on to widen my eyes and blow my mind. I was riveted as he talked about Smart Labels that you could turn on in Gmail’s settings.With one click would add an elaborate set of mail filters that tame email’s biggest chores… Wading through Promotions (Best Buy coupons and those of their ilk), Social Updates (Twitter/Facebook activities), and Notifications (automated emails). Stuff that’s not necessarily spam, but not something you would mostly deem important. From there I went into my own Gmail and in minutes, for the first time since having my Gmail account, my inbox was finally manageable. I have never been able to confess that. I went from a mess of 22,000+ unread emails to now only having 5. Along with that, some long overdue semblance of organization with my email.

Now when I go into my Gmail, rather than a sea of 1 day sales and Twitter reply notifications, I see only emails I want to see in my Inbox. Everything else goes into labels that were created when I turned on Smart Labels.

129 Promotions and 66 Notifications from today alone. A welcome sight to no longer see them cluttering my Inbox. So while this gave my email new life, I am back to my original conundrum. With Google dropping Active Sync on Windows Phone as well as Windows 8 (They have decided to start a pissing match with Microsoft over the Scroogled Bing campaign IMO), I am back stepping my original idea of moving to Outlook.com. While it’s a more than adequate email solution that would play nice with my Lumia 920, the power of Gmail is too tough to just walk away from. The one consolation I have is that existing devices would continue to work. If I reset my Windows Phone or Surface or when I buy a new Windows Phone, at this very moment I will be hosed. I will likely forward my Gmail to Outlook.com so that I can receive on my Lumia 920, but calendar and contacts are still a mystery as to how I will manage on my phone. For now, I will rejoice in email management bliss.

Between tech companies fighting and Terms of Service PR snafus (Instagram anyone?), it brings to light the implications of free stuff and puts in the spotlight the bottom line that customers/users are afterthoughts and lower priority when we’re not paying for it.

Windows Media Center still awesome in Windows 8!

Leave a reply

I get it, Microsoft begrudgingly included Media Center in Windows 8. When it comes to entertainment, XBox is their baby now. And what a trojan horse baby it has been. XBox has evolved from a game console into a formidable set top box that is vying for control of the digital living room, a battle far from decided and will certainly heat up in the next few years thanks to Apple, Roku, Google, and many others of their ilk.

But I want to go back to Media Center. For those of you not familiar with it, it’s an add on to Windows that lets you watch, record, and share live TV from your computer. It never quite caught on in the mainstream because well, it was still a computer attached to your TV, which meant Windows Updates, reboots, etc, or things that most of us want to ‘enjoy’ exclusively to when we are working on our…. computers No one wants to be watching TV, unwinding, and see a ‘Windows needs to reboot your computer to install updates’ pop up do they? It’s not something I would recommend to most ‘civilian’ households, but for geeking out, it’s an outstanding product! And it fits perfectly into my whole house media solution, especially with Windows 8.

Funny thing is, you have to jump through a few hoops to get Media Center on Windows 8. Unlike with Windows 7, it doesn’t come with it out of the box. Fortunately, it’s a free add on and Paul Thurrott from winsupersite.com explains how to do it here. I run a Media Center box in my garage, it’s a dual screen setup with a 22″ monitor along with a 42″ plasma which I have tilt mounted on a support beam. It’s handy for when I’m in my garage and want to watch a game or catch the morning news while doing a light workout.

When I did my Windows 8 upgrade from 7, it resulted in me losing Media Center. I should add that my original copy of Windows 8 was from my Technet subscription. Through extensive searching, I came to discover that only retail versions of Windows 8 Pro are able to have the Media Center add on. Technet, MSDN, or Volume Licensing copies cannot add it. This meant I was biting the bullet and doing a clean install. So I bought a retail copy of Win8 Pro and proceeded with my clean install. To my pleasant surprise, it found and installed all the drivers on my HP Pavillion desktop including my Hauppage WinTV tuner that I used with Media Center. I followed the steps to add Media Center via the Add Features Control Panel and SUCCESS!

I have my Media Center recording Over the Air HDTV, no cable, no satellite. Neither are easy to do with your computer. But I am more than happy with my programming selection via good old fashioned rabbit ears. I now have created a pretty solid recording/sharing workflow that consists of:

Record my programs
Transcode the recordings into MP4 format automatically(I use MCE Buddy, highly recommended!)
MCE Buddy drops the recordings on a network share on my Windows Essentials 2012 Server

That’s where the Magic begins. Once it’s on my network, I can view them on any device in my house. Like my iMac:

Or my Surface:

Or any other laptop, desktop, phone, or tablet on my home network. If I want to transfer to an iOS device, I just drop the recordings into iTunes, which is 1 extra step if I choose to do so. Best of all, I can load TV Shows to my Windows Phone to enjoy on the road or anywhere else. I’m not confined to having to be on my home network at that point.

While I consider Media Center to be a great solution personally, it seems to have suffered the same fate as the Zune, never quite caught on with folks despite it’s superiority to comparable products in the marketplace. And also like Zune, despite it being essentially put to pasture by Microsoft, it is something I will definitely continue to use extensively. For a geek like me, it offers the functions and flexibility that I certainly don’t get from my DirecTV boxes. I’m definitely happy Media Center is still available in Windows 8, meaning I will drive it til the wheels fall off or Microsoft pries it out of my cold dead hands!

Zune lives on thanks to Windows Phone 8

Leave a reply

If you read my Nokia Lumia 920 review, you know I walked away impressed. My only big negative was the confusing new set of options for PC Sync that now exist on Windows Phone 8. I wrote that while I appreciate the new ways to sync your phone to your computer (Mount as a drive being the best new addition), it confused even me at first, and I am a power user. After resetting my Lumia 900 and plugging it back into my PC to sync with the Zune client, I now am convinced that Microsoft made the wrong move abandoning Zune. Listen on…

I would love to know other Windows Phone users think. Like I say in the audio, the Lumia 900/Zune combo gives me functionality that I simply do not get from Windows Phone 8. Namely, combining Xbox Music Pass songs with ones I already own in playlists, and WiFi sync (why oh why does this not exist in Windows Phone 8?) What I don’t even mention is how in the process they killed PC based podcast support. Well they didn’t kill it, but it’s not exactly easy to do. Being that the focus of Phone 8 is the cloud, OTA support is there, but certainly not when it comes to how it was on Zune client. Winsupersite.com lays it out in full detail.

I don’t think the decision to abandon the Zune client was a wise one. They really should have carried it over and rebrand the client if they wanted to kill off the Zune name. What they gave Windows Phone 8 to replace it was less than ideal. Where does that leave me? Using yet another device for music only. The upside is my 900 gets a new lease on life.

This speaks to a bigger theme, the constant compromises we make with today’s tech. I’ll save that for a future post Smile

My Lumia 920

Leave a reply

I have spent a little over a week with my Lumia 920 and Windows Phone 8. I have posted screenshots like a madman, taken picture after picture with the much lauded PureView camera on Nokia’s flagship superphone, and put it through its paces from the eyes and hands of a self confessed ‘power user’. What are my impressions? Read on, I will break it down in 4 simple parts.

What I really like: The Nokia experience. The Lumia 920 is my 3rd Windows Phone. I have used the HTC HD7 and the Lumia 900 previously. Being that this is my 2nd Nokia Windows Phone, it has given me a decent perspective using 2 different companies’ hardware. Using Nokias with WP7.5 and 8, to me it’s no contest, Nokia is bringing the heat with Windows Phone compared to HTC and Samsung. Through both hardware and software, Nokia has established itself as the premier Windows Phone experience. This isn’t a knock against HTC or Samsung, both the 8X and Ativ are excellent Windows Phones based on what I have seen of them. In fairness, I have played with an 8X at Best Buy and it’s certainly no slouch. Simply put, Nokia has solidified top dog in the ecosystem, here’s how.

Hardware: The Lumia 920 is a sexy device. This should surprise no one, Nokia has a long, distinguished history of great industrial design. If anyone remembers the ‘Matrix phone’ and the 8800, you know Nokia has always brought it in terms of killer phones. The 900 was great for the most part. The 920 is evolved, starting with the curved screen that strangely was not done on the 900 but began on the N9 and Lumia 800. I was very happy to see that it made it to the 920. It’s an evolution of the 800′s stellar design. Not an ounce of plastic anywhere, just polycarbonate and Gorilla Glass goodness. In a world of me too, plasticky, too easy to confuse with an iPhone devices out there, the Lumia 920 is a refreshing and colorful standout. And to all you noodle armed tech writers who deemed the 920 ‘ungodly heavy’, do some arm curls. It’s a tank, it’s substantial, it sends a message that it will not fail you no matter how many times you drop it or your kids drop it for that matter. I for one happen to be a fan of the 920s heft. It’s Nokia’s way of saying ‘This phone will survive a nuclear winter with you’.

PureView Camera: This was the first thing that wowed me about the Lumia 920! I had read about all the work Nokia put into improving the camera (The Lumia 900 was underwhelming), it was the subject of a controversy and subsequently, it seemed it was indeed going to live up to the hype. And live up it has. In short, it’s a spectacular smartphone camera, and I say that with no hyperbole. And yes I have seen pics on a iPhone 4S and 5, Galaxy S3, and my wife’s Galaxy Note 2. Lumia 920 not only holds its own, but surpasses them in almost every way. And it’s almost not objective. In particular, this phone has no peer when it comes to nighttime photos. It is better than all others above and beyond. In fact, my favorite new party game is having me and my friends/family take out their phones and snap pictures of anything that’s near us. So far, I am undefeated against iPhones, Galaxys, Android, you name it.

The proof is in the pudding right? Here are some samples of what I have taken with the Lumia 920. They are each unedited and untouched, with the exception of the B&Ws which I edited with Nokia’s excellent Creative Studio app. In short, I would put this camera up against anything out there. It’s good, real good!

Nokia’s apps: We’ve established the Lumia 920 is a beastly piece of hardware. Not to be overshadowed, Nokia dazzles and amazes on the software side as well. Almost from the day Nokia announced it’s status as Microsoft’s premier Windows Phone partner, it has been cranking out apps that in some cases best what Microsoft is putting out there. They’re THAT good. And based on what I’ve seen in WP8, the last thing they are doing is slowing down. Among my faves…

Nokia Music: This app rocks, literally and figuratively. I have found myself using this almost exclusively during my workouts at the gym. In the spirit of ‘Set it and forget it’, Nokia Music serves up curated playlists from almost any genre of music you can think of. In addition, if you like what you’re listening to, you have options beyond just streaming. You can download the playlist for offline listening, of you can purchase MP3s of any song you hear. I can’t say enough awesome things about Nokia Music, I have used Spotify and Pandora, both of which I would consider comparable services, and I prefer Nokia Music to the others. And like most of the Windows Phone experience, the app is elegant and nicely done from a UI standpoint.

Nokia Drive: With all the talk about Maps lately, it’s great peace of mind to know that Nokia has my back in the maps department. They have invested heavily in mapping, and they are probably the only player that rivals Google in terms of features and GPS capabilities. Drive on the Lumia 900 is excellent, the best feature is My Commute, which sends you traffic alerts and updated route information on your drive to and from work. On the 920, Nokia Drive is in beta and My Commute is absent. But I expect it to go final soon with all the bells and whistles I was used to in Windows Phone 7.

Honorable mentions also go out to Creative Studio and the Nokia Lens enhancements including Panorama (I use often) and Smart Shoot. There aren’t enough ways to say that Nokia’s work on Windows Phone is nothing less than impressive!

What I like: Windows Phone 8: I am what you would call a Windows Phone advocate. I have used it literally from day one via the HTC HD7 on launch day. With Windows Phone 7, it was a huge maturing process from Windows Mobile. But even I had to concede that it was a protypical 1.0. It was above the curve design and aesthetic wise, but features and apps wise, it fell short. iOS and Android were still ahead of the curve. It’s a different story with Windows Phone 8. After putting the OS through its paces, I say without hesitation that it is on par and in some cases ahead of the other 2 bigger mobile players. I will get this out of the way now, the one place where Windows Phone still lags is apps. Yes, it was heralded at the launch that ’46 of the top 50′ apps are available on Windows Phone. That may be true, and it’s always refreshing to see the platform gain more developer cred, which I think is happening. The big news at the launch being that Draw Something, Words with Friends, and Pandora are now on board. But as of right now, there’s no Instagram and no Flipboard, the present ‘your platform is relevant’ apps of the moment. Plain and simple, Instagram needs to be on Windows Phone, it’s not a mainstream OS without it. That being said, there are plenty of great apps that I use on my Lumia 920. Among the well known titles, Evernote, Rdio, Trip It, Chase, ESPN and ESPN Radio, Flickr, Yelp, and others. I actually keep a spreadsheet of apps that I use and how they compare to what is available on Android, which I always keep around for app testing. Here’s how it pans out.

Moving on from apps, other key improvements I can appreciate are full resolution photo AND video uploads to Skydrive. in WP7, it was photo uploads only and they were lower res versions of what you took. I was concerned that with the great camera on the Lumia 920 that the same peril would strike my cloud uploads. To my pleasant surprise, Microsoft is preserving every pixel. This is a settings change you have to make and it’s WiFi upload only, a small, almost negligible concession. The other small but significant feature is Kid’s Corner. As a dad, any parent can relate to that moment you hand your phone over to your kids and not knowing what it’s going to look like or what new apps you will find when it’s back in your hands. Kids Corner solves all of that. It’s basically a guest screen that you customize with the apps, music, videos, etc. that you want your kids to access. The rest of your phone is locked away and safe. iOS and Android are doing nothing close to this out of the box and it’s one of my favorite things about Windows Phone 8. Every parent I show this to wishes it was on their devices. Big thumbs up from me on this.

All in all, Windows Phone 8 brings a 3rd mature platform to market. The apps are of better quality, support for multiple cores makes it an even snappier experience than it was before, and a widening of the specs overall (multiple screen resolutions, multiple tile sizes, lock screen enhancements to name a few) should hopefully entice developers increasingly to plug the holes in the ‘app-mosphere’. I remain bullish on Windows Phone especially with all the new features it brings to the table. I definitely feel that there is now under the hood functionality to match what I consider the most aesthetically elegant OS on the market.

What I don’t like: Broken Xbox Music/Video with Windows Phone 8. I should clarify, I LOVE the PROMISE of Xbox Music. It’s been the service I have waited a long time for. All you can eat music, on demand, synced across devices, and works great with Windows Phone 8. In execution, it leaves something to be desired, particularly with Nokia devices when there is already a great Nokia Music app. The basics do work, I can listen to 30 million songs, create playlists, sync playlists across devices, and even download as much music to my Windows Phone as it will hold as long as I pay for Xbox Music Pass (I’m still using the trial). However, so far it’s been a little buggy. Playlists haven’t always synced correctly, and particularly annoying, streaming playlists currently stutter for a beat, as can be heard in this clip.

I posted this to Microsoft’s forums and while as of now there is no response from Microsoft, the theory is that it’s related to pre-caching/buffering of the next song causing the hiccup. I do hope this gets addressed, its subtle but sometimes apparent at the same time. Net result though, I will probably keep Music Pass simply because now that the Lumia 920 is my primary phone, I want a good app for listening to music, something that Rdio has valiantly made great strides with but is not quite up to sync function wise with the built in Music app. There is at least promise with music, the same can’t be said for Videos.

Put simply, Videos from Xbox video don’t play on Windows Phone 8. Nor do videos or TV Shows bought with Zune previously. This has been noted by winsupersite.com but Microsoft has yet to confirm it. No bueno.

What I really don’t like: PC Sync. Windows Phone 8 and it’s new sync options are a love hate relationship for me. As a power user, there is definite upside to now being able to mount my Lumia as a drive in Windows and having drag and drop capabilities for files, music, podcasts, etc. Beyond that, I’ll say this. Microsoft took a huge risk by abandoning the Zune software. To me, they really slapped mainstream users switchers in the face with what they are now offering with WP8.

In the Windows Phone 7 days, there was only one way to sync the phone with your PC… Zune. I’m a huge fan of the Zune software, it’s a mature program that worked pretty flawlessly. With my previous WP7 phones, I used Zune to sync my music, photos in full resolution, download and update my podcasts, and best of all, I used WiFi sync to do this, which was very handy given that my media center PC is in my garage. Saving me a trip there just to plug in my phone was a nice convenience. But in this case, Microsoft giveth and they taketh away! On the upside, you can mount your phone as a drive on your computer, which is very welcome flexibility. This now enables me to use a program like Windows Essentials to import my photos into and add custom titles, organize by folders, etc. As a power user, I can deal with this ok and know about the options and choices that I now have for managing content between my phone and computer. Things really go downhill from there.

For one, the Metro app for Windows Phone is a stripped down functional mess. Yes it does sync your photos and media. But no more WiFi sync, and no more customizing of content that was previously in the Zune client. For instance, in the Metro app I can no longer sync my downloaded podcasts to the phone nor can I import/sync my music playlists of my downloaded/purchased music. And factor in Xbox Music, it’s confusing for me, I can’t tell where I am supposed to go to manage my music. It used to be much simpler time with Zune, it was the one stop shop. I think the most frustrating aspect is that when you throw in the Windows Phone desktop app, there are now a multitude of ways to get things done, all sort of half assed in my personal opinion. Collectively still not as comprehensive as what Zune used to do. Paul Thurrott of winsupersite.com does point out that this is the new cloud centric Windows Phone. That is why I am not holding my breath for the current stable of options to improve. Where I am concerned is ‘civilian’ users who may be switching from iPhone. Greeting them with the mish mosh of crippled sync tools does not make for a smooth, seamless switch. It’s less painful now that I know what the options are and when to use what. But feeling like it was a total afterthought doesn’t sit well with me as someone who had a solution that worked great previously.

Despite my negatives, I love the Lumia 920. It is Windows Phone 8′s premier device. Almost every important element was improved from the 900, making it that much more appealing. Besides what I have already laid out in detail, there are many other pluses for Windows Phone 8 and the Lumia 920 in general. Skydrive, NFC, the excellent built in social networking integrations to Twitter and Facebook just to name a few. There are other Windows Phone devices like the HTC 8X and Samsung Ativ which is coming soon. The diversity in hardware and availability across carriers also make it a viable alternative to Android and iOS. It remains to be seen if Microsoft has done enough to entice more switching, I am certainly of the opinion that they have.

Small sidenote: This entire review was done on a Surface RT tablet

My Journey to Fitter Faster Leaner

Leave a reply

Full disclosure: I am an executive at Active Interest Media, the publisher of Muscle and Performance Magazine. This post is not a paid endorsement, it is an unbiased summary of my 3 month Fitter Faster Leaner workout program. It is meant to chronicle and possibly inspire anyone interested in starting an intense full body weight and cardio training routine based on only my personal experience.

About me:

I’m 35 years old, married to a beautiful wife and I have 2 wonderful children. I’m 6’4″, naturally athletic. I was a tall, skinny, active kid growing up. I played high school basketball on a nationally ranked basketball team. After high school, I took a break from working out and most physical activity. Throughout college and the years following, I was moderately overweight, but never obese. I weighed 240 lbs. at my heaviest. For the past 5-6 years, I have done intermittent exercising on and off, nothing too serious, just whenever I could do it. This would include basketball, running, etc. I have since maintained in the 225-230 lb. range, what I would consider a healthy weight for my height.

It was in the past couple of years that I got the fire in my belly, bitten by the fitness bug. I started with running, which I used to do with my dad growing up. He introduced me to the tortuous hills and trails of Elysian Park, in and around Dodger Stadium. Some of those courses separate the men from the boys. Fast forward to now, I have gotten into running on a somewhat regular basis and that only led to thoughts of getting back into the gym. It had been a long time since I lifted, high school I think. I wasn’t a spring chicken anymore but there was an inner will to work hard at something and see results. I began with perusing some of the workouts in Mens Health and it sort of snowballed from there.

It was around that time when I learned we had acquired a fitness magazine at work. It didn’t take long for Muscle and Performance to become my holy grail of fitness. Insightful articles, interesting and engaging content, and most of all, cutting edge workouts that actually looked like fun to do. I had already started a few programs recommended to me by M&Ps editor in chief. When the time came to take the next step, I came face to face with the January 2012 issue and realized, this was exactly what my body wanted to try next.

About the program:

Fitter Faster Leaner is a 90 day weight and cardio program that spans 3 Muscle and Performance issues:

It is an intense 90 day regimen that consists of high intensity weight and cardio training. It is broken down into 4 workouts working the entire body from head to toe. It’s split into low rep strength and higher rep supersets for each of the main muscle sets. And to get the heart rate up and lbs down, there are a variety of cardio exercises incorporated throughout the program.

How I did the program:
I mostly stuck to each letter of every word of Fitter Faster Leaner. I did however do some tweaks, mostly due to the realities of family and work. I skipped the leg workouts that involved weights. I have been managing tendinitis in my left knee for a couple of years now. After I completed physical therapy last year, I was advised to skip all weight training for now. That hasn’t been a huge concern since a life of basketball has given me legs that are proportioned to the rest of my body. No chicken legs here thankfully. I will talk a little more about how I managed my knee in conjunction with my runs in the cardio results section. I dutifully performed all other weight programs.

As far as cardio, I passed on the 40 yard sprints. I didn’t have an easy way to measure out 40 yards anywhere and since I’m not anticipating a football career at this stage in life, I waved past the NFL Combine section of Fitter Faster Leaner.

Like all workout regimens, diet is arguably equally important to the blood, sweat, and tears in the gym. I would advise anyone who is single and can control each and every part of every meal they eat, stick to the plan. I was pretty good, not perfect. My diet is decent, lots of protein throughout the day (chicken, fish, turkey, occasional red meat) supplemented by protein shakes, bars, even jello and pudding, all tasty ways to get your 1g per pound, which is what you should be shooting for under this program. As I mentioned, I wasn’t perfect. I mostly stayed disciplined with breakfasts and lunches and snacks throughout the day. However my dinners were what were mostly inconsistent. I’m a dad so I am the garbage disposal at home. When my daughter doesn’t finish her food, daddy scrapes up. Now it’s not terrible, but not ideal. Plus soda and fruit punch are huge vices for me, maybe 1-3 a day. So the message here, I wasn’t perfect in the food department, but I am still happy with the end product.

But I will focus on my positive meals. As I mentioned before, a lot of protein shakes in the morning. This included the Dymatize “Breakfast of Champions”…

This was a great pick me up in the morning, an awesome way to start my protein fix Smile Besides that, a lot of lean protein (Chicken, turkey, fish are my faves) for lunch and snacks. Along with that, I also supplemented with a variety of protein variants like protein bars, pudding, Jell O, you name it. I was actually pretty amazed on how many different ways there are to take in the recommended 1 to 1.5g of protein throughout the day. And as your doctor says, plenty of fruits and vegetables don’t hurt either.

From a supplements standpoint, besides protein throughout the day including post workout, I am big on NOXplode before I hit the gym. This miracle powder gives me the pump and energy I need to go all out every day I hit the weights. A nice bonus is a dose of creatine in each serving for lean muscle growth. I have used a few other pre workout products and by far, I got the best results from NOXplode. One word of caution, it’s an intense formula so please figure out your tolerance for it. In my experience, I would get occasional tingles on my legs and ears. At first it was a weird, freaky feeling but once you settle on a tolerable dosage, it is a great way to maximize all the hard work you are putting in at the gym, which is the whole point in the 1st place right?

The 1 other product I would suggest is a good BCAA. Once again, BSN comes through with AminoX. I take BCAAs during my workouts and they help with muscle endurance and recovery. Again, a great thing to take if your goal is lean muscle. These are the products that worked for me. Your mileage of course may vary. While I do recommend and like BSNs products, what works for me might not work for you. As with any workout program, do your research and try different things and figure out what works best for you. If you are like me, you get easily overwhelmed by all the workout pills and powders out there. I read up a lot and asked lots of questions on the Internet and on Twitter. What I have outlined is what I would say are the essentials. Of course you can take other products for all kinds of goals and looks. But for natural gains and looking great, a pre workout drink, protein, and BCAAs are a solid foundation.

Now on to how it all played out!

Results:

What I have achieved in the past 3 months exceeded even my highest expectations. From a physical standpoint, I charted my measurements through the 3 months below. The key biggies here are bigger chest and smaller waist, all good things Smile Since my waist got smaller, my waist to hip ratio actually improved from Good to Exceptional (self high 5!)

My not so perfect diet didn’t kill my progress, but of course if I could eat like a bodybuilder every meal, I’d be M&P cover material I’m sure Smile

As far as the milestones from the program, I can now do 60 straight pushups thanks to doing my density push ups religiously. I’m very big on body weight exercises, and this program delivered on that. In addition to the push ups, I can now do 15 chin ups (overhand, wide grip) vs 10 pre program, and I can also crank out 50-60 crunches straight depending on the day. And while we’re on the subject of abs, I can plank for 2 minutes to 2 1/2, up from 15-20 secs. when I tried these for the very 1st time.

For weights, the intense rotation of strength training and supersets on each muscle group resulted in some very welcome physical changes. I was able to improve on my 10 rep max score. I was benching 205 for 10 reps and I am now able to press 225, making my 1 rep max score 1.32, placing me squarely in the Good category. I’ll take that.

I didn’t have the presence of mind to take before pictures, but I probably noticed the most significant visual gains on my chest and arms when all was said and done.

These biceps and delts were certainly not there when I started the program

Last but not least, what I would consider my proudest achievement is my new insane running times. Now, I am still considered Average according to Fitter Faster Leaner, but considering my pace before compared to now, it is like night and day. Here is what my average pace was back in December, right before I started the program:

And here is after I completed Fitter Faster Leaner:

I have shaved nearly 3 minutes off my 2 mile runs, which I wasn’t expecting, especially when I was not training legs due to my aforementioned tendinitis. On that topic, in conjunction with being in better shape, I have managed to keep my tendinitis at bay by also wearing compression pants during every running activity. This accomplishes many things including:

Keeping muscles warm, I tend to run early in the morning. My tendinitis is in my patella tendon so having coverage on it has kept me pain free.
Maintains form via constricted movement. This in turn makes it easier for me to focus on proper form.
It’s aerodynamic. Don’t laugh, every micro second I can shave off counts

Conclusion:

This workout was intense, and it will test your wills, endurance, and drive. But I enjoyed the journey especially now that I am indeed Fitter, Faster, and Leaner! Now that I have completed the program, I will take a few weeks off and go on to the next challenge, my body needs the rest, and so will yours if you decide to take the plunge.

Memo to iPad competitors: Ship a finished product or don’t bother

1 Reply

So there I was last night, walking into Staples with my brother in law for some envelopes and card stock. Right as I walk in, I see a prominent display for the newly released Blackberry Playbook. This was my 1st exposure to it, I had seen all the demos and spyshots and was actually excited about seeing if it lived up to the endless hype and praise I had heard up to now. Within 10 seconds, reality reared it’s merciless head and it’s forced me to put up a once and for all post about why no one has a chance at stealing an ounce of thunder from the iPad anytime soon.

As far as the Playbook, it was a chore turning the thing on thanks to the slightly recessed, grain of sand size power button. Once I turned it on, it was stuck on some demo that I couldn’t get out of no matter how much I tried. Now the demo thing isn’t entirely Blackberry’s fault, but at the same time, there should be some Blackberry retail specialist ensuring that the demo experience is a flawless one. A locked demo could be the difference between a sale and money left in pocket. But the bigger disappointment came from the sign that was adjacent to the device, pictured above. So let me get this right, once I buy a Playbook and take it home, I have to sit through a 30 minute OS update? Even better, once said OS update is complete, I still have what amounts to a half finished product? Let me explain.

Upon the Playbook’s release and even as of now, it does not have a built in email or contact management functions built in. So unless you have a Blackberry tethered to it and you are using their ‘Bridge’ application (not yet available to AT&T customers), there is no out of the box way to get email or contacts except through a web browser. And as this BB video indicates, it’s not coming until summer.

I realize I’ve only picked on Blackberry, but this goes out to everyone trying in vain to dethrone the iPad. Ship a complete product or don’t ship at all. Now understand, I am not an Apple fanboy. On the contrary, I root for something better than the iPad to come along. But it hasn’t happened, and probably won’t in 2011. I have both the iPad and iPad 2, not because I feel obligated to continue funding Steve Job’s Mercedes payments, but because it’s the best tool for the job right now. And nothing comes close currently. Motorola, Blackberry, Samsung, you name it, one of the major fundamental mistakes they have all made to date is rushed to market and half assed their tablets. The Motorola Xoom came out of the gate with no Flash despite promising it would be there at launch, at least their demos did. You have the 1 thing that gives you a competitive edge to the iPad and it’s not there on the day of release? NO BUENO!

Same with Playbook. All the pre release videos demo’d email, contacts, Android apps all living in perfect harmony. But come go live, not to be found. If this were 2007 and there were no iPad, acceptable. But it’s 2011 and you need to be BETTER than the iPad from day 1. The competition fails to realize that we are now in a world where the best user experience and ecosystem wins. Blackberry knows this first hand from the mass exodus of Crackberry addicts who have ditched their BBs for iPhones, Androids, iPads, you name it. You need to innovate. Even your most loyal fans will run into the arms of the sleeker, faster model. Take it from me, a 7 year Blackberry user who has now been using Android for 2 years and haven’t looked back. Part of innovating is being done with your finished product. It only takes one bad Engadget review the day before launch to permanently kill your momentum.

I don’t think we will see a solid alternative to the iPad this year. It’s going to take at least a year for everyone else to realize that they are a long way off from offering the same experience Apple’s ubertablet currently does. You need the hardware, OS, apps, and media ecosystems to all click seamlessly. Apple makes it look easy, but clearly we have seen that it’s very much easier said than done.