Inside the ogo
by Volker Weber
Just picked up my first ogo. Installation was a breeze: Insert the SIM and the battery. Power up. Enter email address and password. Done. This is exactly the device that 1&1 will ship to its customers as the 1&1 PocketWeb. Only works with mail residing on 1&1, gmx and web.de. Since vowe.de is hosted by &1 I could enter my regular mail address. However, since this mail is not filtered by my mail server, the first mail that arrived was a spam message. :-)
The device is a bit bulky, but feels solid. The screen is not very good but serves the purpose. This ogo has a mail client and web browser, no instant messaging. It also has a calendar and contacts but does not sync those with the server. The keyboard feels very well. I may be the best I have on a mobile device this size so far. There is a couple of extra keys that take you to the inbox, the home screen, the sms and the mail editor. So far I have not run into any difficulties operating the device, although I don't even have a manual.
One thing puzzles me: 1&1 advertises the device as push mail. Still my mail server outruns it although it checks mail only every 5 minutes. This may have something to do with sort of special setup. I am not running one of the 1&1 SIM cards and I am using a different APN for that matter. Maybe that I am missing the notifications. I also cannot setup a refresh period for the device to check for mail.
Update: Ixi tells me that the push infrastructure for 1&1 is not launched yet. I am too quick. :-)
Update: This information was not accurate. I am not registered on the push service since I am not a regular Pocketweb customer.
A minor nuisance is the blinking LED. I was under the impression that it would signal new messages. But apparently it is signaling GPRS coverage. Hmm. Don't need to know that.
I will keep you posted what my experience is.
Comments
Volker, what do you think is the mix of mobile (digital) devices (and services) in the future? Mobile phones, BlackBerrys, PDA's, other special devices ...? What do you think? Do you see a trend in your glassball? Your prognose would interest me ;)
I like the screenshot.
Well, my crystal ball is very clouded. I can see a few things though:
People want access to e-mail, instant messaging and the web while they are on the go.
If you want to handle this kind of information, you need a real keyboard.
People are certainly not prepared to pay more than what they are paying for dsl/cable at home.
A device like a Blackberry or an ogo is actually much better suited for personal email than a notebook. It is instant, you can take it with you anywhere, and you are not waiting for Windows to boot.
For some people this is a single purpose device. I know quite a lot of people who have a blackberry and a mobile phone.
Mobile phones and point-and-click cameras merge. And they appeal to a completely different audience than Blackberrys.
What does it all mean? Mobile internet is about to happen in Germany. The 10 Euro flatrate that 1&1 is offering will brings tens of thousands of these devices into people's hands. I think this will accelerate the trend that Blackberry has already created in the corporate world.
Yes, different people, different requirements, different profiles lead to a different tool mix. I like this picture: Mobile intelligent workers. Modern nomads. Equiped with a optimum set of tools. And a supporting infrastructure in the environment. In part it is already a reality. But maybe some other parts are still missing. It's worth to brainstorm about it ...
Apparently the LED blinks twice when there are new messages.
Indeed, it does. It also sounds an alarm if open or vibrate if closed, when an email arrives.
Looks a little bit like a PSION. And yes I guess your crystal ball shows the right thing if you can see more devices with keyboards for this kind of usage.
E-Plus started the process of decrease the price of mobile communication to a realistic level. If the providers now realise that only the price caused the little interest in mobile data communication there is a chance for the market. But I'm sure if 1&1 will be successful with this offer, all of the others will start services like this. I'm really curiouse what new tools and functions this will create.
What do you think of the chances for the Origami form factor?
(Disclaimer: I used a Sony U50 for a long time myself, which is the blueprint for the "new" Origami hardware. While a great gadget, it never really was a day-to-day useful machine to me.)
Why do you think is this better than, say, a PDA or a Hiptop? Is it really just the price tag?
Origami? With the current target audience and at the current price point? Zero. Ruggedized, with a transflective display, sold in vertical channels? Very high.
No idea. I never had a Hiptop. PDAs without connectivity are a dying species.
Your device looks somehow different than the one I could test at Cebit. I can not remember the light blue colored keys. I personally did not like the keyboard at all. May be I am too unexperienced with thumb keyboards. Hopefully it improved.
Is it possible to activate third party/additional software? It is a pity that there is no instant messaging on the 1&1 version. The Swiss version of OGO has at least Microsoft Messenger.
And some Swiss blogs wrote that you might can use it as Bluetooth modem.
No, you cannot install software. You cannot even write software. I agree that IM is missing and the only way to get it, is to talk to 1&1. It may or may not be a planned update. All ogo devices can be updated over the air, so it is all in 1&1's hands to roll out an instant messenger that Ixi can provide.
And no, you definitely cannot use the ogo as a bluetooth modem. This is not a question of whether it can be done, but whether you are allowed to do it. If you could use the ogo as a modem, Vodafone would not provide a SIM card for 10 Euro a month. The card you are getting can only be used with a special APN which lets you check your mail at 1&1, GMX or web.de. And you are able to browse the web with the ogo. That's it. You cannot use the same card in a PC or a different mobile device.
This is a package deal: Mobile email and web, tied to the ogo, for a fixed tariff. Take it or leave it.
I'd be grateful if you could test a few details for me.
When I turn it off (not just standby) and on again, how long does it take to initialize the system?
What happens when the device is lost or stolen? Is the data reasonably safe? Is it password protected?
How good is the web browser, how does it work on your favourite pages? How is web navigation with the cursorpad? Does it support SSL? Does it support basic (.htaccess) authentification?
Do they have any plans on providing calendar and contact syncing?
Can you ask them if there is a developer program, please? Do they provide any details on that?
Thanks in advance!
> PDAs without connectivity are a dying species.
That's another prediction, Vowe ! One I happen to believe strongly in, at least for wifi and bluetooth.
For me, the problem remaining to unite pocketpc (with large screens) and phones in one device is that unless bluetooth headsets become more available (ie free delivered with the device) people don't want to look like a dork holding a screen up to their ear. So they carry both a blackberry and a phone.
What do think, is that the reason to have both blackberry and phone ?
Alex, people who have both a Blackberry and a phone usually have car kits for the phone which do not work with the Blackberry. All Blackberrys outside the 7100 and 8700 products lack the standard make and break buttons (green/red), so people feel uncomfortable using them as phones. I think these obstacles will go away as Blackberry evolves the devices and as the Bluetooth SIM Access Profile is used my more and more devices and car kits.
Hanno, that is almost an unreasonable number of questions.
The ogo boots in less than 15 seconds from a cold start, unlike the Nokia Communicator which takes minutes. When you lose the device, you lose your data. The web browser is good enough for my use, but I am mostly browsing "mobile pages". It does support both SSL and basic authentication. 1&1 has stated at CeBIT that they have plans on providing calendar and contact syncing, but that may be a different package then. And please ask Ixi. However I do not see how you would install software because it is provisioned over the air.
Thanks a lot! That was really helpful, since I didn't find good reviews about the device's browser... I'm very interested to hear about your opinion on how the device fares on daily use and how it compares with existing devices. So thanks for reporting.
Ich hab das Teil auf der CeBIT benutzt und hatte selten etwas hässlicheres und billigeres in der Hand. Fühlte sich furchtbar an. Das ist für Teenager gedacht, schätze ich, ein Spielzeug, aber der uncoolen Art. Schlimmes GUI (lernen die alle so gar nichts von Apple?), die Tastatur ist Horror (dieses schiefe Navi-Dingens!) und von Sync-Möglichkeiten oder Dev-Programmen wollen wir mal gar nicht erst anfangen...
Oh, sorry, english version:
I think it sucks big time.
I must second Johnnys Opinion. I took a look at the device at the cebit.
While I like the idea of the data flatrate, the device as such was a pain in arse and eye.
It's cheap look, the crappy usability (how good the kb might feel) which was far from beeing intuitive, the pretty useless browser were making a very poor impression on me.
Plus its "lock-in"-Time again. No devkit, no connections, nuffin. Why do manufacturers (and even more so the providers) always just see the negative sides of "opening up"? Probably its time to remember what made the original palm pilot so successful: It was easy to develop for. And affordable, too. Oh, and the UI was pretty neat and usable too. Quite a few things to learn from.
But then again, probably neither Johnny nor Volker nor me belongs to the target group. Probably its really the "Teenager" market. So it might get successful nevertheless. Its just that I think theres a lot more potential in such a device.
Why is this so hard to see? You are ignoring two big elephants in the room:
The operator
The price
The operator needs a closed device. As soon as you can open the device, you will generate a completely different traffic profile. Watch US operators dumbing down all kinds of smartphones in an effort to disable the modem.
Who else sells you a pushmail device for 50 Euro? Or two years of service including device for 290 Euro? If money is of no concern, get a Blackberry 7290.
...see this interview!
http://www.online-infotainment.de/_sites/pocketweb-portal.de/pocketweb_ogo_blog_mobil_unterwegs.php
cheers, florian
Maybe you could answer some questions from ogo-user (better: geeks who WANT to use the ogo, but havent got one until now) here in the german ogo-forum:
http://www.ogoforum.de/thread.php?threadid=118
(in this thread someone links to your blog, take a look).
It would be very kind of you, cause many of use are very interessted in the ogo-platform :)
