The quarterly publication of the International Legal Technology Association
Issue link: https://epubs.iltanet.org/i/163881
www.iltanet.org Satisfy Your Sweet Tooth (Tips for Choosing an Android Phone) by Dean Leung of Holland & Knight LLP Dean Leung is the Chief Information Officer at Holland and Knight LLP and is ILTA's Vice President of the Communications Technologies Peer Group. Dean has 19 years of IT experience in industries including education, consulting, manufacturing and legal. He can be reached at dean.leung@hklaw.com. 18 Unlike an iPhone, where the only choices are black or white and which carrier, choosing an Android phone can be a daunting task. Where Apple, and even RIM, have complete control of both the operating system (OS) and hardware, Google only supplies the Android OS and encourages innovation from manufacturers and recreational programmers. The result is a wide variety of options that can cause people to choose the incorrect smartphone for their needs. To minimize this possibility, consider the following before jumping in. (If you're still unsure if Android is right for you, refer to "Which smartphone should I get?" from the March 2011 issue of the Peer to Peer.) Firm Support Policies: Before purchasing an Android device, check with your organization's IT department to ensure it is supported by the infrastructure and to understand any restrictive policies. In particular, your organization may require third-party software in order to comply with security policies, which include encryption, pin/password and remote wipe. This can substantially affect the native experience of the email client. Thoroughly test an Android device configured with your organization's software and policies before proceeding. Fragmentation: The Android OS is the foundation of the device and — like your Windows desktop — without applications, there isn't much functionality. The hardware manufacturers, carriers and third-party programmers compete with features to distinguish their product from the competition. Hardware manufacturers have branded their customizations with names such as Samsung TouchWiz, HTC Sense and Motorola MOTOBLUR. Even basic features, such as the email client, spelling autocorrect and soft keyboards, vary greatly. If you want to avoid all of the customizations, Google works with a specific manufacturer for each major OS version to produce a "pure" Google phone — the latest is the Samsung Galaxy Nexus. Try devices from each of the three major manufacturers before making a final choice. Encryption: Prior to Android 4.0, full-device encryption was not built in to the base OS. The feature was left to the hardware manufacturers to include. As a result, only Motorola and Samsung have encryption capabilities. Motorola has it in most of their current devices, while Samsung has it in their Galaxy S II and Note phones and Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet (which are fully ILTA White Paper ILTA White Paper 19 Read the original article "Satisfy Your Sweet Tooth (Tips for Choosing an Android Phone)" http://epubs.iltanet.org/i/58400/16 by Dean Leung of Holland & Knight LLP The consumerization of mobile devices has forced law firms to pivot and support devices geared toward the consumer, at the expense of BlackBerry. With 52 percent of the overall consumer market share, Android devices lag far behind in adoption within legal. Using my firm's statistics as an example, iPhone adoption is 67 percent, BlackBerry is 27 percent (it was over 50 percent 18 months ago) and Android is 6 percent. Because of Android's underdog status, it is less known in the legal space, but it's a great option. THE SWEET GETS SWEETER When my article "Satisfy Your Sweet Tooth (Tips for Choosing an Android Phone)" was released in ILTA's March 2012 Communications Technologies white paper, there were still considerable operating system (OS) evolutions in progress. Since July 2012, with the 4.1.x release of Android (codenamed Jelly Bean), the updates to the OS have been incremental, with a change in focus to application functionality. This is a benefit to the consumer as application updates are quick to deploy via the Play Store (Google's version of the Apple App Store), and consumers are not at the mercy of their carrier for the deployment of new OS versions. All devices run on the latest 4G LTE technology, which gives you the fastest data speeds, easily allowing you to use your phone as a mobile data hotspot. Just ensure your carrier of choice has coverage in the areas you frequent. Each device manufacturer has different versions with screens of varying sizes. The HTC One and Galaxy S4 also come in the Nexus variant, which removes all manufacturer customizations and provides the pure Google-envisioned Android experience. While you can lose some features added by the device manufacturer, the Nexus Variant gives you the most current version of Android software immediately after its released. A GREAT EMAIL APP There are still more enterprise-level applications for iPhones and iPads, but Android comes in a close second. One key application to consider for a common email experience across Android devices is TouchDown by NitroDesk. It is a full-featured AES-256-encrypted client which includes email, contacts, notes and tasks. It connects via ActiveSync and can be managed by 14 difference mobile device management (MDM) solutions. DEVICES CHECK WITH YOUR FIRM For hardware, here are some devices to consider: Before purchasing a device, ensure you know the return policy in the event Android doesn't agree with you. You should also speak with your IT department to validate whether Android is supported by your organization. • Most stylish: HTC One • Largest market share: Samsung Galaxy S4 • Best battery life: Motorola Droid Maxx 30 Peer to Peer