Smartphone Thoughts: Using My Smartphone For All It Is Worth, And Then Some

The following article was written by Smartphone Thoughts reader Jason Sheehan and focuses on his use of his Smartphone in day to day life, and in his business organization.

I work for a relatively large higher education organization (2,000+ employees) that is stuck in a Novell environment (think cost benefits and migration costs). Keeping that in mind, calendaring, contacts, and email compatibility with a mobile sense is difficult, and over-the-air synchronization is impossible. I found myself using my PDA as an information "shuttle" if you will. So, I decided to take matters into my own hands.
At home I use Microsoft Windows Small Business Server 2003 with Exchange 2003, Internet Information Services, and ISA Server for security. I was lucky to acquire legal copies of the software by attending a MS TS2 Event. On the way out they hand you a certificate to send away for free copies. This really is what gave me the bug to get going on this project. All the software runs on one machine and acts as my web server, calendaring, contacts, and email source. I use it as an all-in-one box. However unorthodox it might sound, it works, and it is primarily for my personal use. I purchased a domain to make things simple, and because I am on a retail cable modem service I use a free dynamic DNS service I found to direct my traffic. I am fortunate enough to have good upstream performance in my area so it all works great.

At work I use Outlook 2003 which can take advantage of a new feature in Exchange 2003 called RPC over HTTP(S). What a dream come true. Follow the link for the technical details, but I do not need to establish a VPN to access my exchange server remotely. If you are familiar with Exchange you understand the significance of this. It works on-demand, whenever I need it from any location. It even works over the wireless network seamlessly.

At remote locations, for example, visiting friends and family, internet caf�s, etc., I can access my exchange server using Outlook Mobile Access (OMA). This feature is not completely new to Exchange 2003, but it has been revamped to run very smooth, and it looks and feels just like Outlook 2003.

On the go, or in between places, I love to use my Smartphone (ATT/Motorola MPx200/4MB data plan). After installing the Disable Certificate Verification patch onto my Smartphone I was able to ActiveSync over-the-air and all of my contacts, calendar, and email items are synchronized.

Always in Sync
What this means to me is no matter where I am I have the same, synchronized communication data at my fingertips. If I add/change/delete a contact or calendar item on my Smartphone, when I sync the phone, over-the-air, the information is updated on the exchange server, therefore everywhere else has the same information. At home, work, remotely, and on-the-go, all the information is the same. Thanks to my Smartphone, I have dropped my PDA in a desk drawer and haven�t looked back.

I am currently working on a few niceties including the use of Windows Media Encoder 9 in conjunction with Windows Media Services 9 to facilitate broadcasting myself some streaming TV from an ATI TV tuner card. I�ve tested it out, and it works, just data usage is a bit much. I�m waiting for a reasonable unlimited data plan to come out.