This story from South Africa highlights the dangers of installing uncontrolled SIMs in publicly-accessible devices.  The Johannesburg Road Agency installed SIMs in their new high-tech traffic lights to allow them to send and receive information. The SIMs were subsequently stolen by criminal gangs and used to run up large bills.

Companies using SIM-based communication should be aware of the dangers of sending out internet-enabled SIMs. If a SIM “goes rogue” the owner may not know anything about it until they receive a seriously large bill from their mobile provider!

Using a private connectivity solution (such as Asavie’s M2M Solution) gives companies the power to monitor SIM connectivity & restrict a SIM functionality so that it is of no interest to a potential thief.

Nokia have also announced a delay in the launch of their flagship E7 device until early 2011, another blow in their battle to win back ground lost to Apple & Google.

The agreement will allow Telefónica to offer its customers a range of mobile connectivity services for secure real-time information exchange. The services will, in turn, increase the speed of business processes, improve the quality of data exchange and significantly reduce operational costs.

Click here for all the info!

It’s very slick-looking with a black surround to the touch-screen but the white cover on the back is made of plastic giving it a slightly “cheaper” feel than the metallic iPad.

I was a little disappointed by the weight, it’s still feels a bit too heavy for me to hold upright in one hand for any decent length of time. Though, at just 380 grams it is nearly half the weight of an iPad…so maybe I’m just being very picky!

Check out the iPad and Galaxy tab side-by-side:

Software
The Samsung Galaxy tab runs the Android 2.2 operating system. This is the latest version of Android so it’s bang up to date with all the software features. Although Android is a phone OS which is has not been specifically designed for a tablet it handles the leap to a larger screen well.

Some points of note…anyone who’s been caught out by Apple’s lack of support for Flash websites won’t have any problems here. The Samsung Galaxy tab has full flash support.

It also allows you to run multiple applications concurrently. So if you’re composing an email and need to check something online you can easily switch between the two, unlike the iPad which forces you to close out of one app before you can launch another.  To help keep track of what’s running there’s a handy section on the home screen which lists all the applications that are running along with the memory and CPU they’re using up.

The tab is described by Samsung as a “smart media device”. It does actually function as a phone but to be honest you’d look pretty stupid holding it up to your ear so it won’t be replacing anyone’s primary mobile phone any time soon.  It also comes with two cameras, a rear-facing 3MP one with LED flash and also a 1.3MP front-facing one to allow for video-conferencing.

Negatives
There is a slight performance difference between the Samsung Galaxy tab and iPad. Scrolling down through websites or menus is just not 100% as smooth as on the iPad. Occasionally there’s a noticeable delay between swiping your finger and the screen responding.

Business Use
As mentioned above, this device isn’t going to replace anyone’s phone anytime soon but I think it does have huge potential in the field-force automation sector. It has the screensize and touchscreen to make it  super easy to use, but it’s still small enough to fit into a bag or pocket.
Take a look at Asavie’s AccessMyLan portal on the Samsung Galaxy tab:

With the iPhone application you can enter your username and password once and with one click of the icon you have access to your network based files and applications all displayed on your iPhone screen in a simple to use application. The download is free and can be done right from your iPhone by clicking here.

New features found in this release include support for compression and the ability to stay logged in which make the service even more user friendly than before while maintaining the highest levels of security.  The new login screen gives a simple option to “Stay logged in” which, when ticked, negates the requirement to enter a username and password every time the user accesses the portal.

The user interface has undergone some changes and iPhone users in particular will find a more streamlined experience both when managing their login and browsing file shares.

The AccessMyLan Web Portal continues to deliver real-time access to the information workers need - now with increased speed and functionality.

AccessMyLan for SmartPhone connects people to their files, applications and mail from directly from a handset ensuring that mobile staff have access to the most up-to-date information and key business applications such as CRM. Handsets supported include iPhone , Windows Mobile, Palm, Nokia and Blackberry.

AccessMyLan InstantAPN provides AT&T customers with a private network link between any mobile device on the AT&T network and their organization’s network. InstantAPN can address multiple customer requirements such as controlling Internet access on mobile devices, providing remote access for laptops and creating M2M networks for telemetery and monitoring applications. Any device with an AT&T SIM is supported allowing you to connect and control any mobile device.

The tool can diagnose problems associated with
- DNS resolution
- Basic connectivity to the Exchange server
- Exchange server configuration
- User credentials and domain settings on iPhone
- Exchange server SSL and certificate problems

Due to limitations with the iPhone SDK, advanced certificate diagnosis is not possible on iPhone so I’d recommend using the Windows version of the ActiveSync Tester to get to the bottom of certificate problems.

At AccessMyLan we not only make the integration of iPhone with Exchange much easier, we also provide access to files and applications in the office. This takes the iPhone onto another step as the iPhone user can open files directly from a file server and access business applications such as CRM and Intranet from Safari.