Comments on: Don’t be Dazzled! http://mlearning.edublogs.org/2007/09/06/dont-be-dazzled/ An Online Reflective Journal on Mobile Learning Practice Wed, 30 Sep 2009 11:35:35 -0400 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.2 hourly 1 By: Rob De Lorenzo http://mlearning.edublogs.org/2007/09/06/dont-be-dazzled/comment-page-1/#comment-8315 Rob De Lorenzo Mon, 17 Dec 2007 16:16:00 +0000 http://mlearning.edublogs.org/2007/09/06/dont-be-dazzled/#comment-8315 I must admit, that I am really late in this conversation but I do want to ask one question - does it really matter what device is being used so long as it is helping to meet the goal of helping kids learn? Firstly, I'm a little weary of devices made specifically for education as it seems to me that these devices are never as flexible as consumer devices. Secondly, I own both a smartphone (Blackberry Pearl) and an iPod (5G video). To be honest, I love both and feel that each can make significant contributions to education in their own unique ways. At some point in the near future, the functionality of a PC, phone and media player will converge into one device so it doesn't matter which brand is selected. Until then, how about having the teachers choose which device best suits their needs and being prepared to support them despite the brand? If accessibility is the main issue and cost is not, then perhaps a smartphone is the device of choice as there is the ability to access the web through the phone's data system (at a significant cost). However, if this type of continuous connection to the internet is not necessary, then I think the iPod touch is very useful as there is a much larger screen and the ability to easily sync to all the wonderful resources found on iTunes. Also, there any many learning ideas that both the iPod and smartphones allow for - i.e. reading public domain books and listening to audiobooks. Let's not get hung up on brand - we will never agree on this point because each of us has our own brand preferences. Let's put our collective energies together to help promote the use of handheld devices in education. I must admit, that I am really late in this conversation but I do want to ask one question – does it really matter what device is being used so long as it is helping to meet the goal of helping kids learn? Firstly, I’m a little weary of devices made specifically for education as it seems to me that these devices are never as flexible as consumer devices. Secondly, I own both a smartphone (Blackberry Pearl) and an iPod (5G video). To be honest, I love both and feel that each can make significant contributions to education in their own unique ways.

At some point in the near future, the functionality of a PC, phone and media player will converge into one device so it doesn’t matter which brand is selected. Until then, how about having the teachers choose which device best suits their needs and being prepared to support them despite the brand? If accessibility is the main issue and cost is not, then perhaps a smartphone is the device of choice as there is the ability to access the web through the phone’s data system (at a significant cost). However, if this type of continuous connection to the internet is not necessary, then I think the iPod touch is very useful as there is a much larger screen and the ability to easily sync to all the wonderful resources found on iTunes. Also, there any many learning ideas that both the iPod and smartphones allow for – i.e. reading public domain books and listening to audiobooks.

Let’s not get hung up on brand – we will never agree on this point because each of us has our own brand preferences. Let’s put our collective energies together to help promote the use of handheld devices in education.

]]> By: Nicola Avery http://mlearning.edublogs.org/2007/09/06/dont-be-dazzled/comment-page-1/#comment-8222 Nicola Avery Thu, 15 Nov 2007 20:37:18 +0000 http://mlearning.edublogs.org/2007/09/06/dont-be-dazzled/#comment-8222 I was at Future of Mobile yesterday in London and there was some love for the iPhone but a lot of developer discontent. Whilst phone manufacturers (e.g employees from Sony Ericsson etc there) were saying - fragmentation is great, the more personal experience for the user, the better it is, because the phone is such a personal device. But this is a nightmare for developers, standards are essential to allow developers to create applications or they will never get them out there. Brian Fling gave the presentation about the iPhone, he really likes it and he has been involved a lot in .mobi and mobile web development for years. He said that if iPhones are bringing mobile web mainstream in the US then Nokia were delighted because as we know they have a whole army of very nice phones at their disposal :-) I think what Google are doing with Android (they also presented yesterday) will be where the most innovative stuff comes (having a $10 million incentive for development will help) next such as being able to easily access other apps whilst making a call and stuff like that - maybe then we will be a little less 'dazzled' . Or not, again yesterday everyone was emphasising that context is everything in terms of phone choice and phone application usage. I was at Future of Mobile yesterday in London and there was some love for the iPhone but a lot of developer discontent. Whilst phone manufacturers (e.g employees from Sony Ericsson etc there) were saying – fragmentation is great, the more personal experience for the user, the better it is, because the phone is such a personal device. But this is a nightmare for developers, standards are essential to allow developers to create applications or they will never get them out there.
Brian Fling gave the presentation about the iPhone, he really likes it and he has been involved a lot in .mobi and mobile web development for years. He said that if iPhones are bringing mobile web mainstream in the US then Nokia were delighted because as we know they have a whole army of very nice phones at their disposal :-)

I think what Google are doing with Android (they also presented yesterday) will be where the most innovative stuff comes (having a $10 million incentive for development will help) next such as being able to easily access other apps whilst making a call and stuff like that – maybe then we will be a little less ‘dazzled’ .

Or not, again yesterday everyone was emphasising that context is everything in terms of phone choice and phone application usage.

]]> By: Steve Howard http://mlearning.edublogs.org/2007/09/06/dont-be-dazzled/comment-page-1/#comment-8221 Steve Howard Thu, 15 Nov 2007 18:52:56 +0000 http://mlearning.edublogs.org/2007/09/06/dont-be-dazzled/#comment-8221 Funny how this conversation is largely taken over by the iPhone. It has two things that other devices don't have - the cool intervace and the multi-touch screen. other devices have features coming out their ears in comparisson, but somehow no one noticed. As for the browser - it's essentially the same browser that is in the higher-end Nokia phones. And it is great. But again, no one noticed. Without a doubt the iPhone can be used for great mLearning, but it has far to many limitations to be taken seriously by the device geeks who want to break out of as many feature constraints as possible. But my, isn't the Apple marketing engine impressive? :-) Funny how this conversation is largely taken over by the iPhone. It has two things that other devices don’t have – the cool intervace and the multi-touch screen.

other devices have features coming out their ears in comparisson, but somehow no one noticed.

As for the browser – it’s essentially the same browser that is in the higher-end Nokia phones. And it is great. But again, no one noticed.

Without a doubt the iPhone can be used for great mLearning, but it has far to many limitations to be taken seriously by the device geeks who want to break out of as many feature constraints as possible.

But my, isn’t the Apple marketing engine impressive? :-)

]]> By: Nicola Avery http://mlearning.edublogs.org/2007/09/06/dont-be-dazzled/comment-page-1/#comment-8025 Nicola Avery Wed, 12 Sep 2007 15:22:55 +0000 http://mlearning.edublogs.org/2007/09/06/dont-be-dazzled/#comment-8025 Hi, I just did a massive reply but I think I hit something and its gone. re owning an iPhone - Brent if you're on commission :-) I did get to hold one and briefly play with yesterday. Its a nice device, but not the first touch screen - definitely the most interesting - its a fun phone. I do think you are a little premature in saying its the ultimate mobile learning device - benchmarking mobile learning is fairly limited so far... Re WAP - as far as I understand - it was not limited to designing for say a Nokia or Sony Ericsson or whatever - so I would not say WAP is device specific. But please feel free or anyone else to correct me on this. The Opera Mini Browser has made a better browsing experience for lots of different devices. The Sony PSP is one of the best mobile web browsing experiences I have come across to date, the screen seems to be a nice size. Re my original comments - this is the full post I was referring to: "AdMob (my employer) has been hearing from publishers that they are frustrated with the iPhone’s handling of traditional web sites (HTML, Flash, etc.). These pages seem to be loading slowly, even when the device uses 802.11. We are seeing sites choosing to build iPhone-specific versions of their sites. This is interesting given the low relative number of devices in the market – people don’t build Blackberry-specific sites! This is also interesting because it directly contradicts the way Apple has been marketing the iPhone (“not the ‘Mobile Internet, but the Internet on your phone…”). AdMob has fielded a bunch of interest for iPhone-specific ads. We heard this from publishers who don’t want to serve rich-media ads. We also heard this from advertisers who want to reach the early adopter using the device. To address this, we’ve built an ad unit that takes advantage of the iPhone’s capabilities but is mobile focused. See our video on this here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TFMW2-wR7aw " Personally, I 100% do not believe that the ultimate mLearning experience is going to be via an iPhone - the more functionality gets added to your existing iPhone, the further performance degradation you will have (same as with computers, I'm not aware of situations where putting more and more new stuff on old technology makes it better) Mobile devices are being improved far too quickly to talk about ultimate devices. I'm sure there is great learning to be had using iPhones but comparing it to the OLPC (or the Asus Eee PC)is not a straightforward comparison, particularly when there are hundreds and thousands of good 2nd hand mobile phones which do not need device specific websites . I'm going to be doing my own experiments in hand coding mobile web pages and hopefully some mLearning will come out of it, but I would not be starting from a device. Nicola Hi, I just did a massive reply but I think I hit something and its gone.
re owning an iPhone – Brent if you’re on commission :-)
I did get to hold one and briefly play with yesterday. Its a nice device, but not the first touch screen – definitely the most interesting – its a fun phone. I do think you are a little premature in saying its the ultimate mobile learning device – benchmarking mobile learning is fairly limited so far…
Re WAP – as far as I understand – it was not limited to designing for say a Nokia or Sony Ericsson or whatever – so I would not say WAP is device specific. But please feel free or anyone else to correct me on this.
The Opera Mini Browser has made a better browsing experience for lots of different devices. The Sony PSP is one of the best mobile web browsing experiences I have come across to date, the screen seems to be a nice size.
Re my original comments – this is the full post I was referring to:
“AdMob (my employer) has been hearing from publishers that they are frustrated with the iPhone’s handling of traditional web sites (HTML, Flash, etc.). These pages seem to be loading slowly, even when the device uses 802.11. We are seeing sites choosing to build iPhone-specific versions of their sites. This is interesting given the low relative number of devices in the market – people don’t build Blackberry-specific sites!

This is also interesting because it directly contradicts the way Apple has been marketing the iPhone (“not the ‘Mobile Internet, but the Internet on your phone…”).

AdMob has fielded a bunch of interest for iPhone-specific ads. We heard this from publishers who don’t want to serve rich-media ads. We also heard this from advertisers who want to reach the early adopter using the device. To address this, we’ve built an ad unit that takes advantage of the iPhone’s capabilities but is mobile focused. See our video on this here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TFMW2-wR7aw ”

Personally, I 100% do not believe that the ultimate mLearning experience is going to be via an iPhone – the more functionality gets added to your existing iPhone, the further performance degradation you will have (same as with computers, I’m not aware of situations where putting more and more new stuff on old technology makes it better) Mobile devices are being improved far too quickly to talk about ultimate devices.

I’m sure there is great learning to be had using iPhones but comparing it to the OLPC (or the Asus Eee PC)is not a straightforward comparison, particularly when there are hundreds and thousands of good 2nd hand mobile phones which do not need device specific websites . I’m going to be doing my own experiments in hand coding mobile web pages and hopefully some mLearning will come out of it, but I would not be starting from a device.
Nicola

]]> By: Nicola Avery http://mlearning.edublogs.org/2007/09/06/dont-be-dazzled/comment-page-1/#comment-8024 Nicola Avery Wed, 12 Sep 2007 14:44:32 +0000 http://mlearning.edublogs.org/2007/09/06/dont-be-dazzled/#comment-8024 Hi Brent, I don't think I was entirely clear in my very short post. I cannot speak from mobile web design experience other than WML which I tried years ago and I code XHTML and CSS for my website which displays ok-ish on my mobile phone. I am about to launch into my own experiments with mobile learning by hand coding the pages myself and I will be using Cameron Moll's new book and the .mobi web developer book which help designers choose whether to use XHTML-MP, XHTML Basic, cHTML, WML etc. Sorry, just wanted to set background. So re iPhone - thanks for your comments, I don't own (they are not in UK yet) but I did get to play with one for a few mins yesterday, its surprisingly light ! And fun, but I have to say that I'm not convinced yet about it being a great mobile device (I'd put it at good - but its not the first touch screen blah blah but definitely the best touch-screen to date) or a great mobile learning device - I still don't believe that there is enough mobile learning evidence from other devices to benchmark it against right now (Although Leonard here is doing a great job !) As far as I am aware, WAP is not specific to say a Nokia or Sony or Siemens or Motorola or whoever - so I would not call it device specific. But I might be wrong and if so, please correct :o) This is the full post which is why I raised it here: AdMob (my employer) has been hearing from publishers that they are frustrated with the iPhone’s handling of traditional web sites (HTML, Flash, etc.). These pages seem to be loading slowly, even when the device uses 802.11. We are seeing sites choosing to build iPhone-specific versions of their sites. This is interesting given the low relative number of devices in the market – people don’t build Blackberry-specific sites! This is also interesting because it directly contradicts the way Apple has been marketing the iPhone (“not the ‘Mobile Internet, but the Internet on your phone…”). AdMob has fielded a bunch of interest for iPhone-specific ads. We heard this from publishers who don’t want to serve rich-media ads. We also heard this from advertisers who want to reach the early adopter using the device. To address this, we’ve built an ad unit that takes advantage of the iPhone’s capabilities but is mobile focused. See our video on this here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TFMW2-wR7aw Personally I like what Opera Mini is doing, their community forum http://my.opera.com/community/forums/forum.dml?id=111 seems to be driving the development of a better browsing experience - which is not specific to one particular handset. Nicola PS I do like Safari on Windows though, even though I have had to slightly tweak my CSS on my website to take account of it, so a mini-version can't be a bad thing and I wish you the best of luck with any iPhone learning venture you undertake. Hi Brent, I don’t think I was entirely clear in my very short post. I cannot speak from mobile web design experience other than WML which I tried years ago and I code XHTML and CSS for my website which displays ok-ish on my mobile phone. I am about to launch into my own experiments with mobile learning by hand coding the pages myself and I will be using Cameron Moll’s new book and the .mobi web developer book which help designers choose whether to use XHTML-MP, XHTML Basic, cHTML, WML etc.

Sorry, just wanted to set background. So re iPhone – thanks for your comments, I don’t own (they are not in UK yet) but I did get to play with one for a few mins yesterday, its surprisingly light ! And fun, but I have to say that I’m not convinced yet about it being a great mobile device (I’d put it at good – but its not the first touch screen blah blah but definitely the best touch-screen to date) or a great mobile learning device – I still don’t believe that there is enough mobile learning evidence from other devices to benchmark it against right now (Although Leonard here is doing a great job !)

As far as I am aware, WAP is not specific to say a Nokia or Sony or Siemens or Motorola or whoever – so I would not call it device specific. But I might be wrong and if so, please correct :o )

This is the full post which is why I raised it here:

AdMob (my employer) has been hearing from publishers that they are frustrated with the iPhone’s handling of traditional web sites (HTML, Flash, etc.). These pages seem to be loading slowly, even when the device uses 802.11. We are seeing sites choosing to build iPhone-specific versions of their sites. This is interesting given the low relative number of devices in the market – people don’t build Blackberry-specific sites!

This is also interesting because it directly contradicts the way Apple has been marketing the iPhone (“not the ‘Mobile Internet, but the Internet on your phone…”).

AdMob has fielded a bunch of interest for iPhone-specific ads. We heard this from publishers who don’t want to serve rich-media ads. We also heard this from advertisers who want to reach the early adopter using the device. To address this, we’ve built an ad unit that takes advantage of the iPhone’s capabilities but is mobile focused. See our video on this here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TFMW2-wR7aw

Personally I like what Opera Mini is doing, their community forum http://my.opera.com/community/forums/forum.dml?id=111 seems to be driving the development of a better browsing experience – which is not specific to one particular handset.

Nicola

PS I do like Safari on Windows though, even though I have had to slightly tweak my CSS on my website to take account of it, so a mini-version can’t be a bad thing and I wish you the best of luck with any iPhone learning venture you undertake.

]]> By: Steve Dembo http://mlearning.edublogs.org/2007/09/06/dont-be-dazzled/comment-page-1/#comment-8023 Steve Dembo Wed, 12 Sep 2007 12:23:58 +0000 http://mlearning.edublogs.org/2007/09/06/dont-be-dazzled/#comment-8023 My 2 cents: If students HAVE an iPhone, there's plenty you can do with it in the classroom. It is currently the best browser on a iPhone that I've seen yet. And so long as you have a browser, there's plenty you can do. That being said, if I were BUYING devices for an educational setting, it wouldn't be on the list at the current prices. There are so many better devices for the money that would do so much more, as has been mentioned. I'm a firm believer in making use of the technology students are hiding in their backpacks. But that doesn't mean its the best technology you could buy :) My 2 cents:
If students HAVE an iPhone, there’s plenty you can do with it in the classroom. It is currently the best browser on a iPhone that I’ve seen yet. And so long as you have a browser, there’s plenty you can do.

That being said, if I were BUYING devices for an educational setting, it wouldn’t be on the list at the current prices. There are so many better devices for the money that would do so much more, as has been mentioned.

I’m a firm believer in making use of the technology students are hiding in their backpacks. But that doesn’t mean its the best technology you could buy :)

]]> By: Brent Schlenker http://mlearning.edublogs.org/2007/09/06/dont-be-dazzled/comment-page-1/#comment-8020 Brent Schlenker Tue, 11 Sep 2007 17:14:09 +0000 http://mlearning.edublogs.org/2007/09/06/dont-be-dazzled/#comment-8020 Nicola, in response to... "when did you ever have to design device specific websites whether PC or mobile" ...I would say since the dawn of mobile devices. WAP was the standard, NOT html. Facebook works GREAT as is, but its a little slow. So they whittled it down a little and optimized the interface to improve the experience on the iPhone. Good designers will always take the device into consideration when delivering an experience to the device users. Designers have always done it and will continue to do so. There is limited screen realestate on any mobile device so no matter how great the device is it simply makes usability sense to redesign to support the platform. However, the reality is that many sites will not redesign and the fact the many sites still work fine on the iPhone despite being designed for 1024x768. That's a huge benefit that no other mobile device can touch. I'd like to know if any of you OWN the iPhone? Nicola, in response to…
“when did you ever have to design device specific websites whether PC or mobile”
…I would say since the dawn of mobile devices. WAP was the standard, NOT html.
Facebook works GREAT as is, but its a little slow. So they whittled it down a little and optimized the interface to improve the experience on the iPhone.
Good designers will always take the device into consideration when delivering an experience to the device users. Designers have always done it and will continue to do so. There is limited screen realestate on any mobile device so no matter how great the device is it simply makes usability sense to redesign to support the platform.
However, the reality is that many sites will not redesign and the fact the many sites still work fine on the iPhone despite being designed for 1024×768. That’s a huge benefit that no other mobile device can touch.
I’d like to know if any of you OWN the iPhone?

]]> By: Nicola Avery http://mlearning.edublogs.org/2007/09/06/dont-be-dazzled/comment-page-1/#comment-8019 Nicola Avery Tue, 11 Sep 2007 15:51:12 +0000 http://mlearning.edublogs.org/2007/09/06/dont-be-dazzled/#comment-8019 Brian Fling is running a session at Future of Mobile this year on iPhone and impact, will be interested to hear his thoughts Brian Fling is running a session at Future of Mobile this year on iPhone and impact, will be interested to hear his thoughts

]]> By: jnxyz http://mlearning.edublogs.org/2007/09/06/dont-be-dazzled/comment-page-1/#comment-8018 jnxyz Tue, 11 Sep 2007 13:29:28 +0000 http://mlearning.edublogs.org/2007/09/06/dont-be-dazzled/#comment-8018 They don't support flash - but strangley seem to be getting on well without it! as for mobile versions of sites - well there are hundreds of thousands of these - mainly because on devices where people are paying big $ for data these mobile optimised sites use much less - see the appeal? The .mobi url extension is often used for these. They don’t support flash – but strangley seem to be getting on well without it! as for mobile versions of sites – well there are hundreds of thousands of these – mainly because on devices where people are paying big $ for data these mobile optimised sites use much less – see the appeal? The .mobi url extension is often used for these.

]]> By: Nicola Avery http://mlearning.edublogs.org/2007/09/06/dont-be-dazzled/comment-page-1/#comment-8017 Nicola Avery Tue, 11 Sep 2007 11:58:36 +0000 http://mlearning.edublogs.org/2007/09/06/dont-be-dazzled/#comment-8017 Sorry, I'm a bit late into this one, but I saw a post from someone at Admobs which said that iPhones are in fact not handling / rendering HTML, Flash as well as other devices so companies are starting to build iPhone friendly sites - why because the iPhone is there - yes we know !! But when did you ever have to design device specific websites whether pc or mobile - if this is true, then it completely sucks ! Nicola Sorry, I’m a bit late into this one, but I saw a post from someone at Admobs which said that iPhones are in fact not handling / rendering HTML, Flash as well as other devices so companies are starting to build iPhone friendly sites – why because the iPhone is there – yes we know !! But when did you ever have to design device specific websites whether pc or mobile – if this is true, then it completely sucks !
Nicola

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