Workopia Microsoft CRM & CRM Online Blog: Microsoft CRM Mobile

What's Next: Microsoft CRM 3.0 Mobile - Part 3

Mon, 03 Jul 2006 22:59:30 GMT

We had tested the Microsoft CRM Mobile running on PDA Phone PPC6700 and it performed well (Part 2). Here is the current list of PDA and PDA Phones we have tested that works with Microsoft CRM Mobile 3.0 (list will update periodically):

PDA:

-Dell Axim x51v (April, 2006)

PDA Phones:

-Sprint PPC6700 (May, 2006)

-Verizon XV6700 (June, 2006)

-Cingular 8125 (June, 2006)

-T-Mobile MDA (June, 2006)

As of July, 2006, the fastest mobile broadband data protocol available in the U.S. is EV-DO from Sprint, Verizon, Alltel, etc. The average EV-DO download speeds range from 300 Kbps to 500 Kbps with peak rates of 2.4 Mbps! Upload speeds averaging 50 Kbps to 70 Kpbs. Also, unlimited PDA Phone web/data access plan from Sprint Power Vision Access Pack is available at $15.00 per month! Yup - you've guessed it, I went with the Sprint PPC6700 for myself.

Story time - here is an interesting Microsoft CRM Mobile experience during the past month:

I was visiting one of our Microsoft CRM clients planning for an upgrade to Microsoft CRM v3.0. They needed to redeploy their production v1.2 over to a test environment to test the v3.0 upgrade. Microsoft CRM v1.2 installation requires both the Organization Name and matching License Key. And guess what, the Client didn't have it handy.

As a practice, we store our clients' License Key under their corresponding CRM Account's notes. So... I quickly pulled out my Sprint PPC6700 running our Microsoft CRM Mobile and subscribed to their Account to bring down the needed info. Bingo, in less than a minute, their License Key appeared on my PDA!

That is so efficient! And the coolest part of it is that the Client after witnessing what just happened wants to evaluate Microsoft CRM Mobile 3.0 for their production use!

Microsoft CRM Mobile - Don't leave home without it!

Frank
http://www.workopia.com

What's Next: Microsoft CRM 3.0 Mobile - Part 2

Mon, 12 Jun 2006 03:18:50 GMT

We had tested the Microsoft CRM 3.0 Mobile running on the Dell Axim x51v PDA and it performed well (Part 1), now it is time for trying it on one of those hot PDA Phones running Windows Mobile 5 currently available in the US market as of June, 2006:

Here are three PDA Phones and their specifications that we've considered.

PPC6700 / XV6700
-2.88" 240x320 Pixel TFT Touch Screen

-Intel XScale PXA270 Processor at 416MHz
-64MB SDRAM and 128MB Flash ROM

-Windows Mobile 5.0 Pocket PC Phone

Motorola Q
-2.4" 320x240 Pixel TFT Touch Screen
-Intel XScale PXA272 Processor at 312MHz
-64MB SDRAM and 128MB Flash ROM

-Windows Mobile 5.0 Smartphone

Treo 700w
-2.5" 240x240 Pixel TFT Touch Screen
-Intel XScale PXA272 Processor at 312MHz
-32MB SDRAM and 128MB Flash ROM

-Windows Mobile 5.0 Pocket PC Phone

Why just these three? There are a lot of PDA Phones on the market, here is a current list of Windows Mobile 5 phones. I think these three represent the most popular and powerful PDA Phones running Windows Mobile 5.0 that are currently available - please comment to let me know if another model should be added on the above list.

Also, these are the models that many of our Microsoft CRM customers and prospects repeatedly asked about. Now, we all know that the mobile device market comes out with new models pretty fast, so these three bad boys may not even be on the list next year...

Something very interesting immediately came up - none of these phones meet the 3.5" screen size and 526MHz requirements listed for running Microsoft CRM 3.0 Mobile!!! The good news on screen size is that it really doesn't matter as long as the screen resolution requirement is met which is 240x320. Regarding the processor speed, well, I guess the only thing we can do is observe the performance...

Oops, looks like we need to eliminate the Treo 700w from our list!!! Even if it is not the screen resolution, the minimum 64MB RAM requirement would have nailed the Treo. Sorry Treo lovers, maybe wait on the next model for running Microsoft CRM 3.0 Mobile.

So we are down to the PPC6700/XV6700 or Motorola Q. Overall, the PPC6700/XV6700 is a faster device (416MHz vs. 312MHz) and has a bigger screen (2.88" vs 2.4"). Here are other "subjective" points:

1. The PPC6700/XV6700 came out a few months earlier which means more "field tested" - has an updated ROM available, more feedbacks/workarounds from the user community. It is a good practice to install the latest ROM (if available) before installing Microsoft CRM Mobile.

2. The PPC6700/XV6700 keyboard is much easier on the fingers since the buttons are larger than the Motorola Q. After typing on both devices, the bigger keypad on the PPC6700 via the sliding out keyboard from the side is a major plus!

Gosh, I'd almost missed the point that the Motorola Q is a Smartphone. This is a problem since Microsoft CRM Mobile only works on Pocket PC or Pocket PC Phone Edition. So, the Q gotta go... Link to Pocket PC Phone vs. Smartphone.

I guess it is pretty easy at this point - only the PPC6700/XV6700 remains. And the good news is that the Microsoft CRM 3.0 Mobile was successfully installed on the PPC6700 without any issue! The installation process was the same as the Axim x51v. The amazing thing is that the performance is quite good, it feels about the same as that of the Axim x51v!

More field usage observations to come...

Frank
http://www.workopia.com

What's Next: Microsoft CRM 3.0 Mobile

Tue, 30 May 2006 07:21:26 GMT

We've finally got a chance to play with the just released Microsoft CRM 3.0 Mobile, the setup from the implementation guide was pretty straight forward (for us anyway) and our initial environment was up and running in a few hours. We've decided to start with the Dell Axim x51v PDA. The main reason we went with the Axim x51v vs. one of them hot PDA phones is that it will serve as a good baseline - the x51v fulfilled all the Microsoft CRM 3.0 Mobile requirements with extra room to spare... except for the phone part... And it supports VGA screen resolution mode - 480x640 baby!!! Check out the screen shots below, isn't VGA awesome - so much more space!!!

Here are some notes on putting this initial environment together:

1. Have a baseline Microsoft CRM 3.0 environment that is running properly, setup the environment with only Microsoft CRM 3.0 required components as much as possible to minimize trouble-shooting variables down the road.

2. Make sure that someone in your team knows about SSL setup if you are setting up your own Certificate Authority (CA) via Microsoft Certificate Services.

3. Use a good "remote control" PDA tool such as the Pocket Controller Professional from SOTI. This saved us a lot of time!!! I'm able to terminal service into our Microsoft CRM 3.0 test environment running Microsoft CRM 3.0 Mobile and also "remote control" the x51v while being far away from the lab - very cool!