Tag Archive: notes
Notes 8.5.2 FP2 and Lotus Connections Plugins Might Not Play Nicely Together
Back in February I blogged about the Lotus Connections Files and Status Updates Plugins for Lotus Notes. These are excellent plugins that I use every day, and I would recommend them to anyone running both Lotus Notes and IBM Connections.
If you are running Notes 8.5.2 with Fix Pack 2, apparently a fix to the Connections code in Fix Pack 2, broke the Files and Status plugins, from the technote:
Traveler 8.5.2.2 is available adds Honeycomb Support
Lotus Notes Traveler 8.5.2.2 is available for download from Fix Central, this release resolves APAR L057889 Android Client fails to download on Honeycomb (as in Android 3.0).
The Motorola XOOM is the only device currently on the market running Android 3.0, and was only released a couple of weeks ago so nice turn around on this fix by IBM.
Direct Link to Traveler 8.5.2.2 on Fix Central (IBM ID Required)
My Speedgeeking slides on Managed Replica #LS11
I had a great time participating in Speedgeeking at Lotusphere, I wanted to share my slides from the session (all 7 of them). In looking them over I realize that they were really designed to be spoken to, but I don’t have time to make any changes right now, so figured I would share them in case anyone was looking for them.
Some Tips for Traveler on Android
Having the gold release of Traveler for Android on my phone now for a bit of time, I though I would share some tips for optimizing the Traveler experience on an Android Device. I am showing Traveler on my Droid X, depending on your device your mileage may vary (remember Traveler for Android is supported on devices running Android 2.0 and later).
Traveler will install 5 icons in total on your Android device, they are
The installer is downloaded from the Traveler Server and used to install the other applications
These two should be obvious
Used to search the directory
This is where options are set for Traveler, and where I am going to show a few settings I changed to better suit my needs.
After Launching Notes Traveler use the Menu key on your device to bring up the settings menu, and select Applications
The first setting I like to tweak is the Signature option, by default it is enabled and set to “Sent by Lotus Notes Traveler†My personal preference is no signature at all, but even in cases where I want a signature, I never use a device specific one, so I simply disable, you can disable or set the default to suit your preferences:
The next step is to customize the Inbox view, and notification settings, from the Applications Menu select preferences:
The Message Preview option determines what you in your inbox, and also as a result how many messages will appear on your screen at once. On the left is an example using message preview, on the right is an example with preview off:
As you can see disabling message preview gives you 3 to 4 more messages per screen, personally I prefer to see more messages per screen and forgo the preview.
While in Preferences you can also set your notification options on receipt of new mail:
Finally the last option I am going to cover today is Auto Sync which you can use to control how frequently your Device syncs with the server. There are two periods you can define, peak and off-peak, the default is for peak to be “Always Connectedâ€, and off-peak “Every 15 minutes†To access these preferences select the Auto Sync option from the Settings menu, here you can set the peak and off peak time windows as well as the sync option for each:
As you can see I have changed my peak time period from “Always Connected†to “Every 15 minutesâ€, I find it is less of a drain on battery life (again you know I worry about these things), and I can always initiate a manual sync from my inbox if I need something more immediate.
I hope these tips help you customize your Traveler on Android experience, and if you have a good tip, do please leave a comment.
Why Not Put Lotus Traveler in the Android Market?
In case you missed it, yesterday Lotus Notes Traveler 8.5.2.1 shipped, officially adding Android support to Lotus Notes Traveler. There is a lot of positive I can say about what IBM has done in providing Android support. From making the right decision to write their own clients, as well as being responsive to suggestions given during the design partner and managed beta process, to delivering a client that throughout beta has been stable, lots of good stuff, however there is one thing I don’t understand and that is the distribution method they have chosen for the Traveler client.
Don’t get me wrong Installing Traveler on your Android phone is a rather simple process, you log on to your company’s Traveler server from your device, select the option to configure your Android Device, which downloads the Lotus Installer, which installs the components of Traveler. The Installer also provides a mechanism to provide updates to the Traveler client as they become available. So what is wrong with this? (should this sound at all complicated to anyone, I assure you it is not, and it is very consistent with the process to install many Android applications from the Android Market)
First in order to install an application from a source other then the Android Market, the “Unknown sources†option must be manually checked on the device:
Second, if you read the announcements carefully there is this little nugget
“AT&T: Lotus Notes Traveler for Android installs and run well on all Android devices, with the exception of Android devices from AT&T, due to an AT&T policy decision that supports the installation of applications only from the Android Marketplace. AT&T is planning to resolve this issue in early 2011.â€
Yep that’s right AT&T currently does not offer the option to allow “Unknown sources†so Traveler can not be used by anyone who has an Android phone from AT&T.
Both of these issues could be easily solved by distributing the Traveler client via the Android Market, I can not understand why this is not being done. While you need to be licensed to use Traveler, with out a server I am not sure what one would actually do with the client, so I don’t see the downside of having it available free in the Market. In the iOS world IBM Lotus Notes Traveler Companion which adds support for encrypted mail in iPhone and iPad is freely available in the App Store. Why would you treat Android differently. Also a Lotus Software presence in the Android Market would be a good thing, since they have virtually none today
Yes there are a few Lotus related applications, but nothing from IBM.
So why not put the Traveler client in the Android market, I can not see the downside, but I do see ease of use, and a real presence for Lotus in the Android Market as a huge upside.
Additional Information:
Traveler 8.5.2.1 With Android Support has Shipped
I am downloading now, beta has been great, looking forward to upgrading to the gold code.