Coleman Technologies Blog

It’s not hyperbole to suggest that many people in business these days prefer digital communication over the alternative. Smartphones have evolved over time and adapted to this need. That said, using a smartphone to communicate does still have its fair share of unwritten rules to follow. Let’s discuss some of the dos and don’ts of smartphones.

Do Practice Proper Etiquette

Yes, there is an etiquette to using a smartphone, just like any in-person interaction that you might take part in throughout the day. Although smartphone use is so widespread that it has become a bit synonymous with informality, there are still opportunities where you should focus on the formal, so to speak, and get your etiquette in order (like, say, during a phone interview or talking to a prospective client). After all, that first impression might be your only shot at closing a deal or securing your desired outcome.

Don’t Use the Speakerphone

Using your speakerphone for a business call is just not a good look. You run the risk of background noise, and there is always the chance that someone might overhear or interject at an inopportune moment, making you look unprofessional as a result. Truth be told, most smartphones do not offer the same kind of sound clarity that you might expect from a headset or microphone, anyway. It might sound okay to you, but it’s usually not as pleasant for the other end.

Do Control Your Smartphone Notifications

Smartphones, for all of their benefits, are distractions as well. Therefore, it makes sense that you do all you can to limit the amount of distractions that your smartphone thrusts upon you. You can do this through your notification settings, turning on and off notifications based on your particular needs. This will keep you from checking it more often than necessary, leading to greater productivity (and happiness, too, probably).

Don’t Use Social Media While You’re in a Mobile Meeting

It’s often tempting to scroll through social media while you’re using your smartphone, but it’s not a good idea to get accustomed to doing this during actual work-related meetings. A lot of this is because virtual meetings make it too easy to check out and do other things, and people might not see as big of a need to pay attention (after all, they’ll get the meeting minutes from someone else, right?). Remember that it’s important to stay focused on your meetings and save social media for your downtime where it is less disruptive.

How does your business use smartphone technology in the workplace? With a mobile device management tool from Coleman Technologies, you can ensure that your team is using their devices in a way that supports your company’s mission. To learn more, call us today at (604) 513-9428.

Business Doesn’t Stop, But You Should

We’ve all been there. We’re driving or on the train and a phone call comes in that you absolutely have to take. What do you do? Most people will take the call, but the right thing to do is send it to voicemail and return the call as soon as possible. Why? Because you are distracted. It’s best to call back and give the caller the attention they deserve rather than trying to juggle a phone call in the middle of traffic. Okay, this one is pretty basic, but it’s the foundation of all mobile etiquettes.

Don’t Be Rude

One of the biggest problems with mobile business is that there seems to be a continuous amount of communications that come in. This isn’t a problem when you are free to talk or text. It can be a problem if you are with other people, however. If you must take a phone call when you are face-to-face with others, be sure to excuse yourself and go at least ten feet away. This is courteous, and after all, it’s only four more feet than social distancing.

Brevity is often a cornerstone to modern mobile communication, with emails and texts often being short and sweet. Keep in mind though, sometimes being overly short can come across as disarming or even disrespectful to the recipient.

Stop Texting in Important Moments

One of the biggest faux pas that a mobile professional can have is the tendency to text people when other people demand their attention. If there is business going on right in front of you, even if it’s just a meal or an impromptu conversation, do yourself a favor and wait until it is over to return text messages. Again, pretty basic, but it doesn’t hurt to keep it top of mind.

Make Sure You Have Good Reception

This one is a serious problem. A lot of times when people are on the go, their service is not conducive to professional conversation. You can't do business if calls keep getting dropped or texts don't go through because you've chosen a poor place to conduct a mobile meeting; and nothing ruins your ability to communicate than if people have to stop every few minutes to get clarification or ask you to repeat yourself. Choose your location wisely.

Sometimes you can’t help it, we get it, but if you are planning on running a meeting and need to participate, try to be somewhere where the service is reliable. It’s a sign that you respect everyone else’s time. If it’s impossible to prevent, simply be forthcoming about it and let everyone know at the start of the call. Perhaps even give an option to resume the call later if things get too difficult for the other participants.

Return Calls as Soon as Possible

When you return phone calls soon after you miss them, it shows professionalism and respect for the caller. If you are going to be out of touch for a bit, whether it be for meetings or personal time, it is solid practice to change your voicemail to state when you won’t be available. Then, when you are available, be sure to reach back out. Nothing is worse than getting a voicemail stating that the person won’t be available two weeks ago.

The mobile device is one of the best business tools available for people today, but knowing how to use them professionally is extremely important. Have you had to deal with a vendor or client that doesn’t adhere to mobile best practices? Leave your stories in the comments section below and return to our blog for more great tips and tricks each week.

The Now:
It’s the holiday season, which means that many will find that themselves traveling, either to visit family and friends or to seek out more agreeable climates. However, business being what it is, many will also still be trying to get work done during their travels.

Thanks to the incredible capabilities of the mobile devices we have today, this is made much easier. A business that leverages cloud solutions offers mobile users an exceptional amount of maneuverability, and the popularity of Bring Your Own Device policies have made it so that the resources needed to accomplish work goals are never too far away. Yet, this access is a catch-22, as it also means that data can be easily lost, far from the business’ location and the protections it should have in place.

Resultantly, there are a multitude of ways that a cybercriminal can come into possession of your data, either personal or professional. Fortunately, there are some ways to help prevent this from happening as well.

• Public Wi-Fi is Too Public: When out in public, you’ll want to avoid connecting to public Wi-Fi networks when shopping or accessing sensitive information. We all know that hunting for the best deals is made much easier when you can look up prices online, but you’ll want to use your data instead. Public signals make hackers’ jobs that much easier with their typically insufficient security standards.
• Charity Good, Charity Scams Bad: These phishing variants can come in via all avenues, but very commonly take the form of calls and text messages. A scammer pretends to be working for some charity, but in actuality, just wants your money and data for themselves. If you receive what you believe to be a charity scam attempt, you’d be wise to do some research into who is asking for it before handing over your data, payment information or otherwise.
• Charge Carefully: Whether you’re at the airport during a layover and trying to eke a few more minutes out of your device, or you’re deal-hunting online as you’re wandering the mall, you need to make sure you’re being smart about how you’re keeping your device charged. Many attackers will hide attacks in charging stations, waiting to strike whomever connects.

The Then:
Of course, these hacks and threats aren’t going to end after the holiday season is over. Moving into 2019, the above threats are still going to be just as large of a problem, along with many other threats. Much of this will be in part due to our reliance on mobile devices.

Hackers will still be able to intercept data exchanged on an unsecure network, more devices will become outdated and insecure (you may want to peek at some of those holiday deals for an upgrade), and yes, more people will enable these threats through uninformed decisions. You need to make sure that your business isn’t influenced by threats like these.

Coleman Technologies can help. Get your business a holiday gift by calling (604) 513-9428 and speaking to us about our managed IT services.

There’s been a consistent pattern that has emerged with popular software applications: a major update or other change is made, and uproar on social media ensues.

Just look at what happened when the Android platform’s Facebook application began requesting access to the user’s smartphone camera several years ago now. While this was required so that Facebook’s newly released native photo-taking capabilities could be embraced, there was still a lot said about it on social media.

Don’t get us wrong—many of the changes made in technology can be concerning, especially where it involves a user’s privacy. However, there is usually a ton of misinformation muddying the waters. Again, we’re not saying that you can always trust giant tech companies and their data collection policies… quite the opposite, in fact. You’re right to feel concerned at times and should be exercising the control over their collection of your data that you have a right to.

Having said that, we couldn’t help but notice an extreme response to the news of Apple and Google’s new COVID-19 contact tracing application framework.

So, Did Google or Apple Install a COVID-19 Tracking App on My Phone?

Nope.

Neither Google or Apple added an application to your mobile device without your knowledge or consent. What Google and Apple did was collaborate to develop an application framework, which can now be used by app developers as they create COVID-19 tracking apps.

However, due to sensationalism on social media, a lot of people are concerned. Just look at this post that has been making the rounds on Facebook:

“**VERY IMPORTANT ALERT!***

A COVID-19 sensor has been secretly installed into every phone. Apparently, when everyone was having “phone disruption” over the weekend, they were adding COVID-19 Tracker [SIC] to our phones!

If you have an Android phone, go under settings, then look for google settings and you will find it installed there.

If you are using an iPhone, go under settings, privacy, then health. It is there but not yet functional.

The App can notify you if you’ve been near someone who has been reported having COVID-19.”

There’s a lot of misleading information to unpack here. First, neither Google nor Apple secretly installed a new “sensor” (especially since we’re talking about a software update, not a hardware update).

This software update was simply a setting to enable the COVID-19 Exposure Notification system that the two platforms are preparing. When this system has its official applications developed, users will not only have to install the application and activate it, but also confirm that they want to participate with Google or Apple.

So, this update simply provides a unified framework for local governments and the health industry to use as they create their COVID-19 applications, while offering users the choice of whether they want to participate.

So No, This is NOT a COVID-19 Tracking App

Seriously, unless you consciously selected the option to “Install,” your mobile device isn’t going to start tracking you and those close to you to identify anyone with COVID-19. In fact, if you follow that Facebook post’s instructions to your settings, you’ll see that you have to A: install a participating application or B: finish setting up a participating application before your notifications can even be activated.

In a rare joint statement from Apple and Google, they go on record to say, “What we’ve built is not an app—rather public agencies will incorporate the API into their own apps that people install.”

To clarify further, an API is an Application Programming Interface. Think of it as the foundation of an application. By teaming up, Apple and Google have laid the foundation for others to build their own applications upon.

As a bonus, this also makes it easier for people to opt out. Unfortunately, if too many people decide not to use the system, it may not be reliable enough to work at all.

What Do We Know About these Tracking Apps?

Well, the system itself is extremely new, so responsibility for the official applications will fall to state and local governments.

The platform that Google and Apple co-developed is built to be decentralized, which will help to make it more secure. Basically, when a user opts to use one of these apps, their phone is assigned a random ID and it is then shared with other phones within the range of a Bluetooth connection. Each phone then stores an anonymous roster of the other IDs it has been in proximity to.

So, when someone is diagnosed with COVID-19, they would then manually share that with the contact tracing app. Then, with their permission, all the IDs that their phone has stored over the prior two weeks would be uploaded and those users would be sent a notification of their potential exposure. Your location isn’t shared, nobody’s identity is shared, not even Google or Apple will get this information. In addition to all this, that random ID is changed every 10 to 20 minutes, and the apps are not allowed to use your location or to track it in the background.

As a result, these apps are safe to use with complete anonymity, and to avoid opting in, you just wouldn’t install any COVID-19 tracking apps, official or not.

Uninstalling the COVID-19 Exposure Notification

Okay, since we know that some will want to ask this question, we felt we needed to address it.

In short, you shouldn’t because it isn’t an app, it is an API. As such, it can’t just be uninstalled. It is now part of the Android and iOS operating systems and is pushed to devices through security updates.

If you were to do some Internet snooping, you could find some walkthroughs on the Internet that take you through how to roll back your phone and other such processes, but that only leaves your device exposed to other threats. Again, there is nothing to uninstall, and neglecting future security updates is a terrible idea.

The API is nothing to worry about. It is nothing more than a setting, and one that is deactivated by default. If you really are worried, both Apple and Google have confirmed that not installing, or uninstalling, a COVID-19 Exposure Notification app is enough to avoid participation.

And again, since we can’t stress this enough:

DO NOT FOLLOW ANY INSTRUCTIONS ONLINE THAT WALK YOU THROUGH ROLLING BACK YOUR PHONE AND OPTING OUT OF SECURITY UPDATES. 

If you are that serious about your privacy, it just doesn’t make sense to expose that privacy to greater risk.

In our professional opinion, understanding the technology used to create the COVID-19 Exposure Notification system, every effort has been made to ensure the security and anonymity of its users. Keep in mind, there are also healthcare regulations to comply with as well, and our clients will know how stringent they are where data privacy is concerned.

The decision whether or not to use the COVID-19 Exposure Notification system falls to you, but you can rest assured that both Google and Apple have done everything right to keep their system safe, private, and secure.

Please, to learn more about these technologies, don’t hesitate to give us a call.

How Can BYOD Manifest Issues?

Unfortunately, for all its benefits, there is no shortage of drawbacks to BYOD - at least, if it is implemented without conscious deliberation and preparation. Here, we’ve listed a few such drawbacks:

Business and Personal Data Often Mix, but Shouldn’t

Do you really expect an employee to have a personal device that isn’t for personal use? If this device is used for work purposes as well, it can become very easy to combine this data and put some of it at risk. What if an employee who brought their own device in then left the company, the device in question full of your company’s sensitive data? Without some kind of policy in place to eliminate this risk, BYOD is simply too risky to allow.

Your Business Will Be Vulnerable to More Risks

Unfortunately, a poorly-strategized BYOD policy opens your business up to a variety of issues that could have severe and lasting ramifications.

This is mainly due to the many risks that mobile devices inherently have in terms of data leakage, malware infection, and other vulnerabilities. If your employees aren’t vigilant in keeping their devices updated and secured, your network will be subject to the same vulnerabilities. Malware infections can also be introduced via an employee not treating their device as carefully as they should be. If malware is installed on their device, it can easily be spread to your network - free to wreak havoc and steal data.

Your Infrastructure Will Likely Need Reworking

This one is admittedly less of an issue as it is an inconvenience. Simply put, adding an influx of devices and ensuring that your IT remains compliant to any policies can be a huge investment of time - and if not done correctly the first time, this investment will only grow.

How to Prevent These Issues Via Policies

As we briefly mentioned above, any BYOD initiative you introduce to your company needs to be controlled through a stringent use policy. This policy needs to clearly describe how an employee is to use their device during work hours, as well as the prerequisites that your employees need to abide by and agree to in order to use their own device. We recommend the following:

Mobile Device Management and Endpoint Protection

This technology helps to keep any company data isolated from any personal data on the device, which means that it allows you to control your data without intruding on an employee’s privacy. As a result, if a device is stolen, you can remotely remove any business data from it to ensure your data is protected.

Another precaution to enact is endpoint protection software. This software essentially performs a preemptive security scan of any device trying to access the network, identifying if a device has been infected. This means that your network isn’t introduced to whatever malware is present on the device, and the owner is then aware of their security issue as well.

Access Controls

The fact of the matter is that not every employee needs access to every byte of data you have. Therefore, it makes sense to implement role-based access controls. These controls can help keep an employee focused on the data they need for their work duties, and can help you identify where a breach occurred, should one happen. Some access controls can even prevent a device that isn’t up to date from connecting to the network at all. You should also investigate two-factor authentication measures that might assist you in limiting access to those who should have it.

Exit Strategies and Safeguards

Finally, you also have to consider what to do if something happens to one of the devices that has been used for BYOD purposes. First of all, you need to have your employees agree to have a lost device wiped remotely, applying the necessary solutions to each device used. Your employees also need to report a lost or stolen device immediately so these precautions can be put to use.

Finally, should an employee leave your business, you also need to make sure you have already secured the authorization to remove your company’s data from their device. You don’t want someone walking around with access to your data, whether their departure was amicable or not. Including this in your BYOD policy will ensure that anyone who leverages their mobile device is aware of your capability to remove your company data from their device, and will allow them to opt out of BYOD if it makes them uncomfortable.

With these policies backing up your Bring Your Own Device planning, you should be able to make use of a great productivity tool without sacrificing your data security. For assistance in putting BYOD into practice, reach out to Coleman Technologies at (604) 513-9428.

Today, it’s not enough to have an antivirus or firewall. You need solutions designed to actively protect your network and data from those that are actively trying to gain access to them. So while it may not be enough, making sure that your firewall and antivirus software are updated with the latest threat definitions, and that your other solutions like spam blocking and virtual private networks are being utilized properly, can set you up for success. Let’s look at four additional strategies that extend traditional cybersecurity into the modern age. 

Network Monitoring

Network monitoring is a solid strategy that will allow you to keep tabs on what is happening on your network. Today, there are remote monitoring tools that feature cutting-edge automated features designed to ensure that if something is funky on your network, or with your infrastructure, that you know about it before it becomes a major problem. Your IT support team should be outfitted with these tools as active monitoring may be the only strategy that can truly keep your network and infrastructure secure. 

Mobile Device and Endpoint Management

More businesses were relying on remote workers anyway, but with the COVID-19 pandemic that number has risen by several hundred percent. Mobile device management allows an organization to control the access each mobile user has to company resources, which applications employees can access on the network, while also providing control over the flow of mobile data. Securing endpoint access can go a long way toward protecting organizational computing resources from possible threats that users may have on their remote computers.

Security Training and Management

Today’s biggest threats often come into a network from user mistakes or negligence. In order to mitigate these instances, ensuring that your staff is properly trained is more important than ever. Not only will you want to provide them with the information needed to secure your network, you will also want to test them to ensure they are capable and willing to follow the company-outlined protocol on how to deal with threats. 

Threat Management and Detection

Despite your increased reliance on your staff to ensure that nefarious people don’t gain access to your network, there are still tools designed to identify threats and mitigate their existence. From firewalls to antivirus to powerful new threat management tools, if protecting your network from outside threats is a priority, making investments in solutions designed to eliminate threats is prudent. 

Coleman Technologies is the British Columbia experts in IT security. Call our expert technicians today at (604) 513-9428 to learn more about what you should be doing to secure your network and infrastructure.

For the longest time, smartphone manufacturers looked to develop devices that came with unique features in all different manners of form factors. Nowadays, however, there are very few phone manufacturers and those that are left have pretty much decided, for now, what the smartphone would look like. Even the ones that fold in half look and function pretty much the same. In this week’s blog, we will take a look at the declining innovation in the smartphone market and why it may not be a bad thing.

The Smartphone

The smartphone is the most important computer ever developed. Users are so connected to their smartphones today that there is an official phobia explaining the fear of going without their phone, called nomophobia. People depend on their smartphone more than many of the people in their lives.   

In many cases, smartphones hold people’s personal and professional lives together. They allow people to interact with their friends and family at the touch of a button and they provide an outlet for people to do more than they would otherwise be able to do. With so much at stake, it would stand to reason that smartphone manufacturers would be pushing the proverbial envelope when it comes to innovating the features on their devices. 

They just haven’t, and there are a few reasons why. Let’s take a look at a few:

We Already Have the Basics

For years, companies added tons of new stuff—like better cameras, faster processors, and brighter screens. Now, most phones already do everything we need really well, so there’s not much new to add.

Small Changes Don’t Feel Big

Each year, phones do get a little better, but the improvements are so small that most people don’t notice a big difference. For example, a camera that goes from 40 to 50 megapixels sounds like a lot, but it doesn’t make photos that much better to our eyes.

Almost Everyone Has One

Nearly everyone who wants a smartphone already has one. So instead of trying to make brand-new phones every year, companies focus more on making their apps and services (marginally) better, which doesn’t feel as exciting as a new gadget.

Tech Limits and Costs

Some new ideas—like foldable screens or cameras that hide under the screen—are still super expensive or hard to make strong enough. Since these are tricky to build, not everyone can afford them yet.

Better Software and Services 

Now that the hardware (like screens and cameras) is pretty good, companies are putting more energy into making software better. They add new features through apps, like cool photo editing or ways to connect your phone to other devices.

Are smartphones smart enough? Do they do everything you need them to do? What else of value do you think they could do that would get you to immediately upgrade? One thing is for certain, they aren’t going away anytime soon. For more great technology content, stop back to our blog on the regular.

Text messages are great. They’re a quick and effective means for us all to communicate. 

Unfortunately, this does bring some downsides, too… namely, they’re a relatively simple means for a scammer to spread their attacks. Let’s discuss why this is so dangerous and how you can identify and avoid these threats.

Phishing Email Attacks Target Us Where We Are, So Is It a Surprise We Get Phishing Texts?

SMS-based phishing, AKA “smishing,” uses text messages as the medium of choice to send a phishing attack. These smishing texts can take numerous forms, from classic phishing attempts like fraudulent communications from “your bank,” fake shipping updates from services like FedEx and UPS, or other such parties, to alerts from government agencies and contests.

A more comprehensive list of common smishing tactics is as follows:

• Fraudulent messages from financial institutions, as mentioned
• Messages claiming you have won a contest that you never entered
• Alerts directly from government agencies or other authority figures
• Delivery notifications for packages you never ordered
• Credit card offers and promotions
• Texts asking for personal information or identity verification
• “Suspicious activity” alerts from your accounts
• Ads for sales and promotions at retail and restaurants
• Claims of payment issues

In a world where most people almost always have a delivery on the way, and are often engaged with the world via text message, many of us can be vulnerable to these types of attacks.

Just as with any scam, a bit of precaution and knowing what to look for will help you, your family, friends, and your team members recognize when a text message is a smishing attack. For instance, if you are asked to confirm your identity or access a link in the message, the message is likely a threat.

Smishing’s Strength Comes from Fear and a Lack of Awareness

Unfortunately, it makes sense that smishing can be so effective. Put yourself in a target’s shoes momentarily: you suddenly get a message that claims there’s some issue with your bank account. Without the forethought that it could be a scam, that suddenly becomes a very high-stress situation for you… not exactly the ideal conditions for rational thought.

Pair that with the tendency for trusted entities to be used as a front, and it is suddenly a lot harder for the average person to catch them.

How to Keep Yourself Safe from Smishing

There are a few steps that you should take with every suspicious message (and before you ever encounter one):

Do NOT Respond
Never answer one of these text messages directly, and never provide any sensitive or personal information… such as identification numbers, private details, passwords, or access credentials. Furthermore, never click any links or attachments sent with one of these messages.

Check Its Legitimacy
Take note of the phone number used and who the message is supposedly from. Go back and check with the purported sender directly—through a different means of communication, of course—to see if the message was, in fact, authentic.

Keep Your Device Secure
Mobile operating systems are regularly updated with added protections to keep scams to a minimum, so keeping up with these updates will only help reduce the security issues you may face. Modern mobile operating systems also commonly feature spam filtering capabilities. It also helps to install a dedicated mobile security application.

Adopt Security Measures
Various protections—multi-factor authentication, filtering and spam protection, encryption, and regular audits—can help keep smishing and other threats to a minimum for a business that adopts them.

Educate Those Around You
Whether you’re surrounded by friends, relatives, coworkers, or employees, don’t be shy about sharing these tips with them to create a bubble of improved security in your circles.

How to Report Smishing Attempts

If you do receive a text-based phishing attempt, it can also help to report it as such. The Global System for Mobile Communications—or GSMA—has an established number for users to send the contents of these attacks to… 7726.

Reporting Smishing on Android

• Very, very carefully, press and hold the offending message.
• Select the three-dot icon to access the menu.
• Select Forward and send it to 7726.

Reporting Smishing on iPhone

• Very, very carefully, press and hold the offending message.
• Select More and then the arrow at the bottom-right corner of the display.
• Forward the message to 7726.

Alert the FTC

It also helps to report these attacks to the Federal Trade Commission. The agency provides a fraud reporting tool that you should fill out so they can inform law enforcement to help stop these attacks. You’ll then be provided with best practices to follow.

We Recommend Sharing This Information with Everyone You Know

The more people that know about this threat, the better, because that means more and more people will be more resilient against them. We’re here to help businesses promote this awareness amongst their ranks and provide the tools to secure their operations better. If you’re interested in learning more about what we offer, call us at (604) 513-9428.

Many of the largest-growing smartphone manufacturers set their eyes on untapped markets in Africa, the Middle East, and southeast Asia. Regardless, the smartphone market has now showed negative growth for four consecutive fiscal quarters and the manufacturers are feeling the heat. The new flagships show off how the world’s most successful smartphone manufactures plan on altering their market’s forces. The new flagships include:

Apple iPhone XS Max
The world’s most profitable company’s newest flagship smartphone looks a lot like last year’s, but there are some major upgrades made to this year’s version that you may not be able to miss out on. The iPhone XS Max features Apple’s new A12 Bionic chip that improves device performance by 15 percent and a vastly-improved neural engine that accelerates machine learning on the device.

The newest iPhone has a 6.5-inch edge-to-edge display built on an aluminum chassis. The back of the device is all glass and comes with two separate 12-megapixel (MP) cameras. There is a single 7 MP camera on the front. The iPhone XS Max’s Battery is a 3,174 mAh that has an endurance rating at 78 hours. With a hefty price tag of $1099.99, consumers are paying a premium price for a premium device. It is available on all major carriers in Pace Gray, Silver, and Gold.

Specifications
Build - Stainless Steel with Glass Front/Back
Display - 6.5” Super AMOLED with ~458 ppi
Chipset - Apple A12 Bionic
Memory - 4GB RAM
Storage - 64/256/512 GB
Software - iOS 12/iOS 12.1
Cameras - 12 MP (26mm); 12 MP (52mm) with 2x optical zoom and optical image stabilization; 7 MP front-facing
Battery - 3,174 mAh (78 hours)
Additional Features - Face ID

LG V40 ThinQ
The newest LG flagship, the V40 ThinQ builds on what was LG’s best-reviewed smartphone to date: the LG V30. The V40 ThinQ offers users a 6.4-inch display that is inline with the other devices on this list. Their OLED display sets the standard for any LG-manufactured device and the build quality, a problem LG has had over the years, is premium.

One of the major upgrades of the LG V40 ThinQ is its camera setup. The device comes with two 12-megapixel cameras (one wide angle and one telephoto), as well as a 16 MP ultra-wide-angle lens. The camera app features a ‘triple-preview” that does exactly that: provides an active look through all three lenses so the user can choose which one works best. At $900, it is at least a hundred dollars cheaper than the Samsung or Apple flagship. It is available on all major carriers and can be had in New Platinum Gray, Carmine Red, New Aurora Black, and New Moroccan Blue.

Specifications
Build - Aluminum with Glass Front/Back
Display - 6.4” P-OLED with ~537 ppi
Chipset - Qualcomm Snapdragon 845
Memory - 6 GB RAM
Storage - 64/128GB, microSD up to 512GB
Software - Android 8.1 Oreo
Cameras - 12 MP (27mm) optical image stabilization; 12 MP (52mm) with 2x optical zoom and optical image stabilization; 16 MP (16mm); 8 MP (26mm) and 5 MP (21mm) front-facing.
Battery - 3,300 mAh (64 hours)
Additional Features - Rear-mounted fingerprint scanner

Samsung Galaxy Note 9
Samsung has been making upper-crust mobile devices for much of the past decade, and the Galaxy Note 9 is no different. The Note 9 is made from aluminum and a whole lot of glass, Gorilla Glass 5 to be specific. On board it has a Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 and up to eight gigs of RAM and 512GB of storage space. There are many Ultrabooks that don’t have those specs.

Running on Android 8.1 Oreo, the Note 9 features two 12 MP camera lenses and an 8 MP front-facing camera. With a 4,000 mAh battery, the Note 9 seems to outpace the rest of this year’s devices in battery life and sustainability. With available colors including Metallic Copper, Lavender Purple, Midnight Black, Ocean Blue and Pure White; and, availability on all major carriers, the Note 9 can be found for $1000.

Specifications
Build - Aluminum with Glass Front/Back
Display - 6.4” Super AMOLED with ~516 ppi
Chipset - Qualcomm Snapdragon 845
Memory - 6 or 8 GB of RAM
Storage - 128 or 512 GB of onboard storage and microSD up to 512 GB
Software - Android 8.1 Oreo
Cameras - 12 MP (26mm); 12 MP (52mm) with 2x optical zoom; optical image stabilization; 8 MP front-facing
Battery - 4,000 mAh (97 hours)
Additional Features - Samsung S Pen, rear-mounted fingerprint scanner, iris scanner.

Huawei Mate 20 Pro
Huawei isn’t the type of manufacturer that is typically on a list like this. This is because the company has run into hot water with some in the west who believe that the stake that the Chinese government has in the company is a security threat to users. Whether you believe that or not, Huawei sure has made an impressive phone with the Mate 20 Pro.

Created with a Kirin 980 octa-core processor that comes in at seven nanometers, Huawei has built the Mate 20 Pro with a 6.4-inch AMOLED display, 6/8 GB of RAM and 128/256 GB of storage space. The 4,200 battery provides some of the strongest high-usage results of any manufacturer, but like the LG V40 ThinkQ, it comes with three rear-facing cameras. One is a powerful 40 MP fixed wide-angle lens, another is a 20 MP ultra-wide-angle lens, and the other is an eight MP telephoto lens with a 5x optical zoom. It’s also the first device from a major manufacturer to have an in-display fingerprint reader. It may be difficult to find in the U.S., but for those who can, it comes in Emerald Green, Midnight Blue, Twilight, Pink Gold, and Black, and can be had for a hefty lot of $1,100.

Specifications
Build - Aluminum frame with Glass Front/Back
Display - 6.4” AMOLED with ~538 ppi
Chipset - HiSilicon Kirin 980
Memory - 6/8GB RAM
Storage - 128/256GB with Nano Memory slot up to 256GB
Software - Android 9.0 Pie, Huawei UI
Cameras - 40 MP (27mm); 20 MP (16mm); 8 MP (80mm) with 5x optical zoom and optical image stabilization. Front facing 24 MP.
Battery - 4,200 mAh (85 hours)
Additional Features - Face ID, In-display fingerprint scanner, Qi wireless charging broadcasting, 40-Watt fast charging

Google Pixel 3 XL
The Pixel 3 XL has a crystal clear, OLED display that comes in at 6.3-inches. Currently, the Pixel 3 XL runs Android’s newest OS, 9.0 Pie. The Pixel 3 XL picks up where the Pixel 2 XL left off in terms of camera functionality. Largely lauded as the best camera on any smartphone, the Pixel 3 XL is great for content creators and consumers, alike.

The Pixel 3 XL is available in White, Black, and Not Pink; and has a few neat features that aren’t found on many other phones. With a price tag that is at least $100 less than its direct competitors it will be a popular choice for the next year.

Specifications
Build - Aluminum with Glass Front/Back
Display - 6.3” P-OLED with ~523 ppi
Chipset - Qualcomm Snapdragon 845
Memory - 4GB RAM
Storage - 64/128GB
Software - Android 9.0 Pie
Cameras - 12.2 MP (28mm) with optical image stabilization
Battery - 3,430 mAh (69 hours)
Additional Features - Rear-mounted fingerprint scanner, squeeze to call Google Assistant, Call screen feature, Flip to quiet notifications

Smartphones continue to be a major part of people’s lives. As long as that continues, expect manufacturers to keep improving their best devices every year. What smartphone do you use? Would you consider getting one of these flagship devices? Leave your thoughts in the comments.

Let’s go over a few key practices to successfully using MDM to your business’ benefit.

What is Mobile Device Management?

Mobile device management is the application of software solutions that allow you to implement policies that control how users can access your business’ data. This enables your business to improve its data security while implementing a Bring Your Own Device policy.

If you are currently considering implementing an MDM solution, here are a few best practices to keep in mind as you make your selection:

Comprehensive Compatibility

Some people are fans of Android, while others will pick iOS whenever they have a choice. To successfully implement MDM, both platforms need to be supported. You should also be sure that your solution can differentiate between an employee-owned device and one that is property of your business and be able to adjust its policies accordingly.

Device Tracking and Management

On the off chance you have to let an employee go, you don’t want your BYOD strategy to leave you vulnerable to retribution. A good MDM solution will allow you to review what a device has access to, and to remotely revoke that access as necessary. As a bonus, these features make general device troubleshooting much simpler as well.

Security in Your Control

While your business’ security is obviously a priority for you, your team probably won’t think about it as seriously as you will… despite it largely being their responsibility. They might just assume that the chances of something happening are so low, they can cut a corner or two. Instead of convincing them that they’re mistaken, an MDM solution allows you to set the acceptable benchmarks for your security. This enables minimum password requirements, encryption, remote wiping capabilities, and other utilities.

Comprehensive Backup

If you’re allowing BYOD in your business, there’s a good chance that some of your business’ data is spread out amongst several employee devices. Should something happen to that device, you could easily lose this data. Protecting this data is as simple as backing it up to the cloud.

For more information about mobile device management, or any of our other IT services and support options, give Coleman Technologies a call at (604) 513-9428.

It is important to keep modern computers clean, and laptops are no exception. However, a laptop's different form factor makes cleaning it much different from cleaning a traditional desktop computer.

Let’s review the process that someone seeking to clean their laptop should follow, broken down between the different components.

BEFORE YOU BEGIN: Make sure you have backed up all your data, then turn off the device and unplug it. While we’re going to stick to safe methods of cleaning a laptop, accidents happen, so let’s mitigate most of the issues before there’s a risk of them taking place.

How to Clean a Laptop’s Chassis

• Use a microfiber cloth, very lightly dampened with water or a dedicated laptop cleaning fluid, to wipe down the exterior of your device. Be careful around ports and vents to avoid introducing moisture to the laptop's interior.
• Use compressed air to clean all vents and ports, applying it at an angle so debris isn’t pushed further in.
• If your laptop’s documentation confirms you can, gently open the back to clean vents, ports, and fans with compressed air. Make sure doing so won’t void any warranties.

How to Clean a Laptop’s Keyboard

• Carefully lift up your laptop and, with it upside-down, gently shake it to dislodge any crumbs from the keyboard.
• Use a microfiber towel to wipe down the keyboard, and use compressed air to clear out additional debris.
• If the laptop features removable keycaps, remove and replace one first to ensure you can do so. If you aren’t sure, however, don’t try removing the keys or keycaps.

How to Clean a Laptop’s Screen

• Use a microfiber cloth to wipe your screen, dampening it slightly if necessary.
• Use water, a 70% isopropyl alcohol solution, or a dedicated screen cleaning solution, avoiding other household cleaners.
• Use slow, circular motions to avoid creating streaks.

Hopefully, these tips will help you properly clean your laptop. Just be careful to avoid damaging your device.