Coleman Technologies Blog

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold2

Samsung’s major contribution into the folding smartphone market is the extraordinarily expensive Galaxy Z Fold2. While the device is impressive with its two full displays and three camera sets, there are some questions about who this device is for. 

Basically the biggest benefit is that the phone opens up to a 7.6-inch tablet. That benefit is substantial, of course, but without dedicated apps for that aspect ratio, it may only be valuable for people who want the best folding smartphone on the market, which this currently is. 

When folded it has a 6.23-inch Super AMOLED screen that functions much like your standard mid-range smartphone would, but when you unfold the Fold2, you get a 7.6-inch Dynamic AMOLED display. The rest of the phone is as you would expect. It features a five-lens camera platform, a 4,500 mAh battery with fast charging, and an in-display fingerprint scanner for security. The Z Fold2 is available in Mystic Bronze, Mystic Black, and a Thom Browne Edition Grey from most major carriers. 

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold2
Body: Aluminum with plastic front andGorilla Glass 6 Back
Display: Folded: 6.23-inch Super AMOLED Unfolded: 7.6-inch Dynamic AMOLED 2X (~373 ppi)
OS: Android 10
Chipset: Qualcomm Snapdragon 865+
Memory: 12 GB RAM
Expandable Memory: No
Cameras: Rear - 12 MP (wide), 12 MP (telephoto) 2x, 12 MP (ultra wide); Front (Folded) - 10 MP (wide); Front (Unfolded) - 10 MP (wide).
Sounds: Stereo Speakers, No Headphone Jack
Battery (endurance rating): 4,500 mAh (87 hours)
Security: Fingerprint reader
Miscellaneous: Accelerometer, Gyrometer, Proximity, Barometer, Compass, Bixby assistant
Other versions: 5G version

Samsung Z Flip and Motorola RAZR 5G

Two devices that are of similar form factor are the Samsung Z Flip and the Motorola RAZR 5G. Like the flip phones of old, each of these devices fit in the palm of your hand and fold virtually in half. The difference, of course, is that today’s version of the flip phone flips into a massively powerful smartphone.

The Samsung Z Flip doesn’t feature a large external display like the RAZR (which we’ll talk about in a minute). It’s 1.1-inch numeric display doesn’t really have a lot of function, but when it’s open, it becomes a 6.7-inch smartphone. Like the other premium devices, it runs on Android 10 on a powerful Qualcomm Snapdragon 865+ processor, with 8 GB of RAM. The Z Flip provides a high-end smartphone experience in a device that folds in half, it’s that simple. 

The Motorola RAZR 5G looks like the iconic Moto RAZR did in the era before smartphones were king. For all of the RAZR’s nostalgia it seems to spec-out significantly lighter than the Z Flip. It features a 6.2-inch P-OLED screen that folds up and a smaller display on the outside of the folded phone. It runs Android 10 on a Qualcomm Snapdragon 765G chip and comes with 8 GB of RAM with 256 GB of onboard storage space. 

Let’s take a look at the complete specs of these devices:

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip
Body: Aluminum with Plastic Front and Glass Back
Display: Folded: 1.1-inch Super AMOLED; Unfolded: 6.7-inch Foldable Dynamic AMOLED (~425 ppi)
OS: Android 10
Chipset: Qualcomm Snapdragon 865+
Memory: 8 GB RAM
Expandable Memory: No
Cameras: Rear - 12 MP (wide), 12 MP (ultrawide). Front - 12 MP (wide)
Sounds: Loudspeaker, No Headphone Jack
Battery (endurance rating): 3,300 mAh 
Security: Fingerprint reader
Miscellaneous: Accelerometer, Gyrometer, Proximity, Barometer, Compass, Bixby assistant, IP68 dust/water resistant
Other versions: No

Motorola RAZR 5G
Body: Aluminum with plastic, Gorilla Glass 5
Display: 6.2-inch P-OLED (~373 ppi)
OS: Android 10
Chipset: Qualcomm Snapdragon 765G
Memory: 18 GB RAM
Expandable Memory: No
Cameras: Rear - 48 MP (wide)
Sounds: Loudspeaker, No Headphone Jack
Battery (endurance rating): 2,800 mAh
Security: Fingerprint reader
Miscellaneous: Accelerometer, Gyrometer, Proximity, Barometer, Compass, Bixby assistant
Other versions: RAZR (2019)

LG Wing

The last device we will look at today is the LG Wing. The Wing is interesting because out of the box it looks like your typical smartphone. When you get it into your hand however, you soon see what the big hub-a-loo is. With a flick of your thumb, you can turn the device's 6.9-inch screen horizontally to expose a second smaller 3.9-inch screen. You can use both screens independently or simultaneously within the same app that supports the content distribution.

The Wing’s hardware isn’t quite flagship quality, but it is pretty good. The quirky device runs on  Qualcomm Snapdragon 765G and comes with 8 GB of RAM. It is built from solid aluminum and Gorilla Glass 5. With it’s 4,000 mAh battery most solid users will get about a day out of it if they are consistently using the dual displays (why wouldn’t you if you had this phone?) The tri-camera setup includes a 64-megapixel wide angle lens and dual ultrawide angle lenses of different speeds.

The LG Wing is available in Aurora Gray and Illusion Sky and should be available on most carriers by the middle of November 2020. 

LG Wing
Body: Aluminum with Gorilla Glass 5 Front and Back
Display: 6.9-inch Dynamic AMOLED 2x (~511 ppi)
OS: Android 10
Chipset: Qualcomm Snapdragon 765G
Memory: 8 GB RAM
Expandable Memory: Yes (microSDXC)
Cameras: Rear - 64 MP (wide), 13MP (ultra wide), 12 MP (ultra wide) Front - 32 MP (wide)
Sounds: Loudspeaker, No Headphone Jack
Battery (endurance rating): 4,000 mAh (87 hours)
Security: In-screen fingerprint reader
Miscellaneous: Accelerometer, Gyrometer, Proximity,Compass,, IP54 dust/water
Other versions: None

Do you think these devices are cool? Would you consider forking over $1,000 for one this year? Leave your thoughts in the comments section below.

What is Voice over Internet Protocol?

Traditionally, telephones work by sending electricity through the phone wires and phone lines and having it converted back into sound. Today, they have figured out how to do the same process through the Internet. Sounds are sent as data packets over Internet wires and then they are unpacked to make sounds again. VoIP is the product that has come from this innovation. Basically, where you once had to have an expensive business telephone system hardwired to your place of business, you can now do the same for a fraction of the cost by using your company’s bandwidth to send and receive calls.

How Does VoIP Work to Save Me Money?

VoIP presents several options that work to save your business money. They include:

You’re Paying for One Less Thing

Your business telephone system has worked, but the cost is high. Of course, you’ve needed it, but today, VoIP offers just as much in the way of features as a dedicated telephone system, but it does it through your Internet connection; a service that you almost assuredly have and use regularly. 

VoIP is Easier

Since VoIP is delivered via your Internet connection, your staff no longer needs additional infrastructure--such as a wired connection for every phone--to be able to make calls. You can scale your hosted VoIP solution up and back as you need. What’s more, for many solutions you can utilize your staff’s personal devices as reliable work phones through the use of a mobile app. That’s much easier.

VoIP is More Efficient

Most VoIP solutions enable you to provide them with an auto attendant feature that provides directions to callers. This reduces the time that people need to be on the phone. Clients get connected with the person they are calling, while employees won’t need to deal with their phone ringing and causing interruptions.

There are many other benefits to VoIP solution. If you would like to learn more about implementing VoIP and saving money in the process, reach out to Coleman Technologies at (604) 513-9428!

What is it to be Proactive?

It’s all about preventing issues and risk. Being proactive is simply action taken after a risk assessment. Many times, risk is inherent, so being proactive is just managing situations to keep risk at bay. It goes without saying that taking proactive steps, especially in business, can be some of the most effective strategies to get ahead. Why is this? It comes down to time. 

When a person sees a problem and fixes the problem, the time that is spent fixing the problem is waste, especially when taking proactive action could eliminate the problem in the first place. Managed services are predicated on this very concept. The more you do to keep problems from presenting themselves, the more time there is to be productive. We measure this in uptime.

Downtime, the Business Killer

Your business isn’t Google. It isn’t Google in 2013. That was the year that Google went down for almost five hours. Imagine five hours without Google! It cost the company--in 2013--an estimated $545,000. Now, Google can afford that, but it just illustrates how expensive downtime can be. It can be problematic in several ways, including:

• Customer frustration - Downtime is extremely problematic for your customer relationships. Not only does extended downtime flood your business with calls and messages, it also fosters distrust. 
• Staff frustration - For many small businesses, employees wear a couple different caps. One of those caps, that many workers would rather not wear, is that of a customer service representative. If someone on your production team can’t get at the resources they need to do their jobs, you are paying them to either be PR or janitorial staff. Either way, they tend to get impatient pretty quick when they can’t do what they were hired to do.
• Exorbitant cost - The two previous examples fuel rising costs. If you are paying your employees and they aren’t producing anything tangible, you are losing money, period.

Limiting downtime is a priority for every well-run business, otherwise you are just throwing away money. 

Proactive Services

At Coleman Technologies, we have a couple proactive solutions that can really benefit your business. They include:

• Remote monitoring - By remotely monitoring your network and infrastructure, our expert technicians can see if there are inconsistencies, infiltrations, or irregularities that we can take care of before they become problematic. By staying ahead of hardware issues and monitoring for malware and other network-related issues, you avoid the downtime it takes to fix these issues when they come to a head.
• Cloud computing - Another option is to take your computing infrastructure offsite. Cloud solutions often come with comprehensive management baked into the price so that your employees will have anytime, anywhere access to the data and applications they need. 
• Patch management - Software vulnerabilities can be exploited by hackers and cause significant devastation on your company’s network. By updating all of your software systems with the latest updates, you mitigate the risk that comes from running older versions of software.

Proactivity doesn’t just happen, you have to make it happen. If you would like to stare down some of the biggest risks to your technology and data, and improve your business’ uptime, call us today at (604) 513-9428.

Past Flagship Phones

We should start by mentioning that some of the best options are actually purchasing flagship phones from the past couple of years. Most flagship smartphones from 2018 have the same specs as many of the mid-range phones today so they can be had at a budget price point. These devices tend to not only have comparable specs, they typically have superior build quality, run on better processors, and offer a user experience in line or better than the experience they would get on some budget smartphones. 

Some options to consider are the Samsung Galaxy s9 and s9+, LG’s V50 thinQ, the iPhone X, and the Google Pixel 3 XL. The only drawback of older phones is that they may not get the same amount of software upgrades that a newly-purchased phone would. Either way, you might get the most value out of an older flagship phone. 

Apple iPhone SE

The 2020 version of the iPhone SE still has the body of an iPhone 8, but the internals are upgraded and it presents users that can’t afford the $1,000 iPhone 12 Pro Max to get a new iPhone at a reasonable price point. The new SE runs iOS 13 on the A13 Bionic chipset to offer the user experience Apple users expect out of a budget iPhone. 

Apple iPhone SE (2020)
Body: Aluminum with Gorilla Glass front and back
Display: 4.7-inch Retina IPS LCD (~326 ppi)
OS: iOS 13
Chipset: Apple A13 Bionic 
Memory: 3 GB RAM
Expandable Memory: No
Cameras: Rear - 12 MP (wide); Front - 7 MP
Sounds: Stereo Speakers, No Headphone Jack
Battery (endurance rating): 4,500 mAh (87 hours)
Security: Fingerprint reader
Miscellaneous: Accelerometer, Gyrometer, Proximity, Compass, Siri assistant
Other versions: none

Samsung Galaxy A51

Samsung has 10 separate devices in their A-line. They range from the A01 to the A71, but the Galaxy A51 is priced at the upper end of the budget space. The A51 features a 6.5-inch Super AMOLED display, expandable storage, and a 3.5mm headphone jack. It is a great option if you are looking for a phone that gives you a decent user experience while also turning back the clock a bit. Available in Prism Crush Black, Prism Crush White, Prism Crush Blue, or Prism Crush Pink, the Galaxy A51 can be found on most major carriers and unlocked online.

Samsung Galaxy A51
Body: Plastic with Gorilla Glass 3 front, plastic back
Display: 6.5-inch Super AMOLED (~405 ppi)
OS: Android 10
Chipset: Octa-core Exynos 9611
Memory: 4-8 GB RAM
Expandable Memory: microSDXC
Cameras: Rear - 48 MP (wide), 12 MP (ultrawide, 5 MP (macro, 5 MP (depth); Front - 32 MP (wide)
Sounds: Loudspeaker, 3.5mm headphone jack
Battery (endurance rating): 4,000 mAh (86 hours)
Security: In-display fingerprint reader
Miscellaneous: Accelerometer, Gyrometer, Proximity, Barometer, Compass, Bixby assistant
Other versions: Samsung Galaxy A-series

Google Pixel 4a 5G

A 5G-capable budget smartphone, the Google Pixel 4a 5G features a 6.2-inch OLED display and has specs that are better than its price point would suggest. Its camera experience, specifically, is much better than phones found at this price. Available in Just Black and Clearly White, the Pixel 4a 5G is available in the Google store or from many major service carriers.

Google Pixel 4A 5G
Body: Plastic with Gorilla Glass 3 front and plastic back
Display: 6.2-inch OLED, HDR (~413 ppi)
OS: Android 11
Chipset: Qualcomm Snapdragon 765G
Memory: 6 GB RAM
Expandable Memory: No
Cameras: Rear - 12.2 MP (wide), 16 MP (ultra wide); Front - 8 MP (wide).
Sounds: Stereo Speakers, 3.5mm Headphone Jack
Battery: 3,885 mAh
Security: Fingerprint reader
Miscellaneous: Accelerometer, Gyrometer, Proximity, Barometer, Compass, Google Assistant
Other versions: 4G LTE version

Would you consider buying a budget device to use as your daily smartphone? Let us know in the comments section below.

If you truly want to run your business effectively, it all starts with understanding how its costs break down. If you are armed with this knowledge, you can make better decisions about solution procurement and operations management. Let’s examine how you can cut costs without harming your business in the process.

Outsourcing Can Help

Outsourcing is often misunderstood, but it is an incredibly powerful tool to control your costs and improve operations. If you take part of your business that is costly to run normally, then outsource it to a provider, you get more stable costs and expertise that you might not normally be able to leverage.

Businesses have all sorts of outsourcing options these days, including gig workers or managed service providers. You can outsource help desks for support, or you can outsource recruitment and payroll. The sky's the limit, so to speak; if you can imagine it, you can probably outsource it, provided you find an appropriate vendor.

Data Allows for Better Decision-Making

The more data your business has, the more tools and resources it has at its disposal to enable better decision-making. You can look at data to learn about what has worked well in the past, what could work well in the future, and what needs to be addressed immediately. Data is key to the many types of initiatives you might have planned for the future.

Data analytics can give your business key insights into how it can be more efficient with sales, marketing, operational processes, and so on. It can help you build better consumer experiences and customer relationships, something which can increase revenue and give you more resources to work with in the future.

Keep Flexibility in Mind

You can provide greater value to your employees by keeping flexibility at the top of your mind. This means giving them tools to communicate and be productive whether they are in the office or on the move, and thanks to cloud-based resources and solutions, you can do this easily and efficiently.

Another way you can innovate and keep things flexible is through the use of artificial intelligence technology. An AI chatbot, for example, can free up employees for other tasks, focusing instead on tasks that generate revenue.

Coleman Technologies can help your business be more cost-effective and productive at the same time. To learn more, reach out to us at (604) 513-9428.

There are several aspects of a backup and recovery strategy that business owners (who do see reason to implement one) have to square away. By breaking the strategy into three core parts, your organization can secure a positive ROI from a backup and recovery system that, with any luck, you’ll never have to use.

Data Backup
Deciding on a backup platform is obviously the first step in the process. There are several strategies a small business can use to cover its assets. They could use cloud storage, network attached storage facilities that use hard disk drives or tape backup drives, or even a manual system where people protect the data by backing it up to a hard drive and then take a copy with them when they leave. No matter what platform you choose to utilize, you have to understand that if you look at your data as an asset, it stands to reason that you would want to protect as much data as you can. At Coleman Technologies, we offer a comprehensive backup and disaster recovery service that utilizes network attached storage that pushes copies to the cloud in real-time. This not only provides the kind of data redundancy every organization needs, it allows our clients to thoroughly plan their data recovery strategies.

Before we go into recovery, we’d be remiss not to mention that some data simply isn’t important. Small businesses often have a lot of data they collect but don’t do anything with, so it just sits on their infrastructure taking up space. Some businesses look to data analytics to cut down on dark data, but for the small business that doesn’t have a backup strategy, it might just be putting the cart before the horse.

Data Recovery
If you are looking for a positive ROI, this is where it begins. A business needs to establish acceptable parameters for the recovery of their data. To do this, an organization is going to have to establish what are known as their recovery point objective (RPO) and recovery time objective (RTO). Before we elaborate, we should say that if you are in a position where you need to restore a large portion of your data--whether it be because of malware, natural disaster, sabotage, or blatant negligence--you absolutely have to have these plans made (and tested).

The recovery point objective defines how much data your business could reasonably afford to lose in order to be able to sustain operational effectiveness. Recovery time objective is the maximum time you believe you can go without your data before your business fails. Each figure isn’t static throughout your business. Some of your data is more important than other data, of course, and has to be weighted this way. Therefore, some systems that hold more crucial data will have different RPOs and RTOs than less critical systems.

How the System Provides a Calculable ROI
This is where you can put it all together. How do you calculate the return on investment on systems that you hope you will never ever use?

• Establish your organization’s hourly realized revenue. To do this you take the amount of revenue your organization has taken in over the past year and divide it by the total working hours you and your staff have logged for that time.
• Figure out how much you would stand to lose both with and without a backup and recovery system in place.
• Multiply the hourly realized revenue with both scenario-specific figures you’ve calculated in step 2 and take the difference. This number represents the total avoided loss, in dollars.
• Finally, plug that figure into this formula to measure your backup system’s ROI:

ROI = (Avoided loss - Cost of backup and recovery system x 100%)

Without a disaster hitting your business, you may think that backup and recovery strategies are a waste of time and resources, but the ROI is clear.

If your business is looking for a backup and disaster recovery solution that can seriously save your business in the event of a disaster--something no ROI calculator will ever tell you--call the IT professionals at Coleman Technologies today at (604) 513-9428.