Review–Power Jacket for Lumia 920

Full disclosure – the review unit was supplied by Mobilezap. You can find this device and others at the Mobilezap category page at:
http://www.mobilezap.com.au/31817/nokia/lumia-920/cases.htm
When I upgraded to the Nokia Lumia 920 one of the biggest issues I noticed was how quickly the battery drained compared to my previous phone. Admittedly, I have been using it more intensively but it would be hard pressed to get through a full day’s usage from the standard battery.

Now the external battery for the Lumia 920 seems to the job of providing an extended charge for the phone. This is really handy for those who need the extended life and may not always have the ability to recharge throughout the day.
At first I though it was a battery extender but what it really is an external battery, much like those USB charging bricks you carry around.

The unit can be charged stand alone via the same standard micro USB cable you use with the phone.

On the back you’ll find an on/off switch and a number of charging lights letting you know how much charge the external battery has.
The phone slips neatly into the external battery case and has a nice neoprene/non-slip feel to it. It does add some bulk to the phone but that is to be expected given what you are trying to achieve. Even with the external battery connected, I still found the phone fitted snuggly in my hand.
The external battery comes with an arm you can extend so you can prop up the phone on a desk for viewing. I found the arm to lack a ‘grippy’ end. This meant that it tended to slide around a little on a smooth desk when you tried to use the phone. Maybe some form of neoprene tip would prevent that? However, in practice the arm worked well and allowed me to watch a video on the phone with relative ease.
The basic process is that you charge up the external battery and connect it to the phone. When the phone runs low you press the on/off switch on the back of the battery and the battery then charges the phone. You can repeat this process until the external battery is exhausted, then you can use the normal battery in the phone.
I found this process to be pretty straight forward and convenient. I think it is also a much better idea than having to cart around a generic USB charger brick.

If you look at the ‘standard’ type cover I had previously you can see that it has a front lip that comes almost up to the glass on the phone. The extended battery doesn’t have this lip, which means the front face and some of the sides are somewhat exposed. If you therefore accidentally drop the phone with the external battery attached and it hits at just the right angle (which it always does when you drop it right?) you may find your phone subject to more damage that with the standard case.
It should also be noted that the instructions for the external battery say that you shouldn’t drop it, which kind of means that it isn’t really meant for that sort of protection even though that is the most likely thing that is going to happen right?

Another thing I noticed is that the ‘standard’ case has recessed areas for the buttons on the side of the phone as shown above. The extended battery doesn’t cover these buttons but with the unit on the phone these buttons can be a little hard to operate.
The final issue I will note is that with the external battery unit on the phone plugging a headset into the phone can be problematic. A ‘non-standard’ headset (i.e. didn’t come with the phone) doesn’t fit flush onto the phone so it may operate correctly. A jack with a finer plug, like the headset that comes with the phone, would be ok but there probably needs to be a greater recess around the headphone jack at the top of the external battery to allow for this if you, like me, have a ‘non-standard’ set of headphones you like to use.
All in all I think this is great unit for the Nokia Lumina 920. It is a much better bet than a USB charging brick. I like the power button and charging lights on the rear and even though it does make the phone more bulky with it added that is small price to pay for the extended charging range it provides. I think it is most handy in the car when you want to use GPS and the like without having to always have it plugged into the charger. I like the fact that I can throw the external battery into my bag and attach it when I need it to extend my trips between power points. Apart from a few minor ergonomic quibbles I think this external battery is a very handy addition for Lumia 920 owners who are heavy phone users and need more battery life than the standard phone battery provides.

Exchange Online protection

One of the big improvements with Exchange Online and the upgrade to Wave 15 is the integration of many of the protection features of email directly into the administration console. Previously, you actually had to ‘shell out’ to the Forefront protection console to work on much of this.

Now you simply login to the Office 365 console as an administrator.

From the Admin menu option in the top right select the Exchange from the pull down menu that appears.

Now select the protection option on the left hand side to display the screen shown above. Now across the top on the right you will see a number options, with malware filter being currently selected.

You can learn more details about Exchange Online anti malware here:

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj200669(EXCHG.150).aspx

If you edit the default policy (by selecting the pencil icon) and select settings on the left hand side you will see the above window.

In there you can set a number of different options for how messages containing malware are handled.

If you return to the previous screen you can now examine the anti-spam protection options. More details about these options can be found at:

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj200762(EXCHG.150).aspx

If you now examine the connection filtering policy you will see the above options that allow you to white and black list specific IP addresses.

If you return to the previous menu and edit the content filtering policy you will see the above listed.

In the advanced options you will find even more settings for how content in email is handled.

Finally if your return to the previous menu and select quarantine you will see any messages that are currently being held.

For more detailed information about quarantine have a look here:

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj200776(EXCHG.150).aspx

The other area when it comes to protection is reports. This has again been significantly improved and integrated directly into the console. This allows you to display real time results as shown above.

So, if you job is to manage and monitor email protection, spend some time looking at the protection area inside Exchange Online administration.

Aston goes Office 365

I’m pretty keen on my cars and it was of interest that I discovered that Aston Martin has now gone Office 365.

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http://www.youtube.com/v/UWfQu4vWFtQ?hl=en&hd=1“;” alt=””>

You’ll find the complete case study at:

http://www.microsoft.com/casestudies/Case_Study_Detail.aspx?casestudyid=710000002484

which does make for interesting reading. Turns out Aston is also a big SharePoint user! Hopefully, their Australia branch needs some help.

SharePoint Online file size increases

In the SharePoint Online Storage FAQ post I wrote recently I noted with interest that the maximum file size had increased from 250MB to 2GB.

Now when I actually tested that in a browser I received the above error indicating that the file could not be uploaded.

Unfazed, I broke out the SkyDrive pro client app and used that to sync the same file from my desktop and as you can see from the above screen shot SUCCEESS! Yeah! In the above screen shot you see a file of size 414,262 KB. Thus, you CAN upload a file of greater than 250MB to SharePoint Online. Just seems you have to use SkyDrive pro client app from the desktop.

If you look at the SkyDrive Pro location on your desktop you will also see it there.

I get the feeling that the browser is probably not the best vehicle for transferring large files (as time outs are involved). I did do my initial tests with Chrome and Internet Explorer and expect the same issues with all browsers.

However, ring the bells, SharePoint Online now supports file sizes greater than 250MB. Another great leap forward fro Office 365!

I’ll be at TechEd Australia will you?

During the first week in September I’ll be up on the Gold Coast participating in Microsoft Tech Ed Australia. While I’m there I’ll be giving the following sessions:

Managing Microsoft Office 365

Date:Wednesday, September 4
Time:9:45 AM – 11:00 AM
Room:Theatre 2
Session Type:Instructor-Led Lab (ILL)
Technical Level:300

During this lab, tour the Microsoft Office 365 admin and user portal. Throughout the lab, review areas of the user interface and perform tasks highlighting administration features of Office 365 Technical Preview. You are encouraged to explore all areas of the portal covered and not covered in the lab in order to become familiar with Office 365.

http://techedsessions.cloudapp.net/SessionDetail.aspx?id=6977

Administering Office 365 for Small Business – 74-324

Date:Wednesday, September 4
Time:3:30 PM – 5:00 PM
Room:Exam Cram
Technical Level:100

The Administering Office 365 for Small Business Exam Cram session will prepare you to take the 74-324 Certification exam through a mixture of course work and real world exam questions. These skills are key to administering Office 365 for Small Business clients and are especially designed for Microsoft partners looking to achieve a Small Business Competency. This session will also provide you with a greater insight on the capabilities and opportunities around the Office 365 product for SMB customers.

http://techedsessions.cloudapp.net/SessionDetail.aspx?id=6986

Deploying Microsoft Office as a Service

Date:Friday, September 6
Time:9:45 AM – 11:00 AM
Room:Theatre 3
Session Type:Instructor-Led Lab (ILL)
Technical Level:300

During this lab, you prepare for, deploy, and manage a Microsoft Office 365 Professional Plus deployment.

http://techedsessions.cloudapp.net/SessionDetail.aspx?id=7010

So if you are also attending TechEd please let me know (director@ciaops.com) and we can catch up. Even if you are not going but will be in the area I’d love to hear from you. So again get in touch.

I get a lot of questions from SMB resellers about whether TechEd is worth attending. So my initial response to that is to go and have a look at the session content. From there you’ll probably see that much of it is enterprise focused. That doesn’t mean it isn’t relevant for SMB but you should be aware that it is more ‘M’ than ‘S’ here.

There are still heaps of sessions that are totally relevant and anyone who works in IT field will learn something. However, from a business side you need to factor in the cost of attendance, travel, accommodation, meals and finally time away from your business. That can be tough for a smaller reseller to justify.

Finally, I would also tell you that many of the sessions (especially from other TechEd’s around the world) are recorded and made available online for free after the fact. So if you like the content just keep an eye for when the presentations are posted online.

However, the major benefit in my experience is business networking, the people you meet and the relationships you build during the event have the greatest value. If you are keen to build and you’ll be in the vicinity during the first week in September, let me know, I am always keen to catch up with people. If you are attending TechEd I hope I’ll see you in one of my sessions.

SharePoint Online Storage FAQ

Which Office 365 plans include SharePoint Online?

– Small Business Suite (P1)

– Small Business Premium Suite (P2)

– Mid Sized Business Suite (M)

– Enterprise Plan 1 Suite (E1)

– Enterprise Plan 3 Suite (E3)

– Enterprise Plan 4 Suite (E4)

– SharePoint Online Plan 1

– SharePoint Online Plan 2

– Office Web Apps Plan 1

– Office Web Apps Plan 2

How much storage to I get with SharePoint Online?

Every plans that includes SharePoint Online comes with:

– 10 GB of Shared Storage

– Adds 500MB to Shared Storage per licensed user. e.g. 7 users adds 3.5 GB to the initial 10GB making 13.5GB of shared storage

– 7GB of private (via SkyDrive Pro) storage per licensed user. Thus, in the above with 7 users you would have a total of 13.5GB of shared storage and 49GB of private storage shared amongst users.

Can I add additional pooled storage beyond the default that is provided?

Yes, all plans support the purchasing of additional pooled storage space. However, beware as of the date of this blog post (August 2013) this option is not available for P1, P2 or M plans although it should be available very soon.

There is currently no option to purchase additional private (SkyDrive Pro) space for any plan.

What is the maximum pooled storage capacity I can have including additional storage?

– Small Business Suite (P1) = 100GB

– Small Business Premium Suite (P2) = 100GB

– Mid Sized Business Suite (M) = 2,000GB

– Enterprise Plan 1 Suite (E1) = 25,000GB

– Enterprise Plan 3 Suite (E3) = 25,000GB

– Enterprise Plan 4 Suite (E4) = 25,000GB

– SharePoint Online Plan 1 = 25,000GB

– SharePoint Online Plan 2 = 25,000GB

– Office Web Apps Plan 1 = 25,000GB

– Office Web Apps Plan 2 = 25,000GB

How many site collections can I have in pooled storage?

– Small Business (P1) = 1 internal + 1 public

– Small Business Premium (P2) = 1 internal + 1 public

– Mid Sized Business (M) = 20 internal + 1 public

– Enterprise Plan 1 Suite (E1) = 3,000 internal + 1 public

– Enterprise Plan 3 Suite (E3) = 3,000 internal + 1 public

– Enterprise Plan 4 Suite (E4) = 3,000 internal + 1 public

– SharePoint Online Plan 1 = 3,000 internal + 1 public

– SharePoint Online Plan 2 = 3,000 internal + 1 public

– Office Web Apps Plan 1 = 3,000 internal + 1 public

– Office Web Apps Plan 2 = 3,000 internal + 1 public

Can I allocate user SkyDrive Pro space as pooled storage?

Basically no. Each user get 7GB of storage for their ‘personal’ use. This space cannot be reallocated elsewhere. However, it is certainly possible to change the default security settings on each users personal SkyDrive Pro and make the 7GB per use available to all users as a ‘de-facto’ addition to pooled storage. In that case, you could think of this configuration as another site collection added to the total available space. No the recommended method but certainly possible.

What is the maximum file size that I can upload?

All plans now say they support a maximum of 2GB per file. The previous limit was 250MB.

Interestingly, when I attempt to upload a file of > 250MB to my E3 tenant I get an error, however the specs certainly now say 2GB is the limit for individual files. I am sure this will change when tenants are upgraded over time.

How much space do I get with my public website?

With all plans by default you receive 5GB of space which can be increased to 100GB for your public SharePoint Online site.

Where can I find more information about SharePoint Online storage?

SharePoint Online: software boundaries and limit – http://office.microsoft.com/en-au/office365-sharepoint-online-enterprise-help/sharepoint-online-software-boundaries-and-limits-HA102694293.aspx

Office 365 Mail flow trouble-shooter

One of the most common problems you see with Office 365 (or any email system actually) is people asking why their email’s aren’t being received. Microsoft has now created a Mail Flow Analyser to help you track down any issues.

You can find it at:
http://support.microsoft.com/common/survey.aspx?scid=sw;en;3568&showpage=1
They have also made available this nice graphic overview of email operations

to help you understand the process of sending and receiving emails.
Nice.

CIAOPS Virtual Technical Meeting September–Register Now

So there is a slight change of dates for our September meeting as I will be presenting some sessions TechEd Australia on the Gold Coast during the first week in September. Thus, I have shifted the meeting back a week to the second Wednesday in September (11th from 4.00 – 5.30pm.

After being held over from last month September will feature presentation on Yammer.
All about YammerIn this session you’ll receive an introduction to the Yammer product and learn how it will be integrated into Microsoft products such as SharePoint Online.
Presenter = Robert Crane, Office 365 MVP
I will also endeavour to record the session and make it available after the fact but if you attend the meeting you’ll be able to ask specific questions and interact with other attendees during the general discussion part of the meeting. If you haven’t already I urge you to register for the event at:
http://ciaops0913.eventbrite.com.au
The event is free and I hope to see you there.