Paranoid Android

November 9 2009

I was just reading Jens Bruntt's blog entry from last week, "Android synci'ing PIM with Lotus Traveler: TouchDown".  This is just days after I held an internal review to discuss our plans for Lotus Notes Traveler in 8.5.2 and beyond.   I can't blog those plans yet, but a portion of the discussion covered what our plans should be for support for Notes Traveler on Android-based devices.

The philosophy with Lotus Notes Traveler has been to leverage built-in capabilities on the devices that are supported.  In some cases, we install a small shim program to handle communications to Domino, but we don't build mail/calendar/contacts applications.  For the Apple iPhone, we use the native experience 100% (though in the future, we may build add-ons that enhance the built-in capabilities).

Android-based phones present a different challenge.  The base operating system has only just added an an "Exchange" (ActiveSync) mail client in the 2.0 SDK.  More to the point, since Android is an open platform, we will see different device manufacturers elect to include or exclude different components from their implementations, or choose to build their own, or implement third-party, solutions for different functionality.  There's also a gap in that the base 2.0 Android kit does not include a calendar implementation, though presumably most device manufacturers will include a calendar component on their devices.

Jens's blog entry talks about a third-party Android product that implements email, calendar, and contacts for "Exchange".  Jens has not tried the product but one of the comments on his site says "it works!".  This is good news and another testimonial to the Notes Traveler 8.5.1 implementation, even though obviously this won't be an officially-supported configuration.

At any rate, it looks like Android's momentum is increasing -- Gartner predicts that Android will be the #2 mobile phone operating system by 2012, behind Symbian.  (Blackberry and iPhone follow in 3rd and 4th...and Windows Mobile is in 5th and declining.  Some are even writing Windows Mobile off)  Given that, I want to make sure that we bring Notes Traveler to the Android sooner rather than later.  The problem is that the different implementations, distributions, and capabilities are going to make this much more difficult than other mobile platforms we support.  Microsoft is facing the same challenge for Exchange -- for a change, they are not the first and default experience in a mobile operating system.  Calendar especially looks like a place where there will be little consistency.  We're working on some options now, but it's a good opportunity to ask -- what would you like to see for Android?

Ed Brill Highland Park, IL USA Category:  Lotus Notes  Lotus Domino  Notes 8  Domino 8  notes8beta  Add/View Comments [45]

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  1. 1  Nathan T. Freeman http://nathan.lotus911.com | 11/9/2009 10:57:27 AM

    HHG2G reference FTW!

  1. 2  Tripp Black http://www.mindwatering.com | 11/9/2009 10:57:56 AM

    Hi Ed,

    We don't use Android based phones yet ourselves. So we have nothing to opine yet. (We are switching over from Palm and Windows OS to iPhones mostly.) However, we love the fact that once again customer input is being called upon from the beginning.

    Thanks,

    Tripp

  1. 3  Jonathan Walkup  | 11/9/2009 11:03:51 AM

    So your message to Android owners is, basically, "Don't Panic!"

    Seriously, good to see IBM out in front of this.

  1. 4  Andy Dempster  | 11/9/2009 11:08:58 AM

    As a recent Android convert (HTC Magic on Vodafone) I am really looking forward to this. In the meantime I have been using the excellent GooCalSync { Link } from the OpenNTF site and it works a treat!

  1. 5  Bill http://flickr.com/photos/zizzy | 11/9/2009 11:14:31 AM

    I just got my Verizon Droid on Friday and am very impressed with it. My customer (U.S. Courts) has already been experimenting with iPhone. We always see users in the courts jumping the gun to get new stuff, so I'm sure we'll be getting questions about Android and Lotus in the near future.

    I tried using iNotes through my Droid's browser, it was OK, but of course I was getting less than an optimum experience. Perhaps once their browser supports flash (early 2010 supposedly) that may provide more options for supporting Lotus apps, at least I certainly hope so.

  1. 6  Mark Hughes http://hughesconnect.com | 11/9/2009 11:25:03 AM

    @Bill X-pages works great on these mobile browsers(except blackberry). It it not that hard to scale them down to make a nice touch interface, plus works on iPhone, Pre, and android devices...

    Vowe had a nice post recently about developing once and running on many smart phones.

  1. 7  William Smith  | 11/9/2009 11:25:24 AM

    @5 - What issues were you seeing with the Droid device in iNotes? We have an internal user that is already using a Droid with iNotes ultralite. It sounded as if everything was working fine for him.

    Ed - Yes, we have had several requests for Android, but many more for the Palm WebOS devices. At the current time we are using Commontime's mSuite for WebOS and Android devices. It would be nice to have those natively supported in Domino.

  1. 8  Sean Smith http://www.aviall.com | 11/9/2009 11:31:32 AM

    Would definitely like to see Traveler support for the Droid. I think this is very much like IBM throwing its weight behind Eclipse. If Verizon has decided to fully support Android based phones, and within 2 years it will be the second most popular phone OS, it will become a requirement to push Notes out to our clients on these phones. Would be great if I could say "Oh ya, no problem, Lotus Knows Android!"

  1. 9  Brian Miller  | 11/9/2009 11:54:02 AM

    I think that, in the absence of a unified mail and calendar "experience" on Android phones, that IBM will really need to program a whole app to handle it all. I think that trying to leverage anything "pre-installed" in the Android environment is going to lead to headaches.

    That said, it's a good opportunity to create a look and feel that's consistent with what you get in Notes. That's the next best option, really.

    I believe that distribution can be done over http, so you can (in theory) put the apk file into the mail template as a design element. This would, of course, allow us devs to hack around in it. Which, IMO, isn't a bad thing. Of course, IBM Legal may well disagree.

  1. 10  Nathan T. Freeman http://nathan.lotus911.com | 11/9/2009 12:24:14 PM

    @9 - I dunno. Might make for a great OpenNTF project.

  1. 11  Felix  | 11/9/2009 12:27:10 PM

    Are You also thinking about Nokia N900 & maemo OS? Some voices are talking about maemo as the next OS for all new Nokia high end devices.

    I'm so happy to see IBM heavily working on Domino & related products :)

    Felix

  1. 12  Arnd Layer  | 11/9/2009 1:22:29 PM

    Just some ideas:

    - build an open source iCal calendar client for Android and iCal enable the Domino server

    - build a XPages runtime (and replication engine) for Android

  1. 13  John Foldager http://www.izone.dk | 11/9/2009 5:18:30 PM

    Ed this is really great news! I've previously asked for Android support for Lotus Traveler on this blog.

    I've been running the HTC Hero with Android 1.5 since the beginning of August 2009 and I'm sure this will be the mobile platform of tomorrow. However, I believe that IBM needs to take a serious talk with the Google Android developer team to speed things up and to open up the Android platform even further. IBM could probably create a Traveler client for the Android 1.5, 1.6 and 2.0 that would work. However, I've started an Android project where I need some special phone handling that can't be done using any of these Android versions -- even though I've found several people asking for that specific feature (and other related issues) a long time ago. There are issues on the platform that needs more attention and they need to be part of the APIs. Basically a lot of people say that it is possible to rip'n'replace any application on the Android with custom ones. However, that is not entirely true. Some applications can't be replaced by custom ones because of some security restrictions. I do understand the concerns, but the security restrictions could easily be changed so that the user would accept some special security from a custom application.

    Anyway... really looking forward to Traveler support on Android from IBM! :o)

  1. 14  Niels J. Hansen http://www.ibm.com | 11/9/2009 5:54:01 PM

    Attending Microsoft TechEd 2009 in Berlin (what better place to spy a little on Microsoft - on this day; the 20. anniversary of the fall of the Berlin wall!).

    Microsoft top executive Stephen Elop did the key note which was clinically free of interesting announcements (Echange 2010 is out - yeah!). One interesting point was how he 2-3 times very explicitly said "Exchange Activesync", and not just Activesync. Maybe I am paranoid, but knowing how nothing seems to slip by accident from Microsoft, this did strike me as a bid odd and very interesting (setting it apart from the rest of the 1½ hour key notesession).

    Is Microsoft having plans with Activesync that could affect our use of this technology, or the use of this on Android?

    BTW standing with thousands at Potsdammer Platz in poring rain, seeing the Berlin wall fall again in the shape of Domino tiles was a great moment even if it was Domino falling.

  1. 15  Mike Robinson http://www.invcs.com | 11/9/2009 6:06:28 PM

    I guess I am not that paranoid about Android. As a neat little consumer device, but I think it's going to suffer from the same issues as Linux desktop pentration. iphone owns the consumer space, and Blackberry the biz enterprise space (at least in the US). Where is the huge back-end server for Andriod (like BES or WinMobile) or iphone for that matter- not discounting the platform, but in corp scenario where either talking tethered or client side wireless (bluetooth/wi-fi) sync-ing, neither are very scalable, or manageble.

    This might be better off for the 3rd party market (like Cadenza) to offer this solution and let them worry about this specific device support for low capacity in the corporate realm.

  1. 16  Bhavesh K Munshi http://blog.bhavpreet.com | 11/9/2009 7:48:56 PM

    Why can't Traveler be configured to use the activesync of any mobile, as most of today's mobile have got it. As of now Traveler only works with activesync of iPhone.

    I have got activesync in my phone and i can sync with any mail server who supports activesync like exchange, gmails etc., but not traveler, why?

  1. 17  Rock http://www.lotusgeek.com | 11/9/2009 9:22:23 PM

    1) Lotus should build a basic Android client that provides base Mail/Cal/Contacts, because of the open source/myriad config issue. The keyword is "BASIC" - it should be lean and provide the "must have" features, nothing more. This should be a "bare bones" app that runs on ALL Android devices. Hell, you can even build it and "throw it over the wall" as an Open Source/Alphaworks-style project for ongoing support.

    2) This client should be able to be configured to use 1, 2, or all 3 "parts" - that way, if you have an Android phone that has, say, only Mail then you can "enhance" your experience by adding the missing bits.

    3) Make it easy for ISVs to build their own alternative Android Mail/Cal/Contact apps for Notes/Traveler by providing the guidelines (minimum) or an API (desirable) to make it easier for those ISVs to do this. THIS is where people can go to get more robust, full-featured clients that best suit their needs, based upon their environments and deployed devices.

    By handling it in this 3-prong approach, you support the maximum amount of people with the minimum amount of (relative) effort. You allow those who "just need something that works" to have a Notes interface, you allow them to "fill the gaps" they find in their Android devices, and you push off the support of a myriad Android device configs to the ISVs, not you.

    I think this would be a great way to show thorough support for a budding technology and community.

    --Rock

  1. 18  Jens Brunt http://www.jens.brunt.dk | 11/10/2009 12:28:50 AM

    @0 Ed, the person who wrote "it works" on my blog has supplied a bit more information. Basically he read my post, downloaded the 3rd party app and tried it out. And it worked.

    It's great to hear that you are looking at doing something for the Android platform. After having spent some time researching its usefulness compared to the iPhone, I find that Android does require attention. And here is your chance to be first mover in PIM sync'ing.

    As to what you should do about support for Android, I would vote for suggestions like @17 and @10. It's an open source platform so something open source might be the first step.

    It could be you could do something like the way IBM is working with Eclipse+Notes and openoffice.org+Symphony.

    /JENS BRUNTT

  1. 19  billrobo  | 11/10/2009 1:22:15 AM

    Hi Ed,

    Support for any Linux handset would be appreciated - we just can't get effective odf file support with the iPhone (a quote from our German developer of odf file viewers: "The iphone does not expose a file system like desktop or symbian operating systems and does not allow to open an attachment directly from an email as well, two major features of the Symbian version. You can only store and open files from within your application's sandbox").

    We would prefer Traveler support for the upcoming Nokia N900 (running the Maemo Linux platform) as Australia, like Europe (and unlike America), is a Nokia stronghold ... but Droid support would be an excellent second choice.

    Regards

    Bill

  1. 20  Lubomir Hornak  | 11/10/2009 2:17:11 AM

    Hi Ed,

    regarding the plans for Traveler 8.5.2 - any info about support for windows mobile 6.5?

  1. 21  Fredrik Stöckel http://www.twitter.com/fstockel | 11/10/2009 4:50:03 AM

    Android devices can be seen on the street and in companies everywhere in Europe, and I think the European market is growing rapidly – on the consumer and (definitely) on the business side.

    Several people at my company use Android devices (mainly Hero and Magic), and have configured their devices with the mentioned “roadsync” client with success. Android as a platform is great, and it’s fairly easy and straight forward to develop applications for it if you know java (the Andrioid SDK is very good) so the possibilities are endless…

    Adding native Andriod support to Traveler is not a “nice-to-have” thing, it will be/is as important as traveler support on the iPhone imho – the “Android effect” is similar as earlier with iPhone and people buy Android based devices without hesitation and seems very happy with them (often a lot cheaper, advanced features and networking capabilities, not looked to a contract and or operator, and available almost everywhere)

    The pre-installed ActicvSync client that comes with Hero (supplied by HTC), does not work with Traveler, and from what I’ve heard (can be wrong here) because the implementation is based on a newer specification of the EAS protocol? The iPhone EAS implementation is based on an earlier specification (and so is the EAS support in Traveler?). Well something like that.

    Anyway, great news, really looking forward to Android support in Traveler (hope it will be in 8.5.2), both from personal- and business perspective (in the same way as with the iPhone support)

    Fredrik

  1. 22  Ed Brill http://www.edbrill.com | 11/10/2009 7:59:19 AM

    @20 I said I can't quite comment yet on what it going to be in 8.5.2. Windows Mobile 6.5 is on our target list, though.

  1. 23  Lubomir Hornak  | 11/10/2009 9:22:58 AM

    @22 OK, this is enough for me at this time, thanks Ed.

  1. 24  Chris C  | 11/10/2009 10:24:58 AM

    Was "Paranoid Android" a Radiohead reference?

  1. 25  Ed Brill http://www.edbrill.com | 11/10/2009 10:27:06 AM

    @24, it might be, but if it is, then it is originally to the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, as Nate mentioned in @1.

  1. 26  Lars Berntrop-Bos  | 11/10/2009 2:55:52 PM

    @1, @24, @25

    And his name is Marvin (the paranoid android)

    @24 You should read it. Most writings by Douglas Adams are brilliant. Another author with stellar humor: Terry Pratchett

  1. 27  Kerr  | 11/10/2009 4:34:35 PM

    @24, @25, There is a radiohead song called Paranoid Android, on the seminal OK Compter. Apparently a joke by Thom Yorke since people always assumed he was incredibly depressed, just like Marvin.

  1. 28  Craig Wiseman http://www.Wiseman.La/cpw | 11/10/2009 9:38:26 PM

    FWIW, domino (can be) a paranoid android as well...

    { Link }

  1. 29  Todd Bettis   | 11/11/2009 8:59:33 AM

    I tried this app out on my Droid. Overall it is a good application but it has issues with repeating meetings that cross DST. I contacted the developer and he has no plans to address bugs related to lotus traveler at this time. So far though it is the best option i found for the Droid

  1. 30  Alan Head  | 11/11/2009 11:31:09 AM

    Good to see the Traveler development is continuing. Hope 8.5.2 adds scheduling for autosync (so we can get some email peace at night) and most importantly Corporate address book lookup (this latter feature is creating momentum behind iPhone deployments of Traveler, just wish we had it in Symbian/WM...)

  1. 31  Silvia Garcia  | 11/12/2009 1:20:21 AM

    Would like to see Lotus Mobile Connect and Sametime Connect for the Android 2.0 !!! I am looking toward buying new impressing Motorola Droid 2.0 and would not like to stop using Sametime...

    Obviusly............ I need also mail ;-)

  1. 32  Michael Kobrowski  | 11/12/2009 1:51:19 PM

    @0 & @25,

    I wonder if the Douglas Adams estate would allow a commercial for IBM LotusKnows Droid.... if nobody thought about it, I'll take a percentage....or a couple free Foundation boxes :-)

    I have a story line in mind of the commercial ;-)

    42!

  1. 33  Marco Foellmer http://ebf.de | 11/12/2009 2:56:25 PM

    I highly appreciate this open blog entry and all the comments. Thank You.

    cheers marco

  1. 34  Ed Brill http://www.edbrill.com | 11/12/2009 4:53:28 PM

    @29 we see that there are some issues with it, but as you say, best so far. Open to finding out about others -- the link @4 for Google calendar was a surprise to me!

  1. 35  Fredrik Stöckel http://www.twitter.com/fstockel | 11/12/2009 5:40:06 PM

    @34 another product, “the Dataviz Roadsync” client also works with Traveler, but I’m not sure if it's a better pick than the other one.

  1. 36  Brian Green  | 11/13/2009 1:17:35 PM

    Focus on the ActiveSync protocol on droid. You can expect to see several mail/calendar/contact vendors there. Don't write your own apps. I doubt we would use those devices, but never say never.

    We're all BB here and would begin switching to iphone if there was a sametime chat client that could run in the background... chat/awareness is very important to our global staff.

  1. 37  Craig Wiseman http://www.Wiseman.La/cpw | 11/16/2009 8:03:12 AM

    I'm 100% with Mr. Green (@36).

    Two points:

    - Spend the time & effort to make Domino the best Activesync server that'll work reliably with all the flacky client variants out there.

    - Dedicate some resources to track and fix any issues third party AS clients (Winmobile, Droid, iPhone, WebOS, etc) are having with Domino.

    There will be many AS good clients for Driod, so don't try and compete.

  1. 38  billrobo  | 11/17/2009 5:09:38 PM

    @30

    Totally agree - lack of corporate address book lookup is the only major feature missing for our Symbian users. This feature gap also comes up when we act as a Traveler reference site.

  1. 39  Jens Bruntt http://www.jens.bruntt.dk | 11/18/2009 1:39:44 AM

    I posted @18. I have changed my mind. I have been testing an Android device for just short of a week and I have a better understanding of how the platform works now:

    Android for the mobile device is what Linux is for the PC.

    This of course has good and bad sides to it.

    Freedom of choice, lots of open source and free apps, lacking in the overall user experience.

    Ubuntu is doing stuff for the Linux user experience to make it palatable to the common user. I don't yet know if there is an "Ubuntu" for Android.

    Anyway, as to what IBM should do with Android and Domino PIM sync'ing, my vote now goes to @37. There will be lots of different PIM clients, there will not be one major PIM client. Make sure Domino plays well with as many as possible.

    I have been using the TouchDown PIM client with Traveler for a number of days now with no issues, which actually has been a surprise to me.

  1. 40  ANH  | 11/21/2009 8:26:31 AM

    I work at a strategy consulting firm that uses Domino as our e-mail platform.

    I would say about 90% of use Blackberries due to the need for push e-mail and confidentiality concerns, but when our CIO announced native Lotus support on the iPhone, people were literally running in my office to tell each other.

    As much as I like the iPhone, I'm concerned it will never be the business phone I need it to be (real keyboard etc), but I would jump at the chance to get off RIM's sinking ship and get a Droid or something similar in the future, but it would need (besides the obvious push email):

    -directory lookup (we have to e-mail too many different people in the company at random times)

    -calendar features like accept, decline etc. We spend too much time on the road not to be able accept meetings on the go.

    I think RIM makes phones that are just so behind the curve, and I'm excited to hear that IBM is seeking development in other platforms.

  1. 41  Michael  | 12/4/2009 1:25:10 PM

    For those who want to know, the ultralite version of Inotes works very well on the Android phones, but you need to enter the initial URL and bookmark it to make things easier. To access Ultralite mode on an Android phone, type the following in your browser:

    { Link }

  1. 42  Alberto  | 12/7/2009 3:56:47 AM

    I know I'm a little bit late form comments, but anyway I'll pray that this one does not get lost in cyberspace.

    Why don't you just push the developer community for Android/Lotus?.

    One MAJOR step will be in fact very simple: allow java Lotus N/D API to work in Android. At this time it's impossible due to the fact that the java class NotesSession internally references the unsupported java.applet.Applet class. It's a minor code change and it will open the door for an open Lotus mobile client development.

  1. 43  Anders Fredriksson  | 1/8/2010 2:13:12 AM

    I can't understand why IBM don't make Traveler Server 100% ActiveSync-compliant? Then virtually every phone on the market would connect...

    Consider to get your phone to work with Traveler out-of-the box... No need for time consuming extra download... What a time-saver!

    /Anders

  1. 44  Andy Walter  | 3/3/2010 3:49:17 AM

    I've been working with HTC here in the UK and would very much like to see the latest HTC Android phones including Tattoo and the new Desire under Traveler support. Its a great phone and works well with a great GUI.

  1. 45  Billrobo  | 3/7/2010 4:44:54 PM

    @0 Ed, Any updates on the likelihood of Android support making it into Traveler 8.5.2 (we are very keen on the prospect!) ?

    Thanks