LG Nexus 4 – Technology and features

Mobile Networks: GSM 850/900/1800/1900 MHz, HSPA 850/900/1700/1900/2100 MHz
High Speed: UMTS (3G), HSDPA 42 Mbps, HSUPA 5.76 Mbps, GPRS / EDGE / Dual Band Wi-Fi a / b / g / n
Wireless transmission: Bluetooth 4.0 + A2DP, NFC
Retrieving e-mail: POP3, IMAP4, Exchange, Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo Mail
Battery Life: Up to 15 hours talk, 16 days and 6 hours rest time, 2100 mAh battery

Hardware: Quad Core Krait @ 1.5 GHz, Qualcomm APQ8064 Snapdragon S4 Pro, Adreno 320 GPU, 2 GB
RAM Storage: 16 GB
Memory: No
Browser: Chrome
E-mail reads: HTML support directly, POP3, IMAP4, SMTP, Exchange, Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo Mail
New Features: Stopwatch, World Clock, Wallet, Energy, Office Support (open / view documents), browser, maps, navigation
Sync: Exchange ActiveSync, Google

In short:
Good navigation solution

NFC support
Fast and good browser

No support for memory cards
E-mail reader could be improved

Important applications and features not pre-installed

There are not a lot of unnecessary junk in the application menu. In Android 4.2, Google will be able to check the apps you install directly from the internet and if it is secure. How well it works, we know not yet. We received no warnings during the test. Android 4.2, Google could check the apps you install directly from the internet is secure. How well it works, we know not yet. We received no warnings during the testing. Now the Android browser is gone and replaced by Chrome.

Nexus 4 is carrying Qualcomm’s latest system chip, Snapdragon S4 Pro. It is probably the fastest mobile system chip that is in market today. It has new architecture inside, and four processor cores running at a clock speed of 1.5 GHz. Graphic units is called Adreno 320 is also the fastest of its kind.

During performance tests

What we thought is a little surprising and not all performance tests are reflecting in the scores what the hardware boasts. We got as far better numbers in Quadrant 2 when we test drove Qualcomm developer tablet which was equipped with exactly the same hardware.

During the test, we tried two different phones with three different software versions to figure this out and still got strange results in performance tests. We will return to this in the discussion of Nexus Game 4 on the next page.

Lacking proper Office suite

The biggest deficiency in this respect is probably the absence of a proper office suite.

Despite the fact that there is no office suite in the menus Nexus 4 have, it still supported to open the basic Office documents and PDF files. A light version of the office suite Quickoffice actually works, but it is not visible in the menus. Since this is a light version, you cannot edit the documents you open, or create new ones. For that you need a full office suite.

Full-fledged office suites, there is a good selection of Google Play, but next to the navigation software office suites among the most expensive apps you can find in the application store. Fortunately, you do not need to set aside money for navigation solution if you buy Nexus 4 It will come back to.

Chrome is the new Android Browser

This is the first Android phone we’ve encountered where the good old Android browser completely conspicuous by its absence. We have seen several phones in the past year which have been delivered with both regular Android browser and Google Chrome. In Android 4.2 it may seem that the transition to Chrome is about to be finished.

It’s worth checking out some of the pictures in this test is taken with an alternative software on the phone, where Android Browser is represented. In Asus Nexus 7, reference tablet for Android 4.1, was not the usual Android Browser with. We therefore expect that the Android browser evaporate in the finished product, even if the words appeared in one of the software programs we performed the test with.

Chrome is in many ways a better browser than the old Android browser. It offers tabbed browsing, and you can swipe between the different tabs by dragging from the edge of the screen and the screen.

In Android 4.2 will not support Flash content online. We experienced no lack of Flash as a problem. In virtually all the phones we’ve tried Flash content has been the user experience slow and difficult. We have not experienced Flash support as a positive addition in mobile browsers so far. Thus it is just as well that Nexus 4 comes without.

Your browser is otherwise healthy and good, and we experienced no problems with it during the test. We know that there will be found a bug in Chrome on Android 4.2, which can cause instability and sudden reboot of the phone. The problem we have not encountered after using Nexus 4 to large amounts of surfing during the week it has been to test.

How to Recruit Information Technology Personnel

Recruitment is a chronic problem. Most companies have IT recruitment problems. Our research sample suggests that nine-tenths have major difficulties locating personnel to support their IT needs.

Recruitment of personnel from the external labor markets is proving to be a continuing problem for the majority of companies. We analyzed the methods used by companies in our sample to match the demand for and supply of personnel in the information systems environment:

- One-twelfth forecast with precision their requirements for personnel.
- Two-thirds have a general understanding of their requirements for personnel.
- One-quarter make no attempt to forecast their requirements.

The recruitment problem is a combination of inadequate forecasting of requirements for IT personnel (technical specialists, support staff, and end-users), lack of investment in training, and too many companies chasing too few quality candidates. The increase in the number of recruitment consultancies and agencies indicates money is to be made from search, selection and contracting assignments, but client companies are still not finding IT personnel of the caliber required.

There are no straightforward solutions
After detailed discussions with several of the companies with no IT recruitment problems, we have to report that there is no one policy which can be singled out as the key to success. Companies in the financial sector are prepared to pay high salaries and offer a variety of fringe benefits. International airlines can offer a challenging technical environment, together with exciting fringe benefits. Some of the smaller companies have developed a corporate culture and human resource management strategies which make IT recruitment less difficult.

One company has an interesting range of applications, returns a good financial performance, and experiences no problem with recruitment. We were told the lack of labor turnover was undermining policies aimed at introducing new blood into the IT function. Their IT personnel are highly motivated, and appreciate the corporate culture. However, the company does not transfer IT personnel to other areas of the organization on a regular basis, and this policy has created a difficulty for them.

Many executives have a general understanding of their needs for IT personnel, but they simply extrapolate the demand and supply figures from the current situation. The medium and longer-term commercial demands of their companies are not being taken into account. Their analyses of why staff either stay on or leave the organizations are superficial. There are very few executives attempting to develop comprehensive human resource management strategies and policies for the IT environment which would lead to an improvement in the manning situation.

Shortages can be alleviated
Although there are shortages of skilled IT personnel, companies are not improving the situation by their failure to develop adequate training schemes. In addition there is no concerted effort to create procedures which will allow a planned recruitment approach for personnel needed to support the present and future demands for effective use of information technology.

How to Motivate People Working in the IT Environment

How the attitudes of IT personnel are frequently challenged and their loyalty to employers questioned. Claims such as these raise questions about the extent to which some IT workers, at least, care about work and are motivated to perform it. Whether IT workers are motivated or not by the work they do has important implications for management developing corporate strategies. Can we motivate others directly, or is it a case of limiting those of our actions which lead to the demotivation of others? There are two opposing views about work and human nature. These have been analyzed in depth by Douglas McGregor. The traditional management view is known as Theory X which is a cynical and pessimistic understanding of human motivation at work. In essence it suggests that workers are lazy, selfish, lacking in ambition, not interested in the requirements of the organization – unmotivated to work. McGregor argues that X-style managers treat workers in a very harsh coercive manner. Ultimately, this results in workers behaving in the very way managers had hoped to minimize in the first place.

The alternative view, known as Theory Y, is a more positive, enlightened and optimistic view of human nature. The theory proposes that workers want responsibilities and are not passive, they wish to develop their skills and use their abilities in accordance with the needs of the organization. Much of this will depend on the type of policies and motivational systems practiced by management, both of which should be geared to assisting workers to develop their own potential. Given these two requirements, IT workers (managers, technical specialists, and end-users) can be self-directed as long as they have become committed to objectives they value. Working becomes as natural as eating or sleeping.

‘Work is not the curse, but drudgery is’, said Henry Ward Beecher in 1887. In more recent years, various research surveys conducted in Europe and the USA confirm that people would continue to work even if they did not need the money. Our own line management and consultancy careers have included thousands of interviews over many years with senior IT managers and consultants, all of whom confirm they are more interested in a challenging job than the amount of earnings. IT specialists and end-users place a higher value on the working environment, social and physical, than on the pay itself. Computer operations personnel associated with the large mainframe installations are becoming more motivated by the work they do, and less concerned with the complex structure of remuneration schemes associated with shift working. The higher value placed on work by many of today’s IT labor force suggests that they may be more motivated to do their jobs, jobs which provide opportunities to develop their potential.

One of the tasks for executive management – those responsible for developing commercial, IT and HRM strategies – is to develop a corporate environment in which jobs harness the positive motivational factors. It is only too easy to demotivate people, but implementing positive policies for motivation makes heavy demands on the skills and creativeness of senior management. The jobs and conditions of work should promote self-motivation, and avoid dull and repetitive tasks. The need is for provision of opportunities for achievement, responsibility and creativity, whereby optimum utilization is made of talents, abilities and interests.

How to Manage Change Effectively

To manage change effectively requires management to mobilize its total resources in pursuit of the newly defined objectives. Developing an organization which can handle continuous change requires human resource management policies capable of supporting the appropriate basic processes, but more importantly the future management needs.

The results of our research activities suggest few companies are taking organizational study seriously. One-third of the participating companies admitted to detailed organizational studies being carried out by personnel management and information technology functions on a coordinated basis. Of the remaining two-thirds, half stated only the IT function is concerned about the impact of computer technology on job structure and future manning levels, whilst the remainder confessed no form of organizational study is being conducted.

There is much confusion between the broader issues of organizational study and the traditional organization and methods activities. We believe this is due to many companies concentrating on the short-term problems and giving little attention to the medium and longer-term demands. Organizational study does not rate highly on corporate priority lists – a dangerous situation for human resource management policies and the ever expanding information technology environment.

To say the human resource is the key to success and failure in the application of information technology, is a self-evident truth. People represent an investment from which an appropriate return is required. Managers and staff, as members of commercial organizations, also seek a satisfactory return in terms of economic and social needs. Failure to achieve the return, for the organizations, and managers or staff, may well ensure that commercial enterprises do not survive. Personnel perform their roles and tasks within an environment made up of structural and control components. The organizational culture, values, attitudes and behavior originate from many sources, and are major contributors to the success or failure of companies.

Organizational study includes a wide range of activities in its portfolio:

- The understanding of different organizational structures and the factors to be taken into consideration when companies are faced with choosing a solution appropriate to their requirements.
- The improvement of personnel’s perception and awareness of the commercial/industrial environment.
- The identification of factors which motivate people.
- The identification of corporate goals.
- The development of procedures which enable the goals to be achieved and monitored.
- The design of work groups.
- The analysis of leadership qualities, authority, power and influence.
- The building of methods to make more constructive the inevitable conflict existing within present and new organization structures.
- The increased understanding of the external environment in which the organization operates, and the information emanating from sources outside itself.

Much literature exists on the subject of organization theory. Researchers, writers, sociologists and psychologists, continually increase understanding of specific aspects of organization behavior. But it is clear to us that although theories from any one area of study may be useful in helping management’s understanding of organizational behavior, single factor explanations are not likely to expose the complexities of real life.

There is a danger that too much of management’s time can be given to analyzing the internal processes within an organization, and too little given to the external environment. Some companies have detailed procedures for the flow of information on internal performance, but possess inadequate methods for gathering data and intelligence on the surroundings in which they operate. An examination should be made of the national/international macro-economies, legislative constraints, the position of competitors, the profit source of customers, technological trends, market trends, and market share.

Several of the companies included in our research activities, which believe they have effective organizational study by personnel and IT management, were found to be viewing only the internal short-term implications of current information technology projects and not taking into account the medium and longer-term objectives. Whilst some commercial managers continue to say it is not possible to make plans in a time of uncertainty, many specialist managers directly concerned with developing human resource management policies for the IT environment are ignoring the external and longer-term realities.