The release of a new Apple device has become associated with adults behaving like children.  We camp out in sleeping bags with friends (in front of the nearest Apple store).  We stay up until 3 a.m. (to pre-order).  Some of us may even throw mini temper tantrums if delivery is delayed a day (not mentioning any coworker’s names).  And if we’re among the poor souls who have to wait, we become very, very jealous of the “in” crowd’s new toys.  Whether you’re reading this on your shiny new iPhone 5, pining away for one until your upgrade is available in January (moi), or just watching this whole game unfold like a football fan on Sunday, you’re probably aware of the existence of “device envy.” 

It doesn’t matter if you’re a consumer aching to trade in your phone or tablet for a fancier new model, or a healthcare administrator exploring intrahospital communication solutions – there are a few basic questions you should ask yourself before donning a clown costume and jumping on the upgrade bandwagon (Google the origin of “bandwagon” if you didn’t get the Bozo reference – interesting story…).

Is it necessary?
Don’t panic.  Answering “no” doesn’t categorically mean you should halt research on upgrades, but it’s important to understand your own or your facility’s motivations before assessing your options.  A non-essential upgrade may only be realistic when personal, department, or organizational budgets allow.

Is it practical?
Sure, Voalte is the communication solution used by U.S. News and World Report’s top ranked hospital, Massachusetts General.  And, yes, CNET just listed the iPhone as the best cell phone yet again.  But if you oversee a small rural facility that operates sans WiFi, or you’re in the Peace Corps in electricity-free Northern Ghana, no matter how great they sound, well, expensive ice cubes just aren’t that useful for Eskimos.

Does it have a documented history of success?
Whether it’s for posting your Facebook status updates, or its purchase represents a significant investment of hard-earned fundraising dollars, you don’t want to plunk down a hefty chunk of change for a fly-by-night device or solution that may not be around next year, or might not have the resources to provide quality, comprehensive service.  ‘Nuff said.

Is it a long-term solution; can it grow with me/us?
These days, it’s all about the “expanding platform.”  There’s no way around it – the world has changed, and when considering options for both personal and professional devices, your lifestyle or workflows are likely going to dictate that an expanding platform is the only viable solution.  Literally every day, new applications and new uses for existing hardware are developed; you’ll want to have access to them.  Be certain to make a sound investment in a device and company that has the ability to evolve with the dynamic communication landscape we operate in.

So there it is.  Now if you’ll excuse me; I’m off to pull another day from the Pinterest-inspired “Countdown to iPhone 5” calendar I created.

Recently, I was privileged to be part of a workflow redesign team for a 75-bed ECC at one of our hospitals. The department had assembled a 20-person cross-functional team to streamline the ECC intake process. Their goal was to improve patient satisfaction scores by improving the time from patient arrival to head-in-bed, with a target goal of 30 minutes.

Because Voalté was being introduced into the department around the same time, we were invited to observe and provide insight into how our communication flow could assist with the project. One specific conversation caught my attention. One of the participants asked “Well, couldn’t we just Voalté them for that?” The others nodded slowly as they turned to me for assurance. “Voalté them?” I was surprised by the choice of words. Before I could answer, another person interjected “Oh yeah. We have Voalté on our floor and we Voalté them every time we have an XYZ problem.” 

What caught me off guard wasn’t the use-model or the problem they were trying to solve with Voalté - it was their use of “Voalté” as a verb. After this encounter, I felt like I heard the same thing at every hospital I visited. I took part in a go-live recently, and within days of using the system, staff members were saying things like “Don’t worry, I’ll Voalté you” and “Please hold while I Voalté that nurse.” How does such a term enter the nurse’s lexicon so quickly?

The only reasonable explanation is that this solution quickly becomes the default form of communication within the hospital almost in the same way that “Google” has come to mean “to search for something on a search engine.” By no means am I trying to compare Voalté to the size or success of Google, but like Google, we’ve chosen a niche problem (Google with search, Voalté with communication) and spent countless hours making it very simple to use. The result is a tool that becomes invaluable to the caregiver’s daily workflow. The fact that Voalté - the noun - enabled that workflow then becomes an afterthought.

Unlike Google, I think everyone at Voalté welcomes this phenomenon. For us, the transformation of the word implies widespread value within the hospital and therefore marks a milestone. It’s another sign that we’re accomplishing the goal set forth in our mission statement: 

BETTER COMMUNICATION MEANS BETTER CAREGIVERS

As the Vice President of Innovation at Voalté, it is my responsibility to understand smartphones and work with caregivers to figure out ways to help incorporate these devices into their lives at the point of care.  In fact, our company focus is entirely on providing hospitals the best communication solution for clinical communication on the latest cutting edge mobile platform.

I have used multiple BlackBerry devices throughout my career and have also used an iPhone the last few years. I can easily claim to be a smartphone “fanatic” and it is probably the one device I would not be able to give up in my professional life (seeing the value of smartphones in my personal and business life was a deciding factor in why I started Voalté to help bring about smartphones at the point of care).

Last month I decided it was time to see what all the fuss was about regarding the Android operating system.  On April 20, 2010, at approximately 4:15PM- I pulled the SIM card out of my iPhone 3G and switched over to a Google Nexus One (both use AT&T and I wanted to make sure the carrier was not a deciding factor in the experiment).

This wasn’t just a one or two day test of the Android- this is full fledged, 100% business operations, mail, app’s, and all - switch from the Apple iPhone OS to the Google Android OS. Below are a list of my thoughts after more than a month of Android vs iPhone use:

1. Multi-tasking and widgets

The first things I noticed about the Android was the concept of widgets vs just being able to run applications. The widgets enable you to peak into an application and see small amounts of information right on your desktop. For example, my mail widget shows me the latest email that has just come in, my calendar widget shows the time and attendees of my next appointment, and my Facebook widget shows the last status update in my newsfeed.

My imagination goes into overdrive regarding the potential of Android Widgets in point of care communication- but that is the topic for another blog post.

Multi-tasking was OK (iPhone 4.0 levels the playing field)- but it really was the capability to use widgets that really impressed me.

2. Applications

The applications for Android are not up to par with Apple. It’s not even close. The look, the feel, the quality- it’s day and night. I would imagine this is due to a couple reasons. First of all- Apple has a head start in the world of App development. There are more developers working on iPhone app’s; Apple claims more than 200,000.  And while a majority are not worth downloading, there are a few gems that really raise the bar for other applications.   Second, developing software using Apple’s iPhone Software Developer Kit provides more guidance and better tools for development, compared to Android’s Java based SDK. You give developers better tools and they will build you better app’s.

There’s an App for that- and chances are- it runs much better on the iPhone.

3. Performance and Battery Life

I get pretty good battery and performance out of my iPhone (especially considering how much I use it in a single day), but the performance of the Nexus One Android running 2.1 was much better than my iPhone 3G running iPhone OS 3.X. I will admit that I was using an older generation of the iPhone, but the performance on the Android device was noticeably better. I usually get a good 12 hours out of my iPhone, but the Android was easily pushing 18-20 hours.

Performance and battery were an easy win for the Android.

4. It’s the little things

Moving from an iPhone to an Android, you quickly begin to appreciate Apple’s meticulous attention to detail and creating a compelling user experience. A simple example is the location of the home button on the Android phone- it is located directly under the touch screen and tends to be very sensitive to touch. When the virtual keyboard loads up, it is located right under the Space Bar (one of the most used buttons when constantly typing). The end result is the potential miss type that exits the application and sends you to the home screen- not a pleasant experience when deep in the thought responding to 100’s of emails (which most of us use a smartphone for). The Android is littered with these minor flaws, and while they may seem minuscule, the experience quickly becomes degraded due to these flaws.

Overall – I can’t say that either phone is a clear winner over the other. The quality of the app’s and the attention to detail make the iPhone a great platform for a mobile device, but the concept of widgets and the philosophy of the Android being more of a portal to the web make the Android a really attractive alternative. So here is the big question…

What phone will I be using next month?

Well, to be perfectly honest - a lot of that will be dependent on what we find out from our friend Steve Jobs at Apple’s World Wide Developer Conference…