Year: 2014

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iOS7 Technical reference guide. | Official Blog of Onefruit

Apple has released a new iOS 7 Deployment Guide on its business website. It is worth a read if you manage iOS devices. You can download it here.

This guide is for IT administrators who want to support iOS devices on their networks. It provides information about deploying and supporting iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch in a large-scale organization such as an enterprise or education institution. It explains how iOS devices provide comprehensive security, integration with your existing infrastructure, and powerful tools for deployment.
Understanding the key technologies supported in iOS will help you implement a deployment strategy that provides an optimal experience for your users. The following chapters serve as a technical reference you can use when deploying iOS devices throughout your organisation.

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Apple New tools for iOS environment

It looks like Apple will be launching some new web tools for iOS deployments along side the iOS 7.1 update in March.

Apple now has a new website called Volume Services. The site will launch with new features like the ability to “Automate MDM Enrolment” and “Buy Apps and Books in Volume.”

A tentpole feature for the new MDM system will be over-the-air supervision of deployed iOS devices, which will allow institutions to easily monitor and protect large iOS device deployments, the person said. For example, a school administrator would be able to set and lock device profiles, data and other information without risking deletion by the student.

http://appleinsider.com/articles/14/02/17/ios-71-rumored-to-arrive-march-15-with-enhanced-mobile-device-management

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iOS , iWork update with Greater security | Official Blog of Onefruit

Apple has just pushed out an update to its iWork for iCloud web apps that brings a redesign for some elements of the three apps and a long list of new features and improvements. Apple has added a new iOS 7-style UI for each app’s template chooser and document library (the first thing you see when launching the apps, pictured above), but when editing a document you’ll still get the old black and grey editor UI for now. 

All three apps— Pages, Numbers, and Keynote— get the ability to add passwords and share password protected documents, spreadsheets, or presentations, as well as “improved voice over support for body text and document manager.” You can also now view a list of your documents, spreadsheets, or presentations that others have recently shared with you from a clock icon at the top of each app.

Other improvements in today’s update include new keyboard shortcuts and some highly requested editing features such as rich formatting of text in table cells.

It is good to see Apple showing a level of commitment that we haven’t seen from their online services before. I hope the sharing options continual to improve and iWork become a better Google Docs replacement.

 

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Access to educational content | Official Blog of Onefruit

Apple® today announced iBooks® Textbooks and iTunes U® Course Manager are expanding into new markets across Asia, Latin America, Europe and elsewhere around the world. iBooks Textbooks bring Multi-Touch™ textbooks with dynamic, current and interactive content to teachers and students in 51 countries now including Brazil, Italy and Japan; and iTunes U Course Manager, available in 70 countries now including Russia, Thailand and Malaysia, allows educators to create and distribute courses for their own classrooms, or share them publicly, on the iTunes U app.

 

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Apple’s BYOD Philosophy

Rich at Securosis

Apple has a very clear vision of the role of iOS devices in the enterprise. There is BYOD, and there are enterprise-owned devices, with nearly completely different models for each. The owner of the device defines the security and management model.

On employee owned devices:

  • The enterprise sends a configuration profile that the user can choose to accept or decline.
  • If the user accepts it, certain minimal security can be required, such as passcode settings.
  • The user gains access to their corporate email, but cannot move messages to other email accounts without permission.
  • The enterprise can install managed apps, which can be set to only allow data to flow between them and managed accounts (email). These may be enterprise apps or enterprise licenses for other commercial apps. If the enterprise pays for it, they own it.
  • The user otherwise controls all their personal accounts, apps, and information on the device.
  • All this is done without exposing any user data (like the user’s iTunes Store account) to the enterprise.
  • If the user opts out of enterprise control (which they can do whenever they want) they lose access to all enterprise features, accounts, and apps. The enterprise can also erase their ‘footprint’ remotely whenever they want.
  • The device is still tied to the user’s iCloud account, including Activation Lock to prevent anyone, even the enterprise, from taking the device and using it without permission.

On enterprise owned devices:

  • The enterprise controls the entire provisioning process, from before the box is even opened.
  • When the user first opens the box and starts their assigned device, the entire experience is managed by the enterprise, down to which setup screens display.
  • The enterprise controls all apps, settings, and features of the device, down to disabling the camera and restricting network settings.
  • The device can never be associated with a user’s iCloud account for Activation Lock; the enterprise owns it.
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How iPad Syncing Works

There seems to be some misunderstanding about how iPad charges and syncs. Hopefully I can clear up some of these issues.

How USB charging works

Ever wondered why your iPad came with that brick of a USB charger? To charge iPad at its maximum charge rate, iPad requires a charger to supply it 2.1 Amps at 5 Volts. This is also know as “Fast Charge”. Not all USB charger are built to these standards. Below is a table showing the rating of different chargers.

Charging Comparison Multiple Devices

Source Voltage Current Power
Standard PC USB Port 5 Volts 0.5 Amps 2.5 Watts
iPhone Charger 5 Volts 1.0 Amps 5 Watts
iPad Charger 5 Volts 2.1 Amps 10 Watts

iPad “Not Charging”

1389367772428So will plugging in to my computers USB’s port charge my iPad? Even when it shows the “Not Charging”? Yes, it will charge your iPad but very, very slowly. As you can see from the table above, a standard USB port provides a 1/4th of the power compared with the iPad charger. Therefore taking 4 times longer to charge. It’s also worth noting that it will only charge when the screen is off. Here is a quote from Apple.

iPad will also charge, although more slowly, when attached to a computer with a high-power USB port (many recent Mac computers) or with an iPhone Power Adapter. When attached to a computer via a standard USB port (most PCs or older Mac computers) iPad will charge, but only when it’s in sleep mode. Make sure your computer is on while charging iPad via USB. If iPad is connected to a computer that’s turned off or is in sleep or standby mode, the iPad battery will continue to drain.

We can also see that an iPhone charger provides 1/2th the power of the iPad charger. Though it will show the iPad is charging, it will still take twice as long.

Let’s say your iPad takes 4 hours to fully charge. With the iPhone charger it would take 8 and a standard USB port would 16+ hours (likely longer). That’s why Apple gives you that 10 Watt charger so it doesn’t take all day to charge your iPad.

Can’t I just buy a USB Hub?

CreditiPad-pic

You could and this would be ok for simple syncing but not for charging multiple devices. Remember that 0.5 Amps the computer USB port gives us? Well, with a standard USB hub that 0.5 Amp is divided amongst all the iPads connected . That’s not particularly useful.

Some USB hubs try and get around this by bolting on an external power supply. This will still only provide a maximum of 0.5 Amps per port. However, there are some USB hubs that add a “Fast Charging” port that will supply 2.1 Amps.

 

dlink_dubh7b1_principalBeware, the word “Fast Charge” has a pretty loose meaning. This D-Link 7-Port USB 2.0 Hub above claims “Fast Charge” but digging into the specs shows those ports only support up to 1.2 Amps.

Adding syncing to the mix

As I mentioned early, a USB hub will certainly work for syncing data. Apple Configurator will let you deploy up 30 devices at a time. You will always be limited by all that data going through a single USB cable. I would never really want to sync more devices at a time anyway.

The problem comes when you try and sync iPad with a low battery over a USB hub. As the USB hub cannot supply enough power for iPad, you can end up in a situation where iPad draws more power then it’s receiving. Resulting in iPad draining it’s battery before you have finished syncing (this could potentially lead to corrupt data).

iPad USB charging and syncing solutions

Here at onefruit, we deploy the CHARGEBUS system. So why does onefruit deploy the CHARGEBUS system? Unlike other USB hubs and similar multiple iPad charging & syncing systems; CHARGEBUS has incorporated “Fast Charging” while syncing. This allows each port to supply an iPad with it’s maximum charging power while syncing.

Beware of the USB mode

Not all iPad USB charging and syncing solutions are equal. Many other systems will force the iPad into a “USB Mode” while syncing. This means that your iPad will receive the full 2.1 Amps until you plug in your computer to sync. The “USB Mode” will active and reduce the power down to 0.5 Amps while syncing.

What about Android and Kindle Fire?

Unfortunately Android has a software limitation where it cannot accept sync and “Fast Charge” at the same time like iPad. When syncing Android devices with CHARGEBUS (or any other solution), it will enter USB mode. Resulting in only 0.5 Amps of power per device while syncing.

I hope that has brought some clarity to how iPad charging and syncing work. In a future post, I will post some demonstrations to show how Fast Charging and USB Mode work.

If you have any questions, leave a comment below or contact us.