Mobile computing and BYOD is a hot topic here at #HIMSS13

Today, I had the pleasure of participating on a panel discussion about BYOD with Dr. Mark Blatt from Intel and Bruce Michelson from HP. It was a highly interactive discussion where a number of the attendees asked questions and shared their thoughts and observations on this topic. It's clear to me that BYOD is still a controversial, complicated topic and we need more guidance on this topic in the health care environment. Most physicians and nurses do not fully understand the technical implications associated with data encryption, mobile security management, and remote data persistence on mobile devices. They also do not have a technical understanding behind some of the fundamental security issues and features that distinguish business mobile devices from consumer devices.

I believe that BYOD is a phenomenon that is here to stay in health care. We may not like it, but it's almost impossible to eliminate. Physicians and nurses are going to bring their own devices, even if they can't access patient data on them. They will use their smartphones to take pictures of rashes on lesions on patients. They will use their mobile devices to communicate with other clinicians.

CIOs and other health IT executives need to know how they will handle these BYOD challenges. There are some good mobile device management or MDM solutions that can get installed. We're also seeing mobile operating systems evolving to offer features that are designed to address some of these BYOD headaches.

Is that a smartphone or a tablet?

The line between the smartphone and slate tablet is getting blurry these days. The latest smartphone on the Verizon network is the Motorola Droid X and this huge smartphone resembles a small Android tablet. The Droid X has a 4.3" screen.

The Sprint Evo 4G by HTC is also a large slate-smartphone that looks like a mini tablet that could be perfect for the mobile web browser. This device is the first 4G smartphone in North America (and I'm sure it won't be the last). Like the Droid X, the Evo 4G has a 4.3" screen and it runs Google Android.

Dell recently started showing off its Streak, an Android tablet that has a 5" screen. The Streak is a tablet and it's also a phone. This is one of the largest devices so far that combines the capabilities of a touch-screen tablet and a phone, but we know that Samsung and several other manufacturers will soon be releasing similar devices.

How do we classify these relatively "large" devices? Should they be considered smartphones or slate tablets that are capable of making phone calls?

Dell Streak: a 5-inch Android tablet

The Dell Streak is a hybrid device that lives in the space between a smartphone and other larger tablets or netbooks that you might be using right now.  The Streak was called the "Mini 5" in earlier blog posts, but now we all know that Dell has branded this device the Streak. This Android device will also support Adobe Flash 10.1 on Android 2.2.

You can get more details about this little Internet tablet by reading this PC Magazine article. I wonder if I'll need to replace my OQO model 02 with the Dell Streak.