Android smartphone and tablet Wi-Fi 'not great' for enterprise use

'Android needs someone to fix its Wi-Fi,' Jagex head of IT Barry Zubel tells Computing

The wireless internet capabilities on Android smartphones and tablets is not reliable enough for enterprise-grade use, Barry Zubel, head of IT at Cambridge-based game developer Jagex has told Computing.

Jagex is responsible for the successful multiplayer online roleplaying game RuneScape – which harnesses the power of big data for player benefit – as well as the upcoming Transformers Universe game. The studio pursues a policy of allowing staff to use their own mobile devices for work.

"We are flexible in what we offer people and also allow people to bring their own devices to some extent," Zubel said.

"It's on approval basis, but once we actually have people with their own devices they generally tend to be more comfortable taking their own iPad or something away with them," he continued, adding that tablet use at the studio is "massive" and "we probably have one of every major tablet at least, if not 10 or 20."

Zubel also described how Jagex is flexible when it comes to staff's choice of smartphone, with iPhone, Android and BlackBerry devices all supported. "It's basically what the user themselves want to have," he said.

However, Zubel pointed out that he thought Android and Samsung needed to make improvements to the wireless connections in phones, arguing that it struggles when it comes to being used for business use.

"The only challenge I can think of is [that] Android needs someone to fix its Wi-Fi stuff. Its Wi-Fi is great for consumer use, but for enterprise grade wireless it's not great," he said, adding "it's something Apple's very good at."