It's sad.
Windows Mobile has so much potential but I think Microsoft has done 3 things that have really hurt it.
My perspective has been formed over around 12 years of mobile device usage. HP OmniGo 120, Philips Nino 325, Casio E-125, Toshiba E830, Imate Ultimate 6150. I also have a Sony PSP and think this is an amazing media device that's most people have no idea what it's full, built-in, functionality is.
1. Poor hardware support. This is not just Microsoft's fault but a fault of OEM's for releasing devices that don't even support the built in hardware well. Here are some specific examples:
- E830 and 6150, neither can reliable sleep with files open on a storage card. The applicaiton with files open on the storage are will usually crash when you wake it up and try to use the application. It's a known bug but apparently has never been fixed. I was able to fix it with a registry hack on the E830 but I have not been able to fix the same problem on my WinMo61 6150. Imate is clueless. This "bug" should have been a release show-stopper. It's a huge problem for me.
- The E830 came with bluetooth but it's bluetooth stack never supported HID's. Part of the reason I fought to get this thing (it was never released for the US) was so I could use it with a bluetooth keyboard and mouse. That never worked.
- The 6150 has an nVidia GoForce 5500 but *nothing* uses it execpt that it does come with support for the vga out. I finally got a hacked version of TCPMP that does have support for the chipset and that works well but Windows Media Player is still terrible and graphics speed on the device in general is not impressive.
- The 6150 has a microSD slot that doesn't support microSDHC. I'm limited 2GB of storage on what is otherwise a fairly high end device (WinMo 6.1, vga display, 128MB RAM 256MB ROM, WIFI, Bluetooth, hsdpa, 520MHz).
2. There is no good update system or app store. Over the last 10 years you would think that Microsoft could have developed some kind of centralized app store and update system but they haven't. The reason I'm still using Windows Mobile is because of the applications for it. Most people I know with WinMo devices have no clue what software is out there. They think they are limited to the built in apps but windows mobile doesn't even shine unless you get some third party apps. Pocket Informant, Pocket Bible, Resco Photo Viewer, CodeWallet Pro, and Softmaker Office are some of my staples. I feel bad for companies who create apps like these, with much more depth and functionality than I've seen with any iPhone app, and no good way to get it out there. Along with this, and probably more important, it should be easy for users to get updates from the OEM which should include new operating system versions as well as bug fixes.
3. The interface needs to be improved.Touch friendly would be cool but I actually like using a stylus for some things, like minor graphics editing, and hope that doesn't go away. To me, part of the interface problem is not related to "touchability", but more technical. There should be a simple, standard task switcher. The user should be able to close open programs from it and also complete use it without a stylus.
Imate has Winterface available as a free download. Of course HTC has their TouchFlo 3d. At least these do give some touch friendly usage to WinMo. I think it's funny that Microsoft hasn't address this yet other than screen shots of vaporware.
Well, those are my thoughts and opinions. Good luck with your mobile device of choice!
|