Do You Have a Stopper?

[Andy Sjostrom]

I often use interactive, structured workshops (brown paper, Post It notes and so on) when working with clients in software development projects. That way I can pull out more smart ideas and creativity from them that eventually end up in system software somewhere! There is one question that I most often ask when kicking off a new workshop session: "Do You Have a Stopper?"A Stopper is an issue, question, unclarity, or whatever that keeps you from being able to efficiently participate in the discussions. Stoppers can range from very fundamental issues such as: "Is this project really nescessary?", to more detailed issues such as: "I definately don't like the color theme of the new client software!", to organizational aspects such as: "Why is John Doe in the steering committee and not Susan Smith?", and so on. The project benefits from enabling the participants to articulate any Stopper they might have since issues can then be prioritized and dealt with, and the workshop becomes much more efficient since most emotionally stressful issues are already on the board. So my question is: Any Smartphone Stoppers out there? I have a few Smartphone stoppers of my own:1. I wish Microsoft would have branded "Windows Powered Smartphones" much more cleary and consumer oriented. I dread the day when I know the correct answer on the "What is that"-question is "It is a Windows Powered Smartphone running Windows Mobile™ 2003 software for Smartphone".2. Why doesn't Microsoft and device makers try to grab the easy win of associating Smartphones with 3G? Imagine if Microsoft, a device maker and a big carrier could have ensured that first mobile phones on the new generation network were running Microsoft software! New generation network, new generation phones!3. Why does competing phones seem to run snappier when Microsoft should have the software advantage over device makers?4. Why does it take so long for Smartphones to reach the shores of North America?Do you have some more constructive Stoppers that you would like to get off your chest, in order to better participate moving forward? Maybe we can even get an official response to some of the Stoppers!

[encece]

I don't think I have a stopper as I'm a fan of the phone, the OS, and this site as well as others.

To speak for a majority of US users...I'd think the fact that the phone is not officially here and officially not supported would deter people from using/buying/discussing the phone. Why talk about a phone that you don't have and don't know when you'll even be able to get it? There are many exceptions, of course.

Since the phone is on it way...Carriers should start a buzz going on forums like this to increase anticipation, discussion & excitement. Once the word is OFFICIALLY out...they will come!

But up until now...there's only been negative comments from the carriers in the form of "the smartphone is not ready for primetime".

Well...if you ask me, the hundreds of other US users already using the phone, and the tens of thousands of worldwide users in Europe, Asia & Australia.....the phone is more than ready, in fact, it's already indespensible.

The Smartphone Rocks! :rock on dude!:

[greenmozart]

I agree with encece, I don't have a stopper myself. I'd venture to say that most subscribers to SPT don't have stoppers that would actually prevent them from getting one of these. After all, we ARE the enthusiasts! But the general public will have LOTS of stoppers, especially if the problems they are familiar with in the Windows PC world are evident on the SmartPhone, as well - forced reboots, unreliability, other bugs, etc. No one wants to strap their PC to their belt or throw it in their purse - not just because of its heft, but also because of its COMPLEXITY. Most people who use cell phones aren't technogeeks. The only way the general public will jump onboard our bandwagon is if the phone is EASY TO USE first, and powerful second.

[Andy Sjostrom]

Can I sense an "Andy Is No Fan"? Well, that would be a first... :lol:
I am definately a Smartphone fan, spending hours every day working with it, developing for it, using it, writing about it!

I see my post as showing genuine love and care. I so much want for this platform to succeed that I wish/want/need to articulate what I feel needs to be done or done better.

Maybe I am alone with that feeling or maybe I am just plain wrong! And that would not be a first!

[entropy1980]

I just need on are shores at a competitive price point. Meaning it needs to be in the ballpark of say a Nokia 3650 which I would say has similar features.....

[Wuss912]

yeah heres mine where's a cdma smartphone (sprint)

[encece]

Can I sense an "Andy Is No Fan"? Well, that would be a first... :lol:
I am definately a Smartphone fan, spending hours every day working with it, developing for it, using it, writing about it!!
Who said you weren't a fan?

[ppcsurfr]

Why can't my Windows powered Smartphone send out business cards?

Mabuhay! ~ Carlo

[goofy166]

Seems more productive to come up with ideas that you know can be done. Getting microsoft to not use FUD on there naming conventions is like changing the US Constitution. I would like to see:

Tools for letting Newbies customize more of there settings, skins, home pages, sounds, etc. Right now its really for the wonks on MoDaCo.

Gimme keys that are not designed for munchkin fingers.

Please make the point size of the letters and numbers greater than the human minimum for reading which is 9 points, my i-mate looks like its 6 to 7 points. (yea I am not 17 years old with 20 20 vision.

How about color coding the darn keys. Why can't Home be a big red button? Etc? Mabye someone can make a stick on overlay?

Wish there was more short cut keys like F1 to F10 around the display that could tie in with software buttons on the screen.

I better stop these starts.

[patwap]

My stopper would be the lack of post dial up terminal window capability so that I use my 2 factor token authentication.

Sure it's slow but when you are in a bind and all you had was your smartphone, you'll want to be able to connect with all possible methods.

[TANKERx]

It's a pain having to dial up to update the inbox and then have to re-dial up[ after some e-mails have been deleted. Why can't ti stay connected until I say to disconnect? It's GPRS so there's no charge for being connected.

My other smart phones let me do this, so why not the Microsoft one?

[Mike Temporale]

My "stopper" --> It's not available in North America!

Bring them here, and I will buy it. There are plenty of things I would like to see included in the phone, but until I can own one, these are all just secondary. :(

[mcsouth]

Why doesn't the "My Documents" folder sync over when I connect using ActiveSync? Right now, I would like to share some core files between both my PPC and my Smartphone, but I have to manually copy the files over to my Smartphone, since there is no files sync. This greatly diminishes the value of this device, since I cannot update ListPro files, eWallet files, or others.

Maybe some would consider this the fault of the software vendor, for not providing a conduit to sync their files, but when you have a "My Documents" folder on the phone, I would think it should be synced to your PC for back-up, if nothing else!