Spend $100 On Windows Mobile Features

[Ed Hansberry]

<a href="http://blogs.msdn.com/windowsmobile/archive/2006/08/08/one_hundred_feature_dollars.aspx">http://blogs.msdn.com/windowsmobile/archive/2006/08/08/one_hundred_feature_dollars.aspx</a><br /><br />"We go through this exercise during the planning stages with customers sometimes. I like it because "to ship is to choose" - it's easy to describe things you want, but we have to ship the product eventually and some things don't make it. Deciding what stays and what goes is the hard (and painful) part of product development. So now it's your turn. You have $100 feature-dollars. How do you spend them? Anything we can do is in scope. Adding more RAM to your Treo - out of scope (we don't manufacture the device) Bring back wifi debugging! - in scope! <br /><br />Here's what I came up with for me (biased by the team I work on): <br />• $40: cheaper and easier M2M process for ISVs<br />• $30: automatic install of root certificates on first exchange sync <br />• $15: Better one-handed navigation on PPC, especially in messaging <br />• $15: unified power model between PPC and Smartphone<br /><br />If you had $100 feature dollars, what would you spend it on? <a href="http://blogs.msdn.com/windowsmobile/archive/2006/08/08/one_hundred_feature_dollars.aspx#693140">I gave them my answer</a>. ;)

[Paragon]

Good answer, Ed.
The whole $100 - fix connection manager once and for all.

Mine would vary slightly....fix Activesync once and for all. :

....this is going to be a big thread. :)

Dave

[Jason Dunn]

I think at this point, I'd spend about $80 on one thing: SPEED. The sluggishness of Windows Mobile devices compared to, say, Blackberries, is really embarrassing. :oops:

[Tierran]

$30 to improve memory management. It still needs work.

$20 to improve PIE funtionality.

$25 to improve the multimedia functionality onboard.

$15 to pay off the guy who killed wifi syncing to get it back

$10 to improve landscape mode. You have less actual space in it currently

[SteveHoward999]

I've played this game all too often with Macromedia. What typically happens is that the whizz-bang super-duper new features get voted for, and the simple, basic, long-missing but somehow essential and super-irritatingly-missing features get left by the wayside. And so we have products that can (say) connect to 3,000 different types of databases at the touch of a button, but there is no way to dynamically change the colour of the text on a button ...

I used to enjoy all the fantastic new features, but as I get longer in the tooth I crave the simple things in life be fixed. So for Windows Mobile, my initial thoughts are

Office Integration (Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Access, Outlook) still needs a lot of work. I no longer by the argument that it's not possible on such a limited platform. I've used at least four fantastic apps that can replicate the majority of features of the desktop application they are mimicking ... no names for the PDA apps, but the desktop apps are Word, PowerPoint, Excel and PhotoShop (OK I know, not an 'office' app).

ActiveSync needs fixed. It seems Vista is bringing improvements to that, but I gave up testing it coz Vista is too slow on my machine and Mobile Sync does not work with WM 2003SE.

Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity is still too cludgy.

We need to be able to connect to external monitors, preferably wirelessly.

By default, when connecting the PDA to PC or Mac, it should be possible to see the PDA screen on the PC and control usingf keyboard and mouse. WinCE Pro and some others enable this, but it is basic functionality that I actually expected to be there right out of the box.

I am sure I can think of more, but for now let's give therse $20 each :-)[/list]

[wallaceff]

1) $10 stop programs from being able to leave bits of themselves in different directories! Especially \windows dir. I don't know WHY I must sacrifice my meagre 64MB of space when I have a 2GB card. There really is no excuse.
&lt;begin rant> Opera is an example of the above by not 'easily' allowing the cache dir to be moved and installing files all over the place, despite being set to install to memory card. And I don't want to hear about 'wake up times' and 'initialising the card reader delays' when turning my PDA back on causing a 'need' to put these apps in main memory.. just frigging FIX IT &lt;/end rant>

2) $4.98 Have activesync able to CHOOSE WHERE I want 'my documents' directory on my PDA to live. I think most users nowadays don't really need the ActiveSync filters. I'm happy just having the originals of my documents on my PDA, but need to ensure the apps on there can open them. For me, I have Adobe PDF reader (no conversion needed), TextMaker for word files and PlanMaker for excel. PowerPoint is still lacking, but never had a strong need to do a PPT presentation from my PDA, but can see that happening in the future. Just stick with native file formats already! Size saved by convertion isn't really an issue anymore (I don't think)

3) $38 to take out a 'hit' on the guy who killed off wifi-sync (ok.. maybe an exageration... $35 anyone?)

4) $25 Faster processors

5) $20 VGA only displays - I don't care how small in size, but must be VGA capbable only - none of this 240x240 etc

6) $0.02 fix Media Player. I don't know anyone who uses it!

7) $2 Standard USB hosting so I can plug a mouse/keyboard/USB drive etc into my PDA if I want

I don't care for PIE, I'm happy with Opera, and I don't care much for Messaging, I use FlexMail (and no, I would NOT like to see these apps bought out by MS as they would just ruine them, I'm happy to pay for some great pieces of software, Pocket Informant being another)

Just my thoughts. Not sure thats what this post was about, but hey :P

[martin_ayton]

$10 Close button that does what it says
$25 Application uninstall / upgrade system that works
$ 5 Configurable LED flash rates (right down to zero)
$30 Much improved 'phone functionality: The built-in software lacks stuff like profiles that exist in the cheapest dumb 'phones
$20 Radically improve ActiveSync to
- put back WiFi sync.
- stop it taking 9-10% of desktop / laptop CPU cycles when it's doing nothing
- include a *real* back-up solution.
$10 Get the Bluetooth stack right (i.e. include all the profiles and make sure the thing can handle several BT connections at once without throwing a fit) so OEM's don't need to screw around with it

[caywen]

$50 : UI Navigation and beautification
$30 : Provide a reasonable app shutdown model for developers!! *
$20 : Allow sync with more than 2 computers, and allow sync with another Windows Mobile device
$10 : Better built-in games

Oh wait, I spent too much again.

[caywen]

$50 : UI Navigation and beautification
$30 : Provide a reasonable app shutdown model for developers!! *


BTW, what I meant by this is that applications should be able to opt in for automatic closure if memory runs low. If this happens, the app should be instructed to shutdown and save state.

Also, the person who made it impossible to get a compatibility logo just because the software has an Exit menu item should stop doing drugs. Drugs are bad, mkay.

[SteveHoward999]

$20 : Allow sync with more than 2 computers, and allow sync with another Windows Mobile device


... and I'll add, include sync to other devices. For e.g. I have a Symbian phone (Nokia 6682), and I try to keep contacts and calendar synched on both devices. Right now, to do so, I have to sync each, separately, with my laptop. I don;t really ever NEED these contacts on my laptop, except as a backup for the phone and PDA. I'd liek to be able to directly sync the phone and PDA without using the laptop. And let's face it, many people have multiple pocket devices, but no PC or laptop.

$25

[Ed Hansberry]

Just to clarify for everyone - the responses here are good answers, but this is not the place to put them. I don't think Scott is following this thread. be sure to but them in his blog thread. :)

[ctmagnus]

$20 : Allow sync with more than 2 computers, and allow sync with another Windows Mobile device


... and I'll add, include sync to other devices. For e.g. I have a Symbian phone (Nokia 6682), and I try to keep contacts and calendar synched on both devices. Right now, to do so, I have to sync each, separately, with my laptop. I don;t really ever NEED these contacts on my laptop, except as a backup for the phone and PDA. I'd liek to be able to directly sync the phone and PDA without using the laptop. And let's face it, many people have multiple pocket devices, but no PC or laptop.

$25

An Exchange account: Priceless.

[amesskyway]

$25 will go for a fix that will make my appointments not go out of wack when I travel to a different timezone :evil:
$40 for a faster processor.
$5 for a better way to receive hotmail
$10 to receive over-the-air TV broadcast. (Why should I have to pay for it?)
$15 for batteries that don't have to be recharged ever so often.
$5 for a "Close" button that actually closes a program :evil:

[bnycastro]

These maybe wishful thinking but here is my list:
$10 - universal sync and charge port with the same current/power rating [i.e. miniUSB five pin for all devices so we don't need to buy all those chargers and cables]
$10 - universal flash card format [i.e. all devices have the same format so we don't keep on switching from SD - miniSD - microSD etc etc]
$10 - make the min req for WM into 128Mb RAM and 256Mb ROM [128Mb or more for the user's apps and files] or improve mem management.
$10 - improve messaging navigation [browsing folders within accounts]
$10 - improve WMP navigation [one handed use]
$10 - improve phone and contacts system so ringtones can be assigned via categories as well as individually
$10 - extend WM Smartphones' profile system to PocketPCs.
$10 - enable USB host/client on all WM devices
$10 - contract that forces manufacturer's [or telco's] to issue fixes/updates every X months for X years [dunno what number would be fair to both end user and telcos/manufacturers]
$10 - include a screen protector on every PPC or Smartphone produced [applied by a professional of course :wink: ]

[SteveHoward999]

An Exchange account: Priceless.


Something else to buy? gee thanks 8)