I have been playing with a Sprint touch for a couple hours and am writing this post on it. I think the usability thing is over played. I was always told that Palm was so much easier than WM. I had a Treo 700p for 6 months total hog wash.. then switched to the 700wx.I have been using WM since the begining 1997. Compaq C140.Philips Nino. Casio E200. Hitachi G1000. PPC6601. Treo700WX. I think this touch is a winner but an on screen keyboard or hand writing recognition will never be a better replacment for a physical keyboard. You I phone lovers should give the Sprint Touch a try.
Windows Mobile has stagnated, and MS needs a righteous kick in the seat.
Thank God there are others out there who feel this way. I feel like I've been screaming at a brick wall for years now about this.
I've never even tried out someone's iPhone for five minutes, never even had one in my hand in an AT&T or Apple store, but even so I think it's the greatest and most influential device to come out in years. If for no other reason than the competition it represents. It wasn't that long ago that Palm had over 80% market share. And there I was with my HP clamshell WinCE v1.0 device (like an idiot). Palm stagnated and were quite content with themselves for a long time. Hopefully there are a couple of people in Redmond that remember this.
I really like a lot of things about the WM system such as the huge amount of software (Palm had this at one time) and the ease of development of software for the WM environment (not sure how easy it was for Palm). But for the love of God, Microsoft has advanced it's mobile operating system and even the hardware specs at a rate that makes the continental drift seem downright speedy.
The iPhone as we know it today is VERSION ONE! And it's already pretty good. Just imagine what version 2 will bring. Just imagine what would happen if Steve poked a hole in his belly button so he could see that 100% of iPhone users want third party apps without resorting to hacks. How many years has it been since CE 1.0? Ok giving the benefit of the doubt, how long has it been since PocketPC 1.0? Now where do you think Apple will be that many years from now?
Lastly, I am especially eager to see what Android will bring to the table. Lots of advertising I'm sure, but I'm also fairly confident that it will bring a wealth of free and open source third party applications which will be a welcome relief from having to spend several hundred dollars on what I consider to essential applications and utilities as a WM user.
I'm not a business user but here's my perspective...
I've played with one and been totally blown away by the interface. It's beautiful and it follows every UI best practice in the book. It's simply a joy to use. It's also very clear that it's a v1 product and it's made by a very US-centric company. There's too many features that I regularly rely on for me to consider it. This ranges from the big and well-known issues like the lack of 3G and Bluetooth profiles (apart from headset). But there's way too many little niggles too - such as not being able to forward SMS and send SMS to multiple recipients. Things that an American might not find important but many people around the world expect on even a $30 phone.
I'm waiting for the 2nd generation iPhone. Hopefully we'll see GPS, HSPDA and 3rd party applications. Hopefully Apple will also tightened the security.
But even then I'll still be hesitant about buying one. For a company whose motto is "think different", Apple seem hell-bent on making people do things their way. I like the freedom of an unlocked phone and I like the freedom of choosing my carrier. I can't imagine spending £269 on a phone either, not when phones like the Nokia N95 8GB are available for free.
I wonder how HTC's new Google Phone will shape up against it?
How can a device that is built around a media player be seriously considered a business tool.
Help me out here, I seem to have missed something. When did this site become PocketPcsAreOnlyAllowedToBeUsedForBusiness.com?
My boss just bought his wife an iPhone for personal use, not business. I don't use my phone to access mail because it then becomes hard to separate work from life. The other three people in my house don't use phones for work.
So why is it that you can only see the iPhone as a business tool and not a phone with an in-built iPod/an iPod with an in-built phone? Apple certainly don't sell it that way.
I WILL help you out cuz you HAVE missed something. At the very start of the post there is "Then Ponzi bought me the iPhone. MajorDef wrote in to ask which is better for business… a Windows Mobile device, or an iPhone?"
and
"Apple did a great job with the design. But look deeper from a business user's perspective: "
and finally
"but I'm hoping we can have some intelligent discussion on what ..."
But how can an intelligent discussion be had with someone who can not even read.
Having said that I would admit that there is NO way would I make a claim that WM make better Media Devices specially since right now WM is a platform and the different devices have different audio quality and playback potential depending on hardware whereas the iPhone is a ACTUAL device which has been PERFECTED for media use.
The discussion was about whether it is a better BUSINESS device than the devices based on WM platform which is MOST definately is not!
AND PLEASE read entire posts and origin of discussion before you start replying picking up 1 line in someone's post!!!
Having said that I would admit that there is NO way would I make a claim that WM make better Media Devices specially since right now WM is a platform and the different devices have different audio quality and playback potential depending on hardware whereas the iPhone is a ACTUAL device which has been PERFECTED for media use.
That is precisely the reason we're having a discussion about the iPhone vs. WM in the business setting. In the media setting, there's really no competition.
Quote:
The discussion was about whether it is a better BUSINESS device than the devices based on WM platform which is MOST definately is not!
As long as we have a good debate on why this is the case, it's fine. However, let me give you one simple, incredibly critical scenario that the iPhone does, reliably, that is key for business purposes -- and that Windows Mobile does not:
Reliable alarms.
I. Simply. Don't. Get. Microsoft. On. This. One. Microsoft has done an excellent job adapting WM for business on many, many other use cases. But this is simply unforgivable at this point.
(Disclaimer: this comes from about 7 years of experience with every Pocket PC from 2000 to WM5. I haven't used WM6 devices extensively enough to gauge the reliability of alarms there.)
Here's a fact for you arguers - Windows Mobile can not stay stuck in business-land for ever, people want consumer devices. 95% of the population is not assigned phones from their work, and even if they are, they usually have a personal cell as well.
Staying in the mindset that catering to the .biz environment is NOT going to help WM. I can count on one hand the number of people I've seen who had phones assigned to them, and almost all of these were Blackberrys or Nextels. Guess what, most people hate these phones and don't buy them for personal use, that's why RIM has come out with the Curve, Pearl, BIS etc.
Its time for MS to evolve.
And I do agree that the MS SmartDialer is the best thing to happen to contacts, ever.
I. Simply. Don't. Get. Microsoft. On. This. One. Microsoft has done an excellent job adapting WM for business on many, many other use cases. But this is simply unforgivable at this point.
(Disclaimer: this comes from about 7 years of experience with every Pocket PC from 2000 to WM5. I haven't used WM6 devices extensively enough to gauge the reliability of alarms there.)
Re: Chris Pirillo on the iPhone vs. Windows Mobile for Business Use
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jason Dunn
But look deeper from a business user's perspective: can you process a significant amount of email with no physical keyboard? I know I can't - I absolutely need a keyboard.
Forget that -- triaging email with the iPhone Mail app is extremely cumbersome even as a touch UI.
Quote:
And what about the whole Exchange issue? Chris' comments about how great Outlook/Exchange works with his iPhone were news to me - he didn't really go into details, but mentioned Plaxo. I know some people who won't use Plaxo because it's such a potential privacy nightmare. That's my brief take on the subject - what's yours?
As an extensive user of both WM and iPhone, I think it boils down what you call business "business". In the enterprise scenario, there is no contest, and I doubt there will be one in the immediate future -- WM's integration with Exchange is killer. In the SOHO environment, however, I think the iPhone, as a simple, reliable "smartphone" may jive well with users. To some extent, this will also depend on how much Apple opens up the API.
(In some sense, this is very similar to the Mac platform. Macs are great for home environments and in some business contexts. They actually interoperate decently in Windows environments, too. But when you need a large-scale, Active Directory+Exchange-driven corporate workflow, standardized and flexible PC inventory management, etc., they don't scale quite so well. And, I say this as someone who doesn't use Windows at work.)
iPhone is the best thing that might have ever happened to you if you are moving up from a dumb phone. But, compared to windows mobile iPhone just offers a better user interface. Can you really compare static maps to real time GPS navigation? Live search is great, it can even recalculate routes, available with speech recognition. Seriously besides a touch interface what new does iPhone provide :-/
I phone hooey
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