I don't understand why you mute your device totally and you can't use your alarm anymore - why would you need to do that ?
You can still use it as an alarm if you simply deactivate your phone and wifi connection ("turn on flight mode" on my htc wizard) - your alarm will still work to wake you in the morning.
Great piece Ed. I call this the 'printer-scanner-fax' condition and it's why I don't use a converged device yet. Many devices seem to do one thing well, and the other things seem afterthoughts. "It's a great PDA but has a weak phone." "It's a great phone and a great PDA but has a tiny screen." So I use two devices. Maybe someday...
I'am so glad you wrote this article and glad I came in to read the responses! I just ran into this issue in the last few months since moving my 1730 to the bedroom to charge at night. My wife went nuts! I wound up muting (for which a one button solution is sorely missing) the entire device at night. Then for other purposes I tried phoneAlarm. the situation got worse! What with all those damn email alerts, OMG! I just uninstalled it last week. But now from the responses I see I missed an important function, maybe it's primary function (and I was wondering why it was called Phonealarm). I'm gonna reinstall and give those profiles another look.
That said, you're absolutely correct. Why isn't this part of the OS? It is on the Blackberry. One of the reasons Microsoft can't create that "Blackberry killer" they just don't pay attention to the details.
Yes, I completely echo the sentiments posted here. Offering no profiles is nuts and a major oversight. How entire teams of people at MS could go this many years and never bother integrating this is beyond me. Do these people actually use these devices?
I've always thought there should be one single screen found within the OS that lists every OS/program event (ringers, alarms, notifications, etc.), with each one having it's own adjustable volume slider (that can be very finely tuned, like 0 - 20 or even to 30), and each event also having a way to assign whatever audio clip/file you want to it.
And it shouldn't matter how tiny or insignificant the event seems to be... I want to adjust the volume and audio file for any event.
Give me this, and a way to assign all the settings to profiles that I can choose, so all the individual settings get changed to whatever I want them to be depending on the situation without me having to change each event sound and volume one by one each and every time I needed to, and we'd have a perfect way to manage it all.
Since migrating to Windows Mobile 5.0, I've never had an issue with alarms. Having said that, YMMV.
Back to the topic of profiles, I too find it ridiculous that Windows Mobile's support for it is so primitive. Pocket PCs still need third-party applications, and the profile functionality offered by Smartphones lacks grunt. Well, I guess in the case of the latter, it's better than nothing at all. :|
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How entire teams of people at MS could go this many years and never bother integrating this is beyond me. Do these people actually use these devices?
I use my device many hours a day, at home and at work, and don't personally need profiles. I don't like my device beeping at me for things in general so I typically disable most sounds on alerts, preferring vibrate for things like calendar reminders. I also set "Vibrate then ring" so I can usually answer the phone before being blasted with my ringtone of choice.
So, it's possible to be a device enthusiast who uses a Pocket PC all the time and not see the need for profiles. That said, I'm definitely not arguing against the idea - the posts here show that there's at least some number of users who would find it valuable.
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And it shouldn't matter how tiny or insignificant the event seems to be... I want to adjust the volume and audio file for any event.
Give me this, and a way to assign all the settings to profiles that I can choose, so all the individual settings get changed to whatever I want them to be depending on the situation without me having to change each event sound and volume one by one each and every time I needed to, and we'd have a perfect way to manage it all.
Complete control is what it's all about.
You do have to realize that when you ask for this, you are in a very small minority. Most users even of advanced phone devices are not interested in the kind of micromanagement you're describing. What I think Ed really nails is the concept of scenarios - what are obvious ways people use the device, and how do we (Microsoft) make the experience a good one in those scenarios? The alarm clock and listening to music when a call comes in are two scenarios where it is very reasonable to expect better behavior.
I use my device many hours a day, at home and at work, and don't personally need profiles. I don't like my device beeping at me for things in general so I typically disable most sounds on alerts, preferring vibrate for things like calendar reminders. I also set "Vibrate then ring" so I can usually answer the phone before being blasted with my ringtone of choice.
So, it's possible to be a device enthusiast who uses a Pocket PC all the time and not see the need for profiles. That said, I'm definitely not arguing against the idea - the posts here show that there's at least some number of users who would find it valuable.
Each to his own, of course, but you're only one person. It just seemed odd to me that on an entire team of people, over the years, there wouldn't be several people who would see a need for it, desire it, and push for it to be implemented.
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You do have to realize that when you ask for this, you are in a very small minority. Most users even of advanced phone devices are not interested in the kind of micromanagement you're describing. What I think Ed really nails is the concept of scenarios - what are obvious ways people use the device, and how do we (Microsoft) make the experience a good one in those scenarios? The alarm clock and listening to music when a call comes in are two scenarios where it is very reasonable to expect better behavior.
I have to completely disagree when you say I'm in the minority. That's just simply not true. Who doesn't want flexibility to adjust things to their needs? There are only so many events that occur on a PPC. So to clarify, I'm not suggesting a person would need to manage an ocean of events, but I'm also talking about more than just four or five.
I think if the feature was there that allowed for people to adjust things the way they want it, and not just the way some programmer sees fit with no ability to make changes, then I'm certain you would quickly discover how many people would take advantage of it.
What I'm talking about is exactly what you mentioned - scenarios. But having our devices act according to what we, as individuals want, is what helps provide solutions for different scenarios - maybe even some you wouldn't think of. But to achieve this, end users ultimately need flexibility when setting volumes and notification sounds. This flexibility I speak of is not complicated and wouldn't be all that time consuming, and it isn't something you'd have to fiddle with constantly. Settings for events could be found on one screen, and once set up, it could allow you to quickly bounce between half a dozen master profiles with a tap or press of a button, for example.
The OS could have some default profiles ready to go that people could use, but still provide them with the ability to fine tune it to their heart's content.
I wholeheartedly agree with your point about the media player. I don't quite understand the point about the alarm clock. I used mine just this morning with SPB Time to wake me up. Why not disable push email during off peak hours and set your off peak for bedtime?
I'm not arguing that profiles aren't needed, they are, but I think there's a work around for your problem here. (And this is coming from a guy who's wife is VERY untolerant of reminders from my MDA during the night.)
Why not disable push email during off peak hours and set your off peak for bedtime?
Pop3 and IMAP don't use that scheduler. plus, what is my bed time? 9, 11, 10:30? it differs and if I am working late, I don't want to have to change my push settings.
I also don't want to turn the radioyoff because one of the first thinqs I do when I wake is lie there in bed and review emails. I don't want to wait for the radios to come on. GPRS to connect and then manually sync my pop accounts and maybe my ActiveSync actount if the PPC hasn't done the initial connection.
I think that before you all sit there and complain... there ARE 3rd party alternatives. I STRONGLY suggest you try phonealarm from www.pocketmax.net . Its moving along very nicely, now to the point where you can change profiles based on cell-tower id which means autmatic change when at home or when at work, as well as time based profile changes and as well as profile changes based on built in calendar app appointments.
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