[j2inet]

Originally Posted by Jon Westfall

On a related note,

Why is it I can sync my Zune over wi-fi but can't sync my Windows Phone?

You kinda can. But first some history.


At one point in time you could, but this wasn't by design. Microsoft had added the ability for earlier Windows CE devices to be able to sync over IP. This was meant to allow devices that had IP over serial cable to sync. Eventuall Windows CE devices started to get all types of network connections. Because of the nature of IP based pprotocols syncing over these new connections. Microsoft went back and disabled this feature because the sync process had been designed originally assuming you had a wired connection directly to the target computer and thus low risk of data interception.

I know there are those that would say "Just make sure you use wireless encryption." But the problem isn't based in WiFi. Even if you encrypted your connection once your data gets to the router it is in it's unencrypted form and some one else on the network could decrypt it. Worst there are those that would try to sync over the Internet and those people would be subject to a much larger interception surface.

Another common argument against syncing being disable is "Why didn't Microsoft just disable it by default and allow power users to enable it." That's paramount to arguing why one wasn't given a loaded gun to shoot wones self. Also if a security breach occurred under such a condition it is Microsoft that would be given the bad press, not the user.

The solution to this would be to add some type of encryption to the data. At present there are a few syncing services available for Windows Mobile phones that will provide this encryption. Exchange syncing is encrypted, as are Mesh syncint and MyPhone syncing. While these technologies may not cover all the use cases that one may have for wanting ActiveSync syncing over IP they do address many of the use cases. Given the above mentioned technologies there wouldn't be much to gain from re-enabling syncing over IP for ActiveSync.

[j2inet]

Originally Posted by Jon Westfall

On a related note,

Why is it I can sync my Zune over wi-fi but can't sync my Windows Phone?

You kinda can. But first some history.


At one point in time you could, but this wasn't by design. Microsoft had added the ability for earlier Windows CE devices to be able to sync over IP. This was meant to allow devices that had IP over serial cable to sync. Eventuall Windows CE devices started to get all types of network connections. Because of the nature of IP based pprotocols syncing over these new connections. Microsoft went back and disabled this feature because the sync process had been designed originally assuming you had a wired connection directly to the target computer and thus low risk of data interception.

I know there are those that would say "Just make sure you use wireless encryption." But the problem isn't based in WiFi. Even if you encrypted your connection once your data gets to the router it is in it's unencrypted form and some one else on the network could decrypt it. Worst there are those that would try to sync over the Internet and those people would be subject to a much larger interception surface.

Another common argument against syncing being disable is "Why didn't Microsoft just disable it by default and allow power users to enable it." That's paramount to arguing why one wasn't given a loaded gun to shoot wones self. Also if a security breach occurred under such a condition it is Microsoft that would be given the bad press, not the user.

The solution to this would be to add some type of encryption to the data. At present there are a few syncing services available for Windows Mobile phones that will provide this encryption. Exchange syncing is encrypted, as are Mesh syncint and MyPhone syncing. While these technologies may not cover all the use cases that one may have for wanting ActiveSync syncing over IP they do address many of the use cases. Given the above mentioned technologies there wouldn't be much to gain from re-enabling syncing over IP for ActiveSync.

[j2inet]

Originally Posted by Brad Adrian

I realize the REAL problem is with Vista, but I WANT TO BE ABLE TO SYNC MY DEVICE AGAIN!!

I simply cannot understand how such an important app can be so badly broken and go unfixed for so many years.

[/rant]

Why can't you sync your device on Vista?

[Sven]

Originally Posted by Jon Westfall

On a related note,

Why is it I can sync my Zune over wi-fi but can't sync my Windows Phone?

And why can I use BT stereo headphones on my phone (WM) and not my media player (Zune)? But I guess this is a Zune complaint

[QuackFu]

First, a quick introduction. My name is Howard and I'm one of *many* developers on Windows Mobile (specifically, the phone related features like dialing/incoming call/call history, etc...). I've been on this team for about 3 years now, and spent about 5 years helping to develop Visual Studio prior to that. I've read PocketPCThoughts for many years now, as I was a PocketPC enthusiast well before joining the team (it's actually what convinced me to change teams). That being said, I haven't participated in the forums at all, but having seen this thread tonight, I felt like I wanted to chime in. I can't (and thus won't) discuss or respond to speculation on anything related to any Windows Mobile release past 6.5, but there are some comments in here that I absolutely can address, and would like to. So, any comment on this thread that I'm able to respond to is below (where #n refers to the individual post I'm responding to):

#1:
Windows Mobile (both Standard and Professional) have had the ability to delete individual Call History entries (as well as clear the whole log in one fell swoop) for many releases. I'm not that familiar with the add-on's that OEM's are adding (like HTC, Samsung, etc...), but I can tell you that the Windows Mobile OS ships with the base ability to do this already. You just have to make sure that you're not in SmartDial when trying to delete the entries. See my response to #13 for better clarification.

#2:
"2. The ability to categorize and filter my email" - I guess I'm not clear on what you're looking for here, The mail client has the ability to instantly filter email as you start typing... maybe this is not what you're referring to by filtering?

#11:
"working automatic screen/button locker" - Unfortunately, it seems that we never exposed something like "Lock" as a configurable action for buttons. The two-step solution that I've always used for this scenario is to hit the hardware END key (which immediately jumps you to the Today screen), and then tap the "Device Unlocked" homescreen plugin to lock the device.

"Also what about export/backup of call logs and SMS/MMS messages" -- We have that now thanks to MyPhone. See here for more info: http://blogs.msdn.com/windowsmobile/...-my-phone.aspx

#13


"a. Better call log management" - I'd like to hear more about your scenario. It sounds like you're referring to the Call History application. There are actually 3 ways to view the Call History information on the device.:

1. The Call History application (Start->Call History on WM Standard, TALK->Call History on WM Pro) - This will give you a complete view of all the phone events that happened on your device without any filtering applied (although you can apply a filter to view just the Missed calls or just the Outgoing calls, etc...)
2. The "Call History by Caller" view - This is seen if you "action" (with the DPAD), or tap, on an item in that view. It filters out the calls and only shows you the call history entries that were to/from that number or contact. Again, in this view, no duplicates are removed, as it was expected that you wanted to see every call.
3. "SmartDial" - This is what you see when you hit the TALK button or run the Phone application. The list that you see there is actually a merged list of all your device contacts, SIM contacts and favorites, and then Call History at the top. In this view, we remove all Call History duplicates.

When this was designed, our expectation was that the majority of users would initiate calls from SmartDial, and would just use Call History for reference and occasionally initiating a call. I'd like to better understand how you are using your phone, and why Call History better meets your needs than SmartDial (with the exception that it doesn't remove dupes).

#24
"2) Much better finger friendliness" - I believe that Windows Mobile 6.5 definitely makes us friendlier to those fingers.

"4) Notification API's so that ..." - I'd be interested in hearing more about your scenario here to get a better idea of what you're asking for.

"7) much better dialer with support for switching between multiple calls and design for conference calls" - We support multi-call swapping, as well as conferencing those calls and separating them out again (via the Private menu item). What is it about the current design that you find to be lacking or frustrating? How frequently are you doing conference calls on your device, and handing multi-call situations? I'm not trying to be flip here at all...I'm trying to get a better handle on your scenario. In my 10 years of owning a cellphone (3 of which were Windows Mobile), I never once made a conference call. I only started making conference calls once I joined that team, and that was merely when testing code changes to ensure that they didn't break that feature.

#26
"My brother loves movies and wants his phone to use GPS to pick the closest location and then tell him what movies are available. Great for a city ones not familiar with." - That's precisely the kind of scenario that the free "Windows Live Search" application solves. You can get it from here: http://loco4local.com/

[Gerard]

Originally Posted by QuackFu

I've read PocketPCThoughts for many years now, as I was a PocketPC enthusiast well before joining the team (it's actually what convinced me to change teams).

Well congratulations on a very solid first post, and welcome! I've been more and less involved in the Thoughts forums since many years ago, and it has been too rare a thing to see a Microsoft employee join in the discussions. Same on Brighthand; just the odd blip, then silence. It's nice, thanks for this.

Originally Posted by QuackFu

#2:
"2. The ability to categorize and filter my email" - I guess I'm not clear on what you're looking for here, The mail client has the ability to instantly filter email as you start typing... maybe this is not what you're referring to by filtering?

I think what was being asked for here was something like what nPOPuk offers; user-definable/configurable filters to handle a) whether mail gets marked for deletion from the server or for download in full, or is just left as a pre-defined preview portion, b) dumping certain newly-arrived mail into archive/category filters without manual intervention, and c) whatever other parameters and controls the user might wish to exert over arriving mail. A mobile device with memory limitations, especially today when many emails arrive from broadband users with very large attachments, needs a proper email client, with controls over how email is delivered and handled. nPOPuk does this sort of thing very well, and is freeware/open source, so I guess it's easy enough for anyone to use that instead (as I do - MS Inbox/Messaging is a catastrophe in my opinion... always has been... just this week I tried it again for the first time in years, and it cannot seem to keep the one single email I have in my GMail Inbox... it downloads fine, then on next check it's gone, and yes, I have checked and re-set both my in-device account settings and my GMail prefs many times while testing this - Messaging just doesn't seem able to 'hang on' to the email), but having such features built into the OS would be nice. As it stands, certain features have definitely been improved over the years (HTML handling for one), but others lag behind many, many other email clients. nPOPuk can, of course, handle GMail. Not without issues, but those are GMail and SSL issues, not native to the client, and usually easily resolved. Full disclosure; I am on the beta testing team for nPOPuk, and have been for several years now.

I do certainly see a lot of improvements with WM6.1 and 6.5, so good work generally speaking. It's just those darned particulars, when users tunnel down and want everything to just work, that the trouble seems to start. The overall impression of the interface and functionality is quite good, in my opinion. Of course, you didn't address my question... post #25, last couple of paragraphs... but one can't expect too much all at once. Still, any possibility of following that one up, regarding the ability to organize the new Start Menu, at least alphabetize the thing?

[QuackFu]

Originally Posted by Gerard

Well congratulations on a very solid first post, and welcome!

Thanks. I'm going to make it a point to monitor the forum a bit more frequently and add in some context or answer some questions when I can. Clearly, I won't see everything, so people can feel free to PM me and point me to a thread that they'd like to see my input on if I appear to be absent.

Originally Posted by Gerard

Of course, you didn't address my question... post #25, last couple of paragraphs... but one can't expect too much all at once. Still, any possibility of following that one up, regarding the ability to organize the new Start Menu, at least alphabetize the thing?

The lack of response was actually intentional. As I mentioned at the beginning of my post, the area that I work on are the telephony-related features (incoming calls, dialing, call progress, call history, missed call notifications, etc...). The changes made to the Start experience were done my a different feature team, and as such, I have a smaller knowledge scope.

Additionally, I can't discuss anything that wasn't officially announced already (essentially stuff that isn't already on the WindowsMobile blog or stuff announced at the major conferences), so the level of Start Menu organization on 6.5 unfortunately falls into that bucket...sorry; I can tell you that I'll be forwarding on your feedback to the team responsible for the Start menu work in 6.5. I'll also forward on your filtering feedback to the Messaging team.

So, what good am I to you then? I'm still open to hearing all of your feedback on both the good and the bad so that I can ensure that your problems and scenarios are considered in whatever comes next....I can also try to help solve problems that you have with your existing devices. Clearly my area of expertise is with the Telephony features, but as I am an enthusiast with the platform as well, I'm fairly well versed with the whole product, and when I'm not, I have friends on most of the other teams that I can pester.

[Gerard]

Fair enough. No complaints from me, as you seem to very thoroughly address these questions either yourself directly or by passing queries along to the experts in whichever department.

[MadSci]

Originally Posted by Jon Westfall

Valid point, although to be fair before the iPhone came out, many companies were forecasting the end of the touchscreen (including RIM). So it's not very surprising that it's taken awhile to "catch-up".

The engineers and managers I've met at MS are all very aware of fingers... at least now they are.

Good to hear it! In the meantime, the more WE give them "The Fingers", perhaps the more resources they will be able to put to the issue

MadSci

[Phillip Dyson]

Originally Posted by QuackFu

#2:
"2. The ability to categorize and filter my email" - I guess I'm not clear on what you're looking for here, The mail client has the ability to instantly filter email as you start typing... maybe this is not what you're referring to by filtering?

I'm not sure how else to say it. The ability to categorize your email and filter your view based on categories. Its a feature that you have in Outlook as well. If I only want to see the emails categorized as "household" then I can filter my view and only see those.

The feature you mentioned is more like a keyword filter, is not quite the same thing because its based on the contents of email. A category is something I can apply regardless of the content. Dont get me wrong, what you described is a nice feature. I didn't even know it was there, actually. I just tried it and its pretty cool. But its not quite what I was looking for.