Having just finished an evaluation of devices in preparation for a corporate-wide deployment, it seems that the number one thing they have to fix is reliability. It isn't acceptable for the phone portion of the device to stop working ever (obviously there's got to be battery power & signal, but you know what I mean).
The consistent reply I was getting from the BB-lovers was that the devices just work. I know that it isn't entirely that simple - we've had BB users that have to reset their devices occasionally - but you do a Google search and there are plenty of reports about how BB devices are more stable than WM devices.
It isn't just being caused by the installation of 3rd party software either. It could be partly caused by the telco's software but there isn't much you can do about that.
So that would be my number one wish: a more stable, resiliant and reliable platform. I've got a horrible feeling that in 12 months' time when the contract is due for renewal, we might be getting more people switching from WM to BB ...
--Philip
I was going to mention stability but with WM it really is dependent on the OEM and carriers. I suspect, although it's not easy to test, that WM is quite stable. However, all the other stuff that gets loaded over the base OS seems to lead to some level of performance compromise.
As a rule, I've found WM less stable and reliable than straight cell phones and BlackBerry devices.
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Get your Pocket Mojo. Anthony Caruana is the Mojo master.
For me it's really simple - everything in one box. The Treo is rock solid (for me anyway... but I'm not very demanding) - certainly it behaves better than many PPC's I've owned in the past.
What you mentioned is exactly my situation. I could not find any solution to fix the problem. As a result, I subscribe a dataplan for my Treo and bought a stylish and light weight 3G phone.
I used a lot of different models of PPC before, I found that the voice part of the WM is the weakest. After I bought the Treo 750, I found that it is close to my dream device. BUT I found a big problem when my device syncing to the Exchange, sometimes the incoming call may go to voicemail. I know that this is not the device or OS problem, this is because of the GSM line. So I switched to 3G (Treo has 3G capability), it seems that the situation is a lot better. BUT my phone battery can only last for half day.
I'm currently with a WM phone only because Nokia has yet to introduce a sideways slide out keyboard phone, like all the HTC devices.
I prefer WM Smartphone to the WM PPC/"Professional" edition too. It just seems much more one hand friendly and made from the ground up to be used AS A PHONE.
I would have never left the Palm camp 4 years ago had they added such small things as multitasking and a real file system. *sigh*
I think WM has a long ways to go performance-wise. It's just too darned slow. I know that some of the problems lie in the devices running slower processors, but come on, MS. Put some rules down. Put a minimum spec that actually gives a GOOD experience with the phone. Not just specs that will run it in theory, but is god awful slow (I'm looking at you, MDA).
Opening up Messaging to type a text message should be instant. 2 seconds at the longest.
My WM5 phone is more like an old desktop than a nice phone in that I always end up waiting for apps to open. Or close. Or god forbid some sitew doesn't have their mime types set up properly and Pocket IE tries to open a CAB file as text.......oof. I end up yanking the battery out just to get it working again after that. :roll:
I like the flexibility and plethora of apps available for WM, but the overall experience is lacking.
WM Smartphone edition is leaps and bounds over the PPC version though. I just wish those two teams would communicate more.
Where yyou find smartphone to be better, I find that it's too restrictive. I hate not having a touch screen and being limited in what I can do with attachments and other limitations between the two. Would I recommend a smartphone to others? Absolutely! It's just that I've used the CE OS for about ten years and like WM Pro. Simply a preference.
I hate not having a touch screen and being limited in what I can do with attachments and other limitations between the two.
The touch screen is a nice addition, I'll agree. Though in 90% of my daily PHONE usage, not pda-type usage of the device, I don't think a person should ever have to leave the device buttons for any sort of navigation or interaction.
The attachments comment is new to me. What's the difference? I ended up installing FlexMail on my Dash because the default Messaging app was just too poor for me, showed too little on the screen, etc. Does the smartphone have limited attachment support?
picking the phone and its platform depends on what one trying to do. For me, I pick Blackberry because it gets my emails, internet, voice, data and PIM all done well.
I like stand alone devices. I admit I don't have a huge business use for a pocket pc however I did like the separate device idea for two reasons...
The device is always mine. It isn't linked to some cell phone plan and therefore can only be purchased with said plan which is usually overkill for my usage. Since I have a dumb phone my per month costs are lower and that certainly helps out.
Second... my Pocket PC is nice but it isn't the most stable thing in the world. Every now and again I have to soft reset it because it throws some sort of fit. However, I'm in no huge rush so I wait for the reset. My phone on the other hand MUST work. I have the phone for phone calls... not for incoming calls to bounce to voicemail, not for current calls to be lost because my device decided it is a good time to freeze, nor to have some sort of crash when dialing a call. Besides, it would feel a little odd holding up a Pocket PC sized phone to my ear (Yes, personal preference).
My phone is cheap and durable and new enough... so if something happens then I can simply get another (it hasn't had problems though). My Pocket PC has held up pretty well too but it wouldn't have been a good phone. I also like how my phone battery is nowhere effected by a long gaming session on my Pocket PC (which will have a somewhat weak battery if I play a long game on it).
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