[Pete Paxton]

The topic of this discussion is precisely why I now have an iPhone. My son now has my dash. I haven't missed my dash even a little and there are times I will mess with the dash for old times sake and I can't believe now very outdated the OS feels. Would I ever go back to a WM device? You bet I would, but not until they give it a major ( and I mean major) overhaul. They need to redesign the entire OS and make it much more user friendly. I can hand my iPhone to just about anyone and they can figure it out within no time and yet it does just about everything my dash was able to do - some more and some less. My non-tech savvy friends and family almost always got confused by my dash. Those same people actually want an iPhone. My iPhone even with 2.0.1 is much more stable than my dash and seems faster. Safari is waaaaay better than PIE. I have just about all the apps I want including an electronic wallet, Bible, games, and some other cool apps. The only thing I really want on the iPhone is an office suite. Then it will be totally complete. Viewing pics, movies, and listening to music is far superior. I really hope MS figures out a way to get us excited again.

[Pete Paxton]

The topic of this discussion is precisely why I now have an iPhone. My son now has my dash. I haven't missed my dash even a little and there are times I will mess with the dash for old times sake and I can't believe now very outdated the OS feels. Would I ever go back to a WM device? You bet I would, but not until they give it a major ( and I mean major) overhaul. They need to redesign the entire OS and make it much more user friendly. I can hand my iPhone to just about anyone and they can figure it out within no time and yet it does just about everything my dash was able to do - some more and some less. My non-tech savvy friends and family almost always got confused by my dash. Those same people actually want an iPhone. My iPhone even with 2.0.1 is much more stable than my dash and seems faster. Safari is waaaaay better than PIE. I have just about all the apps I want including an electronic wallet, Bible, games, and some other cool apps. The only thing I really want on the iPhone is an office suite. Then it will be totally complete. Viewing pics, movies, and listening to music is far superior. I really hope MS figures out a way to get us excited again.

[efjay]

As usual all the complaints are about the WM GUI. What about the reduced functionality, doesn't that matter?

[eugarps]

Quoting Pete:

"The only thing I really want on the iPhone is an office suite."

Pete,

To that I would add "... and the ability to use an external keyboard." How much trouble can it be to come up with a BT keyboard interface? I'm sure it's needs driven and, until we have an office suite, we won't see a BT keyboard.

As to a Bible package: Olive Tree seems to be developing one and I'm watching Appstore for an announcement.

I'm still considering buying an iPAQ 210 and going back to a dumb phone. I really don't think iPhone will be able to catch up with WM for a bit, but it is a neat phone. I'd like to keep it. It would be cool to be able to tether an iPhone to the iPAQ 210...... dreamin' I'm always dreamin'

Bill

[tut00]

Originally Posted by eugarps

Quoting Pete:

As to a Bible package: Olive Tree seems to be developing one and I'm watching Appstore for an announcement.

Bill

http://www.olivetree.com/iphone/

its already out. haven't tried it yet though.

[r@dimus]

I was pretty excited about the Tilt until it repeatedly melted down into a steaming pile of system hangs and crashes. You can talk about features and eye candy all day long, but if the system is crippled due to device maker negligence and crapped up by the carrier's preinstalled garbage trialware who cares? And whoever did care will care even less when there is no word on when the Tilt might get the ROM update that is supposed to fix some of these problems.

Maybe AT&T hasn't lined up enough crapware to ruin the ROM with yet.

[Eriq Cook]

The iPhone has a fantastic interface, but it's lacking several crucial features. Voice Command (how can Apple release a touch screen only device with no voice command capability like Windows Mobile devices and Blackberry's???), no basic copy and paste edit options (!), and no versions that have a physical keyboard for those serious/business users.

I'll wait another 1-2 years for Microsoft to catch up. I'm sure they'll have a very different interface within that time frame. I'm seriously contemplating moving to blackberry though if the next devices are just as unstable.

Originally Posted by Pete Paxton

The topic of this discussion is precisely why I now have an iPhone. My son now has my dash. I haven't missed my dash even a little and there are times I will mess with the dash for old times sake and I can't believe now very outdated the OS feels. Would I ever go back to a WM device? You bet I would, but not until they give it a major ( and I mean major) overhaul. They need to redesign the entire OS and make it much more user friendly. I can hand my iPhone to just about anyone and they can figure it out within no time and yet it does just about everything my dash was able to do - some more and some less. My non-tech savvy friends and family almost always got confused by my dash. Those same people actually want an iPhone. My iPhone even with 2.0.1 is much more stable than my dash and seems faster. Safari is waaaaay better than PIE. I have just about all the apps I want including an electronic wallet, Bible, games, and some other cool apps. The only thing I really want on the iPhone is an office suite. Then it will be totally complete. Viewing pics, movies, and listening to music is far superior. I really hope MS figures out a way to get us excited again.

[kanzlr]

to me, the "lack" of excitement is a sign of how mature the platform has become.

in my book, this is a good thing.

WM is about getting work done, and it excels in that area. As I already posted, I use an i780 for a few weeks now, and I am amazed how useful it is for my daily work.

A PocketPC with a highres touchscreen, HSDPA and WiFi, a keyboard and fast hardware is currently the most useful device (for me). It does everything i want it to and it does it very well. no excitement needed, thank you

[kanzlr]

Originally Posted by eriqcook

I'll wait another 1-2 years for Microsoft to catch up. I'm sure they'll have a very different interface within that time frame. I'm seriously contemplating moving to blackberry though if the next devices are just as unstable.

hm. have you used a blackberry device for a few days? if not, do so BEFORE you buy it...the interface is bad, ugly, and it is not really faster than a fast WM device. also, instability is often caused by applications, not windows mobile. the fine thing about the blackberry: there aren't as many applications...

[Eriq Cook]

I have. In fact I bought my fiance one and played with it for a couple of days before I gave it to her I agree that the interface isn't very appealing, and was prone to crashes several times a month as well. I'm also reminded that the blackberry service has no real backup network, so if something goes wrong at the main blackberry center, the network for all blackberry users goes down. On second thoughts I'll just stick with WM LOL.

Originally Posted by kanzlr

hm. have you used a blackberry device for a few days? if not, do so BEFORE you buy it...the interface is bad, ugly, and it is not really faster than a fast WM device. also, instability is often caused by applications, not windows mobile. the fine thing about the blackberry: there aren't as many applications...

[Rocky Sullivan]

I think windows mobile is going to struggle in the next year or two - it may not even survive. I think people forget that Microsoft captured the PDA market from Palm not simply by copying them but by giving customers more of what they wanted. Back in those days it was high resolution color screens, multi tasking and improved media features but they basically packed the devices with more features than anyone else.

Today Nokia lead the way in terms of feature packed smart-phones - with the Nokia N95 being the flagship device. Apple lead in terms of design and usability with the Iphone.

It wont be enough to simply release an improved GUI for Windows Mobile 7. Microsoft need to do something really special to bring back the "wow" factor to windows mobile.



Personally i would like to see them start by significantly improving some of the existing functions".

1. A screen that works well enough in direct sunlight to allow me to watch a movie or play a game outside. Further screen development for better e-book reading.

2. Speakers that provide a richer sound with more bass so that my device could fill a small office or room without distortion.

3. A Radio that works without having to plug the headphones in as an antenna - perhaps DAB radio if possible.

4. Integrated snap on/off bluetooth headset that is charged with the phone.

5. Better gaming controls - maybe like the PSP analog button.


The problem with this is that they are mainly hardware improvements - and Microsoft do not do hardware for phones.

On the software front they need to look at improving the GUI - which we know they are working on but they need to add some killer functions like;

1. Better Voice to text recognition.

2. Mobile TV - and not one reliant on network bandwidth.

3. Releasing high quality mobile versions of Microsoft / XBox games with XBox live integration (like they announced two years ago)

4. better handwriting recognition (I still want to take handwritten notes on my phone)

5. Consumer home entertainment remote control software (and better integrated hardware). This is an opportunity that was explored with PDAs but never took off (i think mainly because of the high price point of PDAs which were not financed by network contracts) - I think that proper remote control functions in a mobile phone would be a great selling point.