T-Mobile Shadow Getting Unfairly Dissed in the Press

[Mike Temporale]

http://blogs.zdnet.com/mobile-gadgeteer/?p=679

"I was reading one of my favorite mobile sites, Mobility Site, and saw that NY Times writer David Pogue apparently had a chance to try out the T-Mobile Shadow and provided his thoughts. I am not quite sure how much time he actually spent with the device since I think he missed a few features on the Shadow and made some statements about Windows Mobile 6 that may give people the wrong impression about the operating system. Regular readers know that I am fairly agnostic when it comes to mobile operating systems and use whichever one lets me get the job done at the time, as seen by my regular usage of Windows Mobile, Palm, Apple, and S60 devices. I try hard to give a balanced view of each OS"

Matt Miller goes on to address the issues raised by David Pogue, who managed to review the device and make a number of inaccurate statements in the process. What I find even funnier is that David takes the time to reply to Matt's article and in his reply he states that the Shadow has no buttons exposed at all when its slider is closed! Seriously, I can't make this stuff up. The total buttons available when the slider is closed is 13 excluding the scrolling function and volume buttons (Pogue did admit the volume buttons where available when closed). That's a long way from zero. I guess you don't have to know how to count in order to write a review. For that matter, I guess you don't even need to try out the device you're reviewing either.

[Mike Temporale]

http://blogs.zdnet.com/mobile-gadgeteer/?p=679

"I was reading one of my favorite mobile sites, Mobility Site, and saw that NY Times writer David Pogue apparently had a chance to try out the T-Mobile Shadow and provided his thoughts. I am not quite sure how much time he actually spent with the device since I think he missed a few features on the Shadow and made some statements about Windows Mobile 6 that may give people the wrong impression about the operating system. Regular readers know that I am fairly agnostic when it comes to mobile operating systems and use whichever one lets me get the job done at the time, as seen by my regular usage of Windows Mobile, Palm, Apple, and S60 devices. I try hard to give a balanced view of each OS"

Matt Miller goes on to address the issues raised by David Pogue, who managed to review the device and make a number of inaccurate statements in the process. What I find even funnier is that David takes the time to reply to Matt's article and in his reply he states that the Shadow has no buttons exposed at all when its slider is closed! Seriously, I can't make this stuff up. The total buttons available when the slider is closed is 13 excluding the scrolling function and volume buttons (Pogue did admit the volume buttons where available when closed). That's a long way from zero. I guess you don't have to know how to count in order to write a review. For that matter, I guess you don't even need to try out the device you're reviewing either.

[Kris Kumar]

I agree with David that Windows Mobile should be a bit more intuitive, the classic example - switching the keyboard to numeric if the field is numeric but ZIP code in some places is alphanumeric ;-) but still numeric should be default. And then the center button should act like OK button.

But comparing Windows Mobile or Shadow to the iPhone is the worst decision. On the iPhone to make a phone call it is a pain! iPhone may allow you to switch to speakerphone quickly but dialing a number quickly or searching a contact can be tap-tap-tap-scroll-tap....

Every OS has its worst and best parts. The new home screen on the Shadow is a step in the right direction to make Shadow consumer friendly. I still love the regular (cluttered :-) ) home screen but the new one makes sense for regular/non-business users.

[palmsolo]

I consider myself a power user, but find I still prefer the new Neo Home screen because right from here I can create a text message, create an appointment, jump to the internet, play my tunes, switch profiles, and check notification. It really is more than just a custom Home screen with shortcuts to apps. It adds more functionality than that and I think brings a nice level of user friendliness to Windows Mobile. However, I still can get into WM 6 and load up lots of 3rd party apps, etc. Plus, the 256MB ROM and 128MB RAM make the Shadow a VERY GOOD WM Smartphone.