10-02-2007, 01:00 PM
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Contributing Editor Emeritus
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 8,228
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Windows Mobile Still Lacks Polish?
http://www.smartdevicecentral.com/article/Analysis+Windows+Mobile+Still+Lacks+Polish/215593_1.aspx
"Despite its current sales lead, the lack of synergy between Microsoft and smartphone manufacturers leaves the Redmond firm vulnerable to competition. During my recent review of the HTC Advantage, something became clear about Windows Mobile-based smartphones: The OS needs plenty of work, yet device manufacturers are looking the other way."
This article goes on to talk about a few issues the author has with Windows Mobile 6, providing some examples of slow video performance and the age old problem of losing some formatting in desktop documents. While I think some of the points are valid, others show he is using the wrong tool for the job, expecting a phone to perform at the same level as a desktop machine when it comes to manipulating data. I also think the comment "In fact, Windows Mobile 6 is the Windows Vista of smartphones: an unwieldy, bloated, and slow mess of an operating system" shows his true colors. I half expected to find him substituting a dollar sign for an "S" when typing out MS or Microsoft. :roll:
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10-02-2007, 02:17 PM
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Ponderer
Join Date: Jun 2002
Posts: 98
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I think the author's bigger problem was with the fact that HTC advertises the Advantage as a mobile office solution, when, in fact, it really isn't. If there's misinterpretation of what the true device capabilities are, then, in this case, HTC may be partly to blame.
Having said that, I've felt that the memory management changes introduced with WM5, along with the slower processors introduced for the sake of convergence, have conspired to make WM devices feel slow and bloated, so I can understand the author's point, even if he doesn't seem to grasp the actual reasons. WM hasn't really felt "snappy" since many iterations back (maybe PPC 2002). It would be nice if Microsoft could improve the responsiveness of the OS and application launch speed.
--Chris
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10-02-2007, 05:12 PM
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Neophyte
Join Date: May 2003
Posts: 5
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I agree with the author for the most part...
As much as I really find my T-Mobile MDA very useful, I agree with the author. If one goes to either MS or HTC's sites describing the capabilties of WinMo there is NO up front clear mention of the problems users will have working with Office Documents (Lost formats, strange on screen formatting on WinMo depending upon how it was formatted on the desktop machine and I thought I was the ONLY one who was having the Pocket Excel Date change problem - this one can be catastrophic when receiving documents from other parties that are related to business matters).
These random and somewhat unpredictable issues instill a lack of confidence in the end user for using these devices as a DEPENDABLE tool for a mobile office. Don't get me wrong as I use mine day in and day out for running and managaing business and personal affairs via email, calendar scheduling, (via Agenda One which is way slower to open than Pocket Outlook's calendar on my device but way more informative, customizable and easier in which to schedule), viewing both Word and Excel Docs, browsing (a WHOLE lot) and RSS but there are a number of features out of the box that the user has to learn to avoid using through trial and error simply because those certain features are either cumbersome, unpredictable or undependable. I have rectified a lot of the OS's (and my hardware's) shortcomings (at least in my opinion) with add on's (Smartskey, PIEPlus, Agenda One, Resco File Explorer, Battery Pack Pro etc...) but I think MS would see an even faster adoption of the WinMo OS if more of these capabilities were built-in to their devices. (Yes, I know in terms of hardware that the the MDA Wings and/or HTC Kaiser are later generation but no 1700 Mhz for T-Mo yet...) The Excel date change bug I have not found a fix for yet though...
I wouldn't quite call it the Vista of Smartphones as actually my Vista experience has been good thus far. I just wish Microsoft would follow around for a week a group of people from all walks of life that use WinMo devices and get a better feel for various user's needs and issues to iron out these bugs and shortcomings that have been around for several OS versions.
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10-02-2007, 05:50 PM
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Thinker
Join Date: Aug 2002
Posts: 418
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Re: Windows Mobile Still Lacks Polish?
Quote:
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Originally Posted by Ed Hansberry
I think some of the points are valid, others show he is using the wrong tool for the job, expecting a phone to perform at the same level as a desktop machine when it comes to manipulating data. I also think the comment "In fact, Windows Mobile 6 is the Windows Vista of smartphones: an unwieldy, bloated, and slow mess of an operating system" shows his true colors. I half expected to find him substituting a dollar sign for an "S" when typing out MS or Microsoft. :roll:
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It's being advertised as "a powerful mobile office device that lets you work wherever and whenever you want" that can "connect to your office, watch videos or listen to music anywhere". But it doesn't play full-screen videos smoothly and when editing Office files, the author found that it messed up dates and formatting and didn't retain tracked changes.
If you think only some of his points are valid, then which ones are invalid? Obviously we shouldn't expect mobile devices to do everything a desktop can, but shouldn't a $900, 0.75 pound "mobile office device" be the appropriate tool for simply watching videos or editing Office documents?
__________________
HP 48s, 200lx, USR Pilot 1k, Palm 3, V, M100, Handspring Visor, Sony N610c, T615c, T655c, HP iPAQ 1910, 2215, Palm T3, HP hx4705, Dell X50v, HP rx1955, Apple iPhone, 3G, 3GS, 4, Samsung Galaxy Nexus
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10-02-2007, 07:05 PM
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Ponderer
Join Date: May 2006
Posts: 86
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I'm likely going to be getting an AT&T branded TyTN II (Tilt I guess they're calling it) whenever that comes out. It will be replacing an old but perfectly functioning iPAQ 3975. I'm thrilled to be getting a device that's a little smaller and has all sorts of integrated features (particularly Bluetooth 2.0, WiFi, GPS, etc), but realistically speaking the progression of WM devices has not come all that far from my 3975. Especially if you consider "technology years" to be like "dog years" - consider where desktop CPUs, graphics card GPUs, hard disk capacity, flash memory capacity, heck even wireless ethernet and Bluetooth. Look at the progression of all of these technologies since I got my 3975. Now look at the progression of WM devices. Other than integrating more and more things (and nobody can seem to do it right anyway) it hasn't MOVED at all.
Can someone please explain to me why it is that you can fit 4GB into a microSD card (which only costs ~ $50) yet they can't seem to find the room to stick a meager 8GB of flash right in one of these devices? Cripes they got everything other than 802.11n and WiMAX in these things now.
On to Windows Mobile itself. This is a perfect example of how monopolies suck. I swear if it weren't for the Mac we'd all still be stuck in Windows 95. Microsoft needs the threat of someone taking the spotlight in order to get off of their content little rear ends. Hopefully they'll steal a good idea or two from the iPhone rather than attempt to back port the Software Protection Platform from Vista.
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10-02-2007, 07:05 PM
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Thinker
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 378
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Well, here's my take on the article.
First of all - let's talk about the Office document editing capabilities. They (HTC/Microsoft) are advertising the device as being capable of editing Office documents and I don't find any real discrepancies there. The author argues how his documents don't look the way it does on the desktop. Buy a brand new PC and install nothing but the OS (let's say, Windows XP) on it and try to open a Word document with the included WordPad. You're not going to get 100% compatability/accuracy either. You will go and buy Microsoft Office - so why expect 100% compatibility from a Pocket PC Phone? I don't really remember HTC/Microsoft promising full compatibility/functionality. If you prefer a high-level of compatibility, spend some money and buy SoftMaker's TextMaker (Word), PlanMaker (Excel), and Conduits' Pocket Slides (PowerPoint) - just as you would on a PC. :wink:
Let's talk about the author's comments on video playback. Here I don't disagree with him but I wish he would be much more specific on the details of the video (resolution and codec used), as well as which media player he used. If he can play the exact same video (unmodified) on his Archos 604 than kudos to that. But I also hope he realizes that there are alternate software which are known to greatly enhance the speed and compatability of video playback on Windows Mobile (TCMP for playback and Lathe/PocketDivXEncoder for resizing/encoding).
All in all, I think it is a pretty high-level article that is really bound to cause much debate among the more technical readers.
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10-02-2007, 10:30 PM
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Pupil
Join Date: Dec 2004
Posts: 17
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The article is bang on IMO. I've been saying for a few years on and off now. There's little difference outwardly between all the WM o/s's in their various flavours. Still the same clunk gui, still the same bugs, still the very limited functionality. Office on the move? Don't make me laugh. I've yet to see a compelling reason to upgrade from my Dell Axim x50v. Which in itself is no more functional that my old Ipaq 3660. Jeez...even the hardware specs have hardly moved on it 5 years.
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10-02-2007, 10:37 PM
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Intellectual
Join Date: Dec 2003
Posts: 242
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My two cents:
Vista - Pretty good; some highs, some lows but generally fine (on a new machine).
WM6 - Again, pretty good; some improvements over WM5 and fairly stable on it's own (though it doesn't feel like a full version upgrade; more like WM 5.1).
Mobile Office - Office 5 had more functionality and ran on slower processors 10 years ago. While my expectations (and needs for that matter) are not that high for a handheld, I expect at least that sync'd documents don't get 'unformatted'. I'm not really sure why you couldn't display/edit what you can on the handheld and leave the underlying file in tact. Seems to me that would be a reasonable compromise.
WMDC - A giant leap backwards. Truthfully, the experience could hardly be worse short of it not working at all.
1) It is terribly unstable; connecting every two or three tries (assuming I don't have to reboot my PC and/or reset my device first).
2) It randomly deletes partnerships and will also randomly decides that I no longer wish to sync Calendar and/or Contacts and/or Tasks with no notification while maintaining the partnership.
3) I have to use my XP machine for ROM updates.
4) Etc.
I have to fool with this stuff at least 3 to 4 days a week and it is getting less and less worth it. Activesync 4.5/WM5 wasn't perfect by any means but very rarely if ever had these problems (at least for me anyway).
My results may or may not be typical but in my mind it would have been more aptly named WMDC ME for all the 'upgrade' that it's been.
I've always been a staunch supporter of (and admittedly occasional complainer about) PPCs since they first came out. It's just gotten absurd now. I'm pretty technically savvy, too, I can't imagine what a nightmare this must be to the casual user.
There have been enough cycles to get this right and it's worse than ever. Show me an unlocked iPhone with GPS and I'm out.
db
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'It has been my experience that the more extreme the opinion, the less likely it is to be based on or altered by fact.'*- db
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10-02-2007, 11:25 PM
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Theorist
Join Date: Mar 2005
Posts: 303
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I agree with the author and I haven't even read the article. MS has sat on its ass for too long.
#1 Mistake - assuming that people are too dumb for "smart" phones and only marketing to businesses. I know plenty of people who had enough cash for a RAZR when it came out, they could have bought a WM device with the right impetus. Look at how many people bought the iPhone at $600.
The OS itself is hardly different from four years ago - the last innovation was HTC substituting 2.8" screens for 3.5" screens to make devices a bit more portable. Look at the iPhone and how it manages a 3.5" screen in the same space as a 2.8" HTC Elf.
I feel like the platform hasn't really progressed since the time I bought my first windows phone, and I'm bidding adieu to it because my dumbphone does more and is faster and more stable. The only reason I'm using (and hating) my Q is because I need to have it active for a rebate.
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10-02-2007, 11:35 PM
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Ponderer
Join Date: May 2006
Posts: 86
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I'm beginning to reconsider that Tilt purchase now. Maybe I'll just stick with my 3975 and upgrade from my SE 710a to a newer SE model.
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