MEMO TO: CORPORATE BIG WIGS

[Joseph Moon]

:: Jason - Feel free to edit anything that you feel is inappropriate ::

To whom it may concern:

@ Palm
First, the 700w is a well designed phone. It is comfortable - and for a small screen, it works. But what the hell were you thinking with the memory? Do you realize that not everyone who purchased that phone is a geek and knows to reset it every 3 hours? I have met a few executives in my travels who are so frustrated with it that they are already looking for a replacement. That is a great life span for that phone - six (6) months!

Take some advice... Use the things you make for a few months. Give one to your kids, your neightbors, your wife! Let them tell you the flaws before the public does. You might be better able to keep market share this way.

Oh - and in case you're not going to fix this problem, or help someone else to fix it for you (give the guys at PC Techs some help already) - issue us all a new back cover with easier access to the dang reset switch!

@ Microsoft
Let's start with a Thank You. If it weren't for you, we would be in the streets playing stickball or something. But you have given us so much to talk about. And for the sake of keeping it short, let's go to Windows Mobile software. Not everyone likes Pocket Internet Explorer, Windows Media Player, Windows Explorer or ActiveSync. I am not expecting great things from your throw in software - just reliability. But when we find a replacement to Windows Media, or any of these other limited apps you throw in - please step aside! Give us the opportunity to delete these apps from our precious memory hungry devices. Or, at the very least - disable them from becoming the default player/viewer/reader. Just step aside!

@ Motorola
Dude, you've got some cool devices - ON PAPER! But you can't seem to deliver on your specs or on time. What is up with that? The Q looks so promising, so sexy. Yet it was years late on delivery and it has geeks looking away from it because of problems with applications. Don't you guys understand that we are going to install applications on the device. I wonder if you think we buy these things just to use them as paper wieghts or something. This isn't just a problem with the Q... It has been with every Motorola phone I purchased for the last 10 or so years. One merchant told me that the "lock-ups" were a feature!

@ Verizon
You're like the little girl on the corner selling lemonade. We all stop and pick up a glass of this over priced refreshment, only to find that it leaves a sour taste in our mouth. First, spend some money and some time educating your sales people. Or at least the ones in Southern California. You have been treating customers like supermarket shoppers for years. And as the devices get more advanced, we need more education. It took me - A GEEK - a trip to four (4) different stores to have someone show me a Treo. None of the managers at the three other locations wanted to reset the phone so that I could play with it before purchasing. (yeah, imagine that - the treo locked up on the showroom floor!)

Ohh, and by the way - changing the rules in the middle of your "New Every Two" plan was a bit shady. I suspect that you pissed off some attorney somewhere who is working on the class action suit right now... I anticipate getting my TRUE $100 rebate in the next few years in the form of some voucher.

@ Phone Manufacturers
Don't make phones exclusive anymore to certain carriers. They don't deserve it. Let us, the consumers decide who should get our business. This way, the company that provides the best products and services get's our business - regardless of the device we are coveting. Let us mix and match our favorites - and reward the establishments who respect that business.

@ Pocket PC Developers
You're simply amazing! I have been around computers and software since the Commodore PET. You guys provide the most reliable software, with the greatest amount of features - crammed into a small section of memory for the price of a movie! I am amazed! You are truely a blessed group of individuals and are what makes this industry so interesting. If it weren't for the software, I doubt I would even attempt to use the products produced by the big guns. In my opinion, Palm, Motorola and to some extent, Verizon are surviving on your backs! You all deserve a special kind of thanks. Here's to: Alex @ WebIS and the Pocket Informant Team, Team Laridian, The Resco Team, ScaryBear Software, Team Inesoft, Conduits and so many others who spend time relentlessly coding, tweaking and debugging applications so that they work AS ADVERTISED! Thank you! Thank You! THANK YOU!

I think I am done... Thanks for listening...

Joseph...

Oh and BTW; Thanks to Jason Dunn who started this web site years ago with money from HIS own pocket... He, as well as other dedicated operators spend many a sleepless nights making sure we all have a place to gather, discuss and find our answers to some of our most troubling questions and problems. Jason, thanks again - your efforts have not gone unnoticed... And even as I write this I am convicted of the fact that I have benefited from this site more than once, yet have never done anything financial to support it - I will make sure to change that shortly... Before the day is out... Thanks again!

[Jason Dunn]

Now there's some righteous indignation I can raise a glass to. :beer:

[xdalaw]

Amen! Great post. :D

[ipaq_wannabe]

i havent seen or touched a Treo 700W before - but exactly how do you get access to the Reset Switch? do you have to remove the back cover, etc., and find the switch inside the case?

hhhmmm... if that were the case, then it is similar to that Sharp-based Willcome phone, the W-ZERO3 WS003SH... you have to remove the back casing to have access to the reset switch!!!

[Brad Adrian]

...do you have to remove the back cover, etc., and find the switch inside the case?

Yep! And with a phone that's so memory-short you have to reset it to free up every bit of unreleased memory possible, that's a real deal-killer. I'm sure somebody's already tried this, but I bet there's a way to drill a tiny hole in JUST the right place to make resetting easier (but who knows if that'll create dust problems?).

Great summary of the issues, Joseph! And my praise for Jason goes double!

[Janak Parekh]

Yep! And with a phone that's so memory-short you have to reset it to free up every bit of unreleased memory possible, that's a real deal-killer.
Not really. I soft reset maybe twice a week, which is more than I'd like, but not quite as often as Joseph has to. (Of course, one's use of the device may vary.)

I'm sure somebody's already tried this, but I bet there's a way to drill a tiny hole in JUST the right place to make resetting easier (but who knows if that'll create dust problems?).
Actually, I believe you can buy a battery cover from a third-party that has the hole already available. I haven't given it a try, though. Alternatively, you could just use a software resetter.

Great summary of the issues, Joseph! And my praise for Jason goes double!
Agreed. :-D

--janak

[ipaq_wannabe]

in that case - it is much similar to the first windows-based smartphone in japan... memory is so low that ive had numerous soft resets already..!

---

anyway, is there an app that would allow you to set a timer when it should reset itself automatically?

or something that should reset itself, say whenever the memory level drops to a certain range?

[Cybrid]

Kudo's to Mr Moon for one of the most articulate and spot on rants I have ever read.
:clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap:

[kamikun]

in that case - it is much similar to the first windows-based smartphone in japan... memory is so low that ive had numerous soft resets already..!



ya know... I broke down and bought one of these beasties a couple of days ago. I got one of the upgraded versions, the WS004SH which has 256Meg of RAM rather than 128 Meg like in the first release.
After one day of installing base apps and working with ActiveSync 4.2 all I can really say is how much more I appreciate my Toshiba E800 (with original wm2003 (not se)) than ever before.

Seriously. Like the original poster, my love affair with the PPC started with the form factor, to be sure. But beyond the touch-screen and pen-based input the driving force behind the interest I have in these devices - and the functional leverage they have in the enterprise and with individual users - is the software.

One of the primary reasons I'm not ready to jump on the UMPC hype train (or even the tablet pc Shetland pony show) is the pretty sizable investment I have in software for the PPC. I tells ya - that Today screen concept is just so unique and functional... nothing in the mobile (or near mobile) pc world comes close.

And that is the main problem with WM5. The way it has been implemented requires that we no longer exploit the Today screen. In fact it pretty much decreases usability across the board.

The first time I turned the W-Zero3 on, I had about 27 Meg of free memory (which in Japanese is called "Work Area" a much better term IMO than RAM or ROM or Program vs. Storage Memory). After turning on the phone antenna and the WiFi receiver that suddenly dropped to about 25.5. 25.5! With NO personal apps loaded!

On my 3 year old e800, I have the Today screen completely tricked out with launchers and graphics and PIM info... And with WiFi on and about 6 plug-ins active (along with both MS-Visual Basic and .NET CF runtimes installed) I usually have about 33 Meg of free program memory and about 21 Meg of storage memory. Which means, in a squeeze, I can get about 45 Meg or so of RAM if I need it.

The e800, even though it is not a converged device, is simply much more usable than a WM5 unit.

iPaq Wannabe, is your experience any different? Does the W-Zero3 make you start thinking about your use of the PPC in terms of "what you can't do with it anymore?"

This is absolutely ridiculous and I'm regretting the purchase. I was planning to sell off my e800. Not anymore. I'll use the WM5 device as a phone only if I have to. Man, there is nothing that really beats that old Tosh!

And let's not even get into build quality on the machines themselves. But shame on Willcom and Sharp for making (and then, after they should've known better, releasing the same form design again) the flimsiest, most breakable-prone phone I've ever seen.

Hey, guys? This is Japan. I don't know about your experience, but people here actually use their phones. I mean they carry them in their pockets - which they often fall out of. Or they keep them in bookbags or purses - where other heavy objects can sit on them and sharp edges can dig into exposed surfaces. Man, it's been two days and I've already had two close calls where I almost dropped the machine or threw the sliding screen off its rail... either of which would have destroyed it. I am seriously considering getting one of those steel cases which are double sided-taped to the body.

--- Apart from the original poster's rant - which I agree with in every respect - I can't offer any real solutions though. I mean the market wants small, multi-function phones. And the mobile computing market has given up on PPCs pretty much and is moving on to tablets and UMPCs. Us Pocket PC fans are an old, dying breed. All I can really suggest is that if you have the chance to buy an e800 (with WiFi) or an e830 (which are still going for a premium on the resale market in Japan) buy it.

One good sign: Recently there has been a backlash against over-functionalized (is that a word?) phones. Some consumers, who have gotten tired of having to relearn all the options on phones every two or three years after upgrading, have started to demand simpler, more basic phones. A lot of users have come to the realization that they never use all of the options on their phones... the voice recorders, the compasses, the video recording modes, the flashlights, the web browsers, the TV receivers, ... even the cameras... for most users out of the 15-28 demo these bells and whistles get used a few times after buying the phone and are then promptly forgotten.

Phones limited to email, SMS and, well, phoning, are starting to catch on in popularity with demos outside of the 64+ set. This is the beginning of a good thing as phones and PPCs are, frankly a poor match. You need screen estate to do computing and web browsing. A portable phone needs to be small and unobtrusive. There's no real way to do both.


Sorry, this was supposed to be short. Kinda got carried away. BTW, sorry if I missed it but was there any reason why the original post wasn't modded-up to the front page? I only found this thread 'cause I was looking for other W-Zero3 users. There's some good ranting there that should have attention called to it.

Thanks