What Is Wrong With Windows Mobile Converged Devices

[Ed Hansberry]

Don't get me wrong. I love my HTC Wizard, though it is getting a bit old and there are some really nice looking devices out there now. I love the ability to have email pushed to me via Exchange. I love to watch movies and TV shows on my device when traveling. I also enjoy reading on the device.<br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/hansberry/2007/20071210-convergence.gif" />What I don't enjoy is that all of these features don't really play that well with each other. One of my daily rituals is to wake up before everyone else, grab a cup of coffee and read my bible for a while. About three years ago, I stopped doing that with my Pocket PC. To be sure, I still use <a href="http://www.laridiansales.com/order/productpages/PBCE3002.asp?order_platform=ce?ref=apwzwtzws">Laridian PocketBible</a> quite a bit, mostly for research and when traveling, but in the mornings, I can't concentrate for all of the popup toast telling me I have another new message. Many of my co-workers are in time zones that make emails from 4-7am pretty common. I don't want to turn my phone off, I want those emails coming in, and I just don't want to be notified of every one of them at that time of the morning. So I actually went out and purchased a paper bible to match a translation I have been using on my Pocket Bible for several years. I got another one for Christmas this year, and right now, I have to admit that paper feel has something about it lacking in the digital version.<br /><br />I like listening to <a href="http://www.audible.com">Audible</a> and music in the car through a cassette adapter, but I don't use my Pocket PC for that anymore. Again, three years ago I got a converged device, loaded up Audible and away I went, just as I have been doing since 1998 with one device or another. About a week into that, I got a phone call while driving. I just about had a heart attack, soiled my pants and had a wreck when it rang through the car speakers at the phone ringer level. I don't do that anymore. I purchased an MP3 player for my in car listening pleasure.<!><br /><br />I have largely moved away from ebooks too. <a href="http://www.ereader.com">eReader Pro</a> is better than ever, as well as free, and I still use it for some light reading, but again, I got sick of popup toast on various emails coming in, both on personal and business accounts during the weekend or during lunch hour when I like to take a few minutes out and read.<br /><br />And forget about watching a movie or TV show unless you are on a plane and the cell radio is turned off. The popup toast totally disrupts the movie playback. I resurrected my old HTC Universal, sans SIM card, for my TV viewing pleasure.<br /><br />I can't use my phone for an alarm clock either. It will ding all night as various emails trickle in from around the world or from automated reports shot out at 2am. I could turn the radio off, but one of the things I do when I get up is do a quick scan of my emails while the coffee is brewing. The radio would take a while to come on and then four email accounts would need to be sync'd, three of them manually as they could take an hour to do it themselves. By the time it was all downloaded, the coffee would be done and my morning ritual would be disturbed.<br /><br />While I won't explicitly say this is a Microsoft design flaw, they are complicit in my frustrations. First of all, the Pocket PC, otherwise known as Windows Mobile Professional (the one with the phone and touch screen), doesn't even have profiles. There is no meeting mode, no outdoor mode, no "leave me alone mode." At a bare minimum, WinMoPro should have 6-7 profiles, something Windows Mobile Standard, or the SmartPhone, has had since inception. And for the love of all things digital there should be an "Alarm Clock" profile that silences everything but the alarm itself. But it should go further. Much further.<br /><br />There should be an API that other apps could tap into to turn off email notifications, or at least the popup toast. I have no problem with the ding, or the little envelope in the title bar, but I don't need to be told six times in half an hour I have 19 unread emails, oh wait, 20, no, 21 unread emails in my Outlook inbox. Applications like eReader, PocketBible and other reading applications should have a setting to stifle the popup toast.<br /><br />Applications like Windows Media Player and Audible should be able to tap into an API that temporarily mutes or significantly reduces the volume of any and all reminders, phone calls and notifications - again, user configurable with simple checkboxes in those apps.<br /><br />Some of these APIs may exist, others may not. I have no clue. I am not a developer, but I know none of the apps I have ever used make use of any feature like this. Microsoft should expose these APIs then make it part of the logo process. You have reading applications - you should allow the user to stop the toast. You have a media application? Audio apps should suppress the noises and video apps should also suppress the toast.<br /><br />Perhaps someone else out there has a converged device that does all of this. I don't know, and honestly don't care. I don't use Windows Mobile because I like the OS. I like it because it is insanely versatile and runs some applications I literally have been using a decade now. But with that versatility comes a responsibility on the platform designer to look at all of these functions and make them play nice with each other. It wasn't a problem 7 years ago as few people had a converged Windows Mobile device, but today it is as almost anyone buying a WM device has a phone built in, with the exception of the few Windows Mobile Classic devices.<br /><br />I used to be a two device guy. I had a Pocket PC and a phone. Now I have a converged device, and I am a four device guy. My MP3 player handles Audible and music, my Universal handles video, and my trusty old iPAQ 2215 is my alarm clock. I am sure some consolidation could be done. I need to look into a media device that will do movies and music that I like, and it won't begin with an "A" and end with an "pple" either. I could use my Universal as an alarm clock I guess, but it is a bit big for that and difficult to hit that soft button when it goes off.<br /><br />At best, I see myself going down to two devices assuming new media players can be alarm clocks, but all that said, I still will have my paper books and bible. If the platform took care of much of what I taked about above, then I could become a one device guy. How about you? I suspect 90% of you are on a converged device, and I'd bet you have the same issues or similar issues where the promise of convergence hasn't lived up to your expectations.<br /><br /><i>Ed Hansberry is a long-time Windows Mobile enthusiast and Microsoft MVP.</i>

[Jason Lee]

most of your issues seem to stem from your "popup toast". Why not just disable it?? go to the new email notification and simply uncheck the "Display message on screen" option. Poof.. toast gone. The mail icon will still show at the top for the screen. even the sound will play if you still have that box checked. Just no toast.

Phone profiles? Well there are several good programs out there to take care of this. Spb phone suite, SBSH Phoneweaver, that other one that has been around for ever (phone alarm?)

As for the ringer volume.. that can be adjusted separate from the ppc volume.. That or turn up the media player and pocket pc volume and not your car stereo volume.

Sure, maybe you have to put a little effort in on your part but to me it is worth it so i can carry only one device.

[indiekiduk]

Heres another example:

I was on a train and wanted to play with TomTom and my GPS, so I politely put my phone to silent before I started it up because there were a few people sleeping near me. Yet as soon as TomTom started the voice shouted out "YOU HAVE REACHED YOUR DESINATION" at full volume. I was soo embarrassed!

Cross-app integration is a hot issue on converged devices. Android has classes for supporting it, so the functionality is there if devs choose to use it. I'm using an iPhone now and and its flawless in terms of this issue with all the built in apps. I haven't had any problems with 3rd party apps yet but most are pretty basic, e.g. my ebook and pdf readers can't really behave badly. On windows mobile with .NET CF there is a new library which lets you hook into system settings to watch for changes and set things, of course you can't guarantee every dev uses this functionality. And it doesn't exist for native C++ apps.

[code-frog]

Ed, just wanted to say that on PPCT I'm a closet Christian and for the most part I am. I'm happy to answer questions but I don't push anyting on anyone nor do I put myself above others instead I seem to be below them most of the time which is just fine.

I wanted to say that I love reading your messages and updates on the tools available to us. I like knowing you've got that angle covered and will let the rest of us know about new things in that share of the market. AWESOME STUFF!

So I just wanted to write to say thanks and keep it up! It matters!!!

[daveshih]

&lt;Sigh> Nothing is perfect. There is always something that we wish we can have (or other vendor/device offers).

My company supports Blackberry, and Blackberry only - Not even Blackberry-Connect (software Blackberry) devices, so I can't use my HTC Wizard for company e-mail.

Does anybody know how to set up my Wizard so that it will sync with the cell towers the local date and time, like my cell phone did a long time ago?

Sorry about the complaints...

Dave

[adamz]

Why don't you have a schedule set for the push email via Exchange? You can set it to turn on by itself only between certain times. Also, you can easily toggle this on/off from the Communications manager. When you're reading something just press the button to shut off push email. When you're done, turn it back on. Do you really want it to automatically decide when you want to see push email and when you don't? I don't think you do.

And yeah, there are plenty of 3rd party profile programs. Often there's one included by the OEM these days.

[emuelle1]

I recently got my first converged device, an iPaq 6945. For the most part I'm happy with it. I don't have a data plan, however, so email notifications aren't a problem for me. Since gmail rolled out IMAP, I've largely given up using Flexmail 2007, until it starts archiving deleted messages on gmail's end. I just use gmail in PIE to check new email when I have a wi-fi connection.

I use Pocket E-sword for Bible. I tend to use my video iPod for multi-media content, even though I have a 2 Gig mini-SD card in the iPaq. I haven't adopted ebooks yet. For reading content I tend to take public domain works from Manybooks.net and run them through Repligo. I've been slowly working my way through War and Peace.

Your needs of course are far different from mine, as you apparently use your Pocket PC a lot more for business. Do you really need the push email, or could you change your email habits to actively downloading messages when you have time to deal with them?

[jgrnt1]

Ed,

For the most part, I agree with, and love to read, your rants on the failings/flaws of whatever has made you angry. However, this time, I think you've brought this on yourself. In some cases, as the saying goes, you can't have your cake and eat it, too. Your biggest problem seems to come from the need to always have email running with notification. As mentioned, there are several ways to disable this or schedule it for certain times of the day. Even if you had a separate email device, having it on all the time would still create all the pop-ups/notifications. The only difference would be the pop-ups wouldn't be on your phone. You could also choose an ebook device for reading, which would eliminate the pop-ups while reading. I've done this -- AT&amp;T 8525 and an iRex Iliad. The Iliad was a necessity after I went converged and didn't enjoy reading with Mobipocket on a QVGA screen (I had an iPAQ 4700 before). These issues very little, if anything, to do with WM. They are the result of the device choices we make and the compromises which come with them.

For me, a converged device with a 5 inch 800x480 screen would be ideal, but many would complain about the size and weight (again a choice, not a WM issue) and all would probably complain about the battery life, since driving the screen would take a lot of power. Don't forget the horsepower necessary to drive acceptable graphics on the larger screen.

These are technology constraints, mostly independent of WM. Don't get me wrong, WM has a lot of flaws, but I think you're issues are related to device technology.

[PetiteFlower]

See, I'm finally thinking about getting a smartphone (Motorola Q9) since I'm up for the Verizon discount in 2 days, and I'm looking for a phone that can browse the internet better then my Razr. My current job has stupidly strict internet filters and I can't handle it! But I can't see giving up my Axim (X50V) for it. I can't see enjoying games as much without the touch screen, or ebooks on the nice big hi-res screen. I *might* switch over my calender, but then again I might not. So I think that even with a converged phone, I'm still going to be a 3-device-gal (phone, PDA, and media player) just because the separate devices do different things well.

[burtcom]

Does anybody know how to set up my Wizard so that it will sync with the cell towers the local date and time, like my cell phone did a long time ago?


I was hoping to find something like this too, but have not been successful.

I've been kicking around the idea of writing a little utility that will set the time from the built-in GPS clock...

[hawkeye]

I agree with you about profiles that should be included. But, in my case every attempt I've made be a multidevice person has failed.

I use my 8525 (no-data plan, $40/month for GPRS/EDGE is crazy) for RSS, podcasts (audio only), phone, my Sunday School Lesson, and light ebook reading.

I've settled on Newsbreak for the RSS and Podcasts syncing over Wi-Fi when I get home.

I use Pocket Player to listen to Podcasts since it was the only media player I could find to do variable speed playback without making everyone sound like Alvin and the Chipmunks. I have considered switching to CorePlayer but it doesn't do pitch adjustment but it should handle video podcasts.

I've tried using the Zune 8 and Sansa View for podcasts (audio and video)but I couldn't get variable speed playback.

Other than battery life I'm very happy with my 8525 using it this way.

[virain]

Most of these problems can be solved with better efford to learn and apply available features and services. Also, it seems that you've got bored with your current device. Try shopping around for a new one. :)
And, unfortunately thre's no perfect device out there, so choose the one that suites you better.

[Jason Lee]

Does anybody know how to set up my Wizard so that it will sync with the cell towers the local date and time, like my cell phone did a long time ago?


I was hoping to find something like this too, but have not been successful.

I've been kicking around the idea of writing a little utility that will set the time from the built-in GPS clock...

For WM5:
\HKLM\SOFTWARE\OEM\PhoneSetting\ShowTimeZonesPage
Set it to 1

for WM6:
\HKLM\SOFTWARE\OEM\PhoneSetting\ShowNITZPage
Set it to 1

[optimus_dag]

For most of your problemas you can install PHONEALARM, I got that installed on my HTC P4350 and it works really well... you can schedule it to change your profile automaticly and in the profiles settings you can change almost everithing... even you can change phone forwarding options, change toasts and rigtones and souns, it really works great... it is not free, but it's worth the price.

Hope this info help you...

[ddwire]

These are technology constraints, mostly independent of WM. Don't get me wrong, WM has a lot of flaws, but I think you're issues are related to device technology.

I donot have my email pushed to me, so that is not a problem, but as said above I am plain tired of the postage stamp sized screen on all the new converged devices!!
My Treo700WX screen is horrible, forget about TV or vidieos. Email (in text form) music and ebooks are ok. Web browsing sucks too with it's screen.

I don't care about the size so much, put the guts of my Treo700WX in a old Hitachi G1000 with a VGA screen and I will be happy.

***long quote trimmed by mod JD***

[Mikey]

Ed,

Thanks for this post. I've seen several like it over the years &amp; because simple things aren't being resolved in new versions of Windows Mobile, I think these posts are being ignored.

I agree with all your points. A few years ago, after viewing your website (ehansberry.com) &amp; corresponding back &amp; forth with you, I tried to converge with the Cingular 8125. I sold my Axim x50v on eBay only to return the 8125 within the 30 days grace period. I then bought another Axim x50v on eBay, and stayed with several Blackberries. Since that time, I still carry 3 devices, the Axim x50v, the BB Pearl, &amp; iPOD 60GB for the 600+ sermons I listen to &amp; 2,000+ songs. I also tried a Cingular Treo 750 but all those notifications drove me crazy, not to mention all the soft resets &amp; losing bluetooth connections, among other glitches...

I currently use the Blackberry Pearl for email &amp; phone, &amp; have since January of this year. I also use it for my alarm clock. I set it to the Silent profile when I go to bed &amp; the only time it makes a noise is at 5:30am when I set it to go off. Why can't a WM phone do this? Seems simple enough. The Blackberry works great as a phone &amp; great on email. That's about it, but that's a lot better than I could say for the WM phones, &amp; I never have to reset the BB!!!

I carry the Axim x50v for Laridian PocketBible, Pocket Informant 2007, &amp; Pocket Quicken 2.5. I use all 3 everyday. The Axim is fast, screen is great, etc.

Last, the iPOD. Apple has the best software &amp; best MP3 player around IMO. I also have an iPOD Shuffle that I run with, with about 150 songs on a playlist. Both are small devices, very easy to use, &amp; work without issues.

Can WM make a converged device that works on all these fronts? I seriously doubt it. One problem is they seem to have very little control on what the device manufacturers put in for processors &amp; memory, which is a major problem. But WM also criples the devices. Ed mentioned one example of this in his post, which was WM Standard has features that the full blown WM Professional is still missing... How is this possible??? The right hand not knowing what the left hand is doing or they flat don't care. Either way, looks like I'll be carrying 3 devices, or maybe the iPHONE when it comes out w/ 3G next year. The jury's out on Microsoft...

[mr_yellow]

You know, the problem would be solved if Microsoft would put the time and effort to design a devices end-to-end instead of doing only the OS and letting it loose on the open market of device manufacturers.

It's mainly an ideological battle since this is how Windows became so prevalent. i guess they figure it worked for PC's, it should work for mobile phones/PDAs...

But let's not forget that if MS did an end-to-end device, you would most certainly lose any ability to load third party apps, lose options to configure all the different ways to setup the phone, lose all the different hardware form factors that are currently available now... You would essentially end up with the Apple iphone. And as great as a product that is, I still laugh that I can load google maps on my 2 year old prophet and get pseudo GPS location mapping that everyone in the iphone community was falling over with in navigon. I have emulators and games that blow any iphone game away, I have decent music and videos, etc etc etc...

Of course, do I ever use any of it on a daily basis? nope! why? it's just too much of a hassle to use each little feature. Hehe.. i'm sure we all know how that feels.. =)

[palur]

My problem with convergence is battery life. I am afraid to use the pda functionality fully for the fear my cell phone may become unusable (lack of power). This is the scenario when I am travelling or when I am on call in the hospital.
Moreover, most of the converged devices are 2.6-2.8" screen and as you age you would need slightly larger screen. If I need to demonstarte to students or patients, the screen is too small.

I think, XDA flame or Imate ultimate 7150 (if released) would then be ideal for convergence provided battery life is improved.

[JvanEkris]

Hi Ed,

Why turn on e-mail notification in the first place? It keeps anoying me, you and the rest of the world because somebody wants to dump something in the digital dumpster and dump their problems onto you. Turn the sound off and check for new e-mail when you feel the time is right.

One of the first thing most productivity training will teach people is to free themselves of the slavery of the inbox and become the master of their inbox again. YOU decide when to read e-mail. If they needed an answer right away, they should have used the phone or IM, and it is THEIR problem that they have chosen the wrong medium for their communication......

Jaap

[tucker8235]

I enjoyed your post Ed. I had a VX6700 for a little while and hated it. I am currently very happy with my Blackberry from Verizon and my HP iPAQ that I carry with me at all times. The blackberry just works. I don't have to reboot it and the settings are wonderful. I have it set to power off every night at 11:00 and back on at 6:00... And it is always working the next day.

[dunneldeen]

I so feel your pain on this one. It's amazing how many points matched my own impressions/irritations.

For me email is the single most important reason for having a WM phone, but I can't turn notifications on because it'd be waking me up at all hours. I get 100-300 emails a day between work and personal accounts, and am on west coast time as opposed to most of my company which is on EST (meaning an influx of 4am emails.) It's not just turning on or off email notifications tho, it's about not being able to differentiate between accounts for notifications. Why can't I turn on notifications for my personal imap account but turn them off for my exchange account?

I love the multimedia capability of my HTC Kaiser, but can't use most of them because it sucks the life out of my battery. I also have to carry around an iPod for my multimedia stuff so that I don't have to worry.

I understand that Microsoft can't control what 3rd party programmers do, but some things are within their control.

I love having a converged device, but do sometimes wish for the days of my Moto v505 &amp; HP 2215.

[RogueSpear]

YOU decide when to read e-mail. If they needed an answer right away, they should have used the phone or IM, and it is THEIR problem that they have chosen the wrong medium for their communication......
I couldn't agree more and I wish more folks would figure this out. I'm upgrading from Exchange 2000 to Exchange 2007 on my network at the beginning of this upcoming year, but there is no way I'm keeping one eye on my inbox 24/7. As it is now I have to force myself to open that pig we call Outlook first thing in the morning, when I get back from lunch, and finally at the end of the day. I can pretty easily predict those people in my agency who are going to have that stupid thing with them on vacations, etc.

To address what I found to be the larger picture about the article - what drew me to the PocketPC platform years ago was the desire to have an all-in-one device. To some extent I've managed this with my aging but still functioning iPAQ 3975. I use MySportTraining to manage my workouts, the old free version of TCMP for playing M4A and Ogg audio (the device is too slow for decent video playback), and Mapopolis for geocaching.

I'm really holding out for the "perfect" device which I suppose would be a Tilt with a VGA screen. But even then I wouldn't be so confident that today's mobile CPU/GPU could properly decode a VGA h.264 stream. I don't want a Zune/iPod. I don't want a Garmin or Tom Tom dedicate GPS device. I don't want a PSP or Nintendo DS. Is it really too much to ask for a device that can be a really decent PMP / gaming device along with the other PDA functionalities we've grown accustom to? Especially when the asking price is around $700 USD for an unlocked model.

Microsoft has spent entirely too much time developing and promoting features that tie their devices into Office and the backend server products. Anyone who is being honest with themselves (and their employer) will realize that for business purposes these things will never be of much use for anything beyond the PIM functionality of the Palm devices from way back when. Word and Excel? Please. What's the point. PowerPoint? Anybody who places a modicum of importance on professionalism wouldn't use a WM device to give a presentation except under the most dire of circumstances. Email? Fine, but it's not rocket science.

In the end I think that Microsoft should take a look at the iPod. It's a device that attempts to make the user's life a little more enjoyable (not too mention Apple a little more profitable). Even a good portion of suits care about media playback and a slick, intuitive interface. At least Apple makes a commendable effort to disguise their profit motives behind functionality and a certain "gee wiz" factor.

[Ed Hansberry]

Just a few comments on what some have said:

• I shouldn't have to install third party software to enable profiles. I have tried that before and never found a good solution. When an app has to get that that level of how the product functions, it isn't too difficult to run into conflicts and other issues. And worse, when uninstalling them, tney never put your device back the way it was. It is worse than configuring a new device because whatever the app set was at the whim of the developer.

• Could I disable the notifications? Sure, but why should I have to? That is a number of clicks to do so to enable and disable each and every time, and at least two times a day in my scenario. Besides, I want the toast when not reading or viewing video. If there were a simple Toast Enable/Disable command on the start menu, maybe but then I might forget to use that. A simple "Disable toast when reading books in this application" would do the trick. Heck, every app could have that if it wanted. I suppose there are some that don't want to be bothered when working in ListPro. I'm not one of them though.

• I could schedule the email sync, but this is just as bad as turning off the radio in my opinion. And what happens if I wake up at 5 and am done reading by 5:30 one day, and sleep in the next day and am not done reading until 6:15, or not done until 9am on a Saturday?

My point is, these devices are incredibly powerful and they should take additional steps to allow these functions to work together in a more seamless fashion, from popup toast to profiles to ringer levels when there is a darn good chance someone has headphones on. Inbox does toast management already in Wm6. It does in Wm5 to some degree, but they didn't get it quite right in that build. Notice you never get popups in the inbox account you are in while reading it? So it isn't like MS hasn't thought of this... it just needs to go to the next level.

Great thoughts everyone. As always one idea doesn't fit all.

[heliod]

Ed,

I have enjoyed much reading this post. And I happen to agree with most of it. The only part I sort of disagree (not completely) is all the part that regards the popup toast.

I happen to work with Push Mail as well. Can't live without it. However, my Activesync schedule peak-hours are set to push Sundays (it is a working day here) to Fridays, from 8:30 to 19:00 and "manually" for off-peak hours. So, no chance to be interrupted at night or in my morning "rituals".

Additionally, if you want to get rid of the messages completely, Sounds and notifications will do that for you. Just unckeck the popup messages and the sounds, and you are free of it. Or alternatively, when you are seeing a movie, disable push. On HTC devices it is a 2-click action, using the Wireless Manager.

In all the rest, I agree. I have gone throgh the phone ringing on the car speakers experience, and couldn't help having a good laugh on the way you described it. It is exactly like that.

Anyway, I still couldn't get used to using an MP3 player, an eBook reader or anything else. The only device I use besides the Pocket PC is a camera (unfortunately Pocket PC cameras still stink). I hope things will only get better from here.

Helio

[alese]

I pretty much agree with others - "toast" can be disabled or avoided with little effort in the OS if you want it, but you obviously don't. I for one really don't want to get email notifications all the time, I don't even have "true" push enabled and rather have scheduled syncronization with Exchange.

But I also agree with you - phone profiles should be included in the core OS and they should be aware of appointments and time.
I have tried several profile applications, and all of them caused conflicts and instability on my device.

Also, If you use Universal for video, why don't you use it for audio and reading too. Especially reading on 3.5" VGA is much nicer than doing it on 2.8" qVGA, true you'll have 2 device setup again, but nothing is perfect...

[JvanEkris]

Could I disable the notifications? Sure, but why should I have to? That is a number of clicks to do so to enable and disable each and every time, and at least two times a day in my scenario.Why not disable it permanantly? All productivity gurus agree that it kills your effectiveness by having those numerous interruptions caused by e-mail. Don't be afraid to reduce the service level on a badly performing medium with a lot of noise. If people require a higher servicelevel, the really should call, since that is the media that do offer confirmation that you have picked up the assignment with the right priority.

Jaap

[Ed Hansberry]

Ed,

I have enjoyed much reading this post. And I happen to agree with most of it. The only part I sort of disagree (not completely) is all the part that regards the popup toast.

I happen to work with Push Mail as well. Can't live without it. However, my Activesync schedule peak-hours are set to push Sundays (it is a working day here) to Fridays, from 8:30 to 19:00 and "manually" for off-peak hours. So, no chance to be interrupted at night or in my morning "rituals".

Additionally, if you want to get rid of the messages completely, Sounds and notifications will do that for you. Just unckeck the popup messages and the sounds, and you are free of it. Or alternatively, when you are seeing a movie, disable push. On HTC devices it is a 2-click action, using the Wireless Manager.
Again, the device should not control my behavior. Schedules don't work for me as I don't work on a fixed schedule and the last thing I need is for emails not to come in during a special project week or for them to come in when my hours are out of sync and I am doing my reading some other time.

And none of the push suggestions or schedule suggestions does anything for my 3 POP3 accounts that sync every 30-60 minutes.

Again, MS knows popup toast is an issue because they fixed it in Inbox when reading emails. Just take it to the next level MS, open up and "suggest" that some app developers give users the option to suppress the toast when their app is in use.

[Ed Hansberry]

Could I disable the notifications? Sure, but why should I have to? That is a number of clicks to do so to enable and disable each and every time, and at least two times a day in my scenario.Why not disable it permanantly? All productivity gurus agree that it kills your effectiveness by having those numerous interruptions caused by e-mail. Don't be afraid to reduce the service level on a badly performing medium with a lot of noise. If people require a higher servicelevel, the really should call, since that is the media that do offer confirmation that you have picked up the assignment with the right priority.
Why should I change my behavior? My method of preferred communication is email. The phone is only efficient for bigger issues, never for small notices or quick bits of info.

But again, you are suggesting I let the devices functionality change my behavior and that somehow, your preferred work method will somehow work for me. Wrong on both counts.

[Birdiestyle]

Hmmm... so it sounds like you want the Pocket PC to read your mind, and only do things like "popup toast" when you want them too, during your very flexible schedule, without you actually telling it whats on your mind.

Yes profiles should be built-in and there is more that could be done to control popups. So you have valid points there...

And maybe you have had problems with the 3rd Party Profile Applications you have tried, but then most developer's will work with you to get the product working correctly and/or if they are certified, do leave the device cleaned up on an uninstall. I have a feeling you tried some of these 3 or 4 years ago, and base your opinions on older products. And you probably didnt work with the developer to resolve any issues(or dealt with one bad developer). There are some big names with good tech support doing the profile applications now, so your complaints seems a little stretched....

So this is a solution that would solve your problem if you would pursue it.... you have to be willing to pay for them and if need be work with the developers....

Having Microsoft add requirements or even suggestions to have to handle options for very obscure things like whether or not if the person does have Popups on, to hide them when in their application is overboard and does not make a lot of sense for the 3rd party developer's. There are already enough requirements to consider for WM. And most of us dont even consider this an issue! If you want a feature like that for a product talk to the developer yourself.. But about 98% of the programs should do exactly what yours is doing, if you have Popups on it better show the popups when running the application.

It sounds like you want this ultimate flexibility, but are unwilling to have any flexibility to achieve it....I figured you had been around the WM game long enough that you would have gotten that game down...

[Ed Hansberry]

It sounds like you want this ultimate flexibility, but are unwilling to have any flexibility to achieve it....I figured you had been around the WM game long enough that you would have gotten that game down...
I completely agree with your analysis of your delusion. :way to go:

[JayP]

Anyone who is being honest with themselves (and their employer) will realize that for business purposes these things will never be of much use for anything beyond the PIM functionality of the Palm devices from way back when. Word and Excel? Please. What's the point.

I use my Pocket Word and Excel everyday, whether it be for business docs or personal collections of information (like that of David Allen's GTD model). I now use Pocket Quicken for tracking my accounts, but before that, I used Excel. Now I mainly use Excel for tracking Pricebooks and managing information right from my pocket. I am so glad that MS has spent some time, at least, focusing on business productivity; I've got no interest in games. I don't have a converged unit (Axim x51v), and I'll probably just buy the HP 211 when it comes out. I think I'd prefer a converged device, but don't want to give up the big, VGA screens and the Toshiba G900 isn't quad-band and seems too buggy at the moment.

[adamz]

Why should I change my behavior? My method of preferred communication is email. The phone is only efficient for bigger issues, never for small notices or quick bits of info.

But again, you are suggesting I let the devices functionality change my behavior and that somehow, your preferred work method will somehow work for me. Wrong on both counts.

The Wizard isn't changing your behavior at all. It's not making you leave push email on all the time. It's not making you leave notifications on all the time. You set it up to behave the way it is behaving. If you decide to make the phone behave differently, you can do this by changing the options. Shut off push email or pop-up notifications when you don't want them, turn them on when you do. There are much bigger problems with Windows Mobile than making it predict your schedule.

Another option; you could tell it what your schedule is... shut off pop-up notifications and use Microsoft Voice Command as the notification method. There's an option in Voice Command to announce notifications only during free time. If your lunch and morning reading time are specified as busy time in your schedule, then you won't get notifications during that time.

So instead of manually changing the settings for notifications during the times you want different settings, you create a schedule in your calendar. I think a quick visit to the Comm Manager and toggling the Direct Push on/off is a lot easier than creating a schedule like that. It's also a lot easier/simpler than having separate notifications in each program specifying when it's a good time to have notifications appear.

[Mikey]

I think most of the replies in here are very defensive of WM. Do you guys all work for MS? I don't think he started this post to be told all the workarounds, as the point of the original post is that they shouldn't be required.

I agree with Ed that it we shouldn't have to work so hard, or buy after market software to get a WM phone to shut off notifications by using some type of silent profile, without turning off the main alarm should I decide to use it for an alarm clock. If my 1992 Nokia &amp; my current Blackberry Pearl can do it, certainly MS can build it into the WM software. I certainly think it's ludicrous that we should have to work so hard like the former post said to set up FREE time in the calendar to get this to work. I'm tired of MS not listening. How can every Blackberry I've ever owned (3 total), including the current Pearl operate bug free, yet WM must constantly be soft reset?

[JvanEkris]

I agree with Ed that it we shouldn't have to work so hard, or buy after market software to get a WM phone to shut off notifications by using some type of silent profile, without turning off the main alarm should I decide to use it for an alarm clock.My point is that e-mail, being the type of the communication that it is, should NEVER have alarms associated with it. To me, it is a fundamental design flaw to be able to associate alarms and popups to incomming e-mail in the first place. And don't get me stated about the use of push e-mail, which only stimulates bad behaviour. The medium is not capable of dealing with urgent messages anyway, so why even bother accomodating high-priority messages.

Perhaps a good link is in order: Treat your email like snail mail and walk away with change (http://www.lifehack.org/articles/communication/treat-your-email-like-snail-mail-and-walk-away-with-change.html) has some very decent ideas about this. You run the schedule, the e-mail should never run you.

And yes, I do work in a corporate environment and yes I do structurally ignore urgent e-mail from my boss and coworkers. I tought them the hard way to pick up the phone when matters were urgent (picking the battle carefully is of course necessary).

Jaap

[Ed Hansberry]

My point is that e-mail, being the type of the communication that it is, should NEVER have alarms associated with it. To me, it is a fundamental design flaw to be able to associate alarms and popups to incomming e-mail in the first place. And don't get me stated about the use of push e-mail, which only stimulates bad behaviour. The medium is not capable of dealing with urgent messages anyway, so why even bother accomodating high-priority messages.
1) that is your opinion
2) where did I say that I treated the popup toast as an urgent issue?
3) if you don't like my suggestion and some form of it is ever implemented, guess what? it is an option you don't have to use.

I am trying to come up with ways for WM apps to play nicer with each other. your solution seems to be "just turn those features off and you won't have any problems."

that is of little or no value. :| I guess the difference between you and me is I try to see the issue from the perspective of the user, and I try to come up with solutions that fit their work pattern. I may suggest changes in behavior as part of a fix, but acknowledge that may not be optimal or feasible in all circumstances. I am thatkful MS seems to operate this way, within the development constraints they have rather than sending an accompanying handbook telling users this is how the device works, this is the design philosophy and you must change your work habits because to do it another way is wrong.

[Birdiestyle]

I completely agree with your analysis of your delusion. :way to go:

:lol:

Thats why I enjoy and like to reply to your little rants. I find humor in your logic, and once it is pointed out exactly what can be done now and how silly some of your arguments are, you throw a response like this instead of acknowledging the rest of the post and possibly admitting that you are in the minority, or your want is something that "reads your mind" as other posts have pointed out to you too. Or maybe that you just dont argue your needs with very good examples...

I try to see the issue from the perspective of the user

You arent really looking at it from the perspective of "the" user, it is more of "a" user, YOU, which has very odd needs from your device and are much less flexible, much different than the majority. But the majority is what Microsoft ultimately writes for.. And then MS just expects users with wild requests solve them using 3rd party help...

The actual reason that some of the problems do exist in WM is because Microsoft tried to be so flexible and please everyone, but ended up not as focused leaving problems in areas....

&lt;sarcasm>
So really ALL of the problems with WM stem from some Yahoo thinking his book reader shouldnt show his popup email messages and disturb his reading even though he refuses to use anything to temporarily shut them off while using it....&lt;/sarcasm>

And no I dont agree with the anyone trying to go on some "email is bad" and cant be used for Urgency and makes a bad communication medium stuff.. That was shoved down his throat by someone else preaching about it too...You shouldnt have to turn them off completely, but....

[cgavula]

I think Ed is right.

I agree that this is a very powerful OS and MS has done very little to improve application cooperation/integration and the overall user experience. They've traditionally left it to device manufacturers and application designers to improve the experience.

Buying add-in utilities to improve the Today screen or manage profiles is kind of like buying seat covers for your car. They may look pretty nice as long as you don't look too closely, but as you're driving down the road they still bunch up and don't fit or feel as good as the original. You still know you're sitting on a seat cover.

So why can't the OS include an app or control panel item for interruption-oriented programs like email, SMS/MMS messages, and perhaps even phone calls that simply lets you check off the apps from the installed apps list so that when any of those selected apps is running, popups and other "interruption" type apps can't interrupt?

There are a number of items that could use this. Turning on/off the backlight (or allowing it to shut off automatically); Enabling/muting sound altogether; Turning on/'off BT and WiFi. All of these could be made task driven rather than require manual or scheduled on/off.

Schedules and remembering to turn notification on/off aren't always the solution. Many of us are task-oriented, not schedule-oriented. We need to be left alone when doing certain types of tasks.

It's not asking the OS to "read your mind" if you can pre-determine which apps would trigger a "no popup" condition.

Now if I could onlly get a true "close" button and not have to add a third party app to fill THAT hole! :)

--Chris

[echernosky]

I agree with JvanEkris. Push e-mail is a real productivity killer. The best thing I've ever done with my work Blackberry is turn off the vibrate for new messages. Now I can check my e-mail when I want to... not when other people want me to. What a funny thing it is really... (VIBRATE) (hand goes to side automatically). "Hello Pavlov?" Can I speak to your dog? :wink:

Ed, I too have enjoyed reading your articles over the years. This article really hits home with me. I believe that it begs another question. Do the Microsoft Windows Mobile engineers really USE these devices on a daily basis? If [balloon] they [balloon] did [balloon], they [balloon] would [balloon] (sigh) [balloon] easily see that even though the devices have cool features, they are really hard to use the way you want to use them.

I guess I see it as a usability issue. In my opinion, they have been designed from a feature perspective and not a user perspective. The balloons are an excellent example. Another great example is the missing integration between PIM types.

For example, I receive an e-mail from John asking me for the TPS reports. On my Windows Mobile device:
1. I start the task application.
2. Create a new task.
3. Fill in a subject
4. Type in some notes to remind me what it's about.
5. Enter a due date
6. Save the task
7. File/delete the e-mail.

Why can't I just push a button and have a task (or appointment) created from the e-mail? Why is that so unreasonable? Why can't their be better integration between tasks, notes, calendar, e-mail? Isn't this how we use our devices?

Even though we are all device techno geeks... hasn't there been a time when you've gotten an e-mail on the device and you just left it there because it was going to be easier to deal with on your desktop?

I also agree that the answer is not in 3rd party tools. The 3rd party tools are great... but they make the devices slow and unstable.

Sorry if I've repeated things others have said... this one just got me fired up.

[jarekt]

My 2 cents :) I tried to set 1 minute long MP3 as a SMS tone. Guess what? In WM6 Pro there is no way to cut a notification sound! Every SMS i have to listen all MP3 and my device is vibrating all the time. And guess what happens when several SMSes comes one by one - all sounds goes simultaneusely! Im not mentioning that it sounds even during phone conversation....

[rlieving]

This is simply a rehash of the iPhone debate last month.

I made a post saying that WM is horrible...and someone follows up with other reasons it is horrible...and then the wolves come out and apologize the criticisms away.

The fact of the matter is:

* It takes too many clicks to do simple things in WM.

* My device (a PPC-6700) is touted as a 'multi-media' machine. Yet clicking on a WindowsMedia file on a website produces...a download? The interface is horrible, with the standard 1,000-clicks to get anywhere.

* The battery life is unacceptably short on most devices. I'm sure the apologists will come out and tell me which devices have good battery life, but I haven't heard of one yet. My phone - with email manually downloaded - last 12 hours at the most. A Blackberry with full push email and auto-sync lasts 3 days. ?

* The all in one just doesn't work.

* With the advent of web services, some of the advantages of the WM platform start to erode.

* Some programs - like Yahoo! to Go or even the Windows Live Search close when the phone goes to sleep, which basically means I have to keep it 'alive' (i.e. screen active) if I'm going to use it.

Some people have made the argument that they love the flexibility and/or this or that feature of WM. Well a consensus is growing that WM may do this or that, but it doesn't really do much well.

It CAN look great with 3rd part software, but otherwise the OS is a dead end (at this point). I was waiting for 7 to come out, but am now even reading that it's evolutionary.

No more WM for me. It's on to Blackberry (which works and has a decent battery life and can run Opera) or the iPhone.

On side note - anyone considering the PPC-6700 (or it's descendants) should RUN from this phone. You will want to smash it into bits shortly after getting it. They aren't cheap and the contract extensions (for switching phones mid-stream) will burn even more.

If you are a NORMAL person that wants to get email and use some web services, WM phones are not the phones for you.

[buzzard]

I'm not really into email all that much except at work but as far as the WM system is concerned I agree that it seems more limited today than a few years ago but I still prefer adding 3rd party apps to make it better. Can you imagine what a new PPC would cost if you bought it and MS had already added all of the applications the "majority" of people use into the base price of the device? Even better, the next WM device you buy would require you to pay for all of these same applications again, over and over.

I'll take the basic WM system as limited as it is and buy the 3rd party apps that I want and then get a few free upgrades before having to pay a small upgrade fee every once in awhile.

Email is a personal area...some people have a routine of once/twice a day and others like to read and respond immediately, same with voice mail. Arguing over this is like arguing over whether a Silverado is better than an F150, everybody has an opinion.

[Ed Hansberry]

Im not mentioning that it sounds even during phone conversation....
That is SO annoying. Again, it is an example of a device packed with a TON of features, but they don't play well with each other.

[Bruce Jackson]

My 2 cents :) And guess what happens when several SMSes comes one by one - all sounds goes simultaneusely! Im not mentioning that it sounds even during phone conversation....

Hi,

Check out the free trial of phoneAlarm - it fixes all of those issues, including NO alarms when in a call. See: http://www.pocketmax.net/phoneAlarm.html

[cgavula]

http://www.pocketmax.net/phoneAlarm.html[/url]

It addresses alarm interruption within the phone application, but it does not permit you to solve this problem for other applications. It's still primarily schedule based rather than task based so it definitely doesn't fix ALL those issues.

[frankenbike]

The consistent problem is this: Microsoft's message to WM users is "You will use this the way we tell you to, or you can use 3rd party software, most of which will cost you even more money".

You have to use a program like Flex Mail to get the functionality of Outlook on a desktop. But there's no mechanism to replace syncing it with your desktop mail program (Batmail on my current desktop, Thunderbird at work, Flexmail on the Mogul). That's idiotic and inflexible.

You have to use a program like Opera or Pocket plus to get the web functionality (well, not even) of a desktop. You should be able to go to any website, whether it has flash or not, and have it work right *and* give you the option of turning features off. A lot of professional websites I have to use are flash based.

You don't have control over most facets of notifications to the degree you need them on a device that you have with you all the time. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

Nearly all MS applications are "finger hostile" on WM Pro. Much of this is addressed in 3rd party apps, but that's been the case for the almost 4 years I've been using WM devices (since the Axim X30). My most commonly used programs now emulate the way an iPhone works to an extent. I really see very little practical progress in the platform since WM2003-2.

The stylus is dead. Microsoft needs to get with the program.

I'd agree with the statement that I don't recommend WM devices to anyone who can't act as their own IT professional. I duck out of the conversation without recommending anything if I can. The only reason I can't recommend iPhones in good faith, is because ATT in the Western US is a pathetic provider.

But I do have IT qualifications, and can deal with my 6800 as I wish. I grit my teeth and buy software when I have to, but I hate the necessity of doing that. Microsoft's whole concept of using WM to sell its desktop/enterprise solutions will bite itself in the ass as alternatives to WM become more refined. Where it could have been dominant if MS would just pay attention to non-enterprise users and make the device friendly for ordinary people instead of geeks and business pods, it's losing ground in a big way. At the current rate, it'll be completely irrelevant in two years, and my next device most certainly won't be WM.

[Russ Smith]

Sorry to add my comment so late, but when I say "recently returned to Pocket PC" I mean "since November".

One of the reasons I returned to PPC was due to the device's ability to wake up and remind me of things. To turn that functionality off would make it useless for staying on task. I don't need to be reminded of e-mails coming in (If I want to read them, I'll look. As someone else mentioned, if they wanted an immediate response they should have called or IMed (and there are times I don't answer calls and IMs too.)) but I take your point that the user interface ought to make it easy to concentrate on what I want while still keeping the device updated. I agree that profiles should be built in on a system level rather than relying on 3rd parties to "fix" it. (Of course, we already rely on Pocket Informant to fix the PIM functionality, etc., etc. :))

I've actually gone a different route than you in that I still carry a Pocket PC (non-converged) and a cell-phone. This "solves" all the problems you mentioned, but presents a new one: To get my PPC on the net, I have to use an arcane dialing sequence through a Bluetooth connection.