Happy To Be Back On Windows Mobile?

[Jon Westfall]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.wmexperts.com/reviews/smackdowns/smartphone_round_robin_triumph.html' target='_blank'>http://www.wmexperts.com/reviews/sm...in_triumph.html</a><br /><br /></div><i>"And so The Smartphone Round Robin ends: I’m back on a Windows Mobile device (a Motorola Q9h, if you’re interested) and I’m happy to be here. Ecstatic, even. There are lots of reasons I love Windows Mobile and why it’s a great fit for me. One of those reasons is pictured above. You can choose pretty much any form-factor to fit your lifestyle and have a powerful Smartphone OS in it. This is no small accomplishment - in fact I think it's probably more amazing that Windows Mobile supports such a wide array of phones than the fact that Windows itself will run on a wide array of PCs."</i><br /><br />In a world where bashing Windows Mobile is pretty prevelant (Heck, even the spare PPCT editor has been known to use non-windows mobile devices... I'll not name names!), it's interesting to read one man's journey through different devices and his reasons for choosing Windows Mobile.

[Dyvim]

The main reason he chose Windows Mobile? He's a Windows Mobile enthusiast. Of course he was going to choose WM. (He actually didn't really have any choice about going back since it was a planned short-term series of exchanges.) Not surprisingly, the iPhone guy chose the iPhone, the Treo guy chose the Treo, and the Blackberry guy chose the Blackberry. Duh!

It would be more interesting to read the experience of OS-agnostic smart phone users trying out the various platforms for more than just a week each.

Still it was interesting to see what each of the 4 reviewers had to say about the other 3 platforms and why each preferred their own platform.

[tendomentis]

Maybe it's not exactly the same as, say, Symbian to WM, but after giving up my MPx220 (WM2003SE Smartphone) for a Pocket PC Phone (and then another Pocket PC phone after that one), I thought I could never go back to a WM Smartphone device.

But I, like the OP, was drawn to the irresistable Moto Q9H. It had everything my Pocket PC phone did (minus the wifi, but I got 3G in its place and a better camera) in a smaller package.....and I'm never going back to touchscreens :)

My Pocket PC phone made sense at one time, but in my life now I don't have time to deal with touchscreens (and the screen protectors and fingerprints that go with them).

[Tony Rylow]

Interesting article. After being a Windows Mobile guy for a few years now, I have just made the switch to Blackberry. After using it for a few days now, I have no desire to switch back to WM.

[gavinfabl]

i have used the smartphone version but miss touchscreen. I miss proper editing in the touchscreen and scribble notes. And games that need a touchscreen. Apart from that smartphone version is brilliant.

I have also owned a sony ericsson m600i and a palm treo 680 in the last 12 months as well as many wm phones. For me the activesync app is the killer feature. Using livemail2web.com I have all my pim data always saved and synced.

[r@dimus]

I just shut down a Blackberry 8700c and lit up a AT&amp;T Tilt running Blackberry Connect. Previous to the Blackberry's I had alwasy used standalone PocketPC's, and even while I had the 8700c I continued to carry the Dell X51v a lot. I'm quite happy to be back on WinMo.

[virain]

After misplacing my Mio A701 and being on a dumb phone diet, I am more than happy to be back to touch screen and all the GOODS that WM has to offer. :lol:

[superrrguy]

Wait, which version of Windows Mobile are you happy to be back on?

PocketPC, PocketPC Phone Edition, PocketPC 2003 Phone Edition Second Edition, Windows Smartphone Edition 2003, Windows Mobile 5 for PocketPC, Windows Mobile 5 for Smartphones, Windows Mobile 6 Classic, Windows Mobile 6 Professial for Touch Screen Devices, or Windows Mobile 6 Standard for Non Touch Screen Devices?

[adamz]

They must have gotten the idea from Pocketnow's Chronicles of a Windows Mobile user gone Symbian (http://www.pocketnow.com/index.php?a=portal_detail&amp;t=news&amp;id=4711) and gone iPhone (http://www.pocketnow.com/index.php?a=portal_detail&amp;t=news&amp;id=4338) series. :) For me it was quite a learning experience in switching to the Nokia N95 (http://www.pocketnow.com/index.php?a=portal_detail&amp;t=reviews&amp;id=1013).

[alese]

I sometimes get the desire to switch.
But then I look at the competition and when I think about trying to find new applications to replace what I use on WM (like PocketInformant, PhatPad, ListPro, E-Wallet, My Life Organized...) and then trying to transfer my data, organize and customize the device to my liking... the desire is gone. I don't even want to try WM Smartphone (sorry - Standard) because I know some applications are still missing (MLO) and because I really like to jot things down on my touch screen...

I'm just too comfortable with what I have to switch unless I'm forced, it took me too long to get things working the way I want.

[srmz]

Same here!! It is actually the available applications for the Windows Mobile Professional platform which make my switching to any other platform inconceivable.

I briefly switched to the Nokia E90 but could not find any decent "Office" application which could ensure "Real" round trip integrity between my device to the PC and back for spreadsheets and Word documents. Softmaker's Office is one of the application which has no parallel for any other platform just to mention this one application as an example.

Regards

[ikesler]

Interesting article. After being a Windows Mobile guy for a few years now, I have just made the switch to Blackberry. After using it for a few days now, I have no desire to switch back to WM.

Same here, made the switch to an 8830 on Sprint 2 months ago and am not looking back.... my Mogul isn't missed at all.

[virain]

I wonder, what do all those people that "swiched from WM to other platforms and not missing it at all" still doing on WM forums? I guess they do miss Windows Mobile :wink:, or may be they just miss complaining?

[Gerard]

It's only been a month since I joined the crowd, in terms of using a WM phone. Prior to my Atom (using an HTC Universal WM6 ROM) I'd kept phone &amp; Pocket PC separate, with a Motorola dumb phone chugging along for a couple of years and more or less doing exactly what my landline used to do. Many were the times when I fumbled with a PPC, balancing the flipphone on my shoulder while checking contacts and calendar and various documents. Way too frustrating... so when the phone started dying I took it as an opportunity to 'converge.'

I haven't tried a Palm in years, and from what appears in forums there seems little incentive to do so now. I know enough people with Blackberry devices to know they too are of no interest, lacking the depth and breadth of functionalities I need and want. From my extremely frustrating experiences with Motorola Phone Tools, I know those phones won't play a role in my future. Basically, years of investment in learning how a WM device ticks and in lots of great software mean that so long as someone is making a decent WM phone with a touchscreen, this is where I'll stay. To do otherwise would seem foolish on a bunch of levels.

And that earlier comment about 'life has no time for a touchscreen...' wow. I can't believe buttons being more efficient than the most accurate input tool yet offered in mainstream devices; the stylus. I zap around through various tasks far faster with a stylus than any button or keyboard interface allows, and I say that as an 80WPM touch typist who has learned a lot of keyboard accelerators in a lot of programs.

[Rod3]

I think I've tried most of them. I tried a Blackberry and hated it. I was using a Nokia N95 until about a month ago, and finally gave up in frustration. I think I missed Pocket Informant most of all. I'm now using a HTC Touch, and the touchier the better, IMO. I hated not using the Nokia; that camera and camcorder are to die for, but it just wasn't worth all the other fiddly hassle.

[Sheena]

Well, we can beat each other to death with our favorite features, but I think the main point of the article is the conclusion that WM is really the most comprehensive OS produced to date. As buggy as it is, as lacking on "Duh!" features, as hardly improved on upgrades, nothing compares to it in usability &amp; flexibility. True, over 80% of the software I use on a daily basis didn't come with my PPC, but the point is that I've been using the same packages across 3 PPC's &amp; I've forgotten how many OS versions, &amp; could still use them through all the old &amp; new gadgets out there, probably for years to come. What else does that?

Speaking of favorite features, I'm firmly on the camp of those that can't live without touchscreen, Pocket Office, &amp; especially the ability to run any of those fabulous programs written for us every day.

PPC's have changed how I live, not just made some things easier. My first PDA's were basic Casio organizers that were used mostly as an archive for contacts since I still wrote in little bits of paper &amp; kept people's business cards. Once I got my first touchscreen the notes &amp; tasks got electronic, I make appointments &amp; reminders, lists instead of stickies, dB's instead of printouts. I also edit on the fly (no more print-annotate-correct-reprint-revise), and I read, read, read (dozens if not hundreds of books &amp; short stories), all from the same under3x5" little gadget &amp; a spare battery. The "baby" is with me all day long &amp; there's rarely an activity, personal or work-related, that doesn't involve at least checking off a to-do list.

Just this week I placed the order for a new PPC that will add phone &amp; camera to the old features. Sure, I have a regular cell that I rarely use, but with all of these built in on the same (bigger) gadget, I expect even the phone features will be used a bit more. Compared to other gadgets or modern-age advances, nothing else has affected how I live as much as a PPC, not the internet, not a laptop, not a DVR, not even broadband. As much as I use a desktop/laptop, if I had to choose what to save in case of fire, the PPC would come first (although I'd probably grab my portable drive too :wink:), &amp; the main reason for it is WM.

Add my kudos for all the things done right by WM &amp; my encouragement to fix those wobblies &amp; add those basic features for which we keep buying other programs.

Merry Christmas, kiddies! :D