WM5/WM6 Question

[geekzilla]

Hello All,

I have been a happy Cingular 3125 (HTC StarTrek, WM5) user for the past year and am considering switching to either a Palm Centro or the Palm Treo 800W. I really like WM5 but I am annoyed by the fact that I frequently have to hit the Task Manager and close apps. Even being fanatical about closing apps, I get about 2.5 to 3 weeks of use before free memory seems to dip below 18,000 KB and then I stop receiving calls (forcing me to reboot).

I really prefer WM over Palm, but the Palm OS is significantly more stable overall (I support a bunch of Centros where I work, and they are solid).

I talked to a Treo 800W user today at a Sprint store, and he told me "it's great, but I have to reboot it a lot more than I like."

My questions:
1) Does WM6 or WM6.1 still have similar stability issues on the Treo 800W?

2) I looked at another WM6 phone at the Sprint store and I could not find the Task Manager app. Is it removed or hidden? Is it not needed?

Please help me with whatever advice you can as I plan on upgrading my phone one way or the other at the end of September.

THANKS!
(I looked and did a search on this forum for answers first - I hope the answers are not already here and I missed them. If I did, I apologize and ask you to kindly point me in the right direction).

Frank

[geekzilla]

Anyone here? WM6 or 6.1 - does anyone have it? Does anyone know anything about it? Hello?

[Pony99CA]

I looked at another WM6 phone at the Sprint store and I could not find the Task Manager app. Is it removed or hidden? Is it not needed?
The official Windows Mobile Task Manager is part of WM 6.1, not WM 6. Whether it's needed or not is a matter of opinion, but a lot of us think it should have been there years ago.

Steve

[geekzilla]

The official Windows Mobile Task Manager is part of WM 6.1, not WM 6. Whether it's needed or not is a matter of opinion, but a lot of us think it should have been there years ago.

THANK YOU Steve!

I was starting to think I was the only one here. I appreciate your reply.

Frank

[Pony99CA]

By the way, I almost never close applications on my Motorola Q9m. However, I do a nightly backup using Sprite, which forces a reboot, so maybe that helps.

Steve

[geekzilla]

By the way, I almost never close applications on my Motorola Q9m. However, I do a nightly backup using Sprite, which forces a reboot, so maybe that helps.

Steve

Thanks Steve. I bet you're right and the nightly backup & reboot avoids this problem. Like I think I said, I get about 2 weeks+ before needing a reboot on my WM5 phone. I talked to a guy in line at Sprint the other day who had a Treo 800W (new) and he told me he gets a "week or two" before having to reboot 'cus "it locks up a bunch."

I guess that's just the nature of the beast. Put up with the instability or be forced to go with a phone OS that is inferior.

Thanks Steve. Anyone else have thoughts on this?

Frank

[reed_r]

Hi Frank,

Windows Mobile 5, 6, and 6.1 are architecturally very similar. The release of 6 was mostly about usability improvements in the UI and standard applications. 6.1 adds support for Systems Center Mobile Device Manager (SCMDM) and comprehensive manageability.

The good news is that any applications you invested in should work pretty seamlessly across those device versions. Both 6.0 and 6.1 add a few memory enhancements to help the OS better handle applications that load a lot of dependant components (an area that can sometimes eat up your resources pretty quickly). Some of these are outlined here:

http://bolingconsulting.com/blog/?p=4

One thing to always keep an eye on with stability issues would be any extra software you have installed on the device. All pointing fingers aside, most stability issues occurring over time are either due to an add-on app (shell, game, etc.) that leaks memory over time, loads a lot of components (special memory rules that apply on WM), or lack of storage space on the device. Any Windows Mobile Logo Certified software should generally be more reliable since it goes through a certification program before release so I would encourage you use these apps when you can. Windows Mobile does not *require* apps to be certified though, so anyone can build an app and offer it to the world…that means varying levels of software quality sometimes in the market.

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsmobile/catalog/cataloghome.aspx

Couple of recommendations:
· Note any memory errors. If you ever see a low “storage” error, then that’s a good indication you are running out of storage space on your device or storage card. Clear you IE Mobile cache and double check how much mail you are synching down. Both of these can eat into that area pretty quick. Remove any large, unneeded files on the device.
· If you get a low memory warning, then you are running out of RAM and chance are an app is leaking memory. Windows Mobile will automatically try to shut extra apps down as memory pressure increases, but if hangs happens regularly, you might try uninstalling some of the add-on apps. Keep an eye on your RAM after a fresh boot and then after hours of use. Some devices come with a Task Manager app and some don’t. You can download one off the net if you don’t have one on your device. There are many out there.
· Worst case – hard reset the device and start clean. Install third party apps one at a time until you identify which one is causing problems.

Hope this helps.
-Reed

[geekzilla]

Hi Frank,

Windows Mobile 5, 6, and 6.1 are architecturally very similar. The release of 6 was mostly about usability improvements in the UI and standard applications. 6.1 adds support for Systems Center Mobile Device Manager (SCMDM) and comprehensive manageability.

...

Hope this helps.
-Reed

Thank you Reed! This is very good information and was exactly what I was hoping to hear. Much appreciated!

Frank