Microsoft's Windows Mobile moves: Too little, too late

Of all of the electronic devices I own or in this case use because my job provides it to me, my WM phone is the worst device I have. Our IT staff switched to Treo 800w's from Blackberries and no one likes them. They lockup all the time. They are super slow. I reboot mine every morning, usually by removing the battery because often it just wont shut down. The battery life is miserable and this is after our vendor gave us the higher capacity battery. With everything turned off, GPS, WiFi, BT, andExchange Sync set to manual and only using it for push email and talking I get about 10 hours tops out of it with the larger battery. This is the second WM that I have been forced to use by a job, the other was a BlackJack and it was WM 5.0 3 years ago. Nothing has really changed. The BlackJack would last longer, but that is only because it had an even bigger battery and did less than WM 6.1 on my 800w. Both will lock up 50% of the time when trying to answer a call while on the phone, complete lock, need to pull the battery, drop both calls type of lock. Nothing has changed from 5.0 to 6.1. My advice, for the corporate world the BB 8330 last for days, has a very fast OS, great keyboard, push to talk for sprint folks, and never locks up, every. Only downside is that you need a BES server for full Exchange Sync, but if you just need Exchange email you dont need it. For a consumer that wants a smartphone, iPhone all the way. My wife has one, and its a great device, with its only draw back (for me) is the touch screen keyboard. Microsoft needs to take all copies of the WM code out into a common area and burn it to the ground. Fire all of those people or move them to another project. Start fresh with new ideas. Maybe do the same with the Exchange team, since I could go on and on about Exchange 2007 and its train wreck but I would need to start my own blog for that topic.

WM 6.5 seems to an exercise in putting lipstick on the pig. What makes this worse is that this is something that 'partners' have been forced to do themselves up to now. It astonishes me how little progress this platform has made over such a long period of time. The mobile OS market is 100 times more competitive that it was 2 years ago and everyone is looking more innovative than MS right now.

WM is a great OS. Its apps are bad? Au contraire its the iphone apps which are bad. Do you need an app to help you have a bowel movement? well iphone has it. Frankly WM has sold more phones than apple, and they dont lock them down with crazy restrictions like apple. WMs two top media players: Conduits pocket player and Kinoma Play are unmatched by anything on the AAPL side. Pocket Player will even scrobble to last.fm. Pandora and a good facebook client are all that msft needs to get in the race with the youngsters. I have both a jailbroken iphone touch and a htc touch pro and there is only one that I can't live without.

I agree, this does seems slow. I'd like to see the Zune stuff move quicker to WinMo. Paul is right, this may be too little too late...especially with the Pre coming. My Samsung Omnia, though, is a solid phone. I have had it since early December and have only been forced to pull the battery once. It holds a pretty good charge, too. --tayme

I wonder if part of Microsoft's lack of movement (or slow movement) is because the company knows there's a large group of people out there who praise Microsoft's products at every turn, explain the success of competitors' products as the result of fanboism, and will buy whatever Microsoft produces, no matter how mediocre? That describes me.

"It is arguably the most powerful, most open os out there." Nah. "Open" takes on a whole new definition with Android: http://www.tgdaily.com/content/view/41445/108/

>>Au contraire its the iphone apps which are bad. << Every single one of them, right? Not a gem or useful one in the whole bunch, right?

A review: >>That said, there still appears to be ample scope for improvement. Some parts of the new OS are apparently untouched; Windows Media Player, for example, is unchanged from 6.1—meaning it's still going to need a stylus. This kind of jarring inconsistency makes for an extremely unpleasant user experience, and it looks like we will have to wait for Windows Mobile 7 (which will hopefully have a more Zune-like media player) before that gets remedied. The piecemeal approach taken in 6.5 is never going to deliver the coherent interface that we see on competing devices that have been designed from the ground up for touch. Windows Mobile 6.5 is not going to put an end to the diversity of hardware capabilities currently seen in the Windows phone market, either. Although there are compulsory requirements—Windows Mobile 6.5 hardware must all have a set of hard keys to do things like open the Start screen—specifications like the screen resolution and even the presence of a touchscreen are still going to be up to the hardware vendors. This variation makes it much harder for both Microsoft and third parties to deliver truly compelling Windows Mobile software. Even a measure as simple as mandating a touchscreen would enable software vendors to tailor their software to the hardware much more effectively than is currently possible. As flexible as the hardware specs are in some ways, they're lacking in others. Chief among the deficits is the lack of support for capacitative touchscreens. All touch-enabled 6.5 devices will have resistive touchscreens. The upshot of this is that they will all also lack support for multitouch. With Windows Mobile 7 still not likely until April 2010, Windows Mobile is going to continue to have a tough time against competing phone platforms. 6.5 is certainly a necessary update, and My Phone in particular also looks compelling, but this release fails to knock our socks off. << http://arstechnica.com/microsoft/news/2009/02/ballmer-windows-mobile-65-...

"Windows Media Player, for example, is unchanged from 6.1—meaning it's still going to need a stylus" In most WM6.0 devices I've seen, WM player doesn't support H.264 or generic MPEG-4 video, but it does in 6.1 devices. That makes video podcasts actually usable on 6.1 devices, and my Touch Diamond's version of Newsbreak is a very nice bundled app.

>>I remember a "gem" app. << There are lots of them: http://www.joystiq.com/2009/02/16/indie-iphone-dev-makes-half-a-mil-we-q... http://blog.wired.com/gadgets/2009/02/shoot-is-iphone.html

Android is an overrated piece of junk. The iPhone is pretty cool, but has its own limitations. (The number of hardware keys is a big one in my opinion.) All is not lost for WM, but Microsoft has to act quickly. A Zune phone will probably be more successful against the iPhone than the Zune was against the iPod, if it's good. When Microsoft finally unveiled Windows 7, it was much bigger than all the rumors put together. That's a big reason for all the hype it created, in my opinion. With WM and Zune, that's not the case. Most major features are usually in tune with rumors, thus dampening any hype.

subzero, I agree with most of your points, but I don't think WM is all that bad in terms of stability. Some of HTCs phones (and I owned one) run WM beautifully. Some Treos, like Doc pointed out, are awful. It all depends on the OEM. I think the partnership with LG is a great step forward for WM, but I would really like to more Zune stuff in their phones.

@volwrath - There is a Pandora client for WinMo and it works great on my Omnia. No Facebook client yet...but m.facebook.com is pretty good anyway. There are several Twitter clients available. And if one searches, you can find some pretty nice WinMo apps. Although, just like iPhone's App Store, there are a lot of flashlights and tip calculators!!! --tayme

First Paul "◦The iPhone will be in its third generation by the time Microsoft's partners get around to shipping Windows Mobile 6.5-based phones. ◦Windows Mobile 6.5, itself, is an interim solution created on the fly as a response to the iPhone. ◦My Phone looks interesting and useful." All negative the one in the middle positive? Was that a typo? "Too little, too late" Huh late for what? I was using windows mobile 6.1 for a while and I still find it more useful than the iPhone. 6.5 will add a few perks, I can't say they will change the world but will help win consumers. This move is not about winning the entire market it is about positioning themselves in the consumer market. If you look at the video all they talk about is branding windows mobile phones as "windows phones" and they have set a new standard for their partners. They have added LG among others to the game, LG has promised over 40 different "windows phones" in the next few years. HTC release diamond2 and the pro2, have you seen these phones they are nice. My Phone is now available and is free for anyone to use in their "windows phones" The app store is coming We know that zune is coming Someone asked Ballmer "has Opera hurt internet explorer", Ballmer responded this proves that windows phones are open to what is best for consumers and our partners. So they are not worried about competition like apple is "windows phones" are open to any app you want to run. I think Microsoft is playing their cards right, they are under promising to over deliver. Microsoft I think is positioning windows phones to enter the consumer market. I think they are doing a great job, the thing I like the most is that I can always find a phone that I like because there are so many different windows phones out there. Like I said before this move was not to wow us it is to promote windows phones and to get things ready for consumers when Windows 7 Mobile is released.

Unlike many it seems here I have BOTH and iPhone and a "Q" every day. One, the iPhone is my personal phone and the other is my "work" phone mostly due to the need for Exchange which we have to STILL use the "Good" or "Not-So-Good" software product to get it all to talk. I experience BOTH phones every day and they are sitting here on my desk. I can san witnout any reservartion that the iPhone, even with the implmented Active-Sync is a FAR FAR FAR, did I say that enough times, better experience than the "Q". Email is a seriously a chore on the "Q" and the calandar painful to look at. The web experience...well..just forget that. I've looked at newer versions and they seem prettier but essentially more of the same. The "Q" has been relagated to phone only status since the addition of Active-Sync to the iPhone which I just find a much better all around phone and user experience! I've used a Treo for a time, a Blackberry, the "Q" and now the iPhone and the iPhone is the ONLY one I have used prety much 100% of the features and the ONLY one that I use to regularly surf the web. Let me give you just one little example that to me is a constant reminder of the lack of attention to the user. \ I charge my phones at night. I take both into the car. Both phones are password protected. I pick up the "Q" to make a call to my friend Christian I have to: 1. Click to awaken it and get the unlock 2. Type password 3. Confirm password with enter 4. Phone displays that it is fully charged 5. Click "ok" thanks for telling me you're fully charged 6. Press the green button 7. Cursor up to the "Enter name or Number" box 8. Type the first few letters "Chris.." 9. Scroll down to his name when it appears or keep typing. 10. Select Christian 11. Contact is displayed 12. Scroll to number 13. Press green button It dials! On the iPhone: 1. Press Home button 2. Swipe slider to unlock 3. Enter passcode --notice that if the code I enter is correct it just unlocks! No "Enter" needed. 4. Tap Favorites (there is none on the "Q" and never remember speed dials) 5. Tap Christian It dials! Even if Christian is not in my favroites it adds easy three taps and a swipte to get to him not typing his name and using three different mechanical buttons in the process. This daily reminder of the poor design on the "Q" and Windows Mobile is my poster-child for why I prefer my iPhone.

Ok, so who sees Windows Phones as a pocket computer moreso than the iPhone? Windows Mobile is an extensible pocket computer operating system. It does that well. iPhone is an extensible PMP platform built around the premise of a piece of consumer electronics. I'd bet that if Woz designed it, it would be more like a Bug Labs experiment. All in all, I'd bet Linux users would prefer the Windows Mobile platform over the iPhone because of the vast numbers of apps available for it, as well as the ease of programmability, and more openness in the platform. Let's face it, LiMo is just a joke at this point. Sharp proved that.

@jeffsters 1. Please compare the iPhone to a similar windows mobile device. 2. In my window mobile phone I swipe up and click the picture I of who I want to call or I click my headset to start voice command and say call John Smith, then yes to confirm 3. I have used a q and there are faster ways of calling people, maybe your just used to the iPhone becuase it's what you use 4. Try sending an email with the iPhone, not a sentence and entire email. Now try the Q what is faster the touch screen or the keyboard. Like you said you use your iPhone for personal use and the Q for business, I use my windows mobile phone for both and I love it.

@jeffsters et all - I know the iPhone has some good apps, but here are two killer apps that it doesnt have (without jailbreaking) a) Tethering. my htc touch gives me a wireless access point for anydevice (which can support an adhoc wifi connection) ANYWHERE. Therefore I can use my ipod Touch anywhere. Or5 my Aspire One, or both at the same time. b) a2dp.I find it laughable that the iphone/ipod touch does not support a2dp. I am an engineer and must check d sized drawings and move about my office a bunch. I dont need to be tied down to a cord whilst listenting to Windows Weekly :p or my fav. prog metal band. Of course The music phone does not support this. Its rather inexcusable. Having said all that, I have no need for oracle or other on my ipod touch. Its a toy for me. The pandora on my vga Touch Pro screen does not work well visually, but otherwise plays well.

Epocrates is OK, and I have used it on Palm OS, iPhone and WinMo. Active Sync really makes the iPhone good for me. Still many programs for PIMs on the Palm and WinMo blow the iPhone's apps out of the water. However, Active Sync seems to work better on the iPhone. Go figure. I prefer an iPhone app called SaiSuke, which syncs with Google calendar [I sync Outlook to Google first]. They all get updated instantly through any change]. This program is like DateBK 6, but I can't recall the name of the WinMo similar app, although I have a few friends that use it. I think it's "something" Manager, but can't recall what "something" was. I still have friends that use it with WinMo 6.1

The Windows Mobile stuff is another case of Microsoft doing a "me too". Wait until others show you how to do it, then copy it. Which is flattering to Apple, but certainly make Microsoft look boring. So much for their overuse of the word "innovation" -- it's something they DON'T do. Look at the WM 6.5 stuff, so much is lifted from Apple. From the general concepts to a lot of the UI. But as with OS X, in comparison, the copied are poor imitations. Things that are done immensely well by Apple are implemented poorly by Microsoft; it's what's commonly known as "the Microsoft touch". Even the use of the generic term "App Store", which Apple came up with, is something others are using (because they copied).

@robertsjoe "...which Apple came up with..." More proof of your childishness. "It was my idea...Mommy, he stole my toy. I had it first!!!" Grow up, dude. I am guessing that you think that Apple invented the letter i as well. --tayme

@tayme: All I am pointing out is their leadership. App Store sticks now since it was Apple that came up with the mobile application store concept. That's why the rest are creating "app stores". Just like they are PODcasts. Not WinCasts. They lead. Microsoft follows.

"App Store sticks now since it was Apple that came up with the mobile application store concept." Really? Just like Apple invented the cell phone, I guess.

I think Microsoft is moving way too sow on all of this. I really hope WinMo 7 is a complete reboot.

@waethorn: But the audio enclosures in RSS are podcasts. Something MS had tried to find a way to get around by delaying support. They did not like the name because it brings up memories of the iPod. Get a clue.