A Stranger in a Strange Land: a Windows Mobile guy meets iPhone
Posted by Tim Hillebrand on 04/9/08 in Apple, Featured Posts, General, Microsoft, Opinion, Pocket PC Phones, Rants, iPhone
My brother, the cinematographer, is a MAC kinda guy. So, naturally he packs an iPhone of which he is very proud. While visiting me last week he was showing off the virtues of his iPhone with a bit of a smug air and a tinge of superiority.
He quickly established that the iPhone makes phone calls, surfs the Web, does email and SMS, takes pictures (but has no flash), and it does it all on a really cool, high-resolution, finger-friendly touch screen.
Perhaps a little reluctantly, he let me try it. The first thing I had to check out was the finger-friendly interface. Sure enough, you just touch any icon on the home screen, and the tapped application appears. I suppose this would seem cool to a cellphone user, but not too impressive to an old Pocket PC packer.
Within the application, you can use your finger to scroll around, but you can’t use the keyboard or a joystick 5-way button because they don’t exist. You can even zoom in or out on a screen or photo by pinching your fingers together or spreading them apart—very cool.
This is all well and good until you get to a Web page that has many hyperlinks such as the results of a Google search. Try to expand, contract, or scroll the screen, and the slightest touch invokes the hyperlink and drives you nuts.
The iPhone has neither keypad nor keyboard for inputting. Instead, it has a QWERTY popup input panel that requires finger tapping. The keys are far too small for my fingers that are on the gorilla side of the scale; the keyboard is more suited to the fingers of a five-year-old.
It must have taken me five minutes to type my first and last name without any errors. This is not my idea of productivity.
Oh well, the obvious solution was simply to use the stylus from my Windows Mobile device for more accurate inputting. I thought it strange that the iPhone didn’t come with one. I whipped out my stylus, started to tap the iPhone screen with it, and I thought my brother was going to have a heart attack. You’d think I was accosting his screen with a jackhammer. That’s when we learned that styli do not work on the iPhone screen, which seems to require heat from your finger. I wondered if you can use iPhones outside in the winter. You can’t use them with gloves either.
We had been talking about a family member whose contact info I didn’t have. My brother found it in his iPhone. “Great!” I said as I grabbed my Windows Mobile 6 Professional Phone. “Just beam it to me, bro.”
“Huh. What’s that?”
We learned that an iPhone cannot beam contacts, photos, files or anything else because it doesn’t have an InfraRed port. Hmm… Apparently you cannot beam or synchronize wirelessly either even though the iPhone has both Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. The iPhone comes with Bluetooth 1.2, not 2.0 and Wi-Fi 802.11 b, not b/g. Oh well…
I wanted to show him a bit of the surrounding countryside. I told him I had a universal Window mount that we could put his iPhone in, and he could keep track of our progress with his GPS. I just assumed that his fancy phone would have GPS. Nope.
Well, no problem if he didn’t have built-in GPS. I told him I had a GPS program that included maps. All he had to do was plug it into his device, and we’d be in business. I asked him what kind of SD slot he had because I can accommodate standard SD, Mini, and Micro card slots.
What? The iPhone has no expansion slot. He informed me that the iPhone had no expansion slots because it had an 8 GB memory and didn’t need any expansion. Of course, my device has infinite memory because it does have expansion slots that can also be used for certain peripherals.
His battery was getting low from all the texting he had been doing. (By the way, he could do SMS, but not MMS, and no IM either.) He couldn’t just slip in a spare battery because the iPhone battery is not removable. His iPhone had no car charger. No problem. I handed him a live mini-USB cable so he could charge up his battery. He had a questioning look on his face. That’s when I found out that the iPhone does not use the almost universal USB connector. Bother…
During our excursion, the conversation turned to a topic about which I had written an article. I knew I couldn’t beam it to him. So, I said I would just email it to his iPhone as a Word.doc attachment so that he could add his thoughts to it. That’s when I learned that iPhones don’t do docs–no word processing, no spreadsheets, no databases, no PowerPoints or anything else expected of a normal computer. You can’t even use an iPhone to move documents from one MAC to another. Hmm… You can’t connect peer-to-peer with an iPhone either.
Now I was curious about just what programs you could actually load onto an iPhone to increase its productivity. On the Apple site, I went to the iPhone section where I’ve heard boasts of over 600 applications available. Of course there are well over 12,000 applications for Pocket PCs, but you have to start somewhere, and iPhone is a new platform. I realize it will take a while for developers to catch up.
I was surprised to discover, no I was shocked to discover that there were few programs that you can actually download and install on an iPhone. Almost all of the applications reside on the Internet; they are called Web Apps. They remind me of Gadgets for Vista. You have to go online to use them. But what if you don’t want to incur the expense of getting online or there is no connection available?
Most of the applications seem to be some kind of list tool of one kind or another to keep track of stuff from photos to songs to money to you name it. But, I hasten to point out that these are simple listings, not complex spreadsheet programs or relational databases. There was a fare share of games too–in other words, fun little applications, but no serious productivity tools.
My interest perked up when I saw a section called Productivity. This must be where they keep the cool stuff that let’s you do actual computing. Nope. No word processors, no spreadsheets just more list keepers is about as serious as it gets.
Now it was my turn to give him a quick demo of what WM6 Professional phones can do. I started with the dual 3.0 MPX camera that takes pictures front and back and is set up for teleconferencing. Then I showed him how I could not only scroll in a finger-friendly fashion through various applications and on Websites, but also use a stylus and joystick. I showed him my actual QWERTY keyboard and a variety of screen input applications that go way beyond QWERTY. I showed him how I could beam stuff to other devices and printers using wireless technology consisting of IR, Bluetooth, and Wi-Fi. I showed him SD cards with mini and micro caddies. I demonstrated how I could create, edit, and read Microsoft office documents and send them to other devices. I showed him my built-in FM radio and how I could listen to Sirius and XM satellite radio as well. I let him see how I control my TV and DVR at home from my pocket pal from anywhere in the world and watch live and recorded TV on it. I couldn’t resist showing him the built-in GPS navigation, star gazing, and tracking abilities. I showed him some of my favorite peripherals such as a Bluetooth keyboard, printers, scanners, and video eyewear, none of which is available for iPhones. I showed him how I could access data and control my home office computer from my handheld. Then I hooked up my trusty little Bluetooth mouse and connected my pocket pal to my desktop monitor to demonstrate how it becomes an extension of the big screen and the cursor travels freely between them.
You can’t do any of this stuff with an iPhone. By the way, you are not going to increase your literary IQ on an iPhone either because they don’t do eBooks. How sad.
One of the things I enjoy most is just bossing my little pocket concierge around with voice commands to do my bidding and telling it to run applications, view photos, play music, and make calls. You can’t talk to iPhones; you have to poke them in the tummy with your finger to get them to do anything.
For sure, iPhones are fun, but when you want to do some serious handheld computing, you need a machine that means business and serves for more than poking fun at with your nose picker. I appreciated my tour as a stranger in the strange land of the iPhone, and thanks for the finger frolics, but I’ll stick with my far more powerful Windows Mobile Professional device.
Written by Tim Hillebrand · Filed Under Apple, Featured Posts, General, Microsoft, Opinion, Pocket PC Phones, Rants, iPhone
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That was a great post! While I like the IPhone quite a bit, I really like my X51v - I just wish it was a phone. Perhaps the Tilt is in my future if they ever get the driver issue figured out. It’s pretty amazing how much more WM5/6 can do. I’d like to see a similar story written from the other (IPhone’s) perspective, if it’s even possible. Again, great post that read really, really well.
*sigh*.
Palm, Pocket PC.
Windows, Mac, Linux.
iPod, Zune.
iPhone, Blackberry, Windows Mobile.
Clinton, Obama even.
Aren’t we getting tired of this stuff?
I always guess that the ones who provide analyses like this that are deliberately tilted to one side over the other (well, you said it yourself: “with a bit of a smug air and a tinge of superiority”) are like bald people wearing toupees or short people wearing lifts or something. Makes you look over-sensitive.
Quick correction: iPhone has both BT 2.0 and WiFi b/g.
While a few “facts” are completely incorrect, you should mention the one thing that it has, that no other phone I’ve used has.
A decent UI. Its intuitive, unlike Windows Mobile.
Email works, Web works. Sure there is no GPS and the data transfer is limited, but as a phone and a email / web device it works a damn sight better than anything I’ve ever used, and I’ve had pretty much every smartphone thats come out.
For the record, there are IM programs for it (at least 3 that I can think of), and probably a few thousand apps available. There are also a ton of ebooks, and lots of free ebooks for download too, oh and also remote control apps eg VNC for controlling a PC or Mac remotely.
A happy iPhone user in China…
Great article! Don’t forget the other limitations:
1. No AD2P profile to use bluetooth headphones.
2. Inability to take videos with the camera.
3. Can’t cut and paste text.
When showing your friend you WM device, did he comment on how many times the spinning color globe of wait showed iteself? When your device slowed down, did you excuse yourself for a minute or two to soft reset? Did you show your friend how many apps you had to purchase to make your device easier to use? Did he start laughing when you went to the Start menu? Did you tell him that you had to make 30 different registry hacks just to make the device usuable?
Now, it may seem like I am dumping on WM and you know what I am. I have using WM for 8 years now and I am well versed in its ability and it’s shortcomings. Owning a WM device is a love/hate relationship. WM can do so much but it is certainly nowhere near as reliable as other devices on the market (the iphone included) and WM tends to lag if you don’t do constant maintenance on it (ie. soft resets, clearing registry entries, clearing duplicate notifications, closing apps, etc).
This is not too mention that my current device, a brand new HTC Touch Cruise which offers as much power as any device now on the market, blows at video rendering and lags in scrolling due to the lack of video drivers. While this is not MS’s fault, but the device is representative of WM,
The iPhone 2 is coming and it will (just like the current iPhone) bring yet another population of people to the world of smartphones (yes, I said a dirty word when it comes to the iPhone). The iPhone 2 and 2.0 of the OS will bring wonderful applications that will take full advantage of the iPhone’s advanced hardware (ie. motion sensors, BT 2.0, etc). Add 3G and the software takes care of the rest.
I look forward to the coming of the iPhone 2. I also look forward to WM7 but hope that MS finds it within itself to actually make a smartphone that people actually enjoy using.
Tim, that was really a terrific read!I enjoyed it a lot!
I’m sure the iPhone is a very nice device but there are just too many things I don’t care for and you pretty much covered them all.
Thanks for taking the time to put it all in words…
Hey,
Nice article. I think the point everyone seems to miss is how Apple are able to tap into the ‘normal users’ market. I would never get an iPhone, many of the reasons you have described. But that doesn’t apply to the average joe who wants a flash phone but doesn’t want to do ’serious computing’. Actually what appeals to them most is the fact that it is a simple, easy to use and attractive device.
I think mobile developers (especially PDA) should (and they will) take a leaf from Apple’s book and start developing for the user. Why is it that in all these years I’ve had an iPaq no one has even known what that square screen was in my hand, yet 5 years after I get a fully touchscreen device the iPhone comes out and people think it’s the first computer-like mobile device out there? Because Apple are clever and they invest in marketing and design as well as heavy market research. So, time to step up the game!
It really seems as if a lot of people are fed up with the Windows Mobile operating system. I actually got to use an iPhone at the Apple store last week and found it to be very easy to use. I don’t think I am going to jump ship quite yet but it was a lot easier to use then a Windows Mobile device.
That was interesting but what a fabricated set of events. That was purely a post to list the “shortcomings” of the iPhone and I am personally sick of them.
I like the iPhone but I’m not going to sit and post every little thing about it that fills my wishes, because I’m sick of those too.
I thought I was going to read a post by someone who is to WM, but actually tried an iPhone and started to enjoy the read. Then I realized that it was staged and had to post a comment.
Tisk, tisk.
It’s horribly staged and blindly one-sided articles like this that belong only on off-radar blogs next to stories about 2-Pac and Elvis seen having lunch together at Denny’s. The entire thing sounds like the author was trying to justify his blanket hatred for Apple. Don’t get me wrong, I have had WM phones for years now and have dismissed the iPhone as a pretty toy geared towards the American Idol crowd (which I hate to say is a LARGE population.) There are just so many glaring problems with WM phones that, if you’re going to nitpick, you should be fair about it. I like personal opinions in these articles and all, but this is junk.
I’m looking forward to seeing the next generation of the iPhone knock out some of the complaints and it should be an interesting refresh if some of the rumors are true.
Nicely done!
I have been using a T-Mobile Dash (WM 5 then 6) since they were released. I was about reading to throw it away because of all the junk loaded into the device by T-Mobile. Fortunately, I found a way to load WM 6.1 without the extras and am in heaven!
My point is: Apple has taken control from the carriers (AT&T in the US). Coupled with their consumer focused advertising, they have created demand and the aura your brother perceives. Microsoft should take heed.
You also can’t draw with an iPhone. But I have been drawing on my Pocket PC Phone for years and even create finished comic panels on the device.
When you said:
“…connected my pocket pal to my desktop monitor to demonstrate how it becomes an extension of the big screen”
What software allows you to do this ??
As a Windows Mobile fanatic, even I stopped reading after the first 3 or 4 paragraphs. Whereas I would never get an iPhone (or any Apple product), I felt it was disingenuous to present this type of article in this manner. Why does our preference for one device mean we have to bash the other?
Many people like the iPhone, it’s not for me.
I happily hack and customize and download and purchase third party apps for my Windows Mobile device because I like to. That really should be okay with everyone, just like I’m okay with people liking the iPhone: it fits their needs/desires, more power to them.
This just stirs up more debate and hostility from Apple fanboys.
It’s been almost a year since the iPhone was released, why can’t we all just get along?
some of this is true, some not. the keyboard lacks tactile feedback, yes, but its also the smartest keybord ever. it takes some getting used to, but the reason it took you so long to enter your name was because your not used to the keyboard theres a video. http://www.apple.com/iphone/gettingstarted/keyboard.html
also you can send picture messages you just need to send it to phonenumber@att.com or phonenumber@vzwpix.com or phonenumber@pm.sprint.com and its very easy to set it up as an mms email(number) under a contact. theres not a phone that i know of that cant send pictures to an email address.
the iphone has a just as common (ipod) connector which almost everyone i know has. and a usb plug for your car isn’t very hard to find.
now im going to sound defensive. WM has had how many releases of their os to get to where they are today? like 7.
you look stupid talking to your phone.
stylus’ are lame.
i use google docs on my iphone daily.
windows mobile phones are large and clunky the os is slow.
nobody wants to type on their phone unless they really have to.
if your looking for portable computing get a macbook air :D
Mate you killed it with your comment about the macbook air! Actually, your response is the exact opposite of the article written. Equally propagandist :P
Now this is a funny article: Boy Raised By Wolves Shocked by iPhone’s Shortcomings
http://justanotheriphoneblog.com/wordpress/2008/04/10/boy-raised-by-wolves-shocked-by-iphones-shortcomings/
Most everyone I know who had a WinMo 5 device jumped ship a long time ago. Yes, WinMo can do a lot of things but it did such a half assed job. I really like 6.1 but it still needs a little work. The iPhone is nice and does the 12 things its supposed to do very well. I love my Tilt and the 168 things it can do in a very half assed way.
while at the rsa security tradeshow today, i spole briefly with a man from cisco. he is managing the process that has ported cisco’s vpn technology to the iphone. clearly, apple wants to appeal to business-users.
also while at the show i spoke with the cso from a major sotware company. his company doesn’t currently support winmo phones/pdas. however, because apple will be using active sync and because his senior execs want to use iphones, he’s going to be opening up his company’s “blackberry only” corporate policy.
yesterday i spoke with a person who owned a blackjack - company issued, no less. he had no idea he could surf the net on his phone, listen to internet radio or write word documents. he basically had no idea what his winmo phone allowed him to do. i’m not surprized.
the iphone is popular because it does something winmo phones don’t do so well - it gives a great user experience.
this is a fun article. W
Tim, that was a fantastic article! Well written and fun to read. Last week I had a similar experience. My sister in law has an iphone. It was fun to play with. I agree that it is hard to enter text. It took me 12 tries to write a simple sentence. You really have to watch where your fingers land. On the other hand, I absolutely love ZoomBoard, which is very similar to the Apple keyboard. But I found ZoomBoard easier to use, and more intuitive.
I am glad that the iphone has come out. It has some excellent features and it is forcing the WM world to improve in terms of usability and functionality. It is true that sometimes we have to hack WM to get it to do what we want. Yes, we have to buy software to make it more productive, and Pocket IE truly sucks. So many finger friendly apps have now appeared to make WM more usable. Apple is lighting a fire under WM and forcing it to improve.
Again, great article. Even if it was staged.
Interesting Article,
Very informative, also the replies are both entertaining and informative to keep us looking at both sides of the technology MS and Apple.
I am a WM6 user now and have an o2 atom exec with 4gb sdhc and I also have an IPOD Video 30gb.
I would like to share my opinion:
I still remember the first day I tried the iphone, I was very very impressed at the apple store on my first try, because:
-easy usability.
-wonderfull screen quality.
-8gb storage.
-impressive internet browser.
-screen rotation motion sensitive.
-gps like maps.
The second oportunity I had to try the iphone I discovered many options didnt worked because there was no contract with AT&T in the phone of a friend.
Also because I had more time I started to evaluate the iphone with the idea of replacing my WM5 at that time and the IPOD with one device.
I currently use the following applications every day with my PDA:
-Fitaly Keyboard.
-Pocket Artist (for drawing with I enjoyed a lot and keeps me calm)
-Pocket Excel.
-Handbase Plus.
-Video Recorder (I play bowling and record mini videos)
-Ewallet.
-Cash Organizer (for expenses, planning, etc)
-Agenda One.
-Repligo (to print documents to the pda for later reading)
-Internet Explorer to browse internet, news mainly.
I have many more applicattions but the above are the ones more important for Me.
To hear music, video documentaries and movies I use my IPOD Video because of the 30gb storage.
After many weeks playing with the iphones of diferent friends I discover that I could only replace:
-IPOD
-and Internet Explorer.
So I concluded that I may buy an Iphone in the future but not to replace my O2 Atom Exec but my IPOD because is not ready for Me and I may loose a lot of applications and computing power.
If Apple could include Database, Drawing on screen capability, Video Recording capability, File transfer via BT, Office Applications, and open source application development IDE, maybe Perl, C compiler, etc. I would replace my current PDA for sure because iphone had a better hardware, but now a less poweful software options for engineering, productivity or business applications.
Even thought I would like to have one for music, video playing and internet browsing of price drops!!
All you WM lovers crack me up. Tim, your writing is so very hilarious how you set up the iPhone for failure on every level. I suppose that is the point of your story and the humour behind it. I was a slave to WM and its previous versions all the way back to the Casio Casiopea (I think) From the minute I first used my iPhone it was clear to me that Apple had in the one try designed a phone that was far superior to any WM device I had ever used. Now Tim, do remember that all your comparisons are based at least 10 or more years of Microsoft failures in trying to design a software that works as a pda then as a mobile phone. Apple has had only one version. I hate to think how badly the second or third incarnation of the iPhone will completely destroy anything WM and will be the ultimate in phone tech. It is so painfully obvious that Microsoft is terrified of the iPhone and really have no idea what to do. For years I wondered why Microsoft didnt get the big picture and every new year I was dissapointed that the hardware still sucked. I didnt want a large, thick device that was ackward and not functional. I wanted a device that was slim, touch screen and never locked up. Honestly, my iPhone has not ever froze or locked up in the 4 months I have had it. The battery has never been an issue for me and I love the fact that just about anywhere I am I can find WiFi and get my email or check out a website at no cost. I have always been a gadget fan and for years loved my phones. Oh, and I love surfing on WM….the whole scaled down version is very cool :(
Great article, and it does highlight the differences and shortcomings between the two platforms. In my experience, Apple tends to focus on the UI aspect (think iPods) and does it well, and also tends to oversimplify all the functionality so that even little kids and grandmas can use them. The drawback to this of course, is that they usually force you to do things in a certain way.
Its competitors on the other hand, try to compete on features and they do that magnificently (again, mp3 players, creative? are great examples) but sometimes the end result is an inconsistent, overcomplicated, sometimes confusing interface.
Julian
http://tiiny.com
I can’t believe some of us are taking this article so seriously. The thing I like about the whole Windows Mobile vs Apple iPhone debate is everyone has a choice. Each platform has its advantages and disadvantages. As long as you have the device that fulfills your needs be happy.
hey karib, thanks for pointing that out… i really like both platforms, although i am more partial to windows mobile. i use a G500 from E-TEN packed with Windows Mobile 5.0. i bought it from auction on ebay and honestly i am really digging it. did i mention the GPS? i know that now-a-days it isn’t such a big deal but for me it is. i have always been kinda behind as far as owning these kinds of gadgets. this is my first pocket pc/smartphone i own and i love everything i can do.
comparing both windows mobile and iphone OS is really like comparing apples (no pun intended) and oranges. as what karib has pointed out, both platforms offer advantages and disadvantages. i feel like i can do more on my windows mobile device than an iphone can, but i know the iphone can do things that my phone can’t do.
bottom line, both of these platforms are huge advancements in becoming more mobile. no matter what kind of device you use, everyone can do a hell of a lot more. can anyone remember the days without cell phones?
What a horribly biased article. I hope that wasn’t commissioned by Microsoft.
I have been developing software for Windows CE since its very infancy, and it sure has stalled since the “Windows Mobile” branding was adopted.
Apple nailed it with the iPhone for one reason and one reason only; They understand their target audience.
Apple were able to leverage their mass-market experience with the iPod and their investment in OS X to knock a killer blow at Microsoft and other smartphone manufacturers.
It is hilarious watching all the Microsoft drones still think they can “put themselves in a l-users shoes”. So far they have appealed to the ultra-uber-geek community and left a bad taste in your average Joe’s mouth.
It’s not what the iPhone is missing so much as what it does well that defines it. The missing bits you mention are the fringe of the portion of the distribution curve, something they’ll capture in time.
One last thing, I thought it was amazing that Microsoft aficionados reverted to a level of comfort with comments like “We still have the corporate/enterprise market and it will be a long time before Apple can make a dint”.
Talk about complacency!! in less than 1 year Apple announced push e-mail via Exchange and the SDK + provocative distribution model… Unbelievable, watch out Microsoft… haha
I personally am a WM user(at the current time)… however I will NEVER own an iPhone.. just not for me… No I am not going to bash it… it just doesn’t have what I want/need in my phone…
and has anyone here ever heard of Symbian?…. eh eh? how about that as an alternative to WM’s issues, and you can avoid an iPhone if it’s not for you…
I have used many windows mobile devices including the recent HTC Kaiser. For some reason i wanted to give it a shot at iPhone. Certainly there are few limitations but none of them bothered me except for Microsoft Exchange support. It is snappy and all the applications work flawlessly. Even web browsing with slow EDGE speeds is tolerable. But 3G will make iPhone a superior device interms of web browsing.
I wanted to have Bluetooth, WiFi Syncing, 3G and GPS. Out of all these 3G is a must for next generation of the phone.
I feel that it all depends on what each individual prefer to have on their phone. WM has to work on improving the hardware (i know it is not in Microsoft’s hands) and the UI (needs major improvement). And don’t forget ROM updates/Patches. you need to keep the existing customer satisfied first. That is the biggest mantra for success.
davidt hits the nail on the head for me. the iphone is a consumer product. it does not ask its users to become technicians. upgrades that add functionality are as simple as docking your phone.
the blackberry became popular when first released because it was simple to use for its users to do things that its users valued. execs at businesses helped get their it departments to support it. as i mentioned earlier in this thread, the iphone getting activesync/exchange support will help convert blackberry-only companies to support winmo.
i know there are tons of very smart folks at microsoft. i hope some of the senior managers they work for give them a shot to show the world that microsoft knows how to inspire regular consumers of mobile devices as much as it has clearly inspired so many way-advanced users for the last 5 years..
Nothing but a completely biased article written by an MS Fanboy. Get over yourself.
@Khris
Of course he is biased (being a self-professed “Windows Mobile guy”). But his assessments seem to me to be fair and honest appraisals of the “other guys” device.
I do not see you making the same admission that you are a mac-boy, or talking about the pro’s and con’s of the “other guy” opposite you. Food for though…
I currently own both a WinMob device (and have owned several in the past) as well as an iPhone.
Both have their strong and weak points…..some of which were touched upon, others of which were exaggerated upon.
My favorite day to day device is the iPhone. I gave into purchasing another WinMob device so that I can take it where I’d rather not take my iPhone as it’s an attention grabber. (I’m in Canada and I have yet to meet another person who has one)
I’m neither an Apple-Fanboy (I own an iPhone and a 5g iPod) or a Windows-Fanboy. Not having MMS or cut/past on the iPhone really doesn’t bother me….I’d use them if they were there, but I’m also not going to cry like a little girl since they aren’t.
Browsing on the iPhone can not be beat. Period.
As for typing, I’ve had no problems adjusting to a virtual keyboard. As someone else has mentioned, it’s a pretty damn smart keyboard too as most of the time it figures out what you are typing and auto-corrects any errors.
A lot of the features the OP was whining that the iPhone doesn’t have, I personally don’t use or care about, and I’m sure I’m part of a large population who feel the same. Granted, other people will care about those features, but then they should buy something that has those features to keep them happy.
I get irritated by seeing numerous people whine and moan that Apple hasn’t added additional features such as MMS or Cut/Paste. I bought my iPhone because of what it can do……not what I hoped it would do in the future. Sadly, a lot of people bought one with the hopes it would have additional featured added later……Sorry.
Honestly, as I posted earlier, we hardly need a post from the point of view of the apocryphal brother. Please, nobody bother. If you like WM, and do not like an iPhone, great! Then do not buy an iPhone. But, again, the post made the user seem a tad sensitive about the choice that he made.
(BTW, I own a WM phone.)
Well, the approach worked at provoking a response, gotta give him that!
I use a WM6 device. A friend of mine decided he didn’t like his iPhone and had it sitting around. I asked him if I could try it for a week and he said sure. I didn’t last a day before I went back to my WM phone. The iPhone just felt handicap compared to my WM phone. This iPhone was even jailbroken.
Just like the “I’m a PC” and “I’m a Mac” commercials. The WM phone is the professional work hourse while the iPhone is the laid back party goer.
Having been a Windows Mobile user for a long time (think back Windows CE days), I have to say that Windows Mobile is indeed powerful - but the UI is stuck in the past - and it is not realiable!
I’ve been longtime Windows user, but recently switched over to Mac and I have to say, everything in Mac/Apple world is smooth - it just works. Can’t say the same about the Windows Vista/Windows Mobile - things get sluggish after a while, and they still flat out crash for no apparent reason!
Haven’t played at length with an iPhone (but am planning to get one once it’s released in Oz land), yes Windows Mobile has more features, but what it lacks is intuitiveness and “grace/smoothness” in every day use. I mean, I have the latest HTC Windows Mobile 6 Pro - and man, a hard reset is still required every 2-3 days - as it eventually just locks up! And no, Im not running 6 applications simultaneously.
Yeah, great features - too bad it doesn’t operate properly and ends up frustrating you. Since coming over to the Mac, I can really understand why people love it - and the same reaction for the iPhone - they (Apple) have just got it right - with the UI and operation..
iPhone has that fluent/smooth interface becuase it has extremely powerful hardware - 733MHz Samsung Processor + GPU, but apple chose to keep that for themselves. (will change after SDK though…)
Most of WM phone has decent hardware and will handle iPhone-Like interface or even 3D Games with pixel shader, but not many developer can “think out of the [list, text, combo]boxes”
Trust me, most of the iphone app will look similar to WM - if Apple provides textbox, combobox, listbox….
I’m waiting to see whether Silverlight/WPF technology will surface on WM device - it will be really interesting to see developer around the world creating movie-like interface on WM6 :D
That’s the true power of WM - you can extend it endlessly.
A terribly stilted article from someone who really has only spent a few minutes with the device and none exploring the scene.
I was a Palm guy for 5 years, and, concurrently, a WinMo guy for 2. I loved my Palm devices. I went through 5 PDAs and 2 Palm-based Treos since 2002. I loved my WinMo devices even more — my Axim X50v with WinMo6 was my pride and joy, most powerful beast in the palm of your hands. I loved it, seriously. The final Treo I owned, the 750, was similarly great, though no match for the Ax in terms of PDA power.
They’re all gone, now, replaced by the iPhone. Why?
Palm: Ceased being modern in 2003. Saw no useful changes since 2004. The last great Palm PDA was the Zire72. The T|5 and T|X introduced NVFS which, while great at protecting data when the battery ran out (which I never let happen), made it sluggish and completely invalidated the use of UDMH. The last great Palm-based Treo was the 650. The 680’s battery sucked hard and it was buggy.
WinMo: Loved it, great system, but twitchy at times, and prone to problems, progressive sluggishness, and occasional crashes. And for cryin’ out loud, in all the WinMo devices I used, from WinMo 2003 to 6, NONE of them could reliably trigger an alarm. A freakin’ alarm, which should be dead simple! What was up with that?
iPhone: Impossibly slick UI. (Yeah, so I like shiny things.) Intuitive. Fast. Easy to access everything. Powerful. Killer mobile 3D graphics chip (PowerVR MBX). Best mobile web browsing experience evar. (Flash would be nice, but Apple and Adobe don’t see eye-to-eye.) Lots of memory. (128mb main memory, 112mb usable) Not much in the way of apps out of the box, but jailbreaking opens up worlds of possibilities with tons of great apps and games, and the SDK is seriously going to turn mobile gaming on its ear, to say nothing of the tons of great apps that will turn up — and this is all over and above hundreds upon hundreds of apps you can already get on the jailbreak scene, with more pouring in all the time. Just check my blog, you’ll see everything you need to know. And I’m not talking about web apps here. Those are generally crap and I don’t write about those.
Yes, it does have its shortcomings — no A2DP, no Flash (yet; Adobe’s pushing for it), no external storage (not that it’s really needed), no full-fledged word processors or spreadsheet apps (again, yet), no 3G (it’s coming) and a number of other things, but most of its failings can be remedied with software, and some of those that are hardware complaints are being addressed also.
I’m no Apple fanboy — I judge everything on its merits and am perfectly capable of weighing the pros and cons of any device whether I own it or not, but really, if you’re going to pan the iPhone, at least have some empirical, evidentiary basis on which to do so, not just some fifteen minute romp through a stock device. To do so merely belies your desire to justify a bias against the iPhone that no thin veneer of “experience” with the “other guys” can possibly hope to hide.
I have a Sprint PPC-6700. When my contract expires (or perhaps not, because my patience is running thin) I will be getting an iPhone. Why? Sure, the differences cited by the author are there and sure there are some strengths of the WM platform. But first of all, my battery lasts (on average) less than 16 hours. I am constantly tethered to my docking station.
The cost of ownership is a drag on my WM device. So much required software. I hard-reset approximately every six months because something gets corrupted and the phone slows to a crawl. Each rebuild takes approximately 4 hours every 6 months. I keep a list of 50 items to get my phone back to it’s previous condition. It’s terrible.
And then there are the clicks required to do anything. Why can’t I listen to music on this device? (Anyone who does and receives a phone call during the session becomes deaf.) Why does the keypad ‘disappear’ when I make phone calls? What about the times it just decides to wake up in my pocket and drain the battery that much faster?
I just something to manage my contacts and calendar, give me email and the web. If I need to write an essay, I am not going to do it on my phone. I do not need to remote control my television and I do not need to beam contacts. (Was there ever a more smug and worthless example as this?)
In closing, I look forward to getting rid of my WM device and getting something more reliable with features I use. And I also will be sending Steve Balmer my phone with a letter explaining why the product stinks and he lost my business. The chairman of Sprint will be cc’d on my letter on how this device poisoned my relationship with Sprint.
I am not a MSFT hater or an Apple-lover - just terribly dissatisfied and disappointed with my WM device. If I pay this much for a phone and data services, I expect it to be GOOD. The PPC-6700 has not lived up to the money paid.
Fair points Rob, but 16 hours is far better than you’ll get on an iPhone I’m sure.
Well, I have an iPhone, an HTC TyTN II, HTC Excalibur S620 and I must say, everythink statet above is right. But I must admit, that for multimedia things like listening to mp3 and Videos I use the iPhone. Same for making phone calls. My WM Device (TyTN II) is really slow on responding to any key-touch when in a phone call.
But my Excalibur is fantastic doing calls.
The only good point which remains for my iPhone is Multimedia. Nothing more. And that’s the main thing I use it for. As an iPod Touch with included speaker ;-)
I have to agree with Rob. I’ve had a Sprint PPC-6700 and a Dell Axim x50v, and as far as I’m concerned WM devices are only good for draining batteries and soft resets. I’ve tried them with no hacks and with every hack imaginable. I wish they were better, but they’re just not. I’d prefer to stay with WM because I’m familiar with .net, but I think I’m going to pick up an iphone soon.