The Trouble with Windows Mobile is......

[miffed]

I have had loads of WM devices as a few of you know , I have defended them debates of WM vs S60 , and generally I do like them.

But recently I decided to give the HD2 a go as my main device - So I set about putting my regular SIM in it , and letting the 3GS take a back seat for a while - this was not a huge leap of faith for me , as I have been using the HD2 as a second device for a while now and love it. But 3 days later , I am in a position to finally put my finger on what it is that lets WM down
As a second device , I used it for web browsing , messages , reding mails / PDF's .... The HD2 is brilliant for this and truly a joy to use ..... but in promoting it to Number one device , it had to do those things plus one more , very basic feature .... FUNCTION AS A PHONE !!

This has been the problem with many a Windows Mobile device I've owned, looking back . (OK there have been a few that didn't suffer , the MDA Vario , HTC Magician) ... But for all the song and dance that these devices do well , none of it is much good if they can't handle calls !

Example , HD2 rings , I pick up the phone and try to move the slider , it doesn't respond (keeps ringing) until the other end hangs up - I then try to open the call log to see who it was , and the device just freezes .... and then rings again ! (at least I get time to make a note of their number this time !) - I resort to the iPhone and ring them to apologise

Then , a few hours later I make a call and I am unable to hang up at the end :( It's easy to say "give it a reboot , but how many times does this thing need rebooting ? A quick check on the task manager reveals nothing is hogging resources

If I'm honest , these sort of issues have plagued pretty much every WM device I've owned (bar the two I mentioned earlier !)
I can't understand why this seems to be a problem for WM , across numerous incarnations of OS but not Symbian , android , Apple or anyone else for that matter !

And how have they gotten away with it for so long ? - My hunch is , WM devices are mainly owned by geeks with few friends who don't actually make or receive calls (seriously !) ... As I said , other than that , the HD2 is a brilliant device , Can you imagine the outcry if the iPhone dared to behave in such a manner ? Yet the WM poor phone behaviour is not really talked about !!

Until they can sort this out .... WM is a non starter !

[Ben]

Bravo on the thread title!

I have very limited experience with Windows Mobile so you're my window on that world, as so to speak. My last experience of one was trying to fix an email problem, it was on some Samsung thing. I was shocked that the configuration screens were still just as awful as they were on my iPAQ. You'd have to be a geek to contend with setting anything up on that.

I'm sure/I hope that this has since been addressed by manufacturers deepening the penetration of their wholly necessary skins.

It could be said that the iPhone's weakest point is calls, though many of the interface options are fantastically easy to use - as is leaving a call running and wondering off into email or browsing while on hold. Sometimes my slider doesn't respond like it should to answer a call, but it's rare.

It sounds like call handling on Windows Mobile is a whole lot worse.

Another problem with Windows Mobile is that it's about to cease to exist. Users ask for Windows Mobile native apps, totally in the dark that they've just bought a phone running an OS that has already been superseded. No developer in their right mind would develop for Windows Mobile now, and if you ask me they'd have had to have been pretty nuts to develop for it before. Windows Phone is going to be a fresh start. Lets hope Microsoft can run with it.

[miffed]

I am not sure about Windows Mobile becoming obsolete ? I heard a rumour that the current OS is going to continue as a different version (starter edition or something ? )

[Ben]

Yeah, there was to start with, then I heard yet more rumour that this wouldn't be the case. Either way, it's nails in the coffin for Windows Mobile IMHO.

[Hands0n]

Blimey! What a palava.

I had thought that the HTC HD2 would be the pinnacle of Windows Mobile deployment on hardware. It is therefore quite shocking to read Miffed's account of his experience with the HD2 as his primary device.

I have tried to interchange iPhone with Nexus One as primary device with some success. However, no such success when I tried it with the HTC Magic and G1 - these two were way to underpowered to be used with such reliance put upon them. Yes, they worked, after a fashion. But were constantly in the shadow of the iPhone.

With the Nexus One and its rather powerful hardware the Android experience becomes very much more tolerable, enjoyable even.

It has been a very long time since I used Windows Mobile - the last being the Virgin Mobile handset that was supposed to be able to be used to watch TV channels. What a joke that was, it barely worked as a handset let alone a TV. It was like a smaller and less controllable version of the HP iPAQ that I had (still have). And as a phone it wasn't great. Fast forward some three years or so and it is staggering to see that things, even with WM 6.5, not being a whole lot better.

The death of Windows Mobile? It can't come quickly enough.

Windows Phone? I'll reserve judgement until I can get my hands on one. Meanwhile I hold no expectations for improvement whatsoever.