Why do you like Windows Mobile?

M

MasterTactician

2[H]4U
Joined
Oct 18, 2005
Messages
2,193
With the iPhone, Android and now WebOS taking center stage in smartphone media hype, I'm wondering why those of you who chose Windows Mobile made the decicion you did. What does WinMo excel at? What is it capable of that the others aren't? As an OS (ignoring hardware), why should I choose it over its competitors?


I'm considering a number of WinMo phones and want to hear the upside of this OS. If I'm willing to spend the time tweaking "cooked ROMs", is it correct to assume I'll be rewarded with unparralled functionality over more closed, but initially smoother OSes?


.
 
WinMo does everything I want it to do out of the box. None of the other phone OSes do. I've delt with the Android and think is the biggest POS. If you aren't using all Google apps, good luck. The iPhone doesn't have a built in keyboard and is only AT&T, both deal breakers for me.

I don't surf the web at all, so the crappy WinMo default browser doesn't bother me.

The biggest benefit of WinMo over the other phones is that you can get them from any carrier and even each carrier has several models with different feature sets to choose from. Basically Android and the iPhone you have one carrier and one device to choose from. You are forced to deal with all of the particular quirks if that phone and carrier.

All of that and the fact that there are 100's of "Apps" for WinMo and most of them are free and have been around for years. This includes ones that emulates the iPhone interface and there is probably one that mimics Android.
 
I think Android has the greatest potential, but for now Android and WebOS are just too young. You won't find the plethora of programs you'd find for WinMo or iPhone on Android or WebOS.

Only Windows Mobile phones have resistive touch screens. In other words, you can use a stylus and avoid greasing up the screen with your finger.

iPhone has no Flash, Java, or multitasking support to speak of. Even OS 3.0 which was said to have multitasking abilities turns out to be a lie.
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2343380,00.asp
So still, after 2 years, if someone IM's you a link in say.. AIM... once you click on the link, AIM is signed off and closed and then Safari is opened to view the link. If you want to comment back to the person who linked you, you'd have to close Safari and run AIM again. For OS functionality, avoiding the iPhone is a no brainer. :rolleyes:
 
palmboy5 said:
I think Android has the greatest potential, but for now Android and WebOS are just too young. You won't find the plethora of programs you'd find for WinMo or iPhone on Android or WebOS.

Only Windows Mobile phones have resistive touch screens. In other words, you can use a stylus and avoid greasing up the screen with your finger.

iPhone has no Flash, Java, or multitasking support to speak of. Even OS 3.0 which was said to have multitasking abilities turns out to be a lie.
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2343380,00.asp
So still, after 2 years, if someone IM's you a link in say.. AIM... once you click on the link, AIM is signed off and closed and then Safari is opened to view the link. If you want to comment back to the person who linked you, you'd have to close Safari and run AIM again. For OS functionality, avoiding the iPhone is a no brainer. :rolleyes:
Click to expand...


Hey Apple doesn't think it's user could handle using AIM and switching between a Web browser...I kid.
Windows mobile was always slow and unstable. All my friends(the average joes) ditched their windows mobile phones for blackberries, not because of the excellent integration with exchange or corporate services but because windows mobile failed them(not everyone is able or willing to "cook" a rom just to get their phone working the way it should I guess)
 
Iphone software - too many missing features the hardware is good but the company uses the platform to restrict the use of the device , doesn't allow the consumer the freedom to do what they want with something they have purchased.

WebOS - Not yet proven, widely enough used, or have enough applications. As palmboy5 said it and android are too young. THey have potential though.
Android - Watch a wide variety of videos on the net it seems clunky, many reviewers have said as much too. It only gets the hype it does because it's open source, that makes it free - not good.

WM - Recent releases have been tainted by the deserved stigma of older versions. But WM 6 / 6.5 are stable. A lot of bugs are caused by this.
Flash a custom ROM without all the phone companies' rubbish and most bugs go away. WM has no resrtictions on what you can install and the largest catalogue of free or commercial apps (yes more than iphone) and there is an active ROM development comunity (modifying the os ),
Most of the criticisms of WM can also be found on the other platforms too , but with a little research you can fix them on WM without waiting for an official yearly update to enable features that the phone should have been shipped with in the first place.

Hope that wasn't too ranty.
 
It's the exact same debate as Windows vs Mac/Linux. You get to control what you do with the phone. You get far more flexibility then any other OS with Windows and that concept holds true for WinMo. Unfortunately much like Windows, the default install you get from the vendor is not generally the best. Much like OEM's optimize for the widest audience, WinMo phones tend to be optimized for business people that could care less about enthusiast things. So you have to wipe it and install your own.
 
Why do I prefer Windows Mobile? 1 word: Flexibility.

I've used WInMo almost exclusivley for a decade. And for the most part WinMo has been on some damn reliable phones for me.

I've tried the others, and most are just undersupported, too locked in (iphone), or have incredibly small communites .

Though, I'm interested in Andorid--have been for a few years-- and anxiously await to see the OS develop over the next few years.
 
Work has winmo software, so that's why I use it, otherwise it's symbian os for me(some reason highly underrated)
Windows mobile does have a lot of phones using it's os with a wide price range so it has a big plus there, it does do a lot, it doesn't really do anything better but it does do it. Honestly if it all worked right it would really be the best but little problems and software errors make it so so.
 
There are thousands of free applications for it and like the above poster stated.

Also, HTC makes some damn nice phones and they are all WinMo or Android.
 
If you are considering jailbreaking an iPhone then I would put WM and iPhone on the same level.
What I mean is you can do what you want with it, tethering, tweaks, etc.
I see the iPhone apps more as gimmicks and only a handful are useful.
Any OS where you dont have access to a file system is a no-go for me...
 
OldPueblo said:
Custom ROMs are easily flashable and they resolve 99% of people's complaints about WinMo.
Click to expand...
Samsung epix doesnt have any cooked roms yet, last time I checked, not all the phones have cooked roms, looking for one if you know of any.
 
Customizability and a virtually infinite number of available programs.
 
eastpetersen said:
Samsung epix doesnt have any cooked roms yet, last time I checked, not all the phones have cooked roms, looking for one if you know of any.
Click to expand...

The thing is most enthusiasts tend to care only about the most popular phones, so despite it being possible to create custom ROMs for just about any WinMo phone most just don't put in the effort unless it's a powerful phone and generally one with a touchscreen.
 
Last edited:
It's not the best but I am a windows guy and a windows developer so I like having a phone I can actually dev for. It is the most customizable, which kind of surprises me because I would have expected the Linux based Android to have a much stronger following as far as that goes. I guess it still pretty new compared to winmo.
 
I've been using WinMo for a few years, TMobile MDA, Shadow and then Mogul. All were slow and craptastic. Built in browser, garbage, any other brother and I would run out of memory (not an issue with newer phones). Poor media playback, ugly interface (tried touchflow, 6.5, etc) Completly happy with my 3GS. I'm curious as to what kind of multitasking people are having problems with. Close a program instantly, open another instantly, and then go back instantly. And what's so customizeable about WinMo? The ability to change the interface so it's actually useable? So that's better than having a working interface to begin with? To each their own on the stylus, what a PITA to constantly have to use a little pen to do anything, multi touch is so much faster/easier. Then there's games, many great games on the iPhone, what does WinMo have? I've never owned an Apple product, not a "fanboy" but I think it's far ahead WinMo.
 
lathode said:
....I'm curious as to what kind of multitasking people are having problems with......
Click to expand...
Listen to music while writing an MMS or playing games, how about taking a photo while a web page loads in the background? or finding an address using Google Maps when you are sending a text..., any 2 applications - i-phone cant do it without a jailbreak and a 3rd party app to enable 2 active running processes not controlled by the OS

lathode said:
."The ability to change the interface"
Click to expand...
it's an option , but at least WM has it. You can also change file system settings, registry, page pool and other memory use options. All the accessable features within the OS to tweak and modify the way the OS and device runs,

lathode said:
."what a PITA to constantly have to use a little pen to do anything"
Click to expand...
Again an option but one that has allowed the use of handwriting recognition since before 2006.

lathode said:
." there's games, many great games on the iPhone, what does WinMo have..."
Click to expand...
Worms world party, Doom, TombRaider, Need For Speed, Quake
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Vn6DAq5q6M
Chess, Othello all the board games, pretty much anything that is found on iPhone and more depending on your hardware YMMV.
The first 4 on that list were installed on my old HTC Hermes (A phone from 2006) Which would play Tombraider and MP3s simulteniously. Something the iphone still can't do

The iphone has good hardware, but the software platform isn't designed for users freedom, it is designed for non-technical users (users who are not aware of the hardwares capability) and to maximise profit by pushing sales on the Apple Marketplace.

lathode said:
....Completly happy with my 3GS....I've never owned an Apple product, not a "fanboy"...
Click to expand...
Many iphone users are not happy with the phone, look at one of the links I posted above there are a lot of issues for the last gen phone and they were reported by the users.
I probably am a WM fanboy but thats because there is no viable alternative for business and play , the i-phone is still playing catch up
 
Listen to music while writing an MMS or playing games, how about taking a photo while a web page loads in the background? or finding an address using Google Maps when you are sending a text..., any 2 applications - i-phone cant do it without a jailbreak and a 3rd party app to enable 2 active running processes not controlled by the OS

I can play music through iPod while writing txts/email/safari/etc. As far as games that's an option for game devs now. Can you find an address with google maps and write a txt, with both on the screen at the same time? If not then the iPhone does that, or there's a link in maps to send the address to a friend.


it's an option , but at least WM has it. You can also change file system settings, registry, page pool and other memory use options. All the accessable features within the OS to tweak and modify the way the OS and device runs,

Why would you need to change file sysem settings, registry, or page pool if everything is running well?

Again an option but one that has allowed the use of handwriting recognition since before 2006.

keyboard is faster than handwriting recognition. but if that's something you must have then that's cool.


Worms world party, Doom, TombRaider, Need For Speed, Quake
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Vn6DAq5q6M
Chess, Othello all the board games, pretty much anything that is found on iPhone and more depending on your hardware YMMV.
The first 4 on that list were installed on my old HTC Hermes (A phone from 2006) Which would play Tombraider and MP3s simulteniously. Something the iphone still can't do

That video of Quake looked pretty bad, more of a "see it can run" than a good gaming experience. The quality and playability of games on the iPhone easily beat WinMo, and with the faster 3GS hardware will just get better.

The iphone has good hardware, but the software platform isn't designed for users freedom, it is designed for non-technical users (users who are not aware of the hardwares capability) and to maximise profit by pushing sales on the Apple Marketplace.

Freedom for what? Any good specific examples? There's plenty of free apps on App Market, sure there's a lot of crap as well but all platforms have crapware.

Many iphone users are not happy with the phone, look at one of the links I posted above there are a lot of issues for the last gen phone and they were reported by the users.
I probably am a WM fanboy but thats because there is no viable alternative for business and play , the i-phone is still playing catch up

I guess I overlooked your links (but if it was all last gen, it's irrelevant), will look again. But how can you say it's a con to have to jailbreak an iPhone to do what you want, but a pro to flash your ROM to do what you want?
 
palmboy5 said:
I think Android has the greatest potential, but for now Android and WebOS are just too young. You won't find the plethora of programs you'd find for WinMo or iPhone on Android or WebOS.

Only Windows Mobile phones have resistive touch screens. In other words, you can use a stylus and avoid greasing up the screen with your finger.

iPhone has no Flash, Java, or multitasking support to speak of. Even OS 3.0 which was said to have multitasking abilities turns out to be a lie.
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2343380,00.asp
So still, after 2 years, if someone IM's you a link in say.. AIM... once you click on the link, AIM is signed off and closed and then Safari is opened to view the link. If you want to comment back to the person who linked you, you'd have to close Safari and run AIM again. For OS functionality, avoiding the iPhone is a no brainer. :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

well, multitasking is possible however it's not something officially supported by apple (you need a 3rd party workaround called "backgrounder"). And with the new push application support, you 'can' run am IM program, close and and still get notified the instant you recieve an IM but I've noticed that this rapes my battery.

I would like to check out a windows phone though. I've enjoyed my iphone but hate the quirks that can come with using one in windows. If MS turns the ZuneHD into a smart phone and leaves the platform open (aka, dont need to jailbreak to run my own code) I'd switch in a heartbeat
 
qwerty30 said:
well, multitasking is possible however it's not something officially supported by apple (you need a 3rd party workaround called "backgrounder"). And with the new push application support, you 'can' run am IM program, close and and still get notified the instant you recieve an IM but I've noticed that this rapes my battery.

I would like to check out a windows phone though. I've enjoyed my iphone but hate the quirks that can come with using one in windows. If MS turns the ZuneHD into a smart phone and leaves the platform open (aka, dont need to jailbreak to run my own code) I'd switch in a heartbeat
Click to expand...

HTC Touch Pro 2

http://www.htc.com/www/product/touchpro2/overview.html
 
Familiarity (subjective, personal) and options (objective, pretty undeniable) are the two pros WinMo has over iPhone and Android, at least for the moment. To have a phone that looks and works similarly to what I have on the desktop computer is something I personally must have, and the sheer number and variety of phones available with WinMo is a huge plus and that offers much to choose from based on needs, budget, etc.

Personally, I got a T-Mobile Shadow recently purely for the cheap ($10) data plan available for it versus other smartphones. It's edge-only, but I don't really need it to be much more for my needs (email, maps, on-the-spot checkups for product reviews when I'm at Fry's, Micro Center, etc :D).
 
qwerty30 said:
I would like to check out a windows phone though. I've enjoyed my iphone but hate the quirks that can come with using one in windows. If MS turns the ZuneHD into a smart phone and leaves the platform open (aka, dont need to jailbreak to run my own code) I'd switch in a heartbeat
Click to expand...

Developing on WM is pretty easy, especially with .NET , I've written a few programs for tracking finances with it.
The best 2 WM phones (in my opinion) at the moment are the HD and the Touch pro 2, there is a good review for the HD at this site but make sure you look at the issues list there for the HD, just in case the review didn't mention something. The site catalogs product issues and defects so it's good to check out if you are looking for something..
Microsoft has said they are putting in restrictions for their online market place,.there are 12 prohibited application types <-- PDF
I think they are also saying the apps need to be .NET These restrictions are obviously only if you want to sell through their service.
 
lathode said:
Listen to music while writing an MMS or playing games, how about taking a photo while a web page loads in the background? or finding an address using Google Maps when you are sending a text..., any 2 applications - i-phone cant do it without a jailbreak and a 3rd party app to enable 2 active running processes not controlled by the OS

I can play music through iPod while writing txts/email/safari/etc. As far as games that's an option for game devs now. Can you find an address with google maps and write a txt, with both on the screen at the same time? If not then the iPhone does that, or there's a link in maps to send the address to a friend.


it's an option , but at least WM has it. You can also change file system settings, registry, page pool and other memory use options. All the accessable features within the OS to tweak and modify the way the OS and device runs,

Why would you need to change file sysem settings, registry, or page pool if everything is running well?

Again an option but one that has allowed the use of handwriting recognition since before 2006.

keyboard is faster than handwriting recognition. but if that's something you must have then that's cool.


Worms world party, Doom, TombRaider, Need For Speed, Quake
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Vn6DAq5q6M
Chess, Othello all the board games, pretty much anything that is found on iPhone and more depending on your hardware YMMV.
The first 4 on that list were installed on my old HTC Hermes (A phone from 2006) Which would play Tombraider and MP3s simulteniously. Something the iphone still can't do

That video of Quake looked pretty bad, more of a "see it can run" than a good gaming experience. The quality and playability of games on the iPhone easily beat WinMo, and with the faster 3GS hardware will just get better.

The iphone has good hardware, but the software platform isn't designed for users freedom, it is designed for non-technical users (users who are not aware of the hardwares capability) and to maximise profit by pushing sales on the Apple Marketplace.

Freedom for what? Any good specific examples? There's plenty of free apps on App Market, sure there's a lot of crap as well but all platforms have crapware.

Many iphone users are not happy with the phone, look at one of the links I posted above there are a lot of issues for the last gen phone and they were reported by the users.
I probably am a WM fanboy but thats because there is no viable alternative for business and play , the i-phone is still playing catch up

I guess I overlooked your links (but if it was all last gen, it's irrelevant), will look again. But how can you say it's a con to have to jailbreak an iPhone to do what you want, but a pro to flash your ROM to do what you want?
Click to expand...

First, learn how to quote because damn. Second, you might like being told how to use your device, most of us don't. Your reasoning above is pretty much the same as "why overclock?" Because we can and that is the entire point. Most of what we can do with WinMo, you generally can't with an iphone. Oh look, I don't like how my phone gives me a sent notification whenever I send a text and there's no option to turn it off. But I can hack it out easily. You don't get that flexibility with the iphone. I find it very telling that most of the sales guys and non-technical people at my company have iphones and most of the technical people/engineers have WinMo. :p
 
I like Windows Mobile due to the great app selection, and multitasking. I routinely leave apps running, and just switch to others without any memory related issues.
 
Had a samsung blackjack for a couple years before i got the 1st gen iphone. The phone had its ups and downs (mostly downs). The fact that its endlessly tweakable is a double edged sword; once you have all your settings and apps loaded, its kind a of a pain the ass to start from scratch again (say, when a new rom update comes out). There was a tool to back up your apps called pixie which was nice, but I dont think it backed up your email/registry/etc settings. Not to mention all the different license keys from the commercial apps you purchased. The skinning app (i forget what it was called) was neat but was bloated and glitchy.

I've got more gripes, but the point is, i've played with newer winmo devices and the os just doesnt seem that much different from what I was used to with the blackjack. they need to do a radical overhaul to get me interested again.

I'm REALLY interested in android and webos, but they need a couple years to mature to get the same polish as the iphone and its (best of breed) apps. The hardware on both platforms seems nice.

I know everyone wants to tear down apple for its closed approach to things, but I gotta say, even if I didn't jailbreak my iphone, I would still have a better overall experience with just the basics (calling/texting/email/web/media) than with a winmo phone.
 
You realize you had a choice to not mess with it right? I too would be very happy with a device if I only wanted to do one thing and it only did one thing. :p
 
OldPueblo said:
First, learn how to quote because damn. Second, you might like being told how to use your device, most of us don't. Your reasoning above is pretty much the same as "why overclock?" Because we can and that is the entire point. Most of what we can do with WinMo, you generally can't with an iphone. Oh look, I don't like how my phone gives me a sent notification whenever I send a text and there's no option to turn it off. But I can hack it out easily. You don't get that flexibility with the iphone. I find it very telling that most of the sales guys and non-technical people at my company have iphones and most of the technical people/engineers have WinMo. :p
Click to expand...

At work, have to reply quickly and all those quotes take a while. People overclock for more performance. I don't get sent message notifications. Just looking for specific examples of what you need to hack. You can also jailbreak an iPhone to do things Apple does not want you to do. Funny how you think you're better than people that use iPhones, I usually hear it the other way around, about how Apple people think they're better. But I suppose it goes both ways. iPod feature beats anything WinMo has, correct me if i'm wrong, games are better, app support is better, hardware is better. Hackability is better on WinMo, i'll give you that. But again what needs to be hacked?
 
Quote me where I said I was better. What I have said is WinMo is better for the same reasons Windows is a better OS then MacOS and found on far more computers. Last I heard jailbreaking is very risky in terms of incurring the wrath of Apple, and even then does jailbreaking give you as much control over your OS and access to tons of applications? It's not the same thing and you know it. And I'm not sure how you missed the sent message notifications as AN EXAMPLE of a concept.

Why do you need specific examples, so that you can feebly try to compare something the iPhone does? There is no comparison. How about you point me to an iPhone forum that's the equivalent of ppcgeeks.com and then I'll be impressed. I'm not saying the iPhone is crap, I'm saying it's limited and inflexible compared to WinMo. It's a fact, don't get all mad at me about it. :p
 
OldPueblo said:
Quote me where I said I was better. What I have said is WinMo is better for the same reasons Windows is a better OS then MacOS and found on far more computers. Last I heard jailbreaking is very risky in terms of incurring the wrath of Apple, and even then does jailbreaking give you as much control over your OS and access to tons of applications? It's not the same thing and you know it. And I'm not sure how you missed the sent message notifications as AN EXAMPLE of a concept.

Why do you need specific examples, so that you can feebly try to compare something the iPhone does? There is no comparison. How about you point me to an iPhone forum that's the equivalent of ppcgeeks.com and then I'll be impressed. I'm not saying the iPhone is crap, I'm saying it's limited and inflexible compared to WinMo. It's a fact, don't get all mad at me about it. :p
Click to expand...

Not mad :) I guess I prefer the things the iPhone does better over WinMo than the ability to change setting that might not matter to me. But saying non-technical people use iPhones and technical people use WinMo is in a way saying you're better, depends how you take it I suppose.
 
The iPhone does not multitask. That's a dealbreaker for me. I want to leave the web browser loading a page while I run my Twitter app, update podcasts in the background, and enter a new transaction in my checking account register.

Plus the iPhone is freaking humongous. Way too big for me.

The iPhone is a good phone with an unparalleled media player and gaming capabilities, but it's just not complete enough.
 
No, I don't like WM. I don't see how anyone could "like" it, at its very best it is only tolerable.
 
I have a HTC Touch Pro with WM and love it, been working flawless for 6 months, and push email from 2 servers.
 
dot_Zen said:
Did you miss the title of this thread? Or just felt like thread-crapping made you look cool?




As said earlier, WinMo IS flexible -- as of today's market, only a handful of handsets (not just OSes, also due to carriers) can compare in that regard.
Click to expand...

Did making this reply make you feel cool? I was sharing my opinion with WinMo as I've been using it for 3 years. It was cool 3 years ago, before iPhone, before Android, but is old and tired now. HTC can only do so much to make Win95 look like 7, but underneath it's still Win95.
 
lathode said:
Did making this reply make you feel cool? I was sharing my opinion with WinMo as I've been using it for 3 years. It was cool 3 years ago, before iPhone, before Android, but is old and tired now. HTC can only do so much to make Win95 look like 7, but underneath it's still Win95.
Click to expand...

Yes, yes it did.

It confirms that I was here under the guise of the threads original purpose. And, you're just here to inject some Apple in our diets.

My doc says, 'apples kill brain cells'.
 
dot_Zen said:
Yes, yes it did..
Click to expand...


That gave me a chuckle :D


lathode said:
3 years. It was cool 3 years ago, before iPhone, before Android
Click to expand...

Nice to see you thought WM5 was cool.....WM 6.5 is out now and 7 is about to be released.

Off topic -
Does anyone here have experience in gaining access to a phone camera's output programatically from the PC? IE streaming the output to a PC ? I have been looking into writing an app to use a phone as a webcam for PC's
.
 
lathode said:
Did making this reply make you feel cool? I was sharing my opinion with WinMo as I've been using it for 3 years. It was cool 3 years ago, before iPhone, before Android, but is old and tired now. HTC can only do so much to make Win95 look like 7, but underneath it's still Win95.
Click to expand...

Why improve what already works well? I'm all for innovation, but not for the sake of looking different. And keep in mind they can't just do whatever they want because they have to work in conjunction with the hardware vendors. Same as Windows on the PC. The look might be the same, but under the hood it has been upgraded over and over. New versions of IE, office, memory management, etc.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top