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Home » Opinion, Smartphones

What happens when a Windows Mobile Addict breaks his vow and buys an iPhone?

Nov 14th

Posted by Gil Bouhnick

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Tagged: in Opinion, Smartphones
closeThis post was published 1 year 13 days ago which may make its actuality or expire date not be valid anymore. This site is not responsible for any misunderstanding.

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The following events took place between Monday, November 10 and Wednesday, November 12.

Nov 10, 2008, 19:00:

277-66math.random I’m on my way to a ‘Mobile Monday’ event where the main theme is “user interface in the mobile world”. Perfect for a guy like me who loves mobile gadgets and develops user interface…

Maybe I’ll get to see some new stuff like Windows Mobile 6.5!

Nov 10, 2008, 20:00:

avatar (5) What a disappointment… There is almost no one in the event that talks or uses Windows Mobile. Everybody is using those Nokia phones! Nokia here, Nokia there… I don’t take kindly for Nokia bears! Also, no one seems to develop in .Net anymore, the mobile software industry is all Java. I don’t like Java. Tried it for 2 years, it’s a great language – but has horrible environments.

Nov 10, 2008, 21:00:

OK, now I’m really pissed off. All the sessions are about usability but the examples they give are all taken from iPhone applications.

What about some Windows Mobile for the SpoonMan over here?

Hey, you hear me? Windows Mobile has some great concepts as well!

You know those… 2 soft keys in the bottom? I guess they are cool…

Nov 10, 2008, 22:00:

Hulk2I’m going home, there’s nothing for me to write about – except for some really fascinating iPhone user interface. And since I don’t have an iPhone – why should I write about it?

Those Microsoft dudes have got to do something fast if they want to stay competitive with all those great mobile stuff going around.

Nov 11, 2008, 09:00:

Morning. New day. Not pissed off anymore. Life is good.

not_a_morning_person

Nov 11, 2008, 11:00:

Our IT manager comes to my office full of smiles, and proudly he looks at my mobile phone (the one he gave me…) and says: “Stuck in that primitive world, are you?” and slowly he pulls out his new phone…

iPhone 3G.

Arrogantly he shows me some cool games he just downloaded.

Now I KNOW there’s nothing much to do with all of those cool games. I know that, but damn! This is soooooooooo beautiful. The screen quality, the sensitivity – it’s a game pad, not a phone!

Nov 11, 2008, 12:00:

I’m in a meeting.

Pissed off again.

People are talking budgets but I’m thinking: there’s no way everyone is getting an iPhone, the entire world is talking about how great it is, while we, Windows Mobile fans – are still looking for registry hacks and using a stylus.

I love Windows Mobile 6.1 and all, but can’t Microsoft release Windows Mobile 7 a little bit faster?

We are dying out here!

Nov 11, 2008, 23:00:

just eyes

Can’t sleep. Can’t eat.

Can’t calm down.

Something is wrong.

I’m a product manager of an important mobile application. I’m designing user interface for thousands of users. I’m spending a lot of money on useless gadgets (and shoes… I like shoes) – How can it be that everything around me is becoming like an iPhone and I still haven’t got one?

64 I need an iPhone.

I need it now! Give it to me!

Before it gets too late. I must hurry.

It’s time to let go of those stupid principals.

Nov 12, 2008, 10:00:

I’m taking the day off. You know how it is, with the new baby and all I have a lot of arrangements to make.

But I will cancel them all!

I have something more urgent to do!

Panic2 Today I’m gon’na make a change!

It’s time to release myself from this agony!

iPhone 3G – I’m coming to mail you down!

Nov 12, 2008, 16:00:

I’m in a hidden place where they sell unlocked iPhones.

(OK, it’s not so hidden, but I try not to be seen).

After all, I’m a WinMo addict, and I intend to stay like that. All of this is just a temporary urge I must suppress. What has to be done – has to be done.

gollumscream I’m getting close.

Can almost feel it…

Precious! My Prrrrreciousssssss!

boom

Nov 12, 2008, 17:00:

I’m an iPhone owner now.

Yep. Did it. There’s no going back.

iphone

(Silence…)

OK this is embarrassing.

Say something.

Anything.

OK, stop it.

You know I know what you’re thinking, right? And we all know what I’m thinking (I’m writing it down… Dhaa!) – so stop it.

It’s not such a big deal you know. I have few devices, this is just another one. Nothing more. I didn’t betrayed anyone, haven’t cross sides. Everything is just the same.

Stop it.

Nov 13, 2008, 17:00:

I’ve been awake for around… 24 hours since I just got my iPhone. This thing is hot. Nothing like other mobile devices I’ve seen so far. But can it be a replacement for my WinMo or my BlackBerry?

I’m not sure.

In terms of screen quality, Internet speed, ease of download and installation, and mainly: HUGE amount of cooooool stuff – I have got to admit – I’m blown away with it.

In terms of e-mails, notes typing and PIM functionality? hmm, not sure. I don’t think I will be able to do all the things I’m used to with it.

But.

iphone_blackberry_WinMoThe beauty of it is that I have time to decide.

I’m gonna take my time and try to figure out what is best for me: iPhone? Windows Mobile? or BlackBerry.

And as usual: I’m going to share it.

So stay tuned with more updates here and in the Mobile Spoon where I will try to answer a simple question:

What happens when a Windows Mobile Addict breaks his vow and buys an iPhone?

(To be continued…)

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Gil Bouhnick (59 Posts) - Website | Twitter | Facebook

Gil Bouhnick is a guest writer at MobilitySite and the owner of The Mobile Spoon. He is a Director of Mobile Solutions at ClickSoftware, running ClickSoftware's MobileFever, and constantly trying to examine new mobile trends and technologies.

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  • @doogald

    Since I use Mobile IE predominantly for viewing my preferred mobile sites, I have not experienced slow rendering using Mobile IE with EVDO, or WiFi. Since I abhor horizontal scrolling so much, the mobile pages I view are generally relatively small, and render quickly. If I know the page I want to view is either large, or uses sophisticated formatting, I usually use Opera Mobile/Mini, or NetFront. I agree Mobile IE would be a dog on a large webpage both from rendering quality, and speed perspectives.

    Although Opera Mini/Mobile, and NetFront due a fine job displaying the entire web (full, and mobile), I have found that Mobile IE does the best job displaying mobile single column pages quickly with proper text reflows regardless of the text size chosen. I hope when they "improve" Mobile IE, they do not ruin its fine ability to render the mobile web. Maybe the new version of Mobile IE will keeps its current fine ability for the mobile web while adding the ability to display the full web properly, and quickly.
  • doogald
    My biggest issue with Mobile IE is not with the quality of its rendering - though that can be really, really bad - it is with the incredibly slow rendering. It takes forever, and the browser is basically unusable while it it is still rendering. In my limited experience with the iPhone or the Touch, Mobile Safari was an order of magnitude better and easier to use.

    Opera Mini or Skyfire may require an extra step to zoom, but at least they open pages very quickly, and generally support more contemporary features.
  • @JimT: That's a great post -- very informative and backed up with good personal experience.

    Steve
  • On devices with a < 7" screen, I prefer the mobile web. All the panning, and scrolling required to view a full desktop website in a small screen mobile device looks cool in a demo, but gets old very quickly for me, and judging by a recent NY Times article, for a lot of other people as well. Unless a mobile site is designed for the iPhone, or the developer has added a Viewport meta-tag, mobile Safari has trouble displaying some single column webpages with a readable text size. In portrait mode, some single column pages are totally unreadable with mobile Safari, and, at best, have a 8 or 9 point font in landscape mode. Your choice is to read with too small a font, or pinch zoom. Pinch zoom does not reflow the text, so the dreaded horizontal scrolling is required to read each line.

    Opera Mobile, Opera Mini, and NetFront display multi-column, single column, and mobile webpages fine. IE does not display multi-column webpages very well, but it is one of the best for mobile, or single column websites. Even though I have all the major browsers on my WM devices, IE is used about 85% of the time due to my preference for mobile sites which do not require panning (just another name for horizontal scrolling).

    During your evaluation of the mobile Safari browser, try viewing Craigslist, one of the top 10 English language websites, and various generic (non-iphone specific) mobile websites. Chances are you will have to decide between reading with too small a font for comfortable reading, or horizontally scrolling to read each line.

    The screen quality of the iPhone is excellent. I wish there was a WM phone that had a 4" screen like the Toshiba e830 / HP210 PDA's. With a 4" screen, finger navigation is easy even with the standard WM interface, and a pleasant experience with the plethora of optional finger-friendly WM shells available. About 95% of my interaction with WM, and Palm devices is via finger navigation using the standard interfaces. As one of the prior posters mentioned, there are times when the precision of a stylus is welcome such as when selecting a link on a webpage with a series of closely spaced links all bunched together.
  • Ryan
    I know how you feel, I started out slowly but now have actually sold my tilt and now am solely running the iphone 3g. I still consider myself an win mobile user but I can resist the screen size and eye candy of the iphone. HURRY HTC TOUCH HD! I CANT GO BACK TO A SMALLER SCREEN!
  • just for kicks, what about a list of the things people say to you now that you have an iphone, 'cos we know you iphone folks have secret handshakes and stuff too, right? ;-)
  • so, you have an iphone now. how about a list of things you like and dislike from your wimo perspective?
  • The link to my editorial had a slight typo. Here's the correct link:

    Why Windows Mobile Needs A Stylus

    Steve
  • @Athena:

    let’s be honest, WM user interface designers have a lot to learn from the iphone! they just need to make everything finger-friendly, enough of the too small options, and the yes-no buttons, i always use my finger nails. WM did a good job with the TF3D, but that’s just a shell, not the whole OS.

    While Microsoft could learn from Apple here,
    any user interface is just a shell over the file, process, power and other management tools of the OS. I think you mean that TouchFlo 3D isn't integrated into the OS, which is true, so when you need to do something that TouchFlo doesn't handle, you have to revert to the standard Windows Mobile user interface.

    when WM phones no longer come with styli, we will be ok.

    Nonsense. As I've advocated for a while, WM should have a finger-friendly mode, but should also have a stylus mode for people who don't mind the existing interface or need the precision of a stylus. Read my Why Windows Mobile Needs A Stylus editorial.

    Without a stylus, you lose things like handwriting recognition, inking or drawing capabilities, easy copy/paste and maybe even faster scrolling. Why would you want to make Windows Mobile less useful by getting rid of the stylus?

    And, as I pointed out in the editorial, you can even buy a stylus for the iPhone. :D

    Steve
  • AthenaLod
    let's be honest, WM user interface designers have a lot to learn from the iphone! they just need to make everything finger-friendly, enough of the too small options, and the yes-no buttons, i always use my finger nails. WM did a good job with the TF3D, but that's just a shell, not the whole OS. when WM phones no longer come with styli, we will be ok.

    the iphone is an eye-candy, the whole world loves it, we all know that, made by one company, running an OS by the same company (no incompatibilities) that is putting all its might behind it, with a lot of name recognition.

    WM is way more powerful than the iphone, but nobody knows what WM is, or who HTC is... so many players are in the the WM market.

    anyway, would never trade my Tilt (or Fuze if I upgrade) for a toy (aka iphone).
  • Gil, i can understand your disappointment at mobile monday evevts, I'd have an iPhone if I could afford it, and still rock my axim. The iphone interface is as flawless as I would like WinMo to be.....

    As If
  • I am Windows Mobile Professional user. My husband has a Blackberry and my kid has an iPhone. Husband is a bit envious of the kid's phone, has the Blackberry for work.

    Having helped both of them shop for and set up their phones, I still like mine best.

    But I sure would like a new, updated operating system! (I am a chronic ROM flasher, and I am not ashamed to admit it!)
  • I get ragged on a bit by citanic for my iPhone fixation :), but the things you have said ring true for me. I have become obsessed with that phone, like no other device I have owned (and there have been many). They really came up with a behavior changing device, I think. I still like WinMo and it has things it is really good at doing, but... I mean, the iPhone is something special.
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