@Eric:

My company still has Exchange 2003. Our WinMo devices don’t get html e-mail from the server, so many e-mails look like crap. In order to get html e-mail from our corporate e-mail, Microsoft says we need to upgrade to Exchange 2007. We have several iPhone and Blackberry users. Their e-mails look excellent and are perfectly formatted for html right out of the box. And they are going to the same Exchange server. My WinMo device connects to our corp e-mail and to my personal POP3 account. I get html e-mails from my POP account, but not from Exchange 2003.

That tells me that Microsoft is removing that functionality for the sole purpose of getting people to buy E2K7.

Let me ask what might be a dumb question. Your Windows Mobile devices are WM 6 or later, right? That's when Microsoft added HTML E-mail support, so if they're pre-WM 6, upgrading Exchange might not matter.

If they are WM 6 devices, I have no idea why that happens (I'm not an Exchange person). However, that isn't really a Windows Mobile issue then, it's an Exchange issue. (Yes, they're both part of Microsoft, but even if the left hand knows what the right hand is doing, they may have different objectives.)

Steve

@Sam

Well with the email statement I was comparing more to a desktop experience, mainly telling it to load images every time and having to “Tap to scroll right”

You know why those were done, right? If not, here are my guesses.

Blocking images is done to prevent Web bugs (a common spammer trick) in HTML E-mail from compromising your privacy. It's also a good security measure in case somebody discovers a bug in image rendering that allows code execution.

I'm personally OK with that, but I'd put the control to view images in the menu so you could turn it on anywhere in the E-mail, not just at the top (you may change your mind as you read a long E-mail).

I think the "Tap to scroll right" was added for legacy reasons. When WM only supported text E-mail, the text wrapped, so right scrolling wasn't necessary. Microsoft thought they'd be nice and mapped the left and right buttons to get to the previous and next E-mails as a shortcut (instead of having to exit back to the E-mail list and move down or up).

HTML E-mail broke that model, but Microsoft probably didn't want to change the behavior of the left and right buttons, so they make the user do it.

I'm less happy with that, because I often find myself accidentally switching E-mails instead of scrolling, but I understand it. Like with images, though, I'd put the control to turn scrolling on in the menu so you could turn it on anywhere in the E-mail. I might also add a preference like "Automatically enable scrolling in HTML E-mail when required" so I didn't have to turn scrolling on at all, and I'd add Next Item and Previous Item actions in the Menu. (You have to worry about the menu getting too big, though.)

In response to what should be added, I think that sync support for PIM suites OTHER than Outlook should be added. I hear talk about alot of folks who don’t use Outlook (or Windows for that matter) having to hack or go to (and sometimes pay for) third party solutions that don’t even have full functionality (I can confirm that one). If Microsoft would expand the compatibility range more people (especially businesses) would probably use it!.

You hear the same argument made about having Microsoft support ActiveSync on the Mac or Linux. While it would be "nice", I can certainly understand why Microsoft doesn't do it from a strategic point of view. They want people to switch to Exchange and Outlook, and supporting other PIMs would give one less reason to do that.

I think Microsoft should publish the sync API (if they don't already) and support PIM plug-ins. Outlook support would be just another plug-in that came with ActiveSync by default.

If I were the Windows Mobile product manager, I'd want to spend my money on making the core system and syncing with supported tools better, not on niche products. (Now, if some other PIM had huge penetration in the market, my thinking might be different, but I don't know how Outlook, Lotus Notes, Novell Groupwise, etc. compare. I assume Outlook is #1 because it comes with Office and works with Exchange, but that's just a guess.)

Steve

P.S. To do the quoting, using the HTML blockquote tags, like &lt.blockquote&rt.text&lt./blockquote&rt. (I hope that shows up correctly.)

@Keisha:

I honestly have a love/hate relationship with the OS. As things currently stand, even though i’m estatically excited over what i’ve seen Palm do w/ the WebOS, i still have concerns. It is currently the only OS that could take me away from WM and that still will have to be backed up by applications, but considering that we are talking about Palm, i don’t forsee that being a problem.

The Pre looks interesting, but I'm not sure how many developers they'll actually get.

First, old Palm apps won't work, so existing Palm developers would have to learn the new OS and development system.

Second, if somebody wants to learn a new environment, I think writing software for the iPhone, Android, Symbian or Windows Mobile will get you a bigger audience.

I'm worried that the only people who will develop for the Pre (at first) will be hobbyists who love Palm and developers who want to be the first on the platform. That may be good enough, but we'll see.

The wealth of applications available for WM’s are its most powerful resource, but in the same breadth its disconcerting that there is no fluidity or standardization between them.

Microsoft does publish guidelines, but it's up to the developers to follow them. Would you really want a control freak like Apple only allowing apps that followed rigid guidelines?

I think a device OEM should ensure all of their apps look and feel the same, but third-party developers should have more freedom. After all, the user can evaluate the app and determine if it diverges too much from what they like without having Nanny Microsoft monitor them.

If/when Microsoft does its own software store, I do think those programs should be subject to the guidelines. As long as other software outlets for Windows Mobile exist, that should be fine.

Where i feel improvements need to be made:
Screen size/resolution
For the kind of powerful device a professional device is 2.8”& qvga is too small for books/applications/browsing experience/email/videos/sharing photos.

As far as I know, that's mostly an OEM issue. Microsoft does have a list of supported resolutions (maxing out, I think, at 800x480), but its up to the OEM to choose the display size and the resolution from among the supported ones.

One thing I'm confused about, though, is that Microsoft also publishes a DPI setting for each resolution. I'm not sure if that's required, though; if it is, it seems like it forces an OEM to use a specific display size, which doesn't actually seem to be the case.

Also, until the iPhone came out, most people seemed to want smaller phones, which meant smaller displays, too. That's probably why so many phones have screens smaller than 3".

Processor speed (though i’m not convinced the processor is the bottleneck i’m more inclined to think its the OS) But clicking anything in the OS feels as if it has to think about it before performing the function.

Obviously processor speed is an OEM choice. They have to trade off between performance, battery life and size. How many of those factors do you want Microsoft in control of?

On the hardware front the changes between successive updates are too incremental to make much of a difference. Taking into consideration that the Dell Axims had 416 - 624mhz processors and vga, successive professional devices were pretty much a step backwards, w/ 200 & 400mhz processors and lower resolutions. (Though i realize that we moved from strictly pda’s to phone/pda combination solutions)

Adding the phone is the problem. Phones eat batteries faster, so they tend to get slower processors to compensate for that. You can put a bigger battery in, but then the size gets bigger. That's what I meant about the trade offs I mentioned above.

I think Microsoft either needs a bigger hand in device production (think Zune), or have strict criteria for each class of device. Eg. A professional device should have a minimum 500mhz xscale or equivalent processor.

They could do that, of course, but should Microsoft really limit things that much? I'm not sure that would be a good idea.

Also, producing their own Windows Mobile devices could end up being a disaster. First, they'd probably alienate most of their existing OEMs. Those OEMs might switch to Android.

Second, how well has Microsoft done in hardware? The Zune may be OK (I've never used one), but it's not doing that well in the market.

Microsoft has done pretty well in the PC space just selling the OS, so why should mobile be any different?

Resource Management and the X button & its lack of actually closing programs even in the presence of programs like HTC’s X button or Task Manager program, is definitely something that needs to be addressed.

Changing the behavior of the X button would be horrible now, especially for existing users. I think the graphic should change to look more like the Windows Minimize button, but other than that, I'd leave it alone. There were good reasons not to make it close applications and Windows Mobile 6.1 added a Task Manager, so that should be sufficient, I hope.

Remember that most well-designed software doesn't actually do anything while in the background. (There are obvious exceptions, like GPS, media playing and IM/E-mail software, but you don't want those to stop in the background anyway.)

Software Cohesion
Visual Cohesion w/ the OS from 3rd party developers. Standard Icon size & resolution. Cohesion/Integration between Microsoft’s myriad of services and the devices. It is more than obvious accessing some of Microsoft’s services that no thought or consideration was given to WM. Opening hotmail/live mail in IE, you’re told you need to upgrade your browser. Trying to compose mail in pocket outlook bounces you back to mobile.live.com opened in IE. It would be good to be able to compose an email & then connect to the internet to send.

I addressed third-party software above, so I won't go into that here.

I agree that Microsoft should make their services work seamlessly on mobile, though. I don't use Hotmail, but it does seem silly to not use the existing Messaging client. If Microsoft thinks their own editor is much better, put a link in the composition window saying "Edit your E-mail online" (and maybe add a little text explaining why you'd want to, but don't make it longer than one line).

Customizability
Not every WM user wants the same today screen, Some users like the lists & menu’s, others would prefer something more graphically based that facilitates quick access to their most frequently used apps etc. Not everybody likes the Start Menu.

The Today screen already is customizable. As far as I know, TouchFlo 3D is just a big Today screen plug-in.

There should still be a Start menu in WM Pocket PC versions for the reasons my New Year's Resolutions stated. If you have a title bar, it's not like it takes extra space anyway.

Hardware buttons should be fully customizable by the end user. No need for dedicated email/browser buttons. The D pad, soft key representational buttons scroll & 2 ok buttons are useless on a touch screen device.

I disagree that the buttons are useless. They enhance the ability to use the device with one hand by making the most commonly used functions available. That's why my rant argued for more buttons.

For example, a WM Classic device has the old buttons; there aren't any dedicated soft key buttons. I hate that. It should have the four application buttons and dedicated soft key buttons. Yes, it would take more space, but not that much.

More Intelligent OS
I agree with you wholeheartedly that Wifi synchronization needs to make a comeback.
Detecting duplicate contacts (especially between windows live messenger & pocket outlook), the ability to merge contacts, not adding messenger only contacts to the phone book. (Maybe the phone book & contacts needs to be separate?) I see that Windows Live mentioned merging, but it hasn’t worked in my experience, it would also be good to have the functionality to merge two contacts w/in pocket outlook.

I think having a separate Contacts list and Phone Book would be horrible. I don't want to look in two places to find somebody. (If I'm not mistaken, on GSM phones, the Contacts app displays the SIM card contacts so you don't have to look in two places.)

When adding a buddy to a buddy list, the software should allow setting that up in a Contact, too. Contacts would need to allow multiple IM addresses for a person, though, so I don't have to choose between my AIM, Live Messenger or Yahoo IM address for a person. (The chat application would only use the online buddy list, of course, but you should be able to launch an IM session from Contacts.)

Steve

I have used the iPhone for a while and am back to Windows Mobile (the Palm Treo Pro to be exact), and I prefer it for the following reasons:
- Background processes!
- BeyondPod (fetching automatically newest podcasts via WiFi. Have to do NOTHING). The iPhone mechanism is a pain in comparison.
- Skyfire. A faster better browsing experience. (I am partial to Skyfire, I work there)
- Better Phone/Dialer & Address book: I can start typing a name and interact with it right away. The iPhone is a pain there. (I have nearly 2000 contacts in my address book).

WinMo is not as pretty or sexy and the UI is a bit clunky, but it get's the job done better in the areas that matter to me:
- quickly making phone calls
- having the entertainment that I want (podcasts) with me and always up to date (without syncing)
- fast browsing.

The worst thing I could have done was upgrade from my iPod to the iPod Touch. Now I am bored with my WiMo device, even though its a Fuze I got two months ago. The touch experience, the easy syncing of my calendar, the email is great as well, fast transitions to web sites. The plethora of games & software that are available. I used to use my Fuze for everything except music, now I use my Fuze for company email, task management (synced with Outlook), and my Touch for music, other email, rss reader, games, books... all except music used to be done with my WiMo device.

It was a sad day for me when I put my Handspring Visor Pro (Palm OS) in the drawer and then an exciting time with my Dell Axim (Windows OS). I no longer needed to convert Word and Excel files to be read on my handheld device. Windows did it for me. So I was able to read and make notes and synch it all back to my computer. It was a big fat briefcase in one small pocket computer. Tweaking and making it work for me was and is an ongoing project. AvantGo was the first live way to get information and still is my favorite for specialized information. It was a sad day and a lot of new learning curve, but a challenge and fun too. All the new applications over the years, GPS, music files, videos,...I think my boredom was that I have not seen much new come out in the hardware end. I know there must be so many features I could enjoy. I know there are developers around who could do much. Was Dell and Microsoft in cohoots keeping them down? just wondering.
Msliberty

Since Windows Mobile 6 came out I hadn't really experienced much crashing and if I did was from poorly written applications. That being said I just sold my Tilt and bought an iPhone...to hold me over 'til the GSM Palm Pre comes out.

Windows Mobile as it stands right now is an experience of making due or making excuses for too many things. The fact that just about every Windows Mobil handset maker out there now feels the need to put an UI replacement on top of Windows Mobile reflects extremely poorly on Windows Mobile and Microsoft.

Windows Mobile has a plethora of features, but their execution is generally quite poorly done. An example of that is Windows Mobile does multitasking, but how does it allow you to change applications? With a drop down start menu that gives you very small icons that are far from easy to touch without pulling out the stylus. That's just one example, but I think every Windows Mobile user who isn't a fan boy will admit the list could go on and on.

As Keisha has said, the features are there, but they feel very tacked on, hacked together. The real sad thing is, Windows Mobile Standard is actually a much better OS than Pro, but that I guess that shouldnt really surprise anyone since Windows Mobile Standard was alway intended for phone use where as Pro has its roots in Pocket PC PDAs and truth be told the only thing Microsoft did was to tack on a dialer and CDMA / GSM radio support.

I personally wont be buying any Windows Mobile 6.x device as I just feel the OS is now being left behind. Other OSs are just offering a better experience that requires users to make far less excuses about the OS and offer a better out of the box experience. Hopefully Windows Mobile 7 will be a complete rewrite, but I doubt it, as MS hasn't hit rock button as yet like Palm did and as such aren't likely to feel the need to throw away their heritage....but I think they're likely to continue to bleed market share in the coming years as long as they stay on their current path.

I understand the browsing complaints, but what’s wrong with the E-mail? I’m not claiming it’s perfect — as my link above details — but what do other systems offer than Windows Mobile doesn’t? (I’ve only used Windows Mobile, so I don’t know.)

I'll give you a hint, html. My company still has Exchange 2003. Our WinMo devices don't get html e-mail from the server, so many e-mails look like crap. In order to get html e-mail from our corporate e-mail, Microsoft says we need to upgrade to Exchange 2007. We have several iPhone and Blackberry users. Their e-mails look excellent and are perfectly formatted for html right out of the box. And they are going to the same Exchange server. My WinMo device connects to our corp e-mail and to my personal POP3 account. I get html e-mails from my POP account, but not from Exchange 2003.

That tells me that Microsoft is removing that functionality for the sole purpose of getting people to buy E2K7.

(Give me a break, I dont know how to use html quote tags)

@Steve
// I understand the browsing complaints, but what’s wrong
// with the E-mail? I’m not claiming it’s perfect — as my
// link above details — but what do other systems offer
// than Windows Mobile doesn’t? (I’ve only used Windows
// Mobile, so I don’t know.)

Well with the email statement I was comparing more to a desktop experience, mainly telling it to load images every time and having to "Tap to scroll right"

// How has the quality declined? Windows Mobile 5 was a
// major rework under the covers to support flash
// memory, but I can’t say I’ve seen worse quality.

I kinda skipped WM5. My first PDA was a PPC 2003 SE device that I rarely had trouble with. But when I got a WM6 device I had to deal with slow loads/responses and occasional crashes.

As far as 6.5 is concerned, I have seen great improvements in point releases. All I was implying there was that it was a possibility. The new interface seemed to imply something big.

@Keisha
// The wealth of applications available for WM’s are its
// most powerful resource

I wonder about that. If you consider Blackberry OS and Symbian OS, they have a range of Java mobile apps available for them as well. Add that to the number of native apps, I wouldn't be surprised if the number of available apps came close if not matched.

In response to what should be added, I think that sync support for PIM suites OTHER than Outlook should be added. I hear talk about alot of folks who don't use Outlook (or Windows for that matter) having to hack or go to (and sometimes pay for) third party solutions that don't even have full functionality (I can confirm that one). If Microsoft would expand the compatibility range more people (especially businesses) would probably use it!.

You're article w/ the New Years Resolutions for Windows Mobile was excellent, it covers almost all the gripes that most users have with Windows Mobile.

I honestly have a love/hate relationship with the OS. As things currently stand, even though i'm estatically excited over what i've seen Palm do w/ the WebOS, i still have concerns. It is currently the only OS that could take me away from WM and that still will have to be backed up by applications, but considering that we are talking about Palm, i don't forsee that being a problem. Off course only time will tell.

The wealth of applications available for WM's are its most powerful resource, but in the same breadth its disconcerting that there is no fluidity or standardization between them.

Where i feel improvements need to be made:
Screen size/resolution
For the kind of powerful device a professional device is 2.8''& qvga is too small for books/applications/browsing experience/email/videos/sharing photos.

Processor speed (though i'm not convinced the processor is the bottleneck i'm more inclined to think its the OS) But clicking anything in the OS feels as if it has to think about it before performing the function.

On the hardware front the changes between successive updates are too incremental to make much of a difference. Taking into consideration that the Dell Axims had 416 - 624mhz processors and vga, successive professional devices were pretty much a step backwards, w/ 200 & 400mhz processors and lower resolutions. (Though i realize that we moved from strictly pda's to phone/pda combination solutions)

I think Microsoft either needs a bigger hand in device production (think Zune), or have strict criteria for each class of device. Eg. A professional device should have a minimum 500mhz xscale or equivalent processor.

Resource Management and the X button & its lack of actually closing programs even in the presence of programs like HTC's X button or Task Manager program, is definitely something that needs to be addressed.

Software Cohesion
Visual Cohesion w/ the OS from 3rd party developers. Standard Icon size & resolution. Cohesion/Integration between Microsoft's myriad of services and the devices. It is more than obvious accessing some of Microsoft's services that no thought or consideration was given to WM. Opening hotmail/live mail in IE, you're told you need to upgrade your browser. Trying to compose mail in pocket outlook bounces you back to mobile.live.com opened in IE. It would be good to be able to compose an email & then connect to the internet to send.

Customizability
Not every WM user wants the same today screen, Some users like the lists & menu's, others would prefer something more graphically based that facilitates quick access to their most frequently used apps etc. Not everybody likes the Start Menu.

Hardware buttons should be fully customizable by the end user. No need for dedicated email/browser buttons. The D pad, soft key representational buttons scroll & 2 ok buttons are useless on a touch screen device. It takes far longer to scroll & select an item than it would take to tap it with finger or stylus. If i could assign functions to those keys i might reconsider their usefulness.

More Intelligent OS
I agree with you wholeheartedly that Wifi synchronization needs to make a comeback.
Detecting duplicate contacts (especially between windows live messenger & pocket outlook), the ability to merge contacts, not adding messenger only contacts to the phone book. (Maybe the phone book & contacts needs to be separate?) I see that Windows Live mentioned merging, but it hasn't worked in my experience, it would also be good to have the functionality to merge two contacts w/in pocket outlook.

The Calendar at a zoomed out glance doesn't distinguish between different tasks/appointments (even the option of colour coding would be helpful)
If i open Internet Explorer i want to browse to a site, not search. I can auto focus in the search box myself if that's what i want or i can search from the Windows Live Search box.

@Sam

I agree. I wasnt happy with Windows Mobile either. I thought I was, but I didn’t like slow downs and crashes. Not to mention a lousy web browsing and email experience.

I understand the browsing complaints, but what's wrong with the E-mail? I'm not claiming it's perfect -- as my link above details -- but what do other systems offer than Windows Mobile doesn't? (I've only used Windows Mobile, so I don't know.)

Microsoft really needs to redo its mobile OS. It was excellent when it was Pocket PC 2003 SE, but the quality has declined since then.

How has the quality declined? Windows Mobile 5 was a major rework under the covers to support flash memory, but I can't say I've seen worse quality.

Yes, there are problems, but I'm not sure anything is really worse. (Well, performance is somewhat worse, but that's because flash memory is slower than RAM. That's the trade off for not having a dead battery cause data loss.)

I really hope 6.5 is a major improvement over 6.1. Until then, Im done with WM.

I wouldn't count on major changes in a point release. The browser should get somewhat better, it should have a new "honeycomb" UI (although whether it's more than the Today screen is unknown), it will have finger scrolling and it sounds like there will be some connected services (free Exchange, an application store, etc.), but I haven't heard that the system is completely different.

Steve

@Keisha;

I am bored with my WM device, but its more than just boredom its frustration. I want to know why it can’t perform those tasks better.

I'm sure it can. In fact, my first real post here linked to my Windows Mobile New Year's Resolutions editorial. Did you read that? If so, would that meet most of your objections?

WM devices have been doing the exact same thing, in pretty much the exact same way since Windows CE, and i’m not convinced that how Windows does this is the only way to do it.

Of course it's not. There's the iPhone way, the Symbian way, the BlackBerry way, the Android way and soon to be a better Palm way.

Of course, "different" doesn't always mean better. Windows on the PC has been pretty much the same for years, hasn't it? The same is true of the Mac OS. Why don't I hear complaints about people getting bored with those? (Yes, I've heard people say they're frustrated with Vista, but that's really for different reasons.)

Maybe my needs have changed.

In what way? If Windows Mobile performed faster and didn't lock up as much, would that be sufficient? If the UI became "prettier", would that be sufficient? Or has the way you use the device changed and you need new functions?

Let's hear some specific suggestions. I offered some in my link above, but what do you suggest?

Steve

I agree. I wasnt happy with Windows Mobile either. I thought I was, but I didn't like slow downs and crashes. Not to mention a lousy web browsing and email experience. Im ebaying my beloved HP iPAQ 910c away so I can get a BlackBerry Bold. I played with a demo model at AT&T for a while and found it to be much faster and better. I also found that it came with almost everything I needed by default, whereas it took me a while to get all that on WM.

Microsoft really needs to redo its mobile OS. It was excellent when it was Pocket PC 2003 SE, but the quality has declined since then. I know companies like HTC and them try to mask the default interface, but you can't cover up the lousy OS. I really hope 6.5 is a major improvement over 6.1. Until then, Im done with WM.