[Catharine Richardson - WebGenii]

I'm going to be upgrading changing my phone in the next few months and frankly while I love a phone that I can synchronize with my calendar, email and spreadsheets - Win Mobile has left me underwhelmed (I haven't bothered to upgrade to WinMobile 6.5 yet).
So I'm thinking about moving to a Blackberry, or maybe an IPod or maybe to an Android.

What are your plans?
Have a preference - tell me why!

[jscher2000]

I use WinMo 6.1 and am very undecided about my next phone.

Email and calendar are my critical apps. As more phones support Exchange ActiveSync, either natively or through third party software, we learn that there are individual feature omissions that cause problems for some user configurations. I'm hoping someday to find a grand comparison (or find the funds to do it myself) of email and calendar sync on Windows Mobile vs. iPhone vs. Android (with supplied or third party software) vs. BlackBerry (with a third-party Exchange ActiveSync client) vs. Symbian (with Mail For Exchange) vs. webOS.

(By no means is WinMo perfect. The calendar is somewhat primitive, and when I recently rebuilt my account on a warranty replacement phone, a bunch of my appointments got duplicated. It also seems to randomly cause old reminders I have dismissed on Outlook 2003 to return days or weeks later.)

The other issue is the keyboard and navigation controls. It's a matter of personal taste, but I like a front-facing keyboard, application buttons, and I prefer a 5-way or D-pad controller to a trackball or wheel. Still waiting for the perfect phone.

[Catharine Richardson - WebGenii]

Oh yeah, don't even get me started on the form factor! I don't think there is as much selection for phones in Canada as elsewhere (or we get them 6 mo- to a year later). Even so, I find ALL smartphones are pretty clunky. Its' not the size (in fact I'd frequently be happier with a longer phone), rather its' the candybar form that I don't love.
(Oh, wait I just got started on the form factor )

[t8ntlikly]

I have used Windows Mobile for quite a while, and maybe it is just my phone, ( I am now going on my 4th HTC replacement) but I intend at this point if the replacement phone on its way to me doesn't fare any better to go to a Blackberry.
Using Active Sync, was a night mare. About half the time it wouldn't sync up. Now that I am using Windows Mobile Device Center it works a little better, but again the sync problems are there.
Like I told Verizon yesterday, enough is enough.

[Catharine Richardson - WebGenii]

Just in case anyone is curious. I made the leap last week and replaced my phone with an iPhone. Its my first apple product so there is a learning curve for me. But I like the way one navigates around the phone. Many of the basic tasks I perform seem to be accomplished in a much more direct fashion. The screen is larger and much easier to read. Its' the first smartphone I've worked with that I could envision giving to my parents.

You can sync Outlook calendars, contacts and email with the iPhone - using iTunes (a piece of software that I really don't care for). And I bought a $10 app to allow me to edit office documents (mostly I keep a vehicle mileage log in a spreadsheet).

Odd things are not editable - like the alerts one can set with the calendar. You get the one tune it repeats twice and that's it. Transferring files back and forth between the computer and the phone seems a bit clumsy to me right now - but much of this I suspect I can attribute to an apple vs windows design.

[Larry Beattie]

Has anyone had any experience with the HTC Diamond Touch2? Be interested in feedback as I would like to replace both my current Samsung phone, and my IPAQ HX27xx and carry only one device.

[Jill Miller]

I have a new Samsung Intrepid with WinMo 6.5. It's a new phone so it has a few glitches and am waiting for updates, but nothing that would make me give up this phone. As for WinMo I had an older version on a Palm Treo which is why when looking for a new phone I wanted WinMo again. I use Excel and Word so that alone has made me loyal to it. It's also great to get my emails from various accounts. I've never had any problems with Active Sync on both my desktop and laptop runny XP.

[jscher2000]

Hi Jill, I'm a fellow Sprint customer, still using a Windows Treo (800w).

Jill Miller, on 2009-12-02 20:00, said:

I have a new Samsung Intrepid with WinMo 6.5.

It looks like a reasonably well designed phone; could use a few more pixels. One of the odd changes in WinMo 6.5 was to remove the keyboard shortcuts from the revamped Start menu. I found this a little disorienting, as I am so used to pressing Start+i for IE, Start+e for media player, and so on. Perhaps someone will develop a hack or application for this before I get around to upgrading.

[John Bonk]

I would have to say that if you are in the Windows realm, Windows Mobile is the way to go. Developers have designed plenty of freeware converters so that you are not stuck with Outlook as your PIM. Android has me the most interested of all the existing mobile OS, but it still hasn't caught enough ground for me to purchase a new device to support it. The Blackberry, iPhone and Palm devices have always annoyed me because of the proprietary software and restrictive OS. I have used Windows Mobile since it was Windows CE and suffered through the pain, but I have software that was developed back then that has been upgraded (free of charge for the most part) that is still compatible.

I think until devices can run different OS, people are stuck with a limited path and upgrade option...and I don't see an x86 based standard (like ARM) across the board ever. There is just too much money for these companies.

I love my new HTC Touch Pro2 and after upgrading the ROM to 6.5.1, you would have to pry it from my cold dead hands :)

-John

[Catharine Richardson - WebGenii]

John Bonk, on 2009-12-03 10:52, said:

I love my new HTC Touch Pro2 and after upgrading the ROM to 6.5.1, you would have to pry it from my cold dead hands :)

I would have continued with my HTC P4000, but Telus (or maybe HTC) were not offering 6.5 (I gather that at 2 + years of age it was too old to be a priority for upgrading). That plus the fact my keyboard was unreliable led me on a new phone search. I love the things one can do with a smartphone - but I have no loyalty to any particular OS/brand. I suspect when the iPhone's time is up, I'll be on the hunt again.

[kdkinc]

I have been following the comments about the Moto Droid. Most people seems very happy with the Android O/S.
A lot of the Android users are past WM users and most haven't looked back !!
I guess the main feature is how the Android via a Linux O/S stores and open programs. You can have SEVERAL programs running at the same time WITH OUT A SLOW DOWN.
Can you imagine going for weeks with out a soft reboot???
I really don't use any Window programs on my I910 Omnia other than the O/S so I think I'll give up the slow wm 6.5 O/S for the Anrdoid 2.0 after the first of the year.

IMHO

[James Walton]

I currently have a Palm Treo Pro with WinMo 6.1. My next step will hopefully be HTC Touch Pro 2, anxious for my contract to come to a close.

[Dennis Deveaux]

I was recently due for a hardware upgrade through my cellular provider, and after tossing the idea of grabbing an iPhone or a different smartphone, Windows Mobile won.. I've technically been using Windows Mobile devices ever since they were released (remember the old WinCE H/PC units?)

Yes, they are quirky little devices that can crash, or otherwise be slow, but I like these devices because of how customizable they are. You can easily swap out completely new Today screens/shells and pretty much tweak any aspect of th phone to your liking. If you are really adventerous (like me), you can even try installing a custom ROM file which generally adds software features/user interfaces that don't come standard on your device.

My new phone is a Samsung Omnia II. I've had it for about 2 weeks now, and I absolutely love this phone. It's quite fast from a Windows Mobile point of view, and replacing Samsung's TouchWIZ interface with SPB Mobile Shell 3.5 has made this an amazing device.

[Mike Bourgeois]

My phone is a year-old Verizon Omnia running WinMo 6.1. As mentioned by Mr. Deveaux, tweaking the Today screens and playing with new interfaces and shells is very entertaining.

I also purchased SPB Mobile Shell 3.5 recently and think Samsung should have made this a standard interface. It really makes WinMo usable, fast, and fun.

[Vernon Townsend]

I gave it some serious thoughts for quite a few months. Verizon just went nuts trying to get me to re-enlist for a new 2 yr contract. Finally, after all my research, I decided it was a no brainer..I chose Motorola Android version 2.01, offered by Verizon, over all the others. The open source apps and, the fantastic support from the community developing new apps seemingly by the minutes, plus the freedom of using what I chosed on my Motorola Android was the deciding force. The other day, I was showing off all the things that one can do with this unit..
When,suddenly looking up, I said, "You know, it can make fone calls too~!!"...lol
It's been a long time since I have felt so intuned with a product, but this is it~!! It's a super mini puter as well as a cellphone.
I use it to..
a. Surf the internet
b. check email
c. geocach
d. GPS
e. internet radio
f. take movies
g.take pictures and edit them with photoshop app.
h. play games of all kinds..so much available, I will never even start.
i. send text
j make fone calls. Yes it does this too...lol
k. use the office productive app. (compatable with windows~!!)
l..read ebooks hundreds available for free and others for a small price.
The list is almost endless~!!
ciao

[Jeff Gellman]

How pertinent to me personally!! I'm a techie that has used three generations of HTC (branded AT&T) phones, two Tilts and curently a Fuze. My significant uses are phone, remote mail access, texting and occasional browsing. While I have checked out and loaded several 'cool' apps, I really don't have a need for them. Even Office Mobile is hardly ever touched.

Having been a hardcore Palm user for many years, I gravitated toward extreme stylus use (and, sadly, use the on-screen keyboard) and just couldn't seem to make my fat fingers consistently (or sucessfully) use the keyboards.

These phones, while clearly being nifty technologically, are constantly in need of resets, incredibly bulky, and reasonably non-intuitive (if not difficult) to use. Nonetheless, I've continued to use them for the last four years. And don't EVEN get me started on how many hours I spent researching (and occasionally trying out) cooked ROMs.

Anyway, about a year ago I got my wife an iPhone (and subsequently gotten them for my kids as well). She's not a techie and I thought it would be a neat treat after seeing her suffer through my hand-me-downs. Man, was I blown away. The damn things are incredibly easy (and intuitive) to use and they just work. On top of that, watching her breeze through iTunes (and thereby eliminating her iPod) makes me blush when I think of what it takes to add the same functionality to MY fuze.

So how inronic is this-- I'll likely end up getting my wife's iPhone 3G hand-me-down when I upgrade her to a 3Gs.

Bottom line: I can't wait!

[Phil Karl]

Vernon Townsend, on 2010-03-11 13:10, said:

I gave it some serious thoughts for quite a few months. Verizon just went nuts trying to get me to re-enlist for a new 2 yr contract. Finally, after all my research, I decided it was a no brainer..I chose Motorola Android version 2.01, offered by Verizon, over all the others. The open source apps and, the fantastic support from the community developing new apps seemingly by the minutes, plus the freedom of using what I chosed on my Motorola Android was the deciding force.

I totally agree. I have been trying to use a Samsung Omnia since last fall, was on the second one and the screen, such as it is, was losing the left side. I never turned it off because I never knew if it would start again. Having Mobile Office was great and the system was somewhat usable if you added the right applications, but once I tried the Motorola Droid, that was it. I have had the Droid for a couple weeks and can't get over the difference. The touch screen actually works, the applications run great, and it doesn't even have a reset switch. I do miss Outlook, but with Google Apps I'm getting over it :)

[A.E. Veltstra]

I'm on Win Mobile 6.5 using a Samsung GT-C6625. It seriously lacks usability. Applications and settings hide in the most unexpected of places, selecting files and then doing something with that selection is incredibly cumbersome, applications aren't quitted after use (unless you crash them using the task manager), editing files has to be done via Mobile Word - it doesn't even have a regular text editor? And the worst: my phone has a camera and a button on the keyboard to access that camera. Does it start the camera when I hit that button? No! It opens up a media folder, that I have to traverse into the photos folder, then open a menu, and access a menu option to start up the camera. Never again a Windows version on any of my phones.