Evolution Stalled?

scottb · Smartphone Ponderer Joined: 17 Sep 2004 Posts: 96

I'm on the fence about this one. Yes, it would be great if Pocket Outlook was improved a bit more. I think Pocket IE in much better in WM5 SP than it was in WM2003 SP. Calendar is ok, Tasks is useless.

I guess I'm ok with having to purchase third party software since most of it is very reasonably priced. My issue is the lack of availability of certain types of software. Papyrus and Facade clearly fill a need. Maybe FlexMail will fill another, but it has a history of acting a bit flaky. Good luck finding another email client that runs on the Smartphone. An alternative browser?!? Opera, where are you?
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Motorola Q, WM5 - Verizon Wireless, U.S.A.

dh · Smartphone Ponderer Joined: 03 Dec 2003 Posts: 60

I guess I take a slightly different view than many on this. I see Microsofts job to be providing a good OS that is stable that various applications will run on.

I don't use WordPad on my desktop any more than I would use Pocket Word on my PPC. I've bought Word to be my desktop wordprocessor and Textmaker as my Pocket PC one.

Hopefully as Smartphone adoption increases, developers will fill some of the gaps that currently exist. I used to use Textmaker on my Zaurus, so I'm sure Martin and his guys will come out with a Smartphone version as more devices get proper keypads. Probably a spreadsheet as well. SBSH already have great apps like Papyrus and Facade that make the Smartphone platform much more useful.

Remember, serious text input for Smartphones has only been available for a few months. If the demand is there, I'm sure the developer community will be happy to come through in the same way they did for the PPC.

Stinger · Posted: Mon Oct 23, 2006 2:43 am Post subject:

My philosophy is that a smartphone should be fully loaded straight out of the box. It should "just work". I shouldn't need to download lots of (potentially expensive) 3rd party software in order to have a fully functional device.

What bugs me is that you can buy practically any other smartphone (Palm OS, Symbian) and it will come with at least MS Office document viewing software. Most come with full Office suites. Office software should be one of Windows Mobile's strongest selling points so why can't Microsoft produce Pocket Office for Smartphones?

Mike Temporale · Posted: Mon Oct 23, 2006 6:55 am Post subject:

I totally agree - the apps suck, and the time on missed calls is horrible. That's one of the things I've been repeatedly complianing about to Microsoft. Same with the defaults for IE Cache and caller display, File support in ActiveSync, etc...

I'm not trying to defend them, because I think these changes should have been done a long time ago. However, from what I've been told they are focusing a lot of energy under the hood. Working hard to get the PPC and SP to the same level while improving reliability and speed. You have to agree that these have improved a lot since the early days. I still think they could have found a little time to clean up an app or two, or move a time field to the top of the list instead of the botton. Rolling Eyes

Microsoft is listening to our (MVPs) feedback. I can't tell you what they have to say or what they've done about it, but they are listening. Wink

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"I have no special talents, I am only passionately curious" - Albert Einstein

scottb · Smartphone Ponderer Joined: 17 Sep 2004 Posts: 96

Jerry Raia · Posted: Mon Oct 23, 2006 8:07 am Post subject:

I think their (MS) flagship applications should be a bit more than an after thought. POutlook should be able to display HTML after this many years and that calendar, what a joke! The main selling point for the mobile device, PIM functions, is pathetic out of the box.
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[3125] [BlackJack] [8525]

Stinger · Posted: Mon Oct 23, 2006 8:45 am Post subject:

scottb · Smartphone Ponderer Joined: 17 Sep 2004 Posts: 96

gyos23 · Smartphone Neophyte Joined: 24 Oct 2006 Posts: 2

This is my first post on Smartphone Thoughts but I feel strongly about this subject and have posted on another forum concerning this. I have a T-Mobile SDA and I am in love with the phone but the fact that the simplest features such as MS Office is not included is a bit of a turn off.

I read somwhere that the reason that Smartphones don't carry software similar to that of a PPC is because of the QWERTY keyboard layout problem, but apparently Smartphones with full keyboards are now appearing (ex. Excalibur) so what's the excuse now??

The other thing I read was that people who buy Pocket Pc's are for the whole "Office To Go" kind of mind set and people with Smartphones are people who only need to read and write emails at most, which is somewhat true. But what bothers me is that they don't give us the option of putting that software in any Smartphone at all. People love options, and since Microsoft isn't open source oriented, the most they could do is atleast let us have fun with our phones!

I don't know guys, let me get feedback if possible. Shocked