2009's Top Win Mo Smartphones It hasn't been a good year for Windows Mobile. The relentless rise of the iPhone in consumerland, Research in Motion's strength in the business world and Android's capture of the 'what's new, what's hot' category has left the Microsoft's increasingly anachronistic OS looking like an also-ran. This despite a raft of new WM …
All Windows Mobile phones are bad. They all need a stylus pen, even the HD2, as most of the apps aren't finger friendly. The OS is designed for the stylus-driven Pocket PC, not a telephone. This interface belongs in the 1990s.
If you're reviewing the HTC HD2, you should mention that the camera defect still has not been fixed, which puts a pink circle on every photograph. The phone is pretty buggy, needing restarts every day.
And there's no point buying a 'smartphone' if you don't have any applications. The developers have fled Windows Mobile, and have gone to Android and iPhone. If you look at Microsoft's app store, there are very few new applications coming. It's mobile app store is a ghost town.
There was a survey in InformationWeek (a few days ago) that said that Windows Mobile is now losing the business market, falling to just 24% in the enterprise. Blackberry and iPhone are now used more in business than Windows Mobile.
So don't recommend any of these phones. The Windows Mobile platform will be axed in the next year. But don't worry, the HTC Passion will be out in January, running Android. Also Sony-Ericsson has made its final Windows Mobile phone, the X2, and its next phone, the X10 will be Android.
As a 'specialist' you're making alot of assumptions there, and you know what 'assume' makes. Most, if not all, WM phones have some form of skin sitting on them added by the manufacturer and I've been getting along perfectly fine without a stylus on any WM phones I've used. I don't think it's an issue unless you have particularly pudgy fingers.
There's alot of apps out there for windows, if you're read many of the WM6.5 articles throughout the net most comment on the fact that the amount of apps out there is growing at a decent rate, hardly reflects your claim that the platform is being fled from. Bear in mind that the Windows Apps store is not the definitive place to get apps, it's not a closed shop like the Apple Apps store where a developer must market their apps.
As an owner of an HD2 I can say its brilliant and I've NEVER needed a stylus in two and a half weeks of using it.
As for the camera it is a phone/PDA first of all you want a camera buy a camera, having said that I've certainly used a hell of a lot worse camera on a phone and find it strange that the Touch Diamond 2 is said to have a good camera and the HD2 a bad one?? Plus none of my photos taken on my HD2 have a pink ring.
SE X10? After the last few years anyone with any sense would be avoiding SE like the plague.
Thumbs up? The HD2 is quite frankly the best phone I've had over the past 14 years
Windows mobile is dead, and Nokia will be next. The only shows in town are Apple, Blackberry or Android.
A 'normal' phone customer is attracted to Apple, business users are attracted to Blackberry and geeks are attracted to Android. Within 12 months, I doubt there will be any new Windows phones scheduled for release.
As the traditional phone manufacturers focus on more and more unused features, the customer is migrating to the platform with the best applications. Compare itunes with the Windows mobile online store or with OVI. There is no comparison.
So, farewell Windows Mobile, your poor battery life, constant reboots and Labyrinthine menu structures will not be missed.
A "normal" phone user doesn't buy any of the above. A normal phone user buys a mobile, not a smartphone.
Nokia might end up dead in the computer-in-your-pocket arena but its range of mass-market phones that make calls and send text messages (shock!) means that Nokia's demise very much depends on your a point of view...
All the reviews focus on the HTC UI wrapper, but never ever take note of the fact that under the thin homescreen covers the apps are all the same. Small, finger-unfriendly, stylus oriented and cluttered. I've sat and watched people with Touch HD2's on the train, trying to roll their finger over to close an app with the corner of their nail, and then (usually with a sigh) fish out the stylus to close the app. That was all fine before Android/iPhone/etc, but now it's just EPIC FAIL.
Stop recommending these phones, El Reg, you're losing credibility. They are shit. Period.
Ha ha, of course, I bet you see loads of Touch HD2 users using "the" stylus. Despite the fact that it's a capacitive screen and doesn't come with a stylus.
I realise that you can get a stylus for capacitive screens, but I find it highly unlikely that many people have them.
No wonder you're posting anonymously.
These are recommendations for readers looking for a Windows Mobile handset. We've done a similar piece for readers after an Android phone - http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2009/12/02/koy_2009_android/ - and we'll do other varieties too.
Personally, I'm not a WM fan, but a fair few Reg readers are and can't be ignored.
me for 1 and i am bloody happy with my tp2 :)
Just got rid of 6.1 that was crippled by vodafone and upgraded to 6.5 havnt needed the stylus yet
The corner button being slightly tricky to get is a good thing imo as you dont get accidental closes.
But AHHHH the freedom of doing what i like with MY phone. dont like whats on it CHANGE
not on your iphone mister :P
+1 to the winmo readership :)
The point is that phones today easily have the processing power to run cut down versions of the operating systems. Windows mobile, Symbian and Android are dedicated phone operating system, even though the last one is based on a Linux kernel.
In newer systems like Maemo you have a normal Debian system, so all you need to do to get a piece of code running is to compile it for the ARM plattform and make a debian package. Especially for non-gui applications, that's quite feasible.
The iPhone OS is different, hypothetically you could just port applications to it, however since they want to please the network operators, you cannot install your own software.
Look, if you don't like Windows Mobile, don't use it, but for Fark's sake don't come onto a WM story and post your negative dribblings, it's rude and pointless. Personally, I use an HD2 and have nad WM phones for years. They're the only ones that properly synch with Outlook on my desktop.
I don't want to synch with the Farking cloud, thankyouverymuch, neither do I want to run ONE APP AT A TIME.
I've bought a brand new HP614c - end of line £100 instead of the usual £300+. I needed a phone at the weekend, and a "smart" one at that.
Fab hardware. Solid build quality. PANTS o/s. Pants as in more pants than I could have imagined. It's infuriatingly fiddly and requires far too much input to achieve any task. But then the ability to run a shed loads of differing apps is a bonus too.
Stop-Go-Stop-Go........errrr......
I recently got a new smartphone because my HTC was terrible.
HTC just make gadgets. Okay you got a camera, but whats the point when its poo? Okay you got GPS wifi and bluetooth etc etc etc.. but you turn them on and discover the wonderous feature that is a two hour battery life. Okay its a phone, but its useless phone if I can't put it up against my ear without it switching to speakerphone everytime my earlobe rubs against the screen. Okay, you play mp3's but why the hell do you have to leave the screen and backlight on running down the battery whilst you are doing it?
Samsung on the other hand have been making (un-smart) phones for some time and they get this part right first.
I got myself an Omnia II and it fixes all the gripes I had with my old HTC. I still get windies mobile but I get a half decent camera, and a flash so it even works in the dark. The touch screen is resitive so it works when I've got my gloves on and it works with a stylus when I want to write something. Little touches like the way, when I put the phone against my ear it locks the screen so my face no longer presses buttons whilst I'm using it, make the Samsung just plain friendlier and I can't see why it didn't even make the roundup.
Agree with the above, having moved from a Blackberry to the Samsung Omnia Pro I previously mentioned the differences are a world apart, such as the ones you mentioned where the screen is locked and switched off when you put the handset to your ear, the synching etc and I much prefer the WM 6.5 OS overlaid with Samsung UI than the Blackberry. Maybe it hasn't been mentioned because at the moment it's still a hard to get handset ?
Seems to be getting good reviews elsewhere (and rated as highly as the Diamond2) but there has been no reg review at all. Still I have ordered one tonight (on the strength of the other reviews) to replace the original Omnia that has been a good companion for over a year. Gripes with the original, well 6.1 is fiddly but I have never had to resort to the stylus and SPB mobile shell makes it easier, 6.5 is better from what I read. My main gripe was the lack of memory for mails and sms which the II fixes. I will be upgrading to 6.5.1 as soon as I can as it fixes most of the issues with 6.5. Still life in the old dog yet I reckon.
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