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Nice lipstick.

The Fuze was already available as the Touch Pro from sprint and sprint also offers the Diamond which is the same thing without the keyboard. I love my Diamond.

I can't stand TouchFlo 3D anymore.  Beyond it's glitzy look, it's horrible from a productivity standpoint.

I still prefer the Today screen, since you get a single screen access to all PDA information - as soon as you turn on the device.  Related applications launch from their respective info fields on the Today screen.  It's just all there.  After using TouchFlo 3D for over a month, I turned it off.  I find it takes nearly 3 clicks, and 2 swipes to get from the TouchFlo Home screen to email, and several additional motions to get to Opera or Youtube.  From the native Today screen, it takes 2 clicks to launch any program that doesn't have info on that screen - 1 for "Start", 1 for the program icon.  I use RSS Hub and email more than either web browser, but I find mobile websites are more easily readable in IE Mobile, than full sites are in Opera.  RSS Hub has it's own info bar for the Today screen too, so it's a nice program to use.

I don't know who thought that taking a website rendered as it would be on a desktop browser, and putting it on a miniscule screen, just to have the user zooming and scrolling like crazy, as "intuitive" or "innovative", but they are just dead wrong.  It's just an awful experience.  Mobile websites have their uses.  I don't think Paul gets that.

The panel interface on the X1 looks like a mangled app-switcher.  The keyboard looks pretty svelte though.  Does the Xperia have the rumoured NVIDIA GPU in it?

OT: But Windows and audio related

Bang & Olufsen launched the BeoSound 5 today which is a home media system based on Windows Embedded.

www.beosound5.com/Default.aspx

Waethorn

Yeah I don't use the touchflo 3d, I actually use the home screen that came with the HTC Touch.

I think you are right about website for mobile devices. All websites should have one. Some of my banks do and it is better in both the iPhone screen and the Diamond. I think Opera is only good for sites that don't have a good mobile experience.

I have not been on to the the X1 so I don't know much about it.

The HTC Touch HD is also very interesting due to its huge Display.

I think a big Display is important for usability. I also think the Touch HD is the first WM phone to offer better usability than the iPhone.

Unfortunately it doesn't feature 3G in the US.

This will have the same impact as the Zune. Windows Mobile is a second rate OS. The iPhone killed Windows Mobile. Showed them how to do it right. What's the bet that the Windows Mobile team reference iPhones every day and copy? Yeah, I win the bet.

Copy?! Where?! Windows Mobile has not developed since years, so HOWTF could they copy anything from a device that DIDN'T even EXIST years before.

Windows Mobile can actually do LOTS of things more than the iPhone, so the only point where the iPhone is competitive is the user interface. Everything else is better on Windows Mobile.

@maati

I think that HTC made it clear that they had no plans on having the TouchHD in the US but they did promise that future "better" headsets would. At the rate that HTC is making devices one after the other I think they are the best smartphone maker around. They just announce this one:

www.engadget.com/.../htc-max-4g-officially-announced-worlds-first-gsm-wimax-phone

This is may make it to the US but I think that they have something under their sleeve. They are a very closed partner with Microsoft and I can just see them make the next big one.

robertsjoe, you'll NEVER win any bet with your claims about MS and Apple because none of them are true. They're just typical Apple fanboy phrases (which Apple tells it's fanboys to use).

It's sad that the Touch HD and the MAX 4G will not come to the US, but there will probably another device for that market.

I got the HD and i had an iPhone and lots of WM devices in the past and the Touch HD is the first one to "kill" the iPhone in EVERY aspect.

HTC should really hurry up to bring this one to the US because it's great - probably the best phone ever.

From a UI point of view, I'm really curious to see what PointUI 2.0 ends up looking like in a non custom version.

http://www.pointui.com

how much does the htc and he cost?

Mikegalos

Spb Mobile Shell has been doing something similar to pointui for a long time now. It has been actually license by a few windows mobile phone makers.

www.spbsoftwarehouse.com/.../mobileshell

It works great! Especially in touch screen phones

HTC Touch Diamond Sprint

New Phone & Plan Pricing

Regular price $549.99

Instant savings -$200.00

Mail-in Rebate  -$100.00

New price  $249.99

Requires 2-yr Agreement  

HTC Touch Pro Sprint

New Phone & Plan Pricing

Regular price $579.99

Instant savings -$180.00

Mail-in Rebate  -$100.00

New price  $299.99

Requires 2-yr Agreement  

Go to HTC site:

www.htc.com/.../us_product_operator.aspx

or

Windows mobile:

www.microsoft.com/.../default.mspx

To look up more about the phone/s and carriers

thanks, I will send this to my brother

There's the other one too.  I can't remember the name (it's a model number like "S640", or something).  It has the screen of the HD, but with a keyboard like the Touch Pro, and a numeric dial-pad unlike any other model that currently ships.  That is likely going to be the one that ships in North America.

BTW: The dial-zoom thing on the Diamond is somewhat of a joke since you can double-tap the screen to zoom.

@mike:

Glamourous UI's don't improve productivity.  That's where Windows Mobile gets the job done where the iPhone just decorates your icons with numbers of notifications per program.  That's just a bad design, and I doubt Apple even considered that these were ever going to be used in a business when they designed it that way.  Do they even do user interface studies?  When you take a "pocket computing device" and glam it up with multimedia support and a stupified UI, you end up with a device that is a glorified PMP with widgets.  Voila:  the iPod Touch and iPhone.

PS:  I like how the previous commercials for the iPhone talk about all the multimedia crap, and then say "oh, and it's a phone too"....That makes it sound like the phone functionality was just duct taped on.

So Paul, how's that workin' for you?

waethorn

I agree. That's why I'm curious. PointUI has done a pretty good job so far (not quite good enough with the 1.x versions) that it'll be interesting to see if the 2.0 version is actually more useful than the base UI.

Darksages

Yeah. It's been a race between PointUI and SPB. When PointUI does there 2.0 (rumored to be in beta in the next week or two) I'll probably try them both again.

BTW:  The Spb shell looks extremely nice.  They actually have a realistic home screen.  The contact page is nice too - having multiple phone numbers display is a really smart idea.  WM6 already does that too though.  The task-switcher looks neeto too.

I'd like to see a UI that supports standard Today screen plugins and presents them a little nicer than the current method.  Spb Pocket Plus might be the program I'm looking for.

@maati: iPhone comes out. New version of Windows Mobile is coming. Results in plenty of copying. It's in Microsoft's DNA. We all know it.

@mike:

Like you said before, it's useless unless it has a PDA screen that gives you instant-on access to daily schedule stuff.  That's what I like about Windows Mobile.  The iPhone is useless as a business device because it doesn't have that.  I fear that some of these newer WM UI's will dumb down the presentation of information in favour of offering branded app-launching similar to Apple's devices.  It's a step backwards.  Microsoft started something good in Windows Me with task panes.  Windows XP took that to the next level with a new Start Menu, and better task panes and Control Panel options.  IE8's new stuff looks pretty nice too.

I don't see anything from Apple that's task-oriented.  It's always about branding the experience first.  Windows Mobile's design doesn't have that.  The Today screen launches components of Outlook Mobile (called "Messaging" in the WM program menu), the calendar, to-do list, etc.  Even the media functionality on the iPhone is called "iPod".  Does the marketing team design the UI or what?  Do they take tips from theirs masters at Google?

Paul, Windows Mobile != exciting!

@warethorn: "That's just a bad design, and I doubt Apple even considered that these were ever going to be used in a business when they designed it that way.  Do they even do user interface studies?"

This is the most amusing post in a long time. Do they even do UI studies. It's "bad design". This coming from a Microsoft fan, comparing a Windows OS to the Apple iPhone. You're on drugs, right? Windows has, and still has, terrible UI. In their desktop OS and in the mobile OS. Worse in mobiles. Get a clue, please! I guess once you're used to such crap (Windows), you don't know any better. Investing so much time and energy in something so inferior, it has to be hard to admit you were wrong all along. Right guys? Paul especially. Wasting a life on mediocre products from a also-ran company.

"Wasting a life on mediocre products from a also-ran company."

Exactly. Go away, boy. You'd be better off hanging outside Apple stores.

"iPhone comes out. New version of Windows Mobile is coming. Results in plenty of copying. It's in Microsoft's DNA. We all know it."

That, coming from a fan of a company that decided to get into a market that was already well-established.  Apple didn't even get into the market until they thought they could one-up Microsoft.  They still can't with productivity.

"Investing so much time and energy in something so inferior, it has to be hard to admit you were wrong all along."

Shall I bring up the Newton, PowerPC, "Pink", not to mention Leopard?

BTW:  Nice job Paul.  Your shiny new ad banners link to websites that carry spyware toolbars via drive-by downloads.  Get rid of Google.  They don't filter search results or ad carriers.  That's why they dominate in advertising - it's not quality, it's quantity.

One of the ads at the top of the page is for Ascentive SpeedScan.

They make a fake antispyware program called Spyware Striker.  SpeedScan will install it too.

Paul, these ads need to go.

Another spyware ad:

"Windows Server 2003

Instant Windows Server 2003 Access. Free Download.

eWossToolbar.net"

Paul this is just plain bad.

....and another (tested in a VM - it installed a browser hijacker):

"Vista Repair Download

Fix Vista Problems Instantly!  Free Download (Recommended)

PCTuneUpTips.com"

"That, coming from a fan of a company that decided to get into a market that was already well-established."

*cough* Zune *cough*

Um....I suppose a bit back on topic.

One of the great things I enjoy about Windows Mobile is that I can easily alter the home screen to best fit my taste, although I have tried and abandoned almost all of the "shell changers" because they drained the battery on my PDA a bit faster than I would like, although Im hoping that the guys at XDA can create a good port of Touch-Flo 3D that doesn't require me to install 13 CAB files so I can give that a whirl.

RTE:  For a fun time, click one of those links.

"*cough* Zune *cough*"

Try again.  Toshiba and Creative approached Microsoft for platform software for Portable Media Centers because they liked what they saw in Windows Mobile as a base CE OS.  Toshiba made 2 generations of them.  Then they made the Zune 1 for Microsoft because they didn't want to support end-users with the hardware anymore.  You should really do your homework on the subject.

No mention that the Xperia X1 is only $799 unlocked...

Pingback from  autocarsinsurance.net  » Blog Archive   » re: Interesting new (for the US) Windows Mobile smart phones

@waethorn: "That, coming from a fan of a company that decided to get into a market that was already well-established."

You mean the way that Microsoft got in to the OS game after Apple? Always coming 2nd in the OS game to Apple, since day one.

"Get rid of Google.  They don't filter search results or ad carriers.  That's why they dominate in advertising - it's not quality, it's quantity."

Exactly the Microsoft tag-line right there. "it's not quality, it's quantity." Flood the market with a cheap and nasty OS like Windows.

"You mean the way that Microsoft got in to the OS game after Apple? Always coming 2nd in the OS game to Apple, since day one."

You mean like DOS?  Sorry, you lose.  Unix?  Apple didn't invent that either.

"Exactly the Microsoft tag-line right there. "it's not quality, it's quantity." Flood the market with a cheap and nasty OS like Windows."

By your logic, that applies to iPods, iPhones, and aside from the "cheap" part, OS service packs.

"40 years later, and the only thing innovative for the Unix pig is that it now has Aqua-coloured lipstick"

-Steve Jobs

funny, but definitely NSFW:

www.encyclopediadramatica.com/Steve_Jobs

Waethorn

Sounds like my "supermodel just waking up with no makeup" (Windows Vista) versus "supermodel with makeup" (Windows 7) versus Joan Rivers (OS X) analogy from the other thread today.

But, hey, Apple has done their own Operating System work and some of the simple ones even worked:

AppleDOS for the Apple ][ (Featuring Microsoft BASIC)

Lisa System

Macintosh Systems 1-7 (8 and 9 were just renames of versions of System 7 to get out of contracts)

And some including the complex, modern ones, not so much:

ProDOS for the Apple ///

"Gershwin"

"Copland"

Taligent "Pink" (with the help of that other disaster at modern OS work, IBM)

So, hey, for 14 years back from 1977 through 1991 they were still mostly competent at system software and it's only been 17 years since they did one on their own that worked...

(Seriously, I wish Apple would do their own modern OS rather than rely on that ancient kludge Unix)

@mikegalos: The ancient  Unix OS to which you refer is still superior to Windows. Says a lot about what a mess Vista 2 is in 2008.

@waethorn: Some very apt things on that site.

"Steve Ballmer belongs to a rare breed of monkey that feeds on human genital wart."

"Bill Gates is a fascist, Satanist mechanophile geek who created Microsoft's Windows operating system for the sole purpose of crashing every computer that ever used it. He also claimed to have Pwned Steve Jobs for the lulz, but this was later found to be just another marketing ploy."

And the Windows link is very apt. BSOD baby (tm Microsoft). www.encyclopediadramatica.com/Windows

Windows described in a nutshell: "Insecure, chafing, bug-ridden filth."

@mikegalos: Are you a Microsoft shill like the other Microsofties on here?

@mikegalos: Microsoft has had some OS success too:

- MSDOS. Crap.

- Windows 3.1. Built on the crap that is MSDOS.

- Windows 95. Prettier crap.

- Windows XP. Candy like crap.

- Vista. A dog of an OS.

- Vista 2. Crap built on crap, on crap, on crap, on crap with still the dog's guts of MSDOS.

Really though. When it comes down to it. This perfectly describes Microsoft and those that use their products and follow. Like this fanboy blog and the fanboys within.

au.youtube.com/watch

@runtimeerror (btw, very appropriate nick...)

You mention the Zune (vs. iPod). But you *forgot* that that iPod copyed BOTH the interface (Creative Labs) AND the actual hardware (www.kanekramer.com/.../development.htm). It's MacOS vs. Xerox Alto all over again...

Anyway: how does a Microsoft-oriented blog like this one gets so much Apple Trolls...? How come don't you go play outside and find your Apple-oriented blogs?

@robertsjoe - "The ancient  Unix OS to which you refer is still superior to Windows. "

In some ways, yes...in others, no. In a datacenter, each has its own unique place in which they excel. On the desktop, Windows is the clear winner. In the corporate world, OS X plays a very small role, mostly in marketing departments.

--tayme

"Anyway: how does a Microsoft-oriented blog like this one gets so much Apple Trolls...? How come don't you go play outside and find your Apple-oriented blogs?"

Not many blogs churn as many postings on Apple out each day as this. That's why there are almost as many Apple trolls as there are MS trolls.

BTW, rj:  You might be able to actually get out from your daddy's basement and get a date.  Lots of girls waiting on the link I posted.  Go ahead and give it a click.  ;)

OS X:  Aqua lipstick on the Eunuchs pig.

ROBERTSJOE is the iCabal (or whatever its called) that Paul speaks of.  He is the the Mike Galos of Apple fangirlism.  

To much of one thing is never good.  Now we just need a poll....

Which total logic-less fangirl is more annoying.

1. Microsoft Mikey

2. Roberts-I want Steve's man gravy-Joe

You decide.  Poll results to be posted tomorrow.

robertsjoe, I'm sure there's a job waiting for you where they need the Apple equivalent of Sean Hannity. (Of course, there's probably going to be a million others who fit the profile.) You write great fiction and your passion for Apple and deep-rooted hatred for Microsoft are pluses. Make sure you put that on your resume. Goatberg likes that.

Seriously, maybe all of you could start a blog together,  instead of commenting here. There's a big audience for that kind of crap . You might become famous.

@maati: "They're just typical Apple fanboy phrases (which Apple tells it's [sic] fanboys to use)."

Yes, all MobileMe subscribers get a daily talking points memo. Then they are told to go forth and spread the word, since Apple hasn't had a decent evangelist since Guy Kawasaki left the fold.

"maati", your statement indicates either ignorance, paranoia, or both. I'm guessing it's a combination.

"Seriously, maybe all of you could start a blog together,  instead of commenting here."

He already did:

www.daringfireball.net

robertsjoe is the new bonch.

@bettieblu - I agree...robertsjo and mikegalos are both irritating trolls. As far as most annoying...I find it rather easy to blow off rj, as most of his/her posts are ignorrant babble and links to irrelevant information. mikegalos on the other hand is a hack that appears to have failed at being able to hold a job for decades. How many different things has he claimed to have done over the years??? He is an arrogant SOB that likes to try to bend every debate to meet his needs. He leads many to believe that he approves of others making free choices regarding computer use, as ling as it is the choice that he advocates. God forbid that anybody try to reason with him or claim that another OS serves any purpose better than Windows. As an example,  and in case you missed it, mike...here is my answer to your question from yesterday.

@mikegalos - that is easy to reconcile...there are a couple of key words. They are "stated" and "all". First off, I have NEVER "stated" what you said that I stated. That makes you a liar, or as your buddy waethorn would say "LIAR!!!". Secondly, I only mentioned 2 companies in the question that I posed.

--tayme

Dipsh, check you're PM soon. I'll be sending after work. Thanks for the help too. I'm buying the car to keep for a year or two.

@tayme I could not agree more.  Robertsjoe like a Vista UAC pop-ups, anoying click through it.  However if there was a picture of "Apple Fanatic" in the dictionary, it would be of him.

Mike, dam I read through some of the stuff he was going round and round with Lindy and others recently.  Jack of all trades, master of nothing.  He will jump topics and answer questions, with questions, usually that bash Apple, so as not to answer or admit he is wrong.  I am sure there is some sort of disorder out there that could label that behavior.  It amusing to be honest.  He must be retired as he lives on this site.  That or his employer does not run proxy reports.

@lotsamystuff

Just watch the Apple ads, full of lies, just like the keynotes, that's where robertsjoe has got his phrases from.

Apple put them in his brain and deleted everything else, so now he's a "spread Apple's lies" machine.

@robertsjoe

Yes, Apple had the first touchscreen phone. Apple also invented the wheel, wow!

Don't you get that you're talking b***sh*t?! No? That's sad...

Get out of the iWorld and back to reality, where Microsoft is an innovative company that delivers lots of great technology, lots more than Apple does.

At least Mike gives some reasons behind his opinions...unlike robertsjoe who just flies off the handle and doesn't offer any actual reasons about why his choices are "better" (other than perhaps being the first? (even though they aren't))

"Apple had the first touchscreen phone."

Actually they didn't.  The original HTC Touch launched a few weeks before.  Technically speaking, there were "Pocket PC Phone Edition" years before that too.  They were designed to be used with a stylus, but also accepted manual touch input.

Waethorn

As an FYI: The first Windows touch screen phones came out with the Pocket PC Phone Edition 2002 which shipped in October 2001. So that predates Apple "inventing" the touchscreen phone by over five years. (And it's quite possible that there were "touchscreen phones" from other vendors before that as well)