From Windows Mobile 6 to the iPhone?

[Mafamaticks]

Backstory:

I've installed tons of customs roms from the Apache up to the Touch. I've tweaked these things inside and out. My 2 years are up on Sprint so I'm a free agent right now. I think I'm starting to get tired of WinMo's bugs and the lack of design. The Instinct doesn't do enough so it's gonna be an iPhone (it doesn't really do enough either, but it does more than the Instinct with the right touches) if I don't wind up sticking with WinMo and getting a Diamond.

Over the years of tweaking, my goal was to have a phone that replaced all my devices. That has since changed to having a phone that did certain things and did those things well since I had other devices that took over certain functions. I figure I can find iPhone replacements for some of the apps I use on my device and now that the iPhone supports Exchange (I use it heavily), I can probably switch. I'm just a little worried.

TL;DR:

Has anybody switched from WinMo to iPhone/iPhone to WinMo here? If so, what were your experiences if any?

 

[xerxers]

Hey there.

I have had an hx 4700 and used WM for the past 5 years. I also carried a camera and of course a cell phone (Razor) etc so when I ever went out had this whole bag full of gear.

Now I have my Iphone and that is all i carry with me. Sure the photos aren't super fantastic but they still come out good. I can download my emails from any of my 3 emails accounts in most locatioons. The Iphone as a phone works very well, few dropped calls but I cann overseas a lot and everybody says just how much cleaer the Iphone is over the Razor. It is just great to be able to download many many apps a loy free but some you will have to pay for. There is still not a really good PIM out there but believe me that is coming. A really very cool PIM that was the number one PIM for WM.

I have had my Iphone since Oct and am just thrilled with it and love using it.

You can get an Iphonen for up to 30 days and if you don't like it you can return it for I believe only a restocking fee.

You can go to any number of Forums and read all of the issues BUT consider that if you total the number of people who actially complain about the Iphone and then consider the total number of Iphones sold the actual % of compliants isn't that great.

As you ead the forums you will also be made aware of all of the 'things' that people wnat for their Iphones.

Good luck I hope you enjoy the Iphone as much as I have.

Xerxers.

 

[bigmouth]

I switched. The things I missed most were the tweaks and the background processing. Jailbreaking cured those deficiencies, and I personally haven't looked back. In fact, I held onto my old Tilt in case I needed my WinMo programs, but it's basically been a glorified internet radio ever since.

 

[markgamber]

I used WinMo for years and still have my Tilt. I see it like this: Windows Mobile was designed to be all things to all people forever. Almost anything can be customized by the user without having to screw with the system but the downside of that is that it can take several steps to do almost anything on a WinMo phone and a lot of things aren't the least bit intuitive or obvious. The iPhone, on the other hand, was designed for simplicity over function. There are a lot of things a WinMo phone can do that an iPhone will (according to Apple) never do. But a lot of what the iPhone does is easier to find and easier to use.

Secondly, Apple claims over 10,000 items in their app store but my view is that a good sized chunk of them are overlapping, worthless trash. Fart apps. Apps that dial a single number. Books. They're not apps, they're filler Apple can use to claim over 10,000 items in their app store. Sure, WinMo certainly has it's fill of overlapping, worthless trash but it also has several times the number of apps available to the iPhone, even going by Apple's inflated claim.

So while the iPhone is my full time phone, I keep the Tilt because it has a real bluetooth stack, TomTom, Slingplayer and a bunch of other things the iPhone does not and, for most of those items, probably never will. But it's easier to make a phone call, shoot out a text message, browse the web and there are some pretty nice games for it.

I like the iPhone, but I refuse to join The Cult of Apple. If I had to make a choice between one or the other, I'd probably keep the Tilt and ditch the iPhone. Fortunately, there's no choice to be made...the AT&T sim works just fine in both phones. In my laptop's 3G card, also.

 

[VTECaddict]

i had a Tilt before, and the main thing i couldnt stand it was the super lagginess and general unpolished UI. WM is just NOT finger friendly, as its based off of pocket PC which was designed for stylus use. for example on the dialpad on my Tilt, you can press the on screen numbers and the DTMF tone wont sound until a second later, IF it sounded at all. what kind of crap is that?

the iPhone is certainly not perfect. there are several glaring omissions such as copy and paste, multitasking functionality/background apps, video recording, MMS, etc. but what it can do, it does pretty well. UI is responsive, looks great (subjective) and of course very finger friendly. web browsing experience with mobile safari is basically unparalleled. the ipod functionality is great as well.

i'm more than happy with the switch, but i'm probably heading to Palm for my future phone purchase unless iPhone OS 3.0 knocks my socks off. WebOS looks VERY promising. i wont touch another WM phone unless they completely overall the antiquated UI (WM7 maybe?).

things i do miss about my Tilt though are GPS with TomTom Navigator, BT file transfer and just basic drag and drop capability directly to/from the phone (music, videos, photos, etc).

 

[Mafamaticks]

thanks for the responses y'all. I'm probably gonna get one soon. These plan prices are gonna kill me at first though. I figure I can decide whether or not I'm gonna keep it within 30 days.

 

[8767092]

Has anybody switched from WinMo to iPhone/iPhone to WinMo here? If so, what were your experiences if any?

I switched from a Treo 650 with the Palm OS to the iPhone. I had hacked it to no end with the Asia Pacific firmware and all sorts of goodies so I can say the switch to the iPhone was a change of pace.

I originally switched to the iPhone (2G) with the 1.x firmware meaning no extra applications. That was a big change because it meant no IM and so on until jailbreaking added the applications such as ApolloIM.

These days with the iPhone 3G the phone can do almost anything with the proper applications.

The iPhone itself is awesome, but I dislike at&t. The coverage is okay, the pricing is too high, and the plans don't offer enough. at&t makes the iPhone a bit less awesome, but it is still awesome enough to make up for it.

It isn't perfect, but it is the best phone I've ever used.

 

[Volka]

I have used several Windows Mobile smartphones made by HTC, including the Orange-branded SPV c500 and Vodafone-branded v1240. Both were bought unlocked on eBay.

I was impressed by many features of Windows Mobile, especially the excellent searchable contacts/phonebook, synchronisation with Outlook, drag&drop PC file transfer, wide range of 3rd-party software available, and customisation options.

However, at times they ran very slow and crashed regularly. The hardware wasn't as well-made as it should have been either, with dust getting behind the screen and buttons getting stuck for no reason.

After a while I got so annoyed with my last smartphone that I bought a basic SonyEricsson instead (before converting to the wonders of iPhone).