Observations from a former Windows Mobile User

[estark]

I have been in the past a Microsoft fanboy, but the Apple consistantly is beating the MS Mobile team so I purchased a new iPhone.

Overall I am happy with the phone, but I thought I would summarize some of the things I miss about Windows Mobile. Maybe I just haven't learned how to accomplish the same on the iPhone and someone can post some instructions. Here goes:

- Windows Mobile phones have "Home Screens," default screens that are highly customizable. Typically mine would show me the time of my next appointment, missed calls, new messages, and current sound profile. All of these were accessible via this home screen. Many people used this screen to display weather or other info. (this would be great as the wallpaper prior to unlocking the phone)

- When a reminder pops up on Windows Mobile, there is an option to dismiss or snooze. I always used the snooze button since I would set a reminder for 15 minutes before meetings so that I would be ready to go, then hit "snooze until 5 minutes before" to get up from my desk and go to the meeting

- I was able to flag emails for followup from the mobile device -- this was really useful for when I was checking mail on the device and the president of the company sent an email

- Speed dials -- pressing and holding a number would dial a phone number

- Instant access to the number pad - pressing the "Phone" icon would take me directly to the number pad. If I typed in a contact name it would find the contact from here.

- The contacts note field doesn't transfer to the iPhone but it did on Windows Mobile.

- Also, this doesn't relate to Windows Mobile, but why aren't you able to sort the "Favorite" contacts???

To restate I am happy with the iPhone, but these are some things Apple could do to better compete in the corporate world.

 

[agodlfish]

- Windows Mobile phones have "Home Screens," default screens that are highly customizable. Typically mine would show me the time of my next appointment, missed calls, new messages, and current sound profile. All of these were accessible via this home screen. Many people used this screen to display weather or other info. (this would be great as the wallpaper prior to unlocking the phone)

- When a reminder pops up on Windows Mobile, there is an option to dismiss or snooze. I always used the snooze button since I would set a reminder for 15 minutes before meetings so that I would be ready to go, then hit "snooze until 5 minutes before" to get up from my desk and go to the meeting

Seconded for these two. I've seen that there is a app for jailbroken phones that gives home screen type functionality, obviously that's going to have to wait until the 2.0 jailbreak.

But as for postoning reminders, I'm really quite surprised that this basic functionality isn't already built in. If anyone has any tips on how we can get this I'd be very interested.

 

[buddhahacker]

Disaster or work in progress?

After connecting the iphone to a corporate environment and using for a month my take is that compared to a Blackberry's mail/calendaring features the iphone is a disaster. Specifically, the calendaring function doesn't support attendees (a huge problem with respect to a corporate environment), you can't flag and appointment as private, no email sorting or flagging capability and most importantly there is no contact lookup feature which allows you to search Exchange's global address list. These five fundamental deficiencies makes them nearly unusable. The calendar reverts to a read only function and email is relegated primarily to read and respond capabilities. Creating new mail is limited to contacts within your personal contact list.

Hopefully, this is a work in progress with updates to fix these deficiencies coming shortly.

 

[jmmo20]

- Also, this doesn't relate to Windows Mobile, but why aren't you able to sort the "Favorite" contacts???

You can, actually.

Tap on edit, then a sort of "list icon" appears on the right of each contact. tapping and moving up and down does allow you to sort the contact position of each entry.

 

[Helper Monkey]

As a former WinMo user, I feel your pain, especially about not being able to dial a contact by using the number pad.

Jailbreak your phone (maybe wait until after the release of 2.1) and install Intelliscreen. It gives you all of the functionality of the Home Screen your used to, as opposed to just showing the time and lock bar. This is reason alone to jailbreak, but there are plenty of others as well.

 

[icewing]

- Windows Mobile phones have "Home Screens," default screens that are highly customizable. Typically mine would show me the time of my next appointment, missed calls, new messages, and current sound profile. All of these were accessible via this home screen. Many people used this screen to display weather or other info. (this would be great as the wallpaper prior to unlocking the phone)

- When a reminder pops up on Windows Mobile, there is an option to dismiss or snooze. I always used the snooze button since I would set a reminder for 15 minutes before meetings so that I would be ready to go, then hit "snooze until 5 minutes before" to get up from my desk and go to the meeting

- I was able to flag emails for followup from the mobile device -- this was really useful for when I was checking mail on the device and the president of the company sent an email

- Speed dials -- pressing and holding a number would dial a phone number

- The contacts note field doesn't transfer to the iPhone but it did on Windows Mobile.

- Also, this doesn't relate to Windows Mobile, but why aren't you able to sort the "Favorite" contacts???

To restate I am happy with the iPhone, but these are some things Apple could do to better compete in the corporate world.

Didn't have Win mobile, I had a Treo 650 that I just switched from last week.
I do miss the Home screen on my Treo 650. The Calendar views on the iPhone aren't (IMHO) as good as what the Treo had.

Reminder snoozing is one of the biggest things I miss, I used mine exactly the way you did.
Agree on email flagging, too.

Contact notes sync on mine - maybe your comment was from an earlier version that didn't support this?

Sorting Favorite contacts - same question, it works on mine, running 2.0.2.

Like you, although there are a few things I really miss, I'm VERY happy that I switched - love the iPhone.

 

[Phil A.]

The biggest thing missing from the iPhone IMO is the ability to invite people to appointments - I don't know why they've not implemented it!

 

[GNice]

I think the points made by the OP and others are all very valid. I'm happy with my iPhone as well, but would love to see some of these "business user features" added soon.

 

[rizajj]

Creating new mail is limited to contacts within your personal contact list.

Actually, this is not true. By default, a new email is initially set to look at your personal contacts. But if press "Groups" on the top left of the contact screen (after you've started an email), and then look for "Directories", you should see your company directory name (same as company name I would imagine). from there you can search the GAL (Global Address List) in your company.

HTH!

 

[maximus06]

Windows Mobile phones have "Home Screens," default screens that are highly customizable. Typically mine would show me the time of my next appointment, missed calls, new messages, and current sound profile. All of these were accessible via this home screen. Many people used this screen to display weather or other info. (this would be great as the wallpaper prior to unlocking the phone)

This already exists for jailbroken devices. Its called "intelliscreen" and can be installed via cydia. It does exactly what you stated above (and more).

 

[PNutts]

Thank you estark for a thoughtful post that included the specifics to corporate environments. I manage Windows PDAs and your points are valid. I hope that future enhancements address some of your concerns. I am looking for a way to introduce the iPhone into our service offerings. We're calling it a "convenience" device and definitely not suited for the power user.

I think a lot of folks will be willing to put up with the warts because it is so useful in other areas. We have customers return the Windows Mobile devices because they are so limited outside of email. Except for the one that was returned with the screen heavely scratched in a pattern that I eventually figured out matched the cards in solitare.

 

[Uh Clem]

and most importantly there is no contact lookup feature which allows you to search Exchange's global address list.

Unless I misunderstood what you're trying to do, you can search the GAL on the iPhone. Open Contacts, tap Groups in the upper left, select the directory, and search from there.

 

[scaredpoet]

I manage Windows PDAs and your points are valid. I hope that future enhancements address some of your concerns.

While I can understand that there are users who have a need for the listed, I do not think it's realistic for someone to stick with an iPhone and expect "concerns" to be "addressed." The iPhone has it's way of doing things. Perhaps there might be enhancements down the road that make it more WM-like. Then again, maybe not. We simply don't know, and if such features are never added, I really don't think that anyone should be surprised by this. Apple may very well be going for a segment of the business market that has a different set of needs than those using Windows Mobile phones.

The pragmatic approach would be to have users know what the feature set is of the iPhone, and if it's not the feature set they want, then they need to find a phone that does have the feature set they need, in the here and now.


And if there is no such phone, then they simply need to compromise and find the phone that suits their needs the best, with the least amount of fuss. That doesn't necessarily mean that this phone is an iPhone.

I've made this point in the past, and I've gotten a lot of heat for it, but think about it: Apple isn't Windows. It appears that for quite a few people, the iPhone fills a need that WM and Blackberry devices don't. Likewise, Wm and Blackberry isn't hurting because their segments continued to be served well. What then, is the point of making one platform mimic the other?

 

[redman042]

As a long time user of WinMo who recently ditched a Motorolla Q for an iPhone 3G, I have to say that while I also see a few shortcomings, they are FAR outweighed by the elegance of the OS. I will never, ever go back to WinMo. Even a Blackberry Bold seems too convoluted to me, despite all its capabilities.

With all that said, the iPhone OS could use a few features that I miss. Hopefully tomorrow at the Let's Rock event they will announce a few of them. I'd like to see cut and paste, repeating alarms with snooze, MMS, video recording, todo list, meeting invitations, and a better way to attach images and files to emails. Adding in the missing Bluetooth profiles would be a real bonus. But heck I'd be happy with less UI lags and less crashing (even though these issues aren't so frequent that they interfere with my enjoyment of the phone right now).

Given that Apple is pushing the iPhone as a business capable device, I fully expect many of these holes will be filled soon. Probably not all of them though. Steve Jobs likes to keep a few things in his pocket for later. He also leans towards simplicity at the sake of some functionality. In some sense I've bought into this, because I've moved from the WinMo platform with its myriad of options to a much more restrictive but elegant iPhone interface, where I've taught myself to work with the UI rather than fight it, and as a result I've simplified how I organize certain things.

 

[Small White Car]

no email sorting

What is "e-mail sorting?"

I have created multiple folders on my IMAP account online. They show up in my iPhone and I can send any e-mail message to any folder. The e-mail moves to that folder which is then synced back to the server where the same thing happens.

So if that's not "e-mail sorting," what is?

no flagging capability

Again, I'm not quite sure what this is.

When I read something that I want to notice later, I mark it as un-read. This way, when I get home, it's still got the big ol' blue dot on it and I know to look at it again.

So what does "flagging" do that's different from this?

 

[icewing]

I am looking for a way to introduce the iPhone into our service offerings. We're calling it a "convenience" device and definitely not suited for the power user.

What's your definition of "power user"?

So what does "flagging" do that's different from this?

In Outlook, you can flag an email, either with a colored flag for quick visual scanning, and/or add a followup reminder later. It's called "flag for follow up"...pretty useful for those of us who juggle lots of things/procrastinate.

 

[bluenoise]

As a long time user of WinMo who recently ditched a Motorolla Q for an iPhone 3G, I have to say that while I also see a few shortcomings, they are FAR outweighed by the elegance of the OS. I will never, ever go back to WinMo. Even a Blackberry Bold seems too convoluted to me, despite all its capabilities.

With all that said, the iPhone OS could use a few features that I miss. Hopefully tomorrow at the Let's Rock event they will announce a few of them. I'd like to see cut and paste, repeating alarms with snooze, MMS, video recording, todo list, meeting invitations, and a better way to attach images and files to emails. Adding in the missing Bluetooth profiles would be a real bonus. But heck I'd be happy with less UI lags and less crashing (even though these issues aren't so frequent that they interfere with my enjoyment of the phone right now).

Given that Apple is pushing the iPhone as a business capable device, I fully expect many of these holes will be filled soon. Probably not all of them though. Steve Jobs likes to keep a few things in his pocket for later. He also leans towards simplicity at the sake of some functionality. In some sense I've bought into this, because I've moved from the WinMo platform with its myriad of options to a much more restrictive but elegant iPhone interface, where I've taught myself to work with the UI rather than fight it, and as a result I've simplified how I organize certain things.

Man, this post is exactly what I would've typed had you not beaten me to it. I even had a Moto Q before getting my iPhone.

 

[anjinha]

- When a reminder pops up on Windows Mobile, there is an option to dismiss or snooze. I always used the snooze button since I would set a reminder for 15 minutes before meetings so that I would be ready to go, then hit "snooze until 5 minutes before" to get up from my desk and go to the meeting

When you add an event in the iPhone you can set an alert and a second alert, so it could alert you 15 min before your meeting and then 5 min before.

 

[hexonxonx]

The previously dialed number can be redialed quickly by simple pressing the green call button twice on the keypad.

Not sure if this was already posted by i quickly scanned the posts and didn't see it.

 

[opticalserenity]

As a former WinMo user, I'm more than happy to be lacking a few email sorting features to be on iPhone. The iPhone platform may not be perfect, but it's light years beyond WinMo and BB.

 

[DreamPod]

What is "e-mail sorting?"

I have created multiple folders on my IMAP account online. They show up in my iPhone and I can send any e-mail message to any folder. The e-mail moves to that folder which is then synced back to the server where the same thing happens.

So if that's not "e-mail sorting," what is?

Setting up filtering rules so that when an email comes in it automatically goes to the correct folder. Heck, I find it crazy that you can't even create folders on the iPhone, you have to do it through some other mail program and then sync.

 

[milani]

After connecting the iphone to a corporate environment and using for a month my take is that compared to a Blackberry's mail/calendaring features the iphone is a disaster. Specifically, the calendaring function doesn't support attendees (a huge problem with respect to a corporate environment), you can't flag and appointment as private, no email sorting or flagging capability and most importantly there is no contact lookup feature which allows you to search Exchange's global address list. These five fundamental deficiencies makes them nearly unusable. The calendar reverts to a read only function and email is relegated primarily to read and respond capabilities. Creating new mail is limited to contacts within your personal contact list.

Hopefully, this is a work in progress with updates to fix these deficiencies coming shortly.

This is a really great post. I think this sort of speaks to the fact that Apple does not have much experience in the enterprise market yet. I think over time the phone's functionality, in terms of the things you listed, will be improved upon. You should really send that message to Apple's feedback.

 

[archi17]

This already exists for jailbroken devices. Its called "intelliscreen" and can be installed via cydia. It does exactly what you stated above (and more).

But not everyone wants to Jailbreak their iPhones. Some of these features should be included in the firmware