Who here has switched from Windows Mobile to iPhone? Are you happy with your switch? What features do you miss from Windows Mobile, and what do you like about the iPhone?
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Windows mobile -> iPhone Users
- Thread starter wayland1985
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
i switched from the Tmobile dash and LOVED the iPhone personally i didn't like WM from the beginning but i needed something more powerful. Glad i switched
I switched and am happy for it. Overall, it's all better than my winmo experiences, though there are a few things I miss about my old phones:
- Email gave me the option of returning to the message list after moving or deleting a message. iPhone does not and this really bugs me.
- I could block sending my caller ID, except to numbers in my contacts list. Of course, this didn't work if I initiated the call from my car's handsfree setup.
- I customized my own Home screen to include time, unread emails, upcoming appointments, etc. such that I could see at a glance without unlocking the phone.
- There was an LED that alerted me to various things without having to turn on the display.
- They could record video, albeit poorly.
- I could set a default reminder on new calendar events, such as "15 minutes." On the iPhone, it has to be set manually each time.
I certainly DO NOT miss all the crashing and spontaneous reboots, dropped calls, poor battery life, and clunky user interface of my old phones. Also, the browsers always sucked and did a poor, slow job of rendering pages. Worst of all, the phones had a registry which required a special editor to enable some of the changes I wanted. I hate Windows registries.
- Email gave me the option of returning to the message list after moving or deleting a message. iPhone does not and this really bugs me.
- I could block sending my caller ID, except to numbers in my contacts list. Of course, this didn't work if I initiated the call from my car's handsfree setup.
- I customized my own Home screen to include time, unread emails, upcoming appointments, etc. such that I could see at a glance without unlocking the phone.
- There was an LED that alerted me to various things without having to turn on the display.
- They could record video, albeit poorly.
- I could set a default reminder on new calendar events, such as "15 minutes." On the iPhone, it has to be set manually each time.
I certainly DO NOT miss all the crashing and spontaneous reboots, dropped calls, poor battery life, and clunky user interface of my old phones. Also, the browsers always sucked and did a poor, slow job of rendering pages. Worst of all, the phones had a registry which required a special editor to enable some of the changes I wanted. I hate Windows registries.
The only thing I miss about my Windows Mobile phone was that I could tether over usb reliably in one click. Tethering over wifi works, but is a bit of a pain, and still drains my battery at times, even with the latest version of pdanet.
Otherwise, there were a few more options with emails and calendars on winmo, but overall doing much of anything on my old phone was such a pain that just because I could do something didn't mean I often did. The iphone, with a few minor exceptions, is a joy to use day in and day out.
Otherwise, there were a few more options with emails and calendars on winmo, but overall doing much of anything on my old phone was such a pain that just because I could do something didn't mean I often did. The iphone, with a few minor exceptions, is a joy to use day in and day out.
You can block the caller ID on your iPhone by going to the PHONE setting...
I just wish Apple would get their butt in gear and start making the software changes needed to make this the real phone it should be. I've been waiting about a year and a half for the basic phone features, and I don't think I can wait any longer.
What's worse, is we have no idea if the basic features will be available... I'd like to think January, but there really hasn't been a peep out of the rumor mill regarding the iPhone....
I just wish Apple would get their butt in gear and start making the software changes needed to make this the real phone it should be. I've been waiting about a year and a half for the basic phone features, and I don't think I can wait any longer.
What's worse, is we have no idea if the basic features will be available... I'd like to think January, but there really hasn't been a peep out of the rumor mill regarding the iPhone....
I think you're responding to me so I'll point out that I don't want to wholesale block my caller ID. I want it to be visible only to people in my contacts. I want friends and family to know I'm calling, but not businesses, etc.
I rate 8.9/10
have been a win mob user for years, and this August moved to iPhone and LOVING it.
Things i miss:
Thats it, otherwise pretty kewl hand set.
have been a win mob user for years, and this August moved to iPhone and LOVING it.
Things i miss:
- Copy & Paste
- Led/Visible notification
- Hard disk usage, though have found a work around
- Battery swap (again more of hardware and NOT OS related
Thats it, otherwise pretty kewl hand set.
How often are these windows mobile phones really crashing? Are they really THAT unstable???
I mean, the iPhone is much more stable than it was before. Safari would crash regularly, and I'm finding some of the Apps to crash on me too. So, the iPhone isn't immune to crashing either...
I mean, the iPhone is much more stable than it was before. Safari would crash regularly, and I'm finding some of the Apps to crash on me too. So, the iPhone isn't immune to crashing either...
I still have and use my wm phone I just move my sim back and forth between iphone and htc 8525.
If you could have one?
Having owned both types of phones, they crash about the same. I hate to break it to you but 99.9% of the time crashes are hardware, not software, related. My Razr never crashed. My WiMo crashed about once or twice a week. My iPhone crashes about once or twice a week. (I consider a crash anything that requires me to restart the device manually to get it working correctly.)
I don't miss it one bit. The holding on to memory despite closing out programs, the crashes, the freezes and the horrible horrible lag time with EVERYTHING. Much more happy with my iPhone.
I probably had it the worst before I got my iPhone, I had a T-Mobile Wing, people who work at T-Mobile stores even steer their customers away from it.
The Wing didn't have any program memory, and it really hated to sync with my Mac. Also had a 201Mhz TI OMAP Processor, which means SLOW SLOW SLOW. Pocket Internet Explorer was worst than a WAP Browser! Glad I switched too 
The Wing didn't have any program memory, and it really hated to sync with my Mac. Also had a 201Mhz TI OMAP Processor, which means SLOW SLOW SLOW. Pocket Internet Explorer was worst than a WAP Browser! Glad I switched too
safari crashing is nothing compared to windows mobile crashing i would have to take my battery out all the time. iphone isn't perfect but it just works so im happy for that. The most stable phone i have ever owned was the blackberry 8800 that phone was a beast and battery life was outstanding.
Windows Mobile Smartphones (without touchscreens) are usually pretty stable by themselves.
Windows Mobile phones work best in the hands of technically adept people, who don't mind seeking out and installing stable tweaks and utiltities.
I would not give one to my non-techie wife unless I sharpened it up myself.
As for crashing, yes it's a bit more pain on WM. However, iPhones can get into weird states too. Like tons of "Other" showing up. Or having to "recover", meaning reinstall the OS. You never have to reinstall WM.
Windows Mobile phones work best in the hands of technically adept people, who don't mind seeking out and installing stable tweaks and utiltities.
I would not give one to my non-techie wife unless I sharpened it up myself.
As for crashing, yes it's a bit more pain on WM. However, iPhones can get into weird states too. Like tons of "Other" showing up. Or having to "recover", meaning reinstall the OS. You never have to reinstall WM.
yeah that is really true
after i installed some programs on my blackjack II and tweaked the UI a little bit the phone is alot more stable now
but im getting my iphone soon
You obviously don't use your iPhone too much do you?
My iPhone crashes as much as, if not more than any WinMo device I've ever owned.
Common issue when you have an under powered hardware platform trying to do too much at one time.
I mean, the iPhone is a great platform, but it's just lacking right now. I don't think the hardware is sub par (Unless you were talking about windows mobile phones) but the software definitely doesn't handle what it should.
I mean, the applications are nice to have. Shazaam, Facebook, Safari and iPod are amazing. I'm not sure Windows has the experience quite like them, and I'm sure I'll miss them should I move to windows mobile.
But it's missing basic capabilities, which really makes it a little tougher to live with. I'm sure some of you have friends who looked at you like a confused german shepherd when you told them you can't get MMS messages, or that you can't forward text messages to them. I had a friend just the other day who was all kinds of confused when I told him my iPhone couldn't send him a vCard over bluetooth to his RAZR!!!
What's keeping me from moving to window's mobile:
1. iPod functionality (especially since I have a nice car-hookup for it)
2. Form Factor of the phone
3. 3.5mm jack
4. I have 90% of the accessories I need already
5. I run a Mac
6. I would need to spend some serious money to upgrade to windows mobile: Car Charger, SD card, Headphones (Blutooth or regular with headphone adaptor), Sync Software to work with the Mac, Various odds-n-ends
What's making me consider windows mobile:
1. Copy/Paste
2. MMS
3. those XDA geniuses
4. More customizability
5. Turn by Turn GPS
6. Something fresh for me (I've had my iPhone for 1.3 years now...)
I mean, the applications are nice to have. Shazaam, Facebook, Safari and iPod are amazing. I'm not sure Windows has the experience quite like them, and I'm sure I'll miss them should I move to windows mobile.
But it's missing basic capabilities, which really makes it a little tougher to live with. I'm sure some of you have friends who looked at you like a confused german shepherd when you told them you can't get MMS messages, or that you can't forward text messages to them. I had a friend just the other day who was all kinds of confused when I told him my iPhone couldn't send him a vCard over bluetooth to his RAZR!!!
What's keeping me from moving to window's mobile:
1. iPod functionality (especially since I have a nice car-hookup for it)
2. Form Factor of the phone
3. 3.5mm jack
4. I have 90% of the accessories I need already
5. I run a Mac
6. I would need to spend some serious money to upgrade to windows mobile: Car Charger, SD card, Headphones (Blutooth or regular with headphone adaptor), Sync Software to work with the Mac, Various odds-n-ends
What's making me consider windows mobile:
1. Copy/Paste
2. MMS
3. those XDA geniuses
4. More customizability
5. Turn by Turn GPS
6. Something fresh for me (I've had my iPhone for 1.3 years now...)
This isn't the case for me. I occasionally have apps quit back to the springboard on my iPhone (perhaps once every week or two) but my winmo phones often required rebooting if they didn't restart spontaneously during a phone call. This happened two or three times a week. I use my iPhone far more extensively than I did those old phones precisely because it is stable enough to do so and without the frustration. I've never had my iPhone reboot itself except during a firmware upgrade of course.
User error is probably the main cause.
My phone is fully loaded with all the essentials including web cam wallpaper with weather and bunch of other stuffs.
Crash is rare.
I used Win Mob for several years, and developed commercial software for it too. Having become increasingly frustrated with the somewhat flaky sync solutions between my device and my Mac, I made the switch to the iPhone and have been more than happy so far.
What do I miss?
So, other than the final point in my list above, I'm a very happy iPhone user
What do I miss?
- Copy/paste occasionally
- Proper birthday reminders (though that's probably more of an iCal issue, and I get round it with Gmail calendaring)
- Calendar scheduling flexibility - just try scheduling a recurring meeting on the second Tuesday of every month on an iPhone, for example
- TomTom on the same device, which was very handy
- A decent spreadsheet tool available out of the box. I guess there might be one in the AppStore, but it was handy to have something preinstalled on WM.
- A battery that lasts for more than about a day.
So, other than the final point in my list above, I'm a very happy iPhone user
I used Win Mob for several years, and developed commercial software for it too. Having become increasingly frustrated with the somewhat flaky sync solutions between my device and my Mac, I made the switch to the iPhone and have been more than happy so far.
What do I miss?
I thought I'd miss the handwriting recognition, having hated using the onscreen keyboard on the WM devices, but I'm very happy with the iPhone's keyboard.
- Copy/paste occasionally
- Proper birthday reminders (though that's probably more of an iCal issue, and I get round it with Gmail calendaring)
- Calendar scheduling flexibility - just try scheduling a recurring meeting on the second Tuesday of every month on an iPhone, for example
- TomTom on the same device, which was very handy
- A decent spreadsheet tool available out of the box. I guess there might be one in the AppStore, but it was handy to have something preinstalled on WM.
- A battery that lasts for more than about a day.
So, other than the final point in my list above, I'm a very happy iPhone user
Can I ask you what software you were using for syncing?? Also, how much is the Tom Tom app for WM? I was looking at them breifly and I love the idea. Is ti worth it?!