iPhone from a Windows Mobile perspective - Smartphone Round Robin

What could we perchance take to say about Apple and the iPhone that hasn't been said countless times already? Enough. Given that Apple has spent the by yr largely consolidating its ability in the mobile space, and Microsoft has spent the past year making many wonder if they're going to go on in the mobile space, it's fitting that we take a look at the ii here in the 2nd week of the tertiary annual Smartphone Round Robin.

There will exist no talk of iPhone killers.

There will exist no talk of the expiry of Windows Mobile.

OK, in that location may be a picayune. Keep reading for more.

Update: Annex

A await at the year that was

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Another year, another major software update for the iPhone. Apple has settled in to a pretty predictable (if withal unofficial) schedule: Announce the next major software upgrade in the bound, unveil information technology in the summer along with some sort of hardware change. The iPhone 3G got a speed boost in 2009, bringing us the iPhone 3GS, forth with the 3.0 (and later iii.1) software.

While a hardware boost is always welcome, information technology was the addition (or cosmos, some would say) of cut and paste that many iPhone users had then dearly washed without. (That Windows Mobile users take had cut and paste for years was largely ignored by the mainstream media.) Push button notifications were welcomed by some, and panned by others because of their "modal" nature, meaning they make yous stop what y'all're doing to deal with them.

Microsoft, on the other hand, announced Windows Mobile half-dozen.5 at Mobile Globe Congress in February 2009. Months and months went by, during which nosotros saw a number of leaked builds making the rounds, unofficially bringing us Windows Mobile vi.5 long before we even had an official release engagement. Finally, Microsoft launched WM6.5 -- along with a slew of new phones -- in Oct. Too little, too late, many say. But it was Microsoft's start effort at an bodily launch "event" for Windows Mobile. And while it didn't knock off any socks, information technology was better than the usual "OK, carriers, here it is, have fun. Update your phones if you lot want."

Suffice to say that nobody from "Best Calendar week Always" is going to come calling on Microsoft for a quote. Just information technology was a big yr not only in software, simply in hardware. HTC updated its Touch Pro and Impact Diamond lines, and introduced the Snap. Samsung refreshed its Omnia line. And on a sad note, Palm killed off its Windows Mobile Treo line. A slow twelvemonth, information technology was not.

The power of consolidating power

Some of the best conversations surrounding smartphones these days have to do with Apple's atypical vision. Information technology designs the phones. It keeps a tight fist on the manufacturing process. It largely controls the marketing of the devices. Fifty-fifty the act of selling an iPhone is controlled by Apple. Desire to apply the iPhone? You have to connect to iTunes at least in one case. Apps? Only (official) way to get them is through Apple tree's App Store. Everything, at least at some point, must pass through Apple tree. Exercise not laissez passer Get, head directly to Cupertino.

Windows Mobile, on the other hand, has always gone the opposite direction. Microsoft provides the platform, merely manufacturers and carriers always have been responsible for the end production. In some ways, that's fine. Expect at what HTC has done over the past 2 and three years, and what Palm did with its now defunct Treo line. Other times, well, let's just say we're not fans of all of the UIs tacked onto Windows Mobile.

In that location are a number of reasons to argue for Apple tree'south model. Certainly quality control -- for everything: design, manufacturing, marketing, support -- among the top. But for us, information technology's Apple tree's update strategy that really stands out. There are millions of iPhones out there. And in that location are millions of Windows Mobile phones. And when an update is released, which do y'all retrieve gets the latest firmware more quickly? The iPhone, of course. Updates are pushed out through iTunes, and most normal iPhone users connect to iTunes on a adequately regularly basis. It's the hub for the whole iPhone experience. When an update is bachelor, you're told so. And it's just a few clicks to install. The toughest part is waiting for the new software to download.

On the Windows Mobile side? First is the trouble up updating. Anyone who had a Samsung Blackjack knows only how unfun (and downright scary) Sammy's firmware upgrade process is. HTC's is pretty straightforward: Plug in your telephone and run a file. But information technology's still full of screens that intimidate the casual user. That's Hurdle No. 1.

thumb_tall_App%20Store%20iPhone.PNG Hurdle No. 2: In that location's no one place Windows phones go to besiege (for lack of a ameliorate term). The closest matter nosotros have to iTunes connectivity is Microsoft Substitution, which for the most office drives e-mail for large businesses. And while a large number of Windows phones are used by "business people," Exchange doesn't embrace the unabridged spectrum. So, that'due south not necessarily the fashion nosotros'd similar to encounter updates pushed out.

Hurdle No. 3: Updates are big. Currently the iPhone and Windows Mobile practise things the same way: You basically download the entire OS and reload the affair. Information technology's much, much cleaner on the iPhone side. Y'all update your phone, and it reloads your contacts, apps and settings -- all of your important data -- dorsum to its previous land. When you update the ROM on a Windows telephone, you start from zero. That'south not a huge bargain for ROM flashers, but remember that nearly normal people might upgrade a ROM in one case in their phone's lifetime.

The design obsession

When you talk near the iPhone -- and Apple in full general -- the word "experience" somewhen comes up. And that's what Apple tree actually is selling. By now, every cocky-respecting Apple tree fanboy has watched the "Objectified" documentary. And fifty-fifty those of us who don't drinkable the Kool-Aid can appreciate exactly what's beingness done in Cupertino, Calif. You're not simply buying an iPhone. Yous're buying into the unabridged Apple tree ecosystem and Apple'south carefully constructed user feel.

The iPhone is a beautiful slice of hardware. (That's senior VP of design Jonathan Ive at right.) In that location'due south no denying that. Information technology's sleek, information technology's elementary, and it proved that you can have a phone without a physical keyboard. The iPhone will turn three years quondam in 2022, and for the most part its pattern hasn't inverse. It's still that obelisk with a single button on its confront. Yous could say it's getting boring. Or yous could say it stands up over time. You lot say tomato ...

Microsoft doesn't do hardware, at least in the mobile space ... yet. Nosotros've seen what has been done with the Xbox 360 and more recently with the Zune Hd. And then tin Microsoft do hardware? Admittedly. Certainly nosotros don't know the intricacies of designing and building your own cell telephone. Merely if Microsoft can exercise information technology in the amusement infinite, why not the mobile space?

And speaking of unchanging design, there's the iPhone's user interface. I don't even like calling it that, though. It'southward a launcher. Its internal name is "Springboard." The iPhone launches apps, plays music and videos and makes telephone calls. Plain and simple.

Windows phones, on the other paw, are more about bringing information to your eyeballs. Whether you're using Windows Mobile six.5'south stock today screen (chosen Titanium) or HTC's TouchFLO 3D or Sense UIs, or Samsung'due south TouchWIZ, y'all're presented with data. What time is information technology? What'due south the weather condition like? What appointments exercise I accept coming upward? Do I have any e-mails? Any text messages? Any missed calls? Ultimately more than useful, and much more pleasing on the heart than a filigree of icons. For a phone that's all near design and experience, the iPhone's UI is thin, cold and boring.

And Apple tree's user feel also has as much to practice with a lack of hardware buttons as it does software continuity. One of Windows Mobile'due south greatest strengths is its availability on multiple platforms. But that breaks the experience. And even within single devices, the experience tin be broken. Take the HTC Touch Pro 2, for example. It has a "back" hardware button. On some applications, pushing the button takes you lot back a level within the app. In other apps, it exits the application. (Well, at that place was a "back" soft cardinal. Merely still. WTF?) That's just not good user experience. And it really is merely the tip of the iceberg.

Apps, apps and more apps

Oh, just what is a phone without applications? And the iPhone invented applications, right? Non and so much. Sure, Apple loves to boast about how many apps are in the App Shop. But we've debunked that as marketing B.S. already. Windows Mobile has had tens of thousands of applications available for years. Zip new in that location. Problems is they've been spread out to hell and back. While repositories have existed in the likes of Handango and Mobihand (which runs our ain WMExperts Software Store), there weren't whatever on-device homes for purchasing and loading applications. That's changed with Windows Mobile 6.5 and the Windows Marketplace for Mobile. While it's functional, it's non nearly every bit sexy equally Apple tree'southward App Shop. (Hell, even the Windows Marketplace for Mobile name is clunky.)

No, what the App Store did was to bring the idea of applications to the consumer space, and made them easy to observe (though not necessarily to sort through), purchase and download. Apps are a necessity. Not that they weren't before. Windows Mobile had 'em. Palm OS had 'em. Symbian's had 'em. BlackBerry's had 'em. Sure, your phone's nice, but what apps does it have? Is the iPhone so successful because of the App Shop? Or is the App Store so successful because of the iPhone? It's a fun give-and-take, but moot at this point.

What isn't moot is the overall quality of apps. Certain, there are crap apps on the iPhone, just as there are for Windows Mobile and whatever other platform. But where the iPhone has actually shined is with its continuity of the design of apps, especially the basic ones. While developers are complimentary to make their apps look however they delight, it'southward the basic apps that oftentimes stand out. Using Apple's Cocoa Affect framework, selection menus are presented in a consistent manner. They're easy on the eyes (and the fingers). You lot know what buttons are going to do, because they practice the same things throughout applications.

The one longstanding Achilles' heel? That sheer number of apps. The market's flooded, and the process of getting into the App Store is fraught with secrecy and frustration. Some apps are rejected for what appears to be no reason whatsoever. Others are accepted without question, so later pulled when cooler heads decided that maybe a baby-shaking app was in poor sense of taste.

What'south in shop for 2022

Nosotros don't believe in iPhone killers. That'south a phrase that was coined by writers who couldn't recollect of any other arguments to make. No, nosotros're non looking for Windows Mobile 7, if and when it's announced and later released, to "kill" anything, salvage for perchance the bad taste that Windows Mobile 6.v left in a lot of mouths. But even that isn't entirely off-white. Microsoft announced Windows Mobile half-dozen.five and for the most office delivered exactly what information technology promised. No more, no less. A stopgap to agree things over until WM7.

Will that be the long-desired Zune phone? Will information technology exist a more compelling version of Windows Mobile as we know it? That's difficult to say at this point. We simply don't know.

And Apple'due south even harder to figure out. The general consensus is that a major iPhone hardware revision is coming in the summer of 2022. High-definition? Some sort of super processor? A keyboard? (Gasp!) Who knows ... And throw the mythical iTablet/iSlate/iWhatEverIt'sCalled into the mix, and the rumor mill will continue to run rampant for some time at present. We wouldn't bet the farm confronting a adequately major UI overhaul, either.

But, no. Nobody will exist "killing" the iPhone anytime before long. And, opposite to popular conventionalities, another platform won't be "killing" Windows Mobile anytime soon. Only affair that could "kill" Windows Mobile is Microsoft, by pulling the plug. Our judge is that Windows Mobile seven volition look to brand the leap from the enterprise infinite (businesses) to more of a consumer space. And if it leverages the quality of the Zune Hd with the popularity of the Xbox 360, it could well find itself with a hitting on its hands.

Addendum: Jailbreaking and cooked ROMs

We haven't mentioned jailbreaking on the iPhone or ROM cooking on some Windows Mobile devices. That'due south partially to save your eyeballs (thank you for reading every bit much as yous did), and partially because those are unofficial, unsupported and legally ambiguous methods of using your phone. That said, they are also very of import parts of both communities. Merely chances are if you're reading this in the commencement place, you're fully aware that you lot tin jailbreak your iPhone, and that many Windows phones (though mostly HTC devices) can have custom ROMs loaded onto them. Take at information technology. Have fun. And don't say we didn't warn you.

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