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When you talk about the top mobile operating systems on the planet, you aren’t likely to hear Windows Mobile uttered unless its the butt of somebody’s joke. Okay so maybe you are likely to hear it uttered. Some would say that’s for obvious reasons… but James Kendrick from jkOnTheRun took nothing for granted and pitted the two operating systems head to head in a few highly important feature areas. Shall we see how they fared?
- Multi-tasking. Windows came away with a “Big advantage” because of Android’s inability to run apps from SD Card.
- Available Apps. WIndows gets the advantage for a larger catalog of robust applications.
- User Interface. Windows Mobile wins because 3rd party apps are better looking.
- Desktop syncing/integration. Depends on if you prefer Outlook or Google.
So when it comes to Multi-Tasking, App Availability and UI, Kendrick thinks Windows Mobile clearly defeats Android and if you are an Outlook user the platform picks up 4 out of 4 victories against the mighty bot. What say you, Android phans? Have at it (in a civil manner of course… we like those guys)!
What does multi-tasking have to do with running apps from the SD card? Thats about storage…not multi-tasking. He may have a point with the number of apps…but as with the IPhone if it has the ones you need then what difference does an additional 100,000 apps make? I don’t understand what he means by 3rd party apps being better looking. Does he mean better than base WinMo? Thats no comparison to Android and if he means better than the Android apps I’d like to see these. And I prefer Google to Outlook any day of the week. Google is a service. Outlook is an application that stuck on my desktop. I get info from Google wherever I am. I have to go to my desktop to see or sync with Outlook.
LOL
You are limited to the number of apps you can run because of the fact you cannot run apps from the SD card. Therefore more apps could potentially be run on windows mobile depending on the device hardware.
I can only based off what my experience is. I had the Q9M with VZW before a blackberry then finally T-Mo and the G1. I returned 4 of those phones cause of issues I had with them. Before that I has the Q and that was a horrible experience. Not to include they can be a pain to navigate and are generally laggy. Just my opinion.
Funniest article I’ve read all week!
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/LMAO
I can see where the author is coming from. Most is chalked up to WinMo being around longer, though. I love my G1, but the real reasons I have it are 1) because my TMO Dash (WinMo6) was just plain awful. Slow and no central app store. I hated Googling for apps. 2) I just couldn’t turn to the dark side and go to AT&T for the iPhone. I’m not sold on the iPhone, but it’s decent.
However, if WinMo makes good strides toward the app store, better efficiency, and an overall better look, I might be willing to go back. I’m a .Net developer, so it would be WAY easier for me to write WinMo apps than Android.
@Chris
Are you implying that WinMo wins *multitasking* because it can store more apps and therefore run more concurrently? Because if you are, that is extremely laughable with WinMo since it has a hard time running 5 concurrently!!! How many apps the device can store has absolutely NOTHING to do with multitasking unless one of the devices in question can only store 2 apps. I have over a dozen installed on my Droid and have barely dented the storage allocation for them. This was an extremely poor attempt to save the dying WinMo system.
Actually, the *only* thing this article has that WinMo does better is integration with Outlook. But now that I have my contacts and info in Google, I can sync over the air without a cable so Android wins!
No doubt not running apps from the sd card is a major problem on android, one that had better get fixed soon. I wouldn’t categorize it under “multitasking” though since I doubt you could ever fill up your device memory with apps and then run them all at once.
Otherwise, this seems like a WinMo user’s desperate attempt at relevance. Even if third party apps do look better on WinMo, it’s the core UI (homescreen, notifications, menu, settings, customization, core apps) that really makes the user experience. And android pretty much wins across the board there (I guess you could say it’s less customizeable but that’s offset by the fact that it’s easier and more fun to customize)
Obviously, he has never tried to run an app from an SD card on a WinMo phone. I have tried it a Q9, Q9m, XV6700, XV6600, Audiovox Thera, and never with satisfactory results.
Add to that the fact that only the EXECUTABLE has to reside “on device” (sooner or later, the haters will accept this and stop using it as an excuse) His fist point is worthless.
UI is fine on WinMo… so long as you don’t mind still using a stylus. WinMo is quickly coming up to the same stage that Garnet reached before Palm finally retired it. It is solid enough because it has been around for ever, but not anything, anybody that really has a choice wants to use. Yes, it is true that the apps look more uniform… because what few developers are left really have no other choice.
Available Apps – Just where is he finding these “robust apps” for WinMo. I sure as hell can’t find them. HandAndGo, probably the biggest supplier of WinMo apps (that I am aware of) is stock full of… half done, poorly done, and antiquated (for older versions of WinMo) apps, and STILL doesn’t have as many current worthwhile applications.
Finally, if in 2009 you are using Outlook (but not with an Exchange Server)and don’t even want to be bothered with IMAP rather than POP3, you are probably too much of a creature of habit and locked into Microsoft’s camp anyway, so there is little in the way of convincing you otherwise. If however, you are using IMAP and not POP3, then the syncing comes from the server and not outlook. Outlook syncing a POP3 server was noteworthy… back in 2000. And if you want to live in the past… then sure… WinMo fits your needs perfectly.
Look, no phone or operating system is for everybody. It galls me when people compare the Droid to the iPhone. No it is not an iPhone… and thank goodness for that, because, I don’t LIKE the iPhone. Same is true here. It is like just because Android is doing well, everybody needs to knock it for something. When (if) Microsoft fixes WinMo, it certainly can be great again. The development tools behind it, the eco-system, everything is there if Microsoft just focused on it and stopped resting on its laurels (WinMo is like the IE6 of the Mobile OS world) and make it so again. They have the resources to do so. And if they ever do… I will certainly consider them again (after all it took the Droid to pull me away after having WinMo phones since 2002), but until then, it is a second rate, has been operating system, no matter how much spin you attempt to put on it.
I think he is right on all except maybe the apps. The substance (functionality) of windows mobile is good, the looks not so good.
Exchange support is actually better than the Blackberry on windows mobile. Mobile Office works well for what it is. Android on the other hand kind of sucks right now for corporate access.
The real problem with windows mobile is development cycles. In the two years I had a windows phone there was 1 update. Android seems to update every quarter.
This could be because Windows mobile didn’t require as many updates, or MS is just to slow to get it done. (More likely both).
I used Windows mobile before android and it was fine. I like the potential of the Android platform. Also, it doens’t matter as long as it’s not an iPhone!
Ha ha ha. That’s all I have to say for this article.
First I have a Droid and I love it, so don’t shoot !
@ Phil:
“Outlook is an application that stuck on my desktop. I get info from Google wherever I am. I have to go to my desktop to see or sync with Outlook.”
Outlook means exchange server, exchange means info, email, calendar, etc. everywhere also… Outlook is the client which is also available via a free web access.
Google is free, exchange is not.
@Cryptic – It shouldn’t be THAT much easier for you to write WinMo apps vs Android. Well I’m assuming you’re a C# .Net developer and not VB. But C# is basically some fine tuning of Java…and not a whole lot either. It really doesn’t take much to bounce between the two.
I predicted winMo would fail a long time ago when pocketpc’s were killing palm and nobody even talked about the iPhone. The whole point of using Windows is a familiar UI and all those windows apps. But a WinMo phone simply can’t look like Windows because the familiar desktop UI just doesn’t work on a phone. Nobody wants to tap tap tap just to place a call!
It can’t run real windows apps because no phone will use an x86 cpu and that pocket IE will never be able to view all those IE-only websites with activex controls. It is just a Windows in name only (WINO)
I recently ‘defected’ from WinMo to Android. Reason? I didn’t like how ‘clunky’ the WinMo phone felt. I didn’t like how apps were installed, I didn’t like the minor bugs in WinMo 6.1 that I had to live with.
I migrated from Palm IIIX/IIIC to a WinMo 5 device. Not a phone mind you, just PDA. I then went from WinMo 5 PDA to WinMo 6 phone.
I did some app dev in the Compact Framework. It was OK. but really, M$ needs to make the UI less clunky. HTC has released a couple really cool WinMo phones of late, and I thought about getting one. But I am slowly moving everything over to google as I look to starting my own company it just makes more sense than buying and installing M$ crap.
Long story short, this ‘article’ is interesting. I do wish I could install apps on my SD card. I do understand as a programmer why it isn’t the best idea, but to remove this SD card is so much more of a production than on my last WinMo phone….. but that is the only thing I give WinMo over Android 2.0. The ms exchange interaction on my Droid has been very good. I don’t miss the Pocket Office apps (well maybe onenote)
Droid > samsung i760 for sure in my book. Perhaps the HTC WinMo 6.1 phones are better….
After owning 6 Windows Mobile phones and switching to android, I have only one complaint.
The Voice Command sucks on Android compared with Windows Mobile Voice Command. I also miss the today screen a little bit. If I could resize my android widgets better, I wouldn’t feel that way.
I like Android better, primarily, because the browser is better and my google account synchronizes better.
clearly the guy is a moron who never used winmo and android.
you can have a Ferrari but my Hyundai will get me to the store faster if your ferrari is busy locking up, needing to wait for a reboot, and generally not working.
So while all the points are legit it’s just silly to think winmo is better. The borg in redmond have years and years of catching up to do and the whole time they ae trying google is going to be updating android. Winmo will never catch up unless MS grows up and starts from scratch rather than trying the annual patch to prehistoric wince to try and get something decent.
looks like Rob Jackson got there choice of pc with windblows 7 for this article. Its the only logical explanation.
My job allows me the opportunity to test devices for executives… and let executives play with phones… I have given out 4 droids and got 4 droids back. Now don’t get all techie yelling at me… just listen… for the general user, ease of use is EVERYTHING. And I’ve use them both and the iphone is easier.. now, it isn’t for the tweaker, but it is for the exec who just wants it to work (shitty network notwithstanding)….especially in a corporate setting tied to Exchange. Windows Mobile lost to blackberry for that very reason. the blackberry came out and was EASY TO USE. Easy to use sells more phones than tweakable tinkerability.
Excuse me ladies and gentlemen, but I am able to install apps on my SD card and I am also running a better, faster and smoother G1 than you guys who run stock Google Android. Why?
Because I choose to have people compile for me the best features off 1.6, Blur and 2.0, people who give me the freedom to install hundreds of apps on my G1’s SD card. Because I root. And it is great. (Thank you Cyanogen for your outstanding work!!)
The drawback is that it involves some work, but it pays off, oh it does. And I get updates, bug fixes and new features every week. My iPhone friends used to look down on me. Now they are starting to change their attitude – I can have complete access to my phone’s memory and functionality (and I don’t need Apple’s i[shit]Tunes to upload music and files of any sort). I can listen to FLAC!!! I can stream video!!!!! I can do a million things and today I can do another extra thing – have Google Nav!!!
I am not saying everyone should root their phones. No, I can’t take that responsibility. But I can tell you that if you do it successfully you will never, ever go back to stock ROM.
I moved away from WinMobile to Android because of the horrible user experience in 5.0
One big difference from winmo and android.
EVERY WINMO DEVICE comes with at soft reset button.
WHY?
Just like you windows pc it will lock up on you!
HTC Sense makes things much much easier.
jaymonster wrote:
Add to that the fact that only the EXECUTABLE has to reside “on device”
The problem is that not all apps will be designed to have tiny launchers with the rest on SD. These kinds of things can really kill the OS if google doesn’t fix it soon.
I had the T-Moble dash…And I loveded it-for a while.For a short while and that isss because the dam thing begain to freeze and the cam/video rec stoped working-and it just started doing weird-ish altogather, now I had a G1 and soon had get a replacement-that sucked. But now that I have my Droid and loves it annnd still coninue to hear bad stuff about winmo…yeah Android all the way A sorry Winmo youuuu lose-but you know this mans!!!
@Anthony..
I’ve had to reset my droid 7 times in two weeks without the soft reset button. I had a WinMo phone for 2 years and reset it 3 times with the soft reset button. But then again my PC doesn’t lock up either.
I had a XV6800 – I am sure there were different experiences on different WinMo hardware. Kind of like comparing a G1 to a DROID or HERO.
Windows Mobile is powered by WinCE.
Android runs on an updated Linux kernel.
WinCE is old, and Microsoft keeps throwing patches at it. I think creating WM 6.5 was a bad decision. Why can’t they work on something based on Windows? The iPhone runs a version of Mac OS X (desktop OS) that was ported to the ARM architecture. Android is just a thick layer of uber coolness over Linux. Microsoft should drop WinCE. If they can get the power of the Windows OS on a mobile device, it would have the chance to compete.
There’s a WinMo fone that has me all hot and sweaty. HTC HD2
Bunch of droid fans in I just must clarify things. You can install a much wider selection of apps because you can install to storage card and use it like internal storage, multitasking on devices like the HTC imagio, touch pro 2, tilt 2, and pure is seemless. Please when we are talking about windows mobile don’t bring up the q3m because that is motorola’s fault not win mo. Winmo is a shell, that’s it, it depends on the device manufacturer to taylor the os to work along with its interface. HTC has even done that with droid, well minus the G1 but that was google and htc’s first rodeo. The truth is right now Win Mo has much more to offer for the advanced user which may change soon, but the motorola droid is not the flash junkie’s fix right now. Wait the dragon/passion will be coming soon. Of coarse so will the WinMO 6.5 HD2 so we will see. EVEY DROID COMES WITH AN SOFT RESET EXE BUILT INTO THE OS BY A COMBINATION OF KEYSTROKES, WHY. Fyi, so does iphone and every other mobile device on the planet. Oh yeah, so do pc’s and macs you moron.
Andriod is a nice OS but its just not ready for prime time. It seems that after every update, I had more and more bugs with my G1. That fact that you can’t save apps to SD sent me back to WM6.5. The apps2SD app thats out caused too lock ups and slow downs. I was having to reset every 10 minutes. The only cool thing about Android are the cheap apps. Apps that are free on Android are not free on WM. Why would I pay $90 for a phone app?
@john
I’ve had my adp for about a year now and didnt have to reset it once so far. It har never frozen or locked up on me. Considering the amount of tinkering it has sustained, thats pretty good. The droid is a rushed phone, sadly. Both os an hw should have gone through more testing.
I’ve been using a MotoQ running the original version of WinMo 5.0, without any upgrades, syncing wirelessly originally with my organization’s Exchange Server and Outlook, now syncing calender email and contacts with Outlook using the Google Apps/Outlook sync feature, and I will tell you that in almost 3 years of constant use, I’ve had to reset the phone perhaps 3 times. There isn’t a keyboard around that can touch the MotoQ’s and for all its faults, including crappy battery time, the Q has served me well for business purposes.
For all the hoopla about the newest Android phones – the Moment’s great screen, etc, isn’t anyone concerned that once Google has enough of us hooked on their free service and holds our precious data, we’ll see the free service disappear replaced by a subscription cost?
I don’t use my MotoQ for anything other than calls and Outlook/Google apps, but so far, I am hard pressed to make the switch.
I’m a Microsoft ‘fan’, I love Windows 7, think Vista was awesome but had flaws. I have MCTS certificates. I hate Linux, I really really tried to use it, I love trying new stuff, but even Ubuntu failed miserably for me. “Help” from forum members made me want to kill myself (note: it should not be necessary to ‘compile’ anything to get anything to work, nor use the command line this is not 1990).
My point for the above: I’m all for Microsoft.
My point for this post: You can compare whatever you like, but WinMo 6.x is a piece of shit and Android so far rocks. Praising Windows Mobile over Android is pretty much praising Windows 3.11 over XP. It’s old and very much a dead system. I’ve used my fathers Diamond and both he and me almost threw it out of the windows out of sheer frustration.
The only reason the HD2 works is because HTC has done everything in it’s power to hide the hidious thing that is Windows Mobile. Yes. It has a zillion apps but they all suck. I know because I tried them all. The UI isn’t better because 3rd party apps make it look better, the base UI is still looking worse than a pile of vomit.
Don’t argue with me, I’m right. It has been proven by scientists from CERN and Chuck Norris.
Note: This post hasn’t even come near the point of being as ridiculous as the blog above.
Is this for real?? Gotta be the funniest thing i’ve heard all week…whatever he’s smoking or drinking, i’d like 2 please ;-)
A lot has to do with how you use your phone. If you are really into the social networking scene, you need Android. If you are really into tweaking your phone, you probably prefer Android. However, if you are strickly business, WinMo works for you. I have to agree with @John, I rarely have a lock-up on WinMo and since I have been using XP on my PC, I have never had a lock-up. Again, it depends on how you use the device.
Interesting article/comments. Just thought I would through in my 2 cents. I have been using a WM made by HTC for number of years now (WM 5, 6, and now 6.1). Never had a lock-up, and/or issues with UI. I read a lot of these negative comments from people about WM, but it seems the people who write those are not using their phones for business. WM is not for everyone. I think a lot of problems people experience with WM is due to their cheep hardware. The only complain I ever had with WM is battery life… but I also have a BB Tour and it lasts me only couple of hours longer than HTC Touch Pro… all depends on how you use it I guess… Cheers.
I recently defected from WinMo to Android after using WinMo for a number of years. I’m a huge Android fan and really happy with the switch. BUT… there are a number of things that WinMo does a lot better than Android, e.g.
– divx, xvid & wmv playback. I’m still annoyed that I have to CONVERT all my video files to play on Android, where as on WinMo it was drag, drop and play.
– After the brilliant PocketInformant on WinMo, the calendar on Android is like a bad joke.
– Openness. Yes, Android is Open Source. But WinMo is a hell of a lot more accessible to customization and modification for a regular user. No rooting required to change a key in the Registry for instance. Example: The sms field had 3 lines of text on the Diamond when writing. I wanted four. 1 minute on google for which reg key to change and it was fixed! On Android, it’s all about learning to live with it.
– Also, strangely, I prefer Google Maps on WinMo. The Android version is lacking vital (to me) features like bookmarks.
– Word processing. The support for editing and creating complex word (& excel) files on Android is, well, almost non-existant in comparison.
Now, don’t get me wrong! I still prefer Android and am looking forward to see it grow into something great, but there’s no denying that there are things that WinMo does better.
I’ve used both and I prefer Android. Don’t forget that you’re pitting Android 2.0 (with the paint still wet) against WinMob 6.5. It SHOULD be an unfair comparison because of how new Android is and how long Microsoft has been in the game. However it isn’t. Something tells me that Android 3.0 will obliterate WinMob 7.0.
winmo better than android? Them fightin’ words?
Actually, I’m much more sympathetic to winMo than iPhone or blackberry. It has *real* apps such as Microsoft Office and Softmaker (I submitted a request for an Android port). But I get the feeling that it is a dying platform.
And HD2 is kinda missing the point…if I get a smartphone to do real stuff such as word processing or spreadsheet then I need a keyboard + dpad/trackball. You can’t expect me to select tiny spreadsheet cells with a finger or get out a stylus!
Clearly a topic like this is not going to get a very fare shake at a site called Phandroid.
I’ve been a WinMobile user for longer than I’d care to remember. I know the OS inside out. I certainly do not love it, but it’s supremely functional and for a corporate user who requires (not desires, wants, wishes, but requires) seamless Outlook integration it’s not a bad bet.
All that said I’ve been salivating while waiting for my new Droid to arrive. It came Friday. I love it and I hate it – and I’m not sure I’m going to keep it.
The interface is great. The improvements over any WinMobile device are clear. The screen, the responsiveness, the notification bar, nav — it’s all awesome. A central app store (though not as good as iTunes/Apple/App Store) is a huge improvement.
BUT… the Outlook integration is lackluster at best: contact sync does not include all Outlook fields and does not respect the Outlook “File As” setting. Ignoring the File As setting is a HUGH drawback for someone with lots of contacts that are a mix of businesses and people. To top it off, you cannot choose to sort the contact list by anything other than first name – WHAT?! Calendar invites cannot be accepted/rejected on the phone – WHAT?! You need to download another app to gain access to your Global Address List.
I spent the weekend trying as hard as I could to get used to all of this. I WANT to keep this phone. I want to embrace Android.
But now I have the dreaded “the application email (process com.android.email) has stopped unexpectedly. please try again.” problem with my email. None of my emails works (I don’t use Gmail, I don’t want Gmail, Gmail is not a viable email solution for me). That’s on top of the inability to move mail between folders, choose what happens when I delete an email (I want to go back to the inbox), set follow up reminders that sync with Outlook, etc.
The apps are awesome. The media dock kicks butt. The screen and interface rock.
But this is not a fun gadget. It’s a SMARTPhone. That means above all it needs to make calls (which it does flawlessly) and sync my email, calendar, and contacts without a single issue. Everything else is gravy.
Seems to me that Android is a kick-butt consumer OS for now. If the development teams tighten up the Outlook integration (support the full ActiveSync standard, fix identified contact/calendar bugs, resolve the crippled inbox, flush out the email client so it’s full featured) this phone will be a true iPhone rival.
Oh… and my current pet peeve… with WinMobile 5 years ago you could plug the phone into the PC and have simultaneous access to the full phone storage (main memory and storage card) on both the PC and phone. Why can’t I do that with Android?
I want this to succeed and I want to keep the Droid. But I’m afraid I’m going to return it and wait a few months until I hear this basic corporate user stuff is resolved.
its disgusting that that was even said i SWITCHED from being a WM loyalist, the storage thing yes hands down, however i LOVE everything else about my Droid in every way, windows has to do alot to catch up in a bit of ways and the apps thing is only because its one of the oldest mobile platforms and look at the charts of smartphone requets showing android at 20%, WM at 4%. im not damning the platform i still have two of my old pocket pc’s but my droid is here to stay and if it grows the way it has been (android turned one year old oct 21) it will be a powerhouse its the youngest one and growing fast
Honestly, WinMo on paper should win. I’ve used winmobile phones since 1.0 CE days.
I have an HTC touch Pro and before that the XDAIIs.
They are slow and clunky. And they are (reportedly) the best winMo phones out there.
what it should do and what it actually does appear to be very different things.
So i’m here, to get android for my HTC touch pro, becuase i can live without the extra features and the better outlook integration and the easy spreadsheet app and notes.
Because i need a phone that actually works, a phone that won’t reject a call as i try to get it out of my pocket.
A phone that doesn’t take three rings before it works out who’s calling.
A phone that doesn’t give up on the Bluetooth headset when it’s busy and lag horribly on the gps.
I am a windows fan. But I don’t’ see office2007 as a justifiable expense when open office is almost as good. As I move away from outlook and office apps. I can no longer justify the laggy, ‘oh please just work this time’ experience.
Honestly I think winMo would be perfectly good, if it had a faster processors. It feels like when you try to run a really good game, on a really crappy computer.
But it seems whenever they bring out a new windows mobile phone or update, they pump it full of more candy and less speed.
Yes I’m looking at you touchflo
Why is touchflo required!? Because it’s there to do the job that WindowsMobile doesn’t do.
The one thing I liked about winmo is when I turned the screen on it came to my home page. Were as android comes to what ever program I was in last. I wish I could change that.
Are you kidding me? 2 years in WinMo hell, not a single update, even with KNOWN issues, Microsoft ignored! The Microsoft announced not too long ago it was developing a Music app for the iPhone, all the while their own Music Program built into WinMo was totally NON-Functional, well barely anyway. Any native program built into WinMo totally sucked. All 3rd party programs and hacked the hell out of the registry to get the phone to behave and not have to pull the battery 3-4x a day. OMG, this article is a joke – RIGHT???
I think the point on running apps from SD is that Android will import the files to the main memory to run an app while WM can run the app using the SD, preferably a class 6 card, as an extension of main memory. This is a strong advantage, especially for larger apps, but I think Android will see this in the next major update if not sooner.
I have had a windows mobile phone for about 3 years. My earliest was a cingular 5125 or something (wm 5), then I got the lg incite (wm6.1), and finally a touch pro (hacked it to be 6.5). Now I have a g1 (cyanogen4.2.5), and I have to say it blows all wm phones out of the water.
I used to regularly reboot my phone because it froze too much. Despite there being tons of apps out there, it is nearly impossible to find the good ones, and I often ended up with tons of apps that didn’t work or were complete crap on my phone.
The phone was always freezing, and it had a horrible UI, even with all the new interfaces I put on it, it didn’t match the look and ease of use of my G1.
With android, I have never had to reboot my phone to fix a problem besides when I flash a ROM wrong, and it is 10x faster in general. The market is also really nice, and I can find tons of apps that actually work, and see the reviews of them.
As a beginner developer, I can say that android is a lot more friendly to beginners. There’s tons of documentation out there, and they went out of their way to make it as streamlined as possible. I had the full version of Visual Studio, and I still found it very hard to even compile a game for wm, much less make a good one. With android, I have developed a game in Eclipse, posted it on the market and gotten over 2,000 downloads so far, and user feedback. This is something I never would have been able to do on windows mobile.
One last note – the windows mobile marketplace is horrible. I used it for a bit, but there’s almost no good free apps, and all the priced apps are overpriced. It’s not a good store at all.
Enderx is right. Apps or not, Windows Mobile was a sluggish, unstable joke of an OS. No matter how much effort I put in my Windows Mobile phones, they would always end up being awesome phones with poorly designed interfaces.
Windows Mobile is old, slow, ugly and is a computer engineering nightmare.
Can’t wait to compare it to Android!
fail article! haha
I have the Droid as well as a WinMo 6.5 phone. Let me know when I can place a call on a Droid while driving simply by touching my headset and giving a command (android requires you to 1.turn it on 2.unlock it 3.choose a contact to call – all while driving). The droid phones are fast and fun but they are terrible as a business tool. They do not even work well for entertainment do to the lack of syncrynizing with the pc in an intelligent mannar. The android operating system is a better OS but it still makes for a poor business phone. Ultimately it will mature into a full blown device that does not require us to store personal data online (businesses should never do this) in order to function. Like I said the droids are fun and fast but are still lacking basic features whereas WinMo has the features but is slower and not as “hip”. They both are incomplete solutions.
After trying android 1.5 and eclair on the sdk i believe it is making great progress and for stock systems definatly beats winmo. however after 2 months of tweaking every part of my omnia including loading actual win95 through dosbox, running multiple rdp’s, installing after market shells (liking spb mobile best) I would have to say you can do alot more with winmo if you take the time and know how to disect and rebuild properly lol. Android is great rooted, winmo doesnt need to be rooted. so in the long run isnt it just a argument between win and linux? (even though you can emulate either on either)
Im big fan of Windows Mobile since their first PocketPC times. Have always keep updated on their device. But lately feels really frustrated with their updated and function, especially since iPhone enters the market. Im still using WM phone now, but just decided to purchase and HTC Android powered phone after seeing it in action. Now my vote is for Android, Google again killed Microsoft!
Long time WM user. In a corporate environment (with Exchange on the backend) it configures easily and just plain works. Many of my favorite apps run nicely on WM, at least until they replaced live search with Bing (aka the most useless search/decision tool on the planet).
I love the iPhone interface. Unfortunately, I live in rural MN more then 2 miles from the Interstate — therefore no iPhone.
I’m excited about the Droid. I have configured several of them. So far the integration to Exchange has been good. It doesn’t have all the Outlook fields, including a few important ones. But the platform keeps getting better.
This interesting discussion has made it clear that neither WinMo nor Android are perfect at the moment, but rather that they address different needs.
So, the business, corporate user who is dependent on MS Outlook, with or without exchange server, has to use Windows Mobile. Period.
The average user will much prefer Android, since it’s modern, ‘hip’, good looking, reliable, fast, easy to use, lots of apps, etc. No question about that either, however some important Android omissions out of immaturity, like the lack of divx support.
The advanced average user will be divided. Should he go for the much promising Android, which however does not offer many customization options (no even a file explorer out of the box???), or should be opt for WinMo, which may be ugly and dated, but which has registry, file system, and feels more like a PC operating system to play with?
The super geek with be happy with both! He can load custom roms easily to both Wino and Android :-)
In my opinion Android is still immature, and right now I would rather go to for WinMo, since I belong to categories 1 and 3. But Android has a lot of potential and could become the super OS catering for any type of user.
Windows Mobile has a lot of potential too, if Microsoft decides to put an effort on it, and redesign it from scratch.
I have and htc touch pro ive been using it for quite a while i love it because i have the ability to run android and windows mobile on it thx to custom roms and xda develeopers i can do this really the only reason why people say windows mobile sucks is because they dont know how to work a bit withit.
Try using SPB Mobile Shell on Win Mobile, and you will have a great user experience while still having the power of Windows for all the other serious stuff ;)
-Islandboz
I’ve had a win mobile 6 HTC/Verizon device for over 2 years.. honestly it was a piece of crap… the UI at best is mediocre…
As for WinMo vs. Android. The only thing I can say about it is the following (if it hasn’t been said already)… WinMo has exchange and as for people like me that have to have a contact manager database that is accessible by me (and ONLY by me) then you have to keep WinMo active. Yes I could sync with a virtual server on the internet somewhere but how secure would that info really be? Also there are other people in my company that have to have the same database and the same access. When you set online PIMs to share they share with EVERYBODY. That is the main problem with android, it is not geared for a secure sharable database company wide between multiple users. I personally like that there are more OS’s coming out for PDA/cell phones but the main drawback is company wide scalability. The only choices we really have are WinMo or Google and I personally don’t want my customer’s information so easily accessed by someone that should not be viewing it. Unless you want to learn how to program or change your servers to linux WinMo is the ONLY choice we have. Unless you want to TRUST your private information with EVERYONE else! And yes, you can pay a service for syncing with multiple phones but then that defeats the purpose of having a server to keep your PIM’s secure.
Just my humble opinion as a Net Engineer and a database engineer….
My final thoughts…
Until there is a secure way to share between ACT, Outlook, & Notes, I will be sticking with WinMo!
I’m about to end my 3 month experiment with Android. My HTC Dream was my first smartphone, and I discovered several insurmountable drawbacks: 1- virtually useless, not to mention illegal, voice dialling capabilities. How is it that in 2009 a new phone can’t be used without user interaction on a touch screen? Yes, I found some free apps that helped a bit (TopVoiceControl), but it was a huge step below my 6 year old Samsung phone. 2 – Google calendar, contacts and email sync? Forget it….I got tired waiting for my ‘conversations’ to get loaded over the network in Google mail…if you’re out of network signal, you have no email. Brilliant. I ended up with a workaround using POP accounts, but it wasn’t true synchronization. Also, any calendar entries made on the phone couldn’t be synched with my Outlook desktop. For business users, Android is barely usable. So for all the anti-Microsoft chat I’ve heard about WinMo, it’s GOT to be better than Android…..
@ comments: Android fanboys are lol
my spelling is horrible i know get over it!
PHONES mda, g1, behold 2, cliq and cliq xt, hd2 i have had all for at least 2 weeks
ok so i use wm now but i am obsessed with android. i will have to say that as to my experience with the 2 os’s as of now wm would win buy fetchers but use ability and apps would go to android. of the 2 flat os’s with no pretty covers (tuchwiz sucks) android for shere with that cover like htc seans i call it a tie. as for multi-tasking wm gits my vote but android is not far back at all my androids would slow and get glitchy if i had over 6 things going at once witch it not hard to do and some say if you have to many messiges it would mess with it to (has not hapend to me but i have heard of it) cant say for all but my hd2 is super fast and im sere its partly the s.d. prosser but its a wm phone so as unfare as it is it counts. apps android all the way better looking and more usable so many are free wow love android apps but storing the apps makes me cry. so little space form less then 100mb to 150 or so (not sere of nexis one) wm with apps on sd (without rooting) a must have for all phones. syncing is easy on both if you know what your doing i sync my Google to my wm and use Microsoft direct push for email and a 2nt set of contacts. so ether way google of wm 6 to one half dusin to another its all the same to me if i had to pick it would (sorry google)be wm for all email in real time (google is only gmail in real time)over all as of now and looking only at the 6 phones i will not porting android to my hd2 but i think the foucher android will really kill all the competition its just not there yet when i pay 300+ for something i want it to do what i want when i want to with out rooting or cracking cant wate to see wp7 and the next gen android phone if it gets snap dragon and apps to sd (would like wifi router too) im back on android 200% android has bin out not 3 years now its not a teen yet. when its all worked out it will be the best hands down!
linux vs wince..
my netbook
This article was written by Microsoft. What a joke! Yeah, Android and their 50,000+ (and growing) apps can’t compete with Windows and their 200 (two hundred) apps. Oh, and let’s give Windows the winner too for being a proprietary OS which is much, much better than an open standard OS. Plus, Windows supports MSNBC and their propaganda, so they are the clear winner there too. Yes, Windows is the clear winner.
Sincerely,
Bill Gates
Yeah, Android and their 50,000+ (and growing) apps can’t compete with Windows and their 200 (two hundred) apps. Oh, and let’s give Windows the winner too for being a proprietary OS which is much, much better than an open standard OS. Plus, Windows supports MSNBC and their propaganda, so they are the clear winner there too. Yes, Windows is the clear winner.
Sincerely,
Bill Gates
All i am going to say to you people who think Android is oooh so better than WinMo, think again… Perhaps you haven’t heard of the Custom ROMs that are being developed everyday that changes the whole WinMo experience, and boosts it to a whole new level of performance and stability. Yea so what, Android has a nice UI, but you should really look into what the people at XDA are doing for WinMo AND Android devices. New MaxSense UI that, IMO, makes Android look like an old Commador64.
If your phones hardware is suitable for multitasking, WinMo should not have a problem doing it. Its not WinMo thats the problem, its the manufacturers of the devices WinMo gets put onto. Yea, linux has a slightly smaller footprint than Windows does, thus, giving it the ability to run alittle smoother on older systems than Windows. But i dont think people should try and rag on WinMo, just cause they had some old arse smartphone with a 50Mhz processor and 2MB or RAM, trying to run a OS. Oh and for the people who think OpenSource is better than proprietary, PFFFFT! Never heard of a Opensource Certification…. But i have heard of Microsoft Certification…. I just don’t trust it. If some jokers come out with something to compete with MS, they will compete, but MS will never lose. They are pretty much the founding fathers of the OS world. Aside from Apple.
win mobile has no apps i have the hd2 and it would be so metter if was a droid i guess got to get da evo
Hi all,
I recently migrated from my WM6.1 to Android 2.1. But I really miss the rich UI feel i had in WM. May be I was adicted to WM. However, In android all things are “big big” and feels function-wise less rich than WM had to offer. Take a simple look at the default contact manager screen in droid 2.1, I miss the Names with numbers list !!.. I was using “Myphone” with WM those days so that I did not had the complaint on cloud sync with outlook too.. I still sit on the fence about WM or Droid yet having owning a droid. Can anybody help me by telling me a way to list names with numbers together in “Droid default contact manager” ???
ohh.. just to add one more.. in droid, it is a mess after adding a FB account to the contact manager. I even see my deleted messages on “history”..!! No way of deleting the history in Droid !!.. Feel droid has a longer way to go in terms of UI. May be droid is better in Kernal-wise.
And the nerds have at it.
I have switched from the Touch Pro to the Sprint EVO 4G. As im not too keen on the Android operating platform, i am amazed at how fast it operates, but this is only due to the hardware. If i could get Windows Mobile on this sucker… OMG, EPIC!
Thanks so much for all your postings they really have helped me choose between WM and Droid.
No body has considered price..
HD2 win mobile is far cheeper than the Evo 4g!
Por lo que yo tenia entendido. Android no es tan solo un sistema operativo….. mas que eso tiene nucleo linux, eso quiere decir que es libre ante todo tipo de aplicacion y modificacion. Ya que como todos sabemos el nucleo linux es libre de toda restriccion.
Asique por lo que mi conclusion es que Android es un nucleo al cual le puedes poner Windows Mobile 6.5 sin problema alguno.
En el caso de que alguien tenga algun tipo de problema con Android ya sea como sistema opertaivo o como nucleo (porque se puede tener Windows Mobile 6.5 con nucleo Android), es porque mal utilizar sus funciones, ocurre con lo mismo con linux, cuando no sabes utilizarlos te pones a hacer modificaciones y como no tienes restricciones, no te percatas de los problemas que ocacionas. En conclusion lo hechas a perder.
Si alguien no esta acuerdo con mi opinion que me lo haga saber, y que tenga unos buenos fundamentos, con el fin de que nadie quede como ignorante.
Todo lo que he dicho es porque he investigado. Si alguien sabe mas, por favor me lo hace saber.
Do you guys ever WORK with your phone?
I am running WM 6.5 on an HD2, and struggled to get to Android without having to tip all my personal data to google services. When I managed to sync PIM without going through google’s servers, and I finally got to TESTING android for my job, well, it’s TOTAL DESOLATION.
You need to play in a virtual cafeteria? Fine.
You need to track your workout sessions? Fine.
You need flashy UI and fingerfriendliness? Fine.
You want a way to easily find applications in one place? VERY fine.
…you need a spreadsheet that actually DOES ITS JOB and a database app which satifies your needs? You’re welcome to code it yourself.
Yeah, because pocket excel in PocketPC 2002 (yeah, pocketpc 2002, even before the concept of “windows mobile” existed) was better than any spreadsheet app you find lying in the market.
Let’s just NOT talk about the bundled calendar app.
Puh-lease!