I have been an avid user of smartphones over the last couple of years. I started with a
Nokia 7650, possibly the first real smart phone other than the massive Nokia Communicator, then moved to
Sony Ericsson's P900 followed by an
MDA Compact running Windows Mobile 2003 SE.
Earlier this week it was time to upgrade so I ordered a free
MDA Vario, which comes with Windows Mobile 5.
The advantages, when compared to my previous MDA Compact, are that this unit has a built in WiFi card, contains a slide out keyboard and runs Windows Mobile 5. Note that I list Windows Mobile 5 as an advantage, more about that later. The disadvantages are that it only has a 200Mhz processor, the MDA Compact runs at 400Mhz, and that it runs Windows Mobile 5 (WM5).
I was very excited about moving to WM5 as WM2003SE was not really an OS designed for a phone. Way too many clicks and operations were necessary to perform even the most basic tasks. Being able to operate the phone with just one hand (god knows what the other hand is doing) is very important for a mobile phone, probably because you need the other hand to constantly reset the unit because it has crashed or become completely unresponsive.
In the last day I had to reset the phone at least 5 times. Not because I was doing anything special, I was just using the basic functionality. Great, let's see how we can make it worse...
Ah, here is how to make it worse, connecting it to a computer makes it a lot worse for both the computer and the phone. For some reason, probably a good one, Microsoft changed the way WM5 phones work with ActiveSync, Microsoft's syncing software.
I deal with a lot of Windows Mobile 2003 devices (dozens, if not hundreds) and ActiveSync has always worked flawlessly, without exception. It was fast and there was really very little that could go wrong, well done Microsoft. Unfortunately even Microsoft admits that ActiveSync in combination with WM 5 can be quite the nightmare.
I hardly ever need to restart my Windows XP machine, it is rock solid and I love it, in a platonic kind of way. In the last day I had to reset it at least as often as my new phone. ActiveSync is attempting to pair the phone, but more often than not it fails....miserably.
I managed to find the source of the problem, on Microsoft's "we are guilty page" it is stated that amongst many other things they have problems with USB hubs. USB HUBS! I have never seen anything fail with USB hubs and I use many different USB devices, all through a hub, but somehow Microsoft has managed to *** it up.
Sigh, so now every time I need to plug in my phone to sync or charge it I need to go all the way to the back of my machine, unplug another USB cable and plug this one in. Great.
Anyway, there is plenty more wrong with it, but I am starting to ramble. This is getting boring. To be continued...