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Windows Mobile 5.0 is deficient - Microsoft STILL does not get it what customers need May 12, 2005 [General] | By Edward J. R. Many news sources keep praising Microsoft for releasing Windows Mobile 5.0 and they fail to notice that Windows Mobile 5.0 is very deficient and in fact one can just say that "Windows Mobile 5.0 is a minor upgrade: the source code of Windows Mobile 2003 has been recompiled under new core operating system - Windows CE 5.0 instead of Windows CE 4.2 - and new more fancy looking user interface has been added". Many things are still not fixed in Windows Mobile 5.0 and it is more evolution than a revolution... here some examples: let's take a look at this screen shot (Pocket PC with square display powered by Windows Mobile 5.0): 
... where you can see that image embedded in MP3 file is not visible when this MP3 file is played in Windows Media Player 10.1 in Windows Mobile 5.0! The same is with Windows Mobile 5.0 for smartphone: 
However many existing MP3 players (like Apple iPod) and also Windows Media Player for Windows XP: 
... are indeed showing the image embedded in MP3 (so called "Album Art")! In era of podcasting this is particularly annoying that Microsoft cannot get right even such thing! Update: in fact both Windows Mobile 2003 and Windows Mobile 5.0 have "delete all" function but it is a bit hidden. See more about it here. Another very annoying thing in MS Smartphone was lack of possibility to delete all SMS messages (now called by Microsoft "Text Messages") at once - with just one command! Many people hoped that Windows Mobile 5.0 will solve this problem at last! No, it is not so, Windows Mobile 5.0 for smartphone still has no "delete all" function: 
However version of Windows Mobile 5.0 for Pocket PC has this functionality (under menu position "Tools"): 
Now let's take a look at dialing program - a part of Windows Mobile 5.0 too: 
What is wrong with it? This is wrong: there is no button "Video call". Yes, Microsoft still is not supporting 3G (UMTS) services in Windows Mobile 5.0 ! These things - including video telephony - are included in Symbian but Microsoft still forces hardware manufacturers to buy video telephony software for 3G from 3rd party or to do it themselves. This is sad. Operators all over the world invested big money in 3G networks and Microsoft preaches that it is very operator oriented, yet still there is no support for basic 3G services like video telephony in 3G! No wonder that Symbian has several 3G phones on the market already (what makes operators happy) and the first Windows Mobile powered phone for 3G will be released in August 2005 at the earliest... Another very annoying thing for MS Smartphone users was lack of possibility to use the same applications as Pocket PC users have: Pocket Office (now called "Office Mobile"), Terminal Services Client and Microsoft Reader (eBook Reader). Unfortunately in Windows Mobile 5.0 it hasn't changed - still users of MS Smartphone will have a feelng of having a crippled device - even if they will have the same resolution of the display as Pocket PC (in coming months several MS Smartphones with QVGA display will be relesaed - they already have been announced). Generally unification of both platforms - smartphone and Pocket PC - although technically possible - has not been achieved in Windows Mobile 5.0 and there is no progress in this matter, despite many Microsoft managers claiming in various interviews otherwise. As interesting twist of matters we can also mention that ActiveSync over Wi-Fi that was possible in Pocket PC devices powered by Windows Mobile 2003, is no longer possible in Windows Mobile 5.0! So not only Microsoft has not improved the platform enough, but some features has been removed. Conclusion: Windows Mobile 5.0 is too little too late. How late? August 2005 will be the first devices powered by Windows Mobile 5.0 on the market. However many users will be dissapointed as you can see above...  Post your comment (free registration is required to post, but if you register you can edit your posts later) [ 25 Comments ]
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