Company issuing Windows Phones

[HerronScott]

My brother's company was bought last year by Energizer and they are finally switching their cell phones out to the company standard which apparently HTC Arrive's on Sprint. According to my brother, everyone there had iPhone's or Android phones and hates the new Windows Phone's.

My brother is having "issues" as well adapting so tried to help him a little last night and first thing I noticed was these phones didn't even come with Mango pre-installed! So first thing I did was get him to install Zune (which many of them are not doing) and get the phone updated. At least then I could point to some nice features such as voice-to-text, built in Windows Messenger so his wife can IM him from their home PC (or even iPad) and Bing's new Local Scout and code scanner.

My LG Quantum was my first smartphone so any other features I can point him to as pluses over his old iPhone (or even Android phones for his co-workers)? Some people apparently don't do well with forced change and once they are use to an interface find anything else hard to use. I've not used either of the other alternatives so can't really offer much in usability comparisons.

Although his HTC has a slide-out keyboard like my LG, he did mention that the he found the on-screen keyboard hard to use as the buttons are smaller than on his iPhone. I had never bothered trying it on my phone since I prefer the physical keyboard, but I found it difficult to type on as well when I tried it.

Scott

 

[Daniel Ratcliffe]

tbh, as Windows Phone is the underdog and is a radical change from the iPhone or Android devices, if they're forced to use it they will generally hate it. WP7 doesn't have that cool factor that Android/iPhone has (and I am constantly told by one of my mates that WP7 is <CENSORED>), and they will probably approach WP7 with the iPhone/Android way of working, which is nothing like how WP7 works. So they will get confused, and irritated, and then start blasting all kind of abuse about WP7 saying that it is the worst thing going and even cyanide is better than it... (that same friend of mine said if he was given a BlackBerry he would smash it, but given a WP7 device he would simply try and sell it).

 

[JustinMSalvato]

Lousy IT department

My brother's company was bought last year by Energizer and they are finally switching their cell phones out to the company standard which apparently HTC Arrive's on Sprint. According to my brother, everyone there had iPhone's or Android phones and hates the new Windows Phone's.

My brother is having "issues" as well adapting so tried to help him a little last night and first thing I noticed was these phones didn't even come with Mango pre-installed! So first thing I did was get him to install Zune (which many of them are not doing) and get the phone updated. At least then I could point to some nice features such as voice-to-text, built in Windows Messenger so his wife can IM him from their home PC (or even iPad) and Bing's new Local Scout and code scanner.

My LG Quantum was my first smartphone so any other features I can point him to as pluses over his old iPhone (or even Android phones for his co-workers)? Some people apparently don't do well with forced change and once they are use to an interface find anything else hard to use. I've not used either of the other alternatives so can't really offer much in usability comparisons.

Although his HTC has a slide-out keyboard like my LG, he did mention that the he found the on-screen keyboard hard to use as the buttons are smaller than on his iPhone. I had never bothered trying it on my phone since I prefer the physical keyboard, but I found it difficult to type on as well when I tried it.

Scott

Sounds like the IT department isn't doing their job. At the company I work for, we were given new Blackberry Bolds last year, but before we got our hands on them, IT configured the phones accordingly.

Those HTC Arrives should never gotten into the hands of the employees without having been updated to the latest version of Windows Phone.

 

[Seketh]

Sounds like the IT department isn't doing their job. At the company I work for, we were given new Blackberry Bolds last year, but before we got our hands on them, IT configured the phones accordingly.

Yep, poor IT. If I was you I'd try to have my brother go the extra mile and talk to the IT department or talk to his colleagues and have them update their phones. Although I think pre-Mango phones give you a message that you have to update when you try to acess the Marketplace.

It's normal that they hate it at first anyway, if people are used to Android or iOS and are forced to use a Windows Phone, most of them won't even try to learn how to use it...

 

[blehblehbleh]

I'd like to hear your brother's opinion after a month or so with Mango installed. As for the on screen keys, yeah they can be a bit difficult in portrait, but you can get accustomed to it over time (like with anything). Worst case he just busts out the physical keyboard on that phone and starts clicking away.

 

[fatclue_98]

My brother's company was bought last year by Energizer and they are finally switching their cell phones out to the company standard which apparently HTC Arrive's on Sprint. According to my brother, everyone there had iPhone's or Android phones and hates the new Windows Phone's.

My brother is having "issues" as well adapting so tried to help him a little last night and first thing I noticed was these phones didn't even come with Mango pre-installed! So first thing I did was get him to install Zune (which many of them are not doing) and get the phone updated. At least then I could point to some nice features such as voice-to-text, built in Windows Messenger so his wife can IM him from their home PC (or even iPad) and Bing's new Local Scout and code scanner.

My LG Quantum was my first smartphone so any other features I can point him to as pluses over his old iPhone (or even Android phones for his co-workers)? Some people apparently don't do well with forced change and once they are use to an interface find anything else hard to use. I've not used either of the other alternatives so can't really offer much in usability comparisons.

Although his HTC has a slide-out keyboard like my LG, he did mention that the he found the on-screen keyboard hard to use as the buttons are smaller than on his iPhone. I had never bothered trying it on my phone since I prefer the physical keyboard, but I found it difficult to type on as well when I tried it.

Scott

I agree with the other posters regarding the IT fail but as far as the onscreen keyboard, I don't get it. The iPhone's keyboard is smaller, **** the whole screen is smaller and Android keyboards are very narrow. I've had the Quantum, Focus and DVP and find myself rarely using the physical keyboard on my Dell. I'm not a dainty little guy either, I'm 6'0 and 210 lbs. with hands the size of Sasquatch.

 

[Seketh]

I agree with the other posters regarding the IT fail but as far as the onscreen keyboard, I don't get it. The iPhone's keyboard is smaller, **** the whole screen is smaller and Android keyboards are very narrow. I've had the Quantum, Focus and DVP and find myself rarely using the physical keyboard on my Dell. I'm not a dainty little guy either, I'm 6'0 and 210 lbs. with hands the size of Sasquatch.

Didn't even noticed that. That's absolutely true, never saw anyone complaining that the keyboard was worse than the iPhone. If anything, it's about the same or better. Definitely not worse though, it's one of the things in Windows Phone that everyone recognizes as being good.

I guess he's in that mentality in which people truly believe that something sucks before even using it. Then they just try to convince themselves that they were right, even though they're not. That's usually the first sign of a ******...

 

[HerronScott]

I agree with the other posters regarding the IT fail but as far as the onscreen keyboard, I don't get it. The iPhone's keyboard is smaller, **** the whole screen is smaller and Android keyboards are very narrow. I've had the Quantum, Focus and DVP and find myself rarely using the physical keyboard on my Dell. I'm not a dainty little guy either, I'm 6'0 and 210 lbs. with hands the size of Sasquatch.

The virtual keyboard for the iPhone in landscape mode takes up the entire width of the display while on the Quantum/Arrive you lose 1/4" at each side so it's 3" wide on the iPhone compared to 2 1/2" inches on the Quantum/Arrive.

How do you get that it's smaller and that the screen is smaller? At least for these models they are all 3.5" displays.

Scott

 

[HerronScott]

Sounds like the IT department isn't doing their job. At the company I work for, we were given new Blackberry Bolds last year, but before we got our hands on them, IT configured the phones accordingly.

Those HTC Arrives should never gotten into the hands of the employees without having been updated to the latest version of Windows Phone.

I definitely agree that whoever is responsible for the phones should have arranged to have them updated or instructed the users that they should install Zune and update them immediately. I don't think the IT department manages the cell phones though and they were shipped directly from Sprint with no interaction with the main office (IT or Facilities).



Scott

 

[fatclue_98]

The virtual keyboard for the iPhone in landscape mode takes up the entire width of the display while on the Quantum/Arrive you lose 1/4" at each side so it's 3" wide on the iPhone compared to 2 1/2" inches on the Quantum/Arrive.

How do you get that it's smaller and that the screen is smaller? At least for these models they are all 3.5" displays.

Scott

Using the landscape keyboard on a Quantum is a moot point since you have the physical kb, so I never considered it. In portrait mode, the iPhone's keys have a 1/16" gap between keys while the Quantum's keys have a smaller gap (almost butted up) and are taller. Both screens are 1-3/4" wide so that's an easy equation.

 

[btbam91]

After reading this thread, all I can say is load up Mango on your brother's device, show him the cool things about WP7 ad hopefully he enjoys it and transfers his knowledge to hisco workers.