Small Biz and WP7.5 and Beyond

[dlcpa]

I'm a CPA and I use my phone for business. My most important apps are Email, Contacts, Calender, Word Processing, Excel, the Web and Time Management. The rest of my software is probably the same over all platforms and perhaps cameras are of different quality.

I don't care at all about the Xbox games. As I have said many times here one think that is a must for me is for my phone to have an HID Bluetooth profile for my Stowaway keyboard. I use it for long emails, reports and Excel spreadsheets. I wasn't able to use my Stowaway keyboard with my Blackberry Storm 2 and that was a pain.

It seems to me that it would be logical that a WP7.5 phone would interact better with Office than Documents To Go and whatever means of syncing but I don't know that for a fact since I never used one. It is my understanding that you can't just setup the phone as a hard drive and transfer programs and files into it from your Windows computer. You need Zune or Skydrive. I don't know what they are.

It would be very helpful if someone could enlighten those of us who never used a WP phone, why it would be easier to use than an IPhone or a Droid. Is Zune and Skydrive, whatever they are better than using Itunes or whatever the Droids use? Is there more functionality in the WP version of Excel than the one on Iphone and Android via Documents to go? Just how is the process better for small business people like me?

Thanks so much,


dlcpa

 

[palandri]

Being a CPA maybe you need a small 7" tablet.

I use an excel time card for work on my phones, but there is always a lot of scrolling you have to do, due to the size of the spreadsheet. That's with both Microsoft Office and QuickOffice with my Symbian^3 Nokia phone. I don't see it being any different on an iPhone or a Droid.

From what I have read, there is no portable bluetooth keyboard support on a WP7 phone at this time.

Hope that helps.

 

[dlcpa]

Being a CPA maybe you need a small 7" tablet.

I use an excel time card for work on my phones, but there is always a lot of scrolling you have to do, due to the size of the spreadsheet. That's with both Microsoft Office and QuickOffice with my Symbian^3 Nokia phone. I don't see it being any different on an IPhone or a Droid.

From what I have read, there is no portable Bluetooth keyboard support on a WP7 phone at this time.

Hope that helps.

What about syncing and using the WP7.5 versions of Office programs? Are they decent and are they much better than using Documents To Go? Does the WP version have all the fields that Win 2010 Outlook has? I just want to know how good it is to use the Office apps on the WP7.5 phone vs what it's like on an IPhone or an Android Phone.

Oh, I see you wrote that you don't see it being different for the IPhone and the Androids. Right now on my BlackBerry Storm 2 & I think there was much more functionality on my old WM 5 Dell Axim. Also, doesn't the Outlook on WP7 contain all the fileds as the Outlook on MS Office Suite?

There are a few phones that have the HID protocol. Phone Scoop always lists those Bluetooth protocols.

 

[Coffee]

1. there's no keyboard bluetooth on Windows Phone currently.
2. there's no syncing for documents on the phone, technically. You use skydrive (accessible with your Live ID) from the phone directly so you never really have to download it. Then you can access skydrive docs from any PC, also.
3. I can't say if they're any worse/better than Docs to Go. They are watered down versions of the Office products. If you're a power Office user, it may not work for you.
4. Outlook on Windows Phone is not the same as Outlook on the regular Office suite. Neither is Excel.
5. you can't transfer files from your PC to your phone as with a hard drive. It's done through Zune (multi-media) and through Skydrive (any type of file). There are limitations.

I'm not sure of the capabilities on the other platforms - I didn't do much editing when I was on Android beyond the basics.

Bluetooth profiles for WP
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2449475

Office on WP
Office Blogs - CES: A look at Office on a Windows Phone 7 (video)

 

[baseballbert]

I've tried pairing my keyboard no luck. The phone recognizes it, but wants a username/password.

He once made a blackberry pie out Mangos. Chickens say "tastes like Mango" when they bite into apples, out of respect. He conquered an entire army of androids with a single Mango. He's the most interesting cell phone user alive. "I dont always use smartphones, but when I do, I use WP. Stay Metro my friends."

 

[jfa1]

1. there's no keyboard bluetooth on Windows Phone currently.
2. there's no syncing for documents on the phone, technically. You use skydrive (accessible with your Live ID) from the phone directly so you never really have to download it. Then you can access skydrive docs from any PC, also.
3. I can't say if they're any worse/better than Docs to Go. They are watered down versions of the Office products. If you're a power Office user, it may not work for you.
4. Outlook on Windows Phone is not the same as Outlook on the regular Office suite. Neither is Excel.
5. you can't transfer files from your PC to your phone as with a hard drive. It's done through Zune (multi-media) and through Skydrive (any type of file). There are limitations.

I'm not sure of the capabilities on the other platforms - I didn't do much editing when I was on Android beyond the basics.

Bluetooth profiles for WP
Bluetooth profiles supported by Windows Phone

Office on WP
Office Blogs - CES: A look at Office on a Windows Phone 7 (video)

Theres always office 365 which gives you exchange active sunc and you can use all your office docs on the the phone device or laptop or desktop its as low as 6.00 a month.

 

[dlcpa]

1. there's no keyboard Bluetooth on Windows Phone currently.
2. there's no syncing for documents on the phone, technically. You use SkyDrive (accessible with your Live ID) from the phone directly so you never really have to download it. Then you can access SkyDrive docs from any PC, also.
3. I can't say if they're any worse/better than Docs to Go. They are watered down versions of the Office products. If you're a power Office user, it may not work for you.
4. Outlook on Windows Phone is not the same as Outlook on the regular Office suite. Neither is Excel.
5. you can't transfer files from your PC to your phone as with a hard drive. It's done through Zane (multi-media) and through SkyDrive (any type of file). There are limitations.

I'm not sure of the capabilities on the other platforms - I didn't do much editing when I was on Android beyond the basics.

Bluetooth profiles for WP
Bluetooth profiles supported by Windows Phone

Office on WP
Office Blogs - CES: A look at Office on a Windows Phone 7 (video)

Well, you are correct, totally. There are no Windows Phones with the HID Bluetooth profile. I looked at all the Windows Phones on Phone Scoop and sure enuf ....wait this is strange, I just checked again and the HTC Titan has HID but the Surround doesn't. HTC Titan Specs, Features (Phone Scoop) .

I did look at the last video that you gave a link to and it does seem the
Excel version for WP7 is quite limited. I wonder even if a function is not listed, will it still work coming from a spreadsheet designed on a full size computer and perhaps even if you don't get all the help that you get on the big computers can you still key in or correct functions, lookups and other more challenging operations?

I am beginning to think that there is little advantage going with the WP phones other than the WP operating system and it's interface, which is pretty nice, interchangeable batteries and no interaction with the Google Data Farms, other than what we search for. I really did think that WP7.5 would be more compatible to Windows than the IPhone or the Androids but I don't think so anymore. Still, if something great came out for Verizon LTE in the next couple of weeks, I'd probably go there if it had HID and a large screen and all the other features I am looking for.