I can't leave my abusive OS!

[MichaelBanning]

I sent the following email to Phil Nickinson, would love to hear your input as well. Oddly enough, the Android site staff have emails and the WMExperts don't...

Dear Phil,

As a Windows Mobile user, I feel like the chick in the movies who stays with the abusive boyfriend because he says he's getting better and is really nice when he's sober. Let me explain.

THE BACKSTORY: (THE POINT is below) With one semester of college left before moving on to the real world, I am eligible for an upgrade. A year and a half ago, I got my first smartphone, a BlackJack2, for MS Word editing, email, GPS navigation, occaisional web browsing, and the camera. It's been ok, but I've also gotten in serious trouble with my boss over the summer when my email just stopped sending, or I've had to remove the battery from the phone to get the GPS to work so I would get to a meeting on time, or the IE browser wasn't loading the page in a legible way. After several email problems (xpress mail, cwmx.com?!) and a faulty GPS transmitter, the phone has been replaced TWICE via insurance.

I now have the Jack (insurance ran out of BJ2's). It works better, but the browser still sucks and the GPS isn't always reliable. Now, after spending all day today unsuccessfully trying to: 1.) figure out why motweets is only available on Windows Marketplace Professional, even though it's also compatible with WinMo Standard, and 2.) trying to find a task/todo list manager that will sync with my pc and my phone, only to find out that Outlook tasks (which are ugly as hell) does that, but it isn't listed on the Windows Phone website how to do it, I wonder why I even bother with an OS that is seemingly made by people who are either purposely trying to frustrate people or are very content with lazy mediocrity.

THE POINT: I am ready for a more reliable and more powerful phone. I need a physical keyboard, and I hate trackballs, so IPhones and Blackberrys are out. I'm trying to decide between staying with At&t and WinMo and going with the Tilt2, or jumping the AT&T and Windows ships, and getting a droid on Verizon. You have both (according to your websites, which are awesome btw) so I'd love to hear your input.

I need GOOD, RELIABLE email, gps, web browsing, sync with computer for a decent TODO/task list (i guess like gmail tasks, havent tried outlook yet), and maybe the ability to use it as a modem for my pc when I'm on the road? I'll also say "apps" - I'm not an apps addict, but it shouldn't take me all day reading reviews and googling to find a twitter app for my phone (like today...)

Can I get all that with the Tilt 2? Can I get it without risking voiding my warranty/breaking the phone by "flashing a custom ROM???"

Or should I just make the jump? Perhaps the fact that wmexperts on twitter was recently updated via twidroid is my answer?

Thanks in advance and Happy Holidays!

 

[badersk]

With the exception of the Twitter thing, (i don't do twitter) the phone you have is capable of doing all you need with relative ease. You should have had the option to sync tasks when you set up the phone to sync with you computer if you are using outlook. If you are on MS exchange it syncs your outlook tasks automatically.

I don't know what all Gmail syncs but if you are using that, there is an option to set up push mail, although I have not done it. (I am on MS Exchange). Which is more reliable than Xpress mail.

As for a decent browser try skyfire or opera mini 5 beta. They are both better than the stock browser and more suited to you small screen.

If motweets supports WM Standard you can install it yourself while connected to active sync (XP) or Mobile device Center (Vista/7).

You can also do all this with a tilt 2 as well. It also has a much better gps sensor in it and you can use it with Bing or google maps, personally I bing better. There are also Navagation applications you can buy or get Waze for free.

You will not find a more capable OS than windows mobile. It offers more features, but with that a steaper learning curve and a less than pretty interface.

 

[Phil Nickinson]

lol. That's quite the story. (And I did get your e-mail.) I've been very happy with the Tilt 2, and the custom ROM thing isn't nearly as scary as it seems at first.

And don't read too much into WME updating from another platform's Twitter client. When you have that many devices laying around, it's bound to happen.

 

[kraski]

I'm trying to decide between staying with At&t and WinMo and going with the Tilt2, or jumping the AT&T and Windows ships, and getting a droid on Verizon. You have both (according to your websites, which are awesome btw) so I'd love to hear your input.

Merry Christmas! You don't have to jump ship, unless you want to.

My previous phone was a Treo Pro -- which, BTW, I'd recommend to anyone with some provisos. A few apps don't like the 320x320 resolution. To make best use of the small screen, I used RealVGA to fit more in (still readable). GPS needs something like GPSTest or GoogleMaps to give it a kickstart -- TomTom won't get it going without help. If you want something other than the usual WM UI, there is Androkkid (an Android-like UI) & several variations of an implementation of Manila/TouchFlo 2D to fit the 320x320 screen. If you're a heavy phone user, you'll want an extended battery -- the Treo Pro uses the same power battery that the Tilt 2 does, but WM 6.1 does not have the same power management that WM 6.5 does. And, yes, I still have my Treo Pro as an alternate phone, when needed.

My present phone is a Tilt 2. Huge screen, it's fast, has good GPS, gets close to double the battery life I had on the Treo Pro. For alternative UIs, there's TouchFlo 3D (built in) & Androkkid for free. Pointui Pro or SPB Mobile Shell, if you like them & are willing to pay -- both work much better on the Tilt 2 than they ever did on the Treo Pro.

When I had my Treo Pro, the last version of Iris Browser was my favorite. Then they stopped developing it when RIM bought the company. And, if you like it, there's still a downloadable copy floating around. Installing Opera never seemed to work very well. On the other hand, the integrated version of Opera on my Tilt 2 has now become my favorite.

Pocket Outlook has a preset config for hotmail (&, IIRC, gmail & Yahoo, too).

 

[jfa1]

Nice post kraski and another Merry Christmas. A rare or very rare white christmas here in Arkansas. But the sun is out and we are expecting to get to 32 with another storm system probaly on Tuesday. You continue to make we want to follow your lead and jump to the tilt2.

 

[MichaelBanning]

Hey everyone thanks for the responses. I haven't had a chance to read everything yet, so I'm sure I'll have more questions later. For now, though, I do have two questions:

1.) For Phil/anyone who's used both the droid and tilt 2 - You say that you've been very happy with the Tilt 2, but do you like it more than your Droid? If so, why? How do the two match up against each other?


2.) As I've watched the Round Robin videos it seems like every positive thing Phil has to say about the Tilt 2 is prefaced with "I had to tweak it first, but..." I know this is a Windows Mobile forum, but is the Tilt 2 only good if you have to change all the OS/ROM/whatever on the phone first? Is the droid better "out of the box?"