Windows Mobile 5.0 - Nice but needs work

Michael Gartenberg | May 11, 2005, 09:26 AM

Microsoft announced the latest version of their Windows Mobile Platform, now called simply Windows Mobile 5.0. Although it seems like they're phasing out the PocketPC and Smartphone brands somewhat, it's still important to note they are two distinct and different platforms. So what's good about the new stuff? It looks like on the PocketPC side, we will finally see support for flash based devices, so no longer do you need to worry if your power runs out that you'll lose all the information and applications on the device (which doesn't make backups unnecessary, just slightly less critical) and the core productivity apps have been given a nice facelift (and the embarrassment that Palm devices work better with Office files will finally go away) and there's support for PowerPoint files as well. There's improved picture and email functions but neither one was overly impressive. Email in fact I thought was a step backward in UI, actually showing me less information.

This is all well and good and might have been interesting a few years ago when I had the first talks with MSFT about what might be in Magneto. Problem is, the mobile bar has moved and moved in a big way. Where's the internal support for RSS? How about improving ActiveSync so that it not only syncs my contacts and calendar but all my Office documents as well. Why do I have to use Windows Media as a conduit for getting music and video over to the device. If Microsoft wants to position these devices as PC companions, they're going to need to do a far better job of the PC/Device sync side of the equation to support expanded functionality. The good news for them is at the moment, no one is doing it particularly better but the need for more advanced sync is clear.

What else is missing? Well, there's still no profiles for phone usage in the PocketPC devices which really makes those devices less useful. Smartphones are still missing some sort of readers for office files so if you're using one for email, no attachments for you. Devices still also don't seem to be optimized for one handed use. This is critical for telephony functionality and makes it far easier to use one of these things on a daily basis. The new soft keys will make this somewhat easier but overall, the Treo 650 still is the king of one handed device use and navigation.

With all that said, I still like the Windows Mobile platform a lot. It's still one of the best balances between stability, ease of use, synchronization and performance that's out there on the market. My Smartphone in particular is optimized for telephony which is critical and serves very well for email triage on the road, so I can see what's going on, respond to the important stuff, delete the junk and start thinking about the longer responses that need to be crafted. PIM integration and sync work very well. I'm less sanguine over the PocketPC platform at the moment. It's still too cumbersome to use these devices as phones and in a one handed mode. I had some high hopes for the Motorola MPX form factor but it seems that device is so bad, that Motorola would not send me one to use (and in fact went to great lengths to make sure that I didn't get a close look at it from anyone else either.) At the end of the day, the software is only as good as the devices running it so it will be interesting to see what vendors come up with over the next year. Many of the issues I talk about could be fixed by ODMs using third party software to augment the missing stuff. A new version of ActiveSync isn't likely but I expect we will see more of the integration I'm looking for in the next version of Windows. For now, it's nice modest upgrade that will be welcomed by vendors and will make hardware offerings more attractive. There's just a lot more that needs to be done here before we get to mobile nirvana.