Windows Mobile 5 Usability Concerns
There may be clever workarounds, non-obvious methods, third-party software, or other solutions to the below annoyances. However, that's not relevant to this entry. This is about basic functionality that the average Joe buying this phone would expect, functionality that your technically-inclined host can't unearth from this phone. Keep in mind that I'm using a BlackJack, currently one of the most expensive phones out there, and thus presumably one of the most advanced. It's also running Windows Mobile 5, which should indicate a certain level of software maturity.
- The user interface is slow. I'm not a teenager who can dual-thumb 80 words a minute, but I can still type an email or text message faster than the interface can accept, resulting in omitted letters. Ridiculous. A free phone from Grandpa's Mobile Reseller is faster.
- Calendar appointments entered on the phone don't allow alarms to be set at anything but a few pre-defined intervals. Want 90 minutes? Too bad. You can set it in Outlook, sync it to your phone, and it'll show up as "Custom" and work fine. If the phone honors user-defined alarms, let me enter them, by Jove!
- You can't adjust the ringer volume without going through quite a few key presses to edit the "profile" currently being used. Heck, you can't even switch profiles that quickly. If it weren't for a one-button toggle between the "Normal" and "Silent" profiles, this would be the worst ringer control of any phone I've ever used. No, wait, it still is.
- Organization. Or lack thereof. Where's the calculator? Try "Start->More->Organizer->Calculator." Don't check "Applications"; it's not there. Rinse. Repeat.
- The busted email client that I've already complained about.
- You're expected to use the "Back" button to exit out of applications instead of hitting the "Call End" or "Home" buttons. Otherwise, the application keeps running. Never mind, it often keeps running anyway. I can't find the logic on how the system terminates applications, or how the user is expected to under normal circumstances, but I did find the task manager and was able to shut them down manually. Woe to the user who finds his memory exhausted and doesn't know how to proceed.
Posted by blaine at 09:04 (-06:00)
Hey...bored, stumbled upon your blog.
I agree--I just took a new job and one of the perks was some killer motorola mobile phone running windows mobile. I was pretty excited about it (having moved up from an ancient sprint cameraphone ca. 2003).
I can't STAND the thing. Takes forever to startup/shutdown, all the options are buried deep within random menus (as you point out) and it's very counterintuitive on a lot of levels.
Even the outlook sync I was so excited about didn't work.
I'd provide more details, but I've basically stopped using it for anything more than a telephone. Even at that, it's no better than the old Sprint phone--arrRRRRrrrgh!!
(at least I didn't pay for it!)