iPhone / WM challenge

[windows]

Okay we are seeing globally a large takeup of iPhones with a fair few users leaving the Windows Mobile platform and movign onto the iPhone....

So to the die-hard Windows Mobile users I'd like to issue a challenge......

Using any applications on a Windows Mobile device is it possible to make the machine as friendly and easy to use as an iPhone.

The aim should be to achieve as a minimum:

• Smooth finger friendly interface where possible
• Music playback
• iPod retrieval and integration
• Movie playback and integration
• Easy locking / unlocking
• Integrated weather
• Scientific calculator
• Stocks and Shares

and if you can cover additional extras such as:

• Facebook handling
• Twitter handling
• eBook reading
• RSS tie-up with Newsgator
• LinkedIn updating
• Location awareness / Wikipedia using GPS
• Instant Messaging

So the challenge is on..... can it be done, and if so I look forward to your implementations!

[tonybro]

Can I turn that around?

Show me the iPhone applications that: -

Can direct me to a destination with turn-by-turn instructions, maps and traffic data using the GPS (such as TomTom)

Can create a secondary folder in the mail application so I can move messages

Forward an SMS message onto someone else

Cut and Paste text

...there will be many more but those came to me in 5 seconds!

iPhone - cute and cuddly not very useful!
WM - you hate it but it gets the job done!

I've got both and hardly use the iPhone except for e-book reading and the odd bit of browsing and media. (I use a bigger iPod for media).

[neilm]

Daron: Is this with free, or built-in applications, or is there a budget for commercial applications?

By iPod integration, do you mean iTunes, or do you want to sync a WM device with an iPod?

[fowljr]

From my perspective, the media integration is the only thing missing from the Windows Mobile platform...

[Bassey]

Can't think of any reason reason why I would want most of that....

Out of the stuff you list that I would actually do;

The interface is covered off with Winterface.
I find the HTC audio manager fine for my needs though Pocket Player is also excellent.
I would never infect my PC with iTunes but Windows Media Player integration is fine and, in any case, I tend to drag'n'drop MP3's sorted into folders. The best thing about WM is that I am not forced to do things the way Mr Jobs says I should so I am not forced into using iTunes.
Easy locking and unlocking is no problem. That's what the on/off button is for!
Winterface has the integrated weather if I want but I tend to use HTC Home and use the shortcut to AcuWeather if I need more detailed coverage (hour by hour upto 15 days).
Scientific calculator is MxConverter - which, as the name suggests, also does all sorts of conversions and downloads FX rates.
Stocks and shares are part of MyYahoo which probably covers most of the extras but I have no time for all that web 2.0 malarky.
I've used MobiPocket for about eight years and have a collection of ebooks - fiction and reference.
I'm not sure what several of those others mean.

On the other hand, I spent this lunch time listening to music over bluetooth headphones, updating a spreadsheet and responding to texts and emails as they came in. Which third party apps can you install on an iPhone to let you do that?

[fowljr]

I got to admit, I'm just lazy, I want the ease of the iTunes syncing to the device. I don't want to be copying and pasting... It's great for podcasts on the iPhone, as once you've listened to them, the next time you connect they are removed from the device, albeit still available in iTunes should you want them again!

[inspector_g]

Perhaps these should also be compared with....dare I say it...the Blackberry Storm....I just had a play today in the Vodafone shop and I have to say I am very impressed...very.....clickable screen...great...it's going to sell well...

Come on Apple, where's SMS forwarding? Where's the turn by turn navigation?

[windows]

Grin, we're getting there guys, and yes I know a WM device can do things an iPhone can't but that was not the point of the thread......... Read back....

Bassey - cheers Jim for making the first stab at a solution. But its still not fully integrated or that easy to use as Mr Fowl points out.

[tonybro]

But the point is Mr Windows -

It's easy to make a device usable and slick when it's hardly doing anything! The iPhone does what it does really well and WM really suffers in comparison but then I can actually DO far more things with it compared to the iPhone. If the UI has to suffer to accommodate this - its the price I am willing to pay.

As we saw in the developers thread - WM as a platform needs a radical overhaul to help the developers achieve what you are asking - until it gets it you are going to be waiting a long, long time.

[Mr X]

Originally Posted by tonybro

Can I turn that around?

Show me the iPhone applications that: -

Can direct me to a destination with turn-by-turn instructions, maps and traffic data using the GPS (such as TomTom)

Can create a secondary folder in the mail application so I can move messages

Forward an SMS message onto someone else

Cut and Paste text

...there will be many more but those came to me in 5 seconds!

iPhone - cute and cuddly not very useful!
WM - you hate it but it gets the job done!

I've got both and hardly use the iPhone except for e-book reading and the odd bit of browsing and media. (I use a bigger iPod for media).

I did/do have both but haven't used WM for over 12 months now. I think what gets overlooked sometimes is that the iPhone has only been around for 18months and I can only see the platform getting better given the amount of new apps that keep appearing every day and without doubt the hardware will be revamped and improved every year or so.

Windows CE anyone!? Now that was painful to begin with and it certainly didn't start off as the all singing all dancing everything included device . But my reason from going from Psion to Windows CE at the time was although I could do more on the Psion I could see that future potential lay with Windows. For me, at this moment in time the future is the iPhone/Apple until the next holy grail, and who knows it could well be the Windows overhaul and if it is then I'll gladly come back!