Monday, May 31, 2004
What Causes Your Pocket PC Pain?
Posted by Jason Dunn in "THOUGHT" @ 12:35 PM
With the release of Windows Mobile 2003 SE, we have another updated OS, but there has been quite a bit of commentary about the lack of improvements beyond the VGA support. So this got me thinking about what sorts of things I'd really like to see fixed/improved for the next version of the OS:
• Connection Manager confuses and frustrates me - once I get it working I'm afraid to touch it again for fear of breaking it. It's awkward to switch from Bluetooth to WiFi and back again
• Bluetooth in general is frustrating on the Pocket PC - different profile support from Pocket PC to Pocket PC, different vendors with different UIs...it's a mess!
• I can't log into my bank Web site because of limitations around Pocket Internet Explorer
• Pocket Inbox and IMAP is horribly broken. I read and delete email on my Pocket PC, then a few hours later I open Outlook on the desktop and all the same messages are there!
• I don't really care about editing Word documents very often, but I want to be able to view them without destroying the document
• I have Outlook configured to use FIRSTNAME, LASTNAME as the default for new contacts. When I create a new contact on the Pocket PC, it's in LASTNAME, FIRSTNAME because the Pocket PC is hard coded for that format. I want it to use the same settings as Outlook, automatically.
• ActiveSync is just painful all around. I frequently get unresolved items and there's no easy way to fix the problem with resorting to the "move things around until you isolate the problem file/item" trick
• There are files that I want to sync to my Pocket PC, but these files don't live in the Pocket PC synchronized file folder - why can't I specify these files and have ActiveSync sync them?
That was my list off the top of my head - what's yours? Remember it should be things that cause you frustration today, not "pie in the sky" features that would be cool to have, or hardware issues. Let's really focus on the software and what they need to fix.
• Connection Manager confuses and frustrates me - once I get it working I'm afraid to touch it again for fear of breaking it. It's awkward to switch from Bluetooth to WiFi and back again
• Bluetooth in general is frustrating on the Pocket PC - different profile support from Pocket PC to Pocket PC, different vendors with different UIs...it's a mess!
• I can't log into my bank Web site because of limitations around Pocket Internet Explorer
• Pocket Inbox and IMAP is horribly broken. I read and delete email on my Pocket PC, then a few hours later I open Outlook on the desktop and all the same messages are there!
• I don't really care about editing Word documents very often, but I want to be able to view them without destroying the document
• I have Outlook configured to use FIRSTNAME, LASTNAME as the default for new contacts. When I create a new contact on the Pocket PC, it's in LASTNAME, FIRSTNAME because the Pocket PC is hard coded for that format. I want it to use the same settings as Outlook, automatically.
• ActiveSync is just painful all around. I frequently get unresolved items and there's no easy way to fix the problem with resorting to the "move things around until you isolate the problem file/item" trick
• There are files that I want to sync to my Pocket PC, but these files don't live in the Pocket PC synchronized file folder - why can't I specify these files and have ActiveSync sync them?
That was my list off the top of my head - what's yours? Remember it should be things that cause you frustration today, not "pie in the sky" features that would be cool to have, or hardware issues. Let's really focus on the software and what they need to fix.
