Windows Phone Experiment is Over
April 9th, 2012
My wife and I left webOS when HP flushed their 3 year plan to revamp webOS down the toilet. We tested both Android and Windows Phone. Android is a multitasking joke. Coming from webOS, it has a terrible UI. Windows Phone has very nice flowing UI. We decided to go to Windows Phone.
Microsoft representatives promised to get phones and development credits to webOS programmers. Despite many requests, it turned out to be a bunch of hot air. Sadly, this turned me off to all mobile development. We slugged along with trying to make Windows Phone a viable mobile solution for 8 months. We are done trying. After two weeks of switching to Android, we know two things. 1. Android is painful to use. 2. Android is LESS painful than Windows Phone.
Zune Podcasts – A Rant
September 21st, 2011
Zune podcast functionality on Windows Phone Mango was obviously designed by someone who never listens to podcasts. I’ve tried to use it over the last three weeks and it is an exercise in futility. There is one glaring problems that needs to be addressed before it is close to usable. It all comes down to episode management. Unfortunately, this is the most important factor of any podcast solution. Read the rest of this entry »
Android vs Windows Phone Directions
September 7th, 2011
I'm testing both Android and Windows Phone on Sprint. Both devices have free TeleNav service on Sprint, so the service using that application is roughly similar. Both phones also come with stock turn by turn directions. Android is a no holds barred knockout win.
The turn by turn directions in pre Mango Windows Phone is a joke. You must tap the screen to move along, making it totally unusable for navigation when you are driving the car. The Mango update provides considerably increased driving instructions. If you follow the route given, the system works very well. If you do not, you will soon want to through your phone out your car window.
Windows Phone Podcast Experience
September 7th, 2011
The "Mango" update for Windows Phone, or version 7.5 for those less fruity, adds many features. This article is dealing with the podcasting capabilities. On webOS, I made daily use of a brilliant piece of software called drPodder. Moving from this almost clairvoyant app to the integrated podcast capability of Windows Phone is quite jarring.
I will be outlining the current successes and fails with Windows Phone which keep it from being an enjoyable podcasting experience.
webOS to Windows Phone: What’s Missing?
September 2nd, 2011
I've decided that I'll be exploring both Android and Windows Phone as possible replacements for my nearly dead Palm Pre. HP killed future hardware and we need phones, bad. I purchased an HTC Arrive off eBay, slightly cheaper than I would get it from Sprint under contract. I've been using it as a WiFi only device for about a week. Wednesday night, I upgraded it to the developer's release of Mango, the future update for Windows Phone. Last night, I added this phone to our third "testing" line on Sprint.
This article will detail the pain points that will exist on doing a webOS to Windows Phone (and specifically the HTC Arrive) transition. I will also highlight the cool things I see that aren't possible on webOS (at least Sprint available webOS phones).
Multiple Google Calendars on Windows Phone
August 31st, 2011
With webOS, Synergy just happened. You don't realize how nice this is, until you try a system that doesn't really have it. Windows Phone 7 with NoDo (the current "up to date" version for the public) has this problem. The update due out September or October called Mango, or Windows phone 7.5, enables more Synergy like features, such as multiple calendars. However, Google doesn't allow you to select more than one. But there's a hack for that.