What is microsoft doing?

himan · #1 (**permalink**) 10-04-2009, 05:47 PM

I am not an apple fanboy.

Yesterday my friend showed me his iphone and another friend had the itouch. The speed was incredible. The games on it were incredible. Oregan trail? Sonic the hedgehog? Super-fast games that were beautiful.

Why does the TP/TP2 suck so much in terms of graphics/cpu power? How is microsoft and htc so behind on this? It's not as if the iphone or winmo are brand new.

anyone know why non-iphone phone makers want to make outdated/crappy products?

P.s. yes, I am using a custom rom (NRG - probably the best/fastest). But even with all of his hard work, my tp comes nowhere close to the iphone. =\ thinking of switching in a year or two

**cmajewsk** · #2 (**permalink**) 10-04-2009, 06:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by himan

I am not an apple fanboy.

Yesterday my friend showed me his iphone and another friend had the itouch. The speed was incredible. The games on it were incredible. Oregan trail? Sonic the hedgehog? Super-fast games that were beautiful.

Why does the TP/TP2 suck so much in terms of graphics/cpu power? How is microsoft and htc so behind on this? It's not as if the iphone or winmo are brand new.

anyone know why non-iphone phone makers want to make outdated/crappy products?

P.s. yes, I am using a custom rom (NRG - probably the best/fastest). But even with all of his hard work, my tp comes nowhere close to the iphone. =\ thinking of switching in a year or two

I also have an iPod Touch, and thus far, have stopped playing games on my TP. Even simple games like Uno are just so much more enjoyable on my iPod. Sometimes, I turn on HTC Wifi Router on my TP, and use my iPod Touch to:

Pull down news like the NYT, USA Today, Time Mobile...
Check Traffic
Connect to my offices VPN (as Cisco does not seem to have a Windows Mobile VPN client, but Apple has one WTF?)
Check email, since the screen is larger and it's much easier to read and I cannot believe how well the onscreen keyboard works and yes I was a skeptic.

Look, I agree the TP is pretty far behind. The speed and crispness at which the Apple products run are so far ahead it's makes my lowly TP look pretty pathetic. I too run custom ROM's and yes, they help, but the chefs can only do so much. Speaking of custom ROM's, we do have to do a lot of tweaking (not to mention all the tweaks the chefs build in) to get these devices to work decently. Try Pandora on the iPod, just a simple install and your off and running, no freaking havng to install some already tweaked cab file (VGA+IVAN1.cab), and then changing the TCP window...that's ridiculous! Don't get me starting on trying to get NFS to work or even look halfway decent and not lockup the device

.

It's unfortunate that these comparisons are so far out of whack, but they are. I do think WinMo is catching up, along with the hardware (TouchHD2, Omina HD, etc...). So just wait - things will get better.

boredmug · #3 (**permalink**) 10-04-2009, 06:23 PM

yea, it's a little frustrating to see how much better the i-phone does certain things. I don't like the iphone at all, but i would like to have a snappy UI that doesn't freeze up. Also some 3d graphic support would be nice. The new snapdragon processors definately look promising but without the proper software and drivers backing it up we'll still be where we are right now. The i-phone is marketed so well and they are so popular amongst average consumers it seems most developers lean their way. And then you have android which really seems to be making headway. I still like windows mobile with all it's customizations, but im starting to see WM as inferior in many ways.

Zombie Scott · #4 (**permalink**) 10-04-2009, 10:09 PM

I wonder every day if Touch Pro owners will see an official 6.5 WMO release. Palm and Google are snatching some market share from Microsoft. Google's Android is rapidly gaining popularity...just look at the hype surrounding the upcoming Sprint Hero.

Don't get me wrong, I really like my Touch Pro, but most of the its best features are available on other mobile operating systems.

I think am going to give the Hero a try.

SolApathy · #5 (**permalink**) 10-04-2009, 11:32 PM

Youhave to keep things in context though. Our phones are designed for productivity & multitasking, with a smattering of media & games.

The Iphone is not designed for multitasking & is geared towards media & entertainment related apps.

himan · #6 (**permalink**) 10-04-2009, 11:56 PM

You're right, solapathy, our phones are geared towards multi-tasking. This was my reasoning for a while before I actually played with the iphone in-person. The iphone doesn't even allow you to have more than one program open at the same time.

but honestly, with the speed of that device, you can multi-task faster with opening/closing single programs at once.

**mlin** · #7 (**permalink**) 10-05-2009, 12:08 AM

Microsoft did not put a lot of support or man power into their mobile market. They released WinMo, got a decent market share in the beginning and then it was pretty much hands off. They seemed to operate from the perspective that there was no need to push things to the next level if things were working fine at the current level, thus the outdated OS of WM6.X.

However, since the release and success of the iPhone and the failure of Windows Vista (2/3 of Windows users still use XP) MS has realized the importance of ease of use and progressive thinking. Apple lit a fire under their tail if you will.

Anyhow, the devices we have are outdated, and the graphical performance of the iPhone is second to none. MS knows this which is why they are completely revamping the OS (about effin time) and I believe HTC does as well as is evidenced by production of phones like the Leo. The future will bring great things to WInMo and HTC and if WM 7 is anything like the improvement Windows 7 is, I think we will all be very happy. Question is, is it too late? WinMO holds on to very little market share at the moment and their mind share and market share are steadily declining. They must release something fantastic and market it well if they hope to survive.

**jbearamus** · #8 (**permalink**) 10-05-2009, 12:10 AM

actually i think in raw horsepower for CPU the iphone didn't catch up to the TP until the 3GS
as for graphics, HTC just needs to pony up the dough and pay Qualcomm for the graphics accelerator drivers on the Qualcomm chipset
track down a guy on here by the name of Exiled, he'll let you know what's what

Maan76 · #9 (**permalink**) 10-05-2009, 12:13 AM

I do not agree with you when it comes to productivity , web browsing , customizability and availability of software...................windows and HTC is by far waaaaaay higher and more advanced.
I always feel that I carry my laptop in my pocket when I have my touch pro with me , it is pretty much a laptop in your hand , or may be more if you think about the accelerometer and the GPS .

mentioning games , TOMB RAIDER is not available in the iphone.(I checked this fact 5 months ago),
and have you played under the hood need for speed in the touch pro and compared it to the i phone ? !
I think apple need 4-5 years to catch up HTC , htc has been in the market making pocket pc for more than 10 years. and they know what they are doing . they are hacking the windows user and windows market in the whole world , apple is only competing with them mainly in US.

RicoRich196 · #10 (**permalink**) 10-05-2009, 12:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Maan76

I do not agree with you when it comes to productivity , web browsing , customizability and availability of software...................windows and HTC is by far waaaaaay higher and more advanced.
I always feel that I carry my laptop in my pocket when I have my touch pro with me , it is pretty much a laptop in your hand , or may be more if you think about the accelerometer and the GPS .

mentioning games , TOMB RAIDER is not available in the iphone.(I checked this fact 5 months ago),
and have you played under the hood need for speed in the touch pro and compared it to the i phone ? !
I think apple need 4-5 years to catch up HTC , htc has been in the market making pocket pc for more than 10 years. and they know what they are doing . they are hacking the windows user and windows market in the whole world , apple is only competing with them mainly in US.

Bro your buggn out. Try owning an iPod Touch then making those same comments. Productivity I agree WinMo has office apps so yeah I'll say that's a plus. But Web Browsing? There is NO browser that comes with any Windows Mobile phone that can compare to Mobile Safari.

And before anyone runs out screaming Skyfire remember that it A) Doesn't come built in and B) not everyone likes it (I actually find it to be quite slow and flash isn't a big deal to me).

As far as customizing, I agree WinMo is definitely more open but while my iPod Touch is jailbroken I haven't had any urge to do anything too crazy as far as themes in WinterBoard. The UI works the way it is and it works pretty well. The reason why it feels like a laptop in your hand is because the **** ways a ton. Seriously the TP feels like the heaviest phone I've ever owned, even my Mogul seemed to have it's weight distributed more.