Why WM? was RE: Nokia 6620

[Aman Singer]

Hi, Jonathan.
	You say
You mentioned that you are willing to put up with poorer battery life
because of the increased capability of WM phones. I would be interested to
hear what you perceive the increased capability to be? The only annoyance I
have with the N82 is that it won't stream Windows Media streams, but Orb as
a transcoder can get around that one.

	Like any user, the capabilities that draw me to a phone are partly
user-specific and partly in the phone itself. There are quite a few that
lead me to choose a Windows Mobile phone over a Symbian one.
	First, I find, now that I've tried it, that I actually like CDMA. I
use hearing aids and therefore had, up to a while ago, to use the devices I
mentioned to Shane in my last message. With my aids, I just haven't found my
devices necessary any more. I can now simply turn on the telecoil on the
aid, lift the phone to my ear, and speak/listen without trouble. Again, if I
want to hear the electromagnetic interference from the phone, I just move it
so that the keypad is beside my aid and hear the noise of operation. No GSM
phone has allowed me to do this, there has just been too much interference
to make it worth doing without some sort of adaptive device. Perhaps this is
different in parts of the world which use 900/1800 networks, I'd be
interested in hearing any experiences on that. Clearly, CDMA eliminates all
the Symbian phones in one swoop.
	Secondly, here in Canada, the only truly unlimited internet packages
are offered by the CDMA providers, and this was another  reason to go CDMA.
I like to check mail, use Skype, browse the web, listen to audio, and so on,
wherever I am rather than only when in range of a hotspot. I am a strong
proponent of open systems, and GSM is undoubtedly far more open than CDMA,
but the sound and unlimited data overrode that.  
	Thirdly, I found that the only really good phones I could get with a
keyboard at anything less than a ruinous price were Windows Mobile. The
Symbian 60 phones with keyboards were generally either seen to be very bad
(the E61, E61I, or E62), or quite expensive even a while after release (the
E90). The E6x units with a keyboard were obviously unable to take much work,
and I was told this both by people using them and, surprisingly enough,
sellers who knew it was all I was looking at from their stores. The E90,
while a nice phone, hasn't dropped enough in price to make it a really good
buy. I know I could buy the Series 80 phones but support for those worries
me, I'm hearing far more about series 60 phones. Now, I have a phone with
both an external keypad and a slide out keyboard, which are both very nice
and useful in different situations.
	Fourthly, even with its problems, I prefer ActiveSync to PC Suite. I
simply find it more reliable, particularly since I use Outlook for storing
both mail and contacts. It seems to be better integrated with Outlook, which
is hardly surprising. It isn't a good program, you understand, but it is the
lesser of two evils.
	Fifthly, I find browsing the web smoother on Windows Mobile than it
was on Symbian, with either Talks or Mobile Speak. This fits into the
unlimited internet plan I mentioned above.
	Sixthly, I find that accessories for WM phones are generally, and I
do emphasize the word generally, more standard. Charging through a USB port
means I can buy a USB charger for $3-5 rather than getting the one from the
manufacturer. The USB cable I'm using I can buy for $4. The Nokia cables and
adapters are, IMHO, troublesome and add, if only slightly, to the cost of
owning a phone. 
	Seventhly, the cons of Windows Mobile have, to a great extent, not
effected me. I am very often moving around, but always carry a laptop and,
because I am able to sync and charge, an able to connect my phone to the
laptop to obviate any battery problems. Even so, I have found that the
battery lasts quite a while, and is more than enough for even my twelve hour
days away from a laptop or other charging source. Basically, I only know
that the battery life is poor on WM phones academically because of the
testing I've done. It doesn't really effect me. Again, to go on to a point
you made below
	You said    
Thank you for your view that the Windows Mobile devices crash a lot more, I
think there can be little doubt of this. For me personally, this is the
clincher. I don't want to be waiting for a call, only to find that I missed
it because of a crash.
 
	I don't know whether I should hold on to that point. I'm a heavy
user of my phone. With my WM5 phone, the crashes happened, perhaps, twice a
week. My Symbian phone, however, would die on me once or so every two weeks.
However, with the WM6 phone I'm using now, I have used it for ten days and
it hasn't crashed at all. It will, of course, promptly crash as soon as I
send this message, but so far, no crashes, and I've been using the browser,
streaming audio, retrieving mail, looking at documents, and so on. It's
running my Symbian phone close as to time up. Whether this is because it's
WM6, a decent phone, or because I haven't touched its bad points yet is an
open question. I daresay it's a bit of all three. I'd be interested in
people who have used both WM5 and WM6 sharing their views.
	As I said, many of these factors are user-specific, but since the
question was asked, they are my answer. 
	Aman
  
-----Original Message-----
From: blindphones-bounces at mosenexplosion.com
[mailto:blindphones-bounces at mosenexplosion.com] On Behalf Of Jonathan Mosen
Sent: Wednesday, April 02, 2008 6:56 PM
To: 'The Accessible Phones Discussion List'
Subject: RE: Nokia 6620

Hi Aman, thanks as always for your very reasoned and objective response.

The phone in question that would not output the speech to the Smartlink was
the HTC S630. I bought this one because it offered 3G in New Zealand, and
had very good specs.

I can confirm that, at least in my experience, there is no Nokia phone that
charges from the USB port when you are synchronising or have the device
connected for any purpose. However, it's possible to charge a Nokia by
running a cable from the power socket to the USB port, which served my needs
OK.

You mentioned that you are willing to put up with poorer battery life
because of the increased capability of WM phones. I would be interested to
hear what you perceive the increased capability to be? The only annoyance I
have with the N82 is that it won't stream Windows Media streams, but Orb as
a transcoder can get around that one. 

Thank you for your view that the Windows Mobile devices crash a lot more, I
think there can be little doubt of this. For me personally, this is the
clincher. I don't want to be waiting for a call, only to find that I missed
it because of a crash.

Jonathan

-----Original Message-----
From: blindphones-bounces at mosenexplosion.com
[mailto:blindphones-bounces at mosenexplosion.com] On Behalf Of Aman Singer
Sent: Thursday, 3 April 2008 11:46 a.m.
To: 'The Accessible Phones Discussion List'
Subject: RE: Nokia 6620

Hi, Jonathan.
	It's precisely as you say, this is one of those OS debates, but
allow me, if I may, to stick my nose into this one. After all, even an OS
debate can, at times, be interesting.
	I'm particularly interested because I use a smartlink myself and
find it works perfectly with all the Windows Mobile phones I've used it
with. These are the T-Mobile dash, HTC s720, HTC wizard, and HP HW 6955. I'm
not sure which phone you used this unit with, I do remember your posts about
it but don't remember the model in question, but I have, as I said, used it
on four WM phones without trouble. I have also used it, for demo purposes,
on several Symbian phones without difficulty and generally have found that
it is a very well-behaved Bluetooth device and that most phones support it
quite nicely.
	I'd also mention, for anyone who doesn't want to buy the smartlink,
which is, IMHO, quite expensive, that there are two or three Bluetooth neck
loops/silhouettes for hearing aids. I've only tried one, the Artone
Bluetooth loop, needing, as I did, my Smartlink for other uses, but that too
has worked well with all phones.
	Finally, I find that, though the battery life on WM devices is
sometimes slightly less than that on Symbian phones, this isn't significant
given the increased capability of the WM phones and their ability to charge
from a USB port, which the Symbian phones I've used don't seem to have.
Finally, I have found that the WM phones most certainly crash more than the
Symbian phones do. I should say, though, that I don't say that Symbian is in
any way bad. It's a matter of preference, IMHO, what is to be used. Having
used both, I appreciate a good many things about each device type.
	Aman         
	    

-----Original Message-----
From: blindphones-bounces at mosenexplosion.com
[mailto:blindphones-bounces at mosenexplosion.com] On Behalf Of Jonathan Mosen
Sent: Wednesday, April 02, 2008 4:53 PM
To: 'The Accessible Phones Discussion List'
Subject: RE: Nokia 6620

Hi Isaac, well now, you'll get a variety of opinions on that question. My
opinion is worth what you paid for it, but here you go.

I really like my Windows Mobile-based PAC Mate for writing documents and
running a whole bunch of cool programmes, but I have never particularly
liked Windows Mobile-based phones. It would take a lot to convince me ever
to buy one again. They don't sound as good to me, and they lock up too much.
Others will have a different view. It's just another operating system debate
and you'll have proponents of either. I will say though that the main reason
why I got rid of my last Windows Mobile phone was that I couldn't get speech
to go through my Phonak Smartlink, which is Bluetooth capable. That, and the
lock ups and the absolutely abysmal battery life.

For me, you can't go past Symbian on phones for stability, sound quality,
and awesome hardware.

Jonathan

-----Original Message-----
From: blindphones-bounces at mosenexplosion.com
[mailto:blindphones-bounces at mosenexplosion.com] On Behalf Of isaac obie
Sent: Thursday, 3 April 2008 9:46 a.m.
To: The Accessible Phones Discussion List
Subject: Re: Nokia 6620

Jonathan,
Excellent points. Not only do I hear the music when the phone boots p, but I
can feel it as well. It's just that this is my first real experience with a
phone. I've seen them, touched them, but not really done anything with them.

I wish it would pla some music when shutting down as well. More than a one
second jingle. But the loop setting is a great idea. I never thought of
that. that setting sometimes let me know people have left the monitor on on
the computer. Do you think I might do better with the I-Mate sp5m phone? 
thanks.
Isaac
----- Original Message -----
From: "Jonathan Mosen" <jmosen at mosen.org>
To: "'The Accessible Phones Discussion List'" 
<blindphones at mosenexplosion.com>
Sent: Wednesday, April 02, 2008 11:59 AM
Subject: RE: Nokia 6620


> Hi Isaac, the phone will take a few seconds to boot up. The 6620 is a 
> smart phone, so it is in fact a computer.
>
> It's been a while since I've seen one but I would estimate you'd have 
> to wait a good 15 seconds at least. The phone should then play the 
> Nokia start-up sound which you may or may not be able to hear. One 
> trick I find quite useful, given that you wear hearing aids, is to put 
> your hearing aids onto the loop setting. If the phone is on, you 
> should definitely be able to detect some electromagnetic activity from 
> the phone to tell you that it's on.
>
> Jonathan
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: blindphones-bounces at mosenexplosion.com
> [mailto:blindphones-bounces at mosenexplosion.com] On Behalf Of isaac 
> obie
> Sent: Thursday, 3 April 2008 3:52 a.m.
> To: blindphones
> Subject: Nokia 6620
>
> Hi all:
> Why does it take so long for the phone to come on once you press the 
> button?
> It acts like a windows 98 computer, slow as molasses climbing a hill 
> in the middle of winter. I can't tell if it's on or off at times. that 
> button seems to be worn out. You have to press it so hard for so long.
> I don't think I am going to like this phone much. Are they all 
> stubborn like this?
> Thanks
> Isaac
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