How enthusiastic do you feel?

[Guest morpheus2702]

Related to my 'Is it me...?' thread in Off Topic, I'm wondering what people's attitudes towards the whole Microsoft Smartphone program are as, say, compared to a year ago?

[Guest Vector]

I'm feeling more enthusiastic as we have the MPx100, MPx200 and the sagem smartphones to look forward to )

The 1.3mp camera of MPx100 is promising and more and more quality games are going to be coming out from alien invention :)

[Guest Malkie]

When 2003 os comes out with Bluetooth support my i600 will rock that much harder and when the hardware developers get the SD I/O peripherals out to us the full potential of these phones will be close at hand... also some virus protection would be kewl too! Sooo in one word or less... I am Stoked! -MalKiE

[Guest drblow]

hmm... not very. of course, i would like to replace this e200 with a phone that works, but all my smartphone experience so far is leading me to believe that even when moto do release an mpx, it may not be everything its being hyped up to be. afterall, the e200 was given a serious talking up on this forum before release! Posted from my SmartPhone!

[Guest awarner [MVP]]

Because in most countries there has not been a new release for a while some people will start to get bored, but as soon

as any major update or phone gets released the pace will

pick up again.

[Guest Disco Stu]

I suppose I'm a bit more cynical about the platform these days but can't imagine leaving Smartphones now.

I agree with Vector.

Posted from my SmartPhone!

[Guest morpheus2702]

But surely the case is that MS Smartphone shouldn't be plateauing at this stage of development?

I could understand if the platform was mature and their were very few gaps for innovation, but this baby seems to be back in the incubator.

And yes, we can all sit around waiting for the new Motos to appear, but what is going on right now that is hard and fast?

[Guest drblow]

But then, when all the talk was of e200's & SP2003, there seemed to me to be a lot of hype about how great SP2003 was for developers, & how many new fantastic apps we would see, which to my mind doesn't seem to have actually happened. I mean, what has been released that is only compatible with SP2003, & is really startling or new?

Maybe it's the poor quality of the hardware that is letting it down? Maybe there have been so many complaints about smartphones that the whole thing now seems a bit less appealing to developers? Just seems to me that the phones have not turned out to be what they were MEANT to be. The e200 is too buggy, it's impossible to judge whether the SP2003 operating system is any better than SP2002. The only real difference I notice is that at least in SP2003 my gprs connects!! :shock: But at the minute, I seem to be switching my e200 off/on every hour, especially when I'm doing homescreens, when sometimes it freezes up every time I change themes. I didn't have that problem with my SPV or e100. :x

My own personal view has become jaded through frustration. I loved the smartphone platform at it's conception - I thought it was a revolutionary idea & in many ways my smartphone has made life certainly more entertaining, but ultimately frustrating. My e200 would be great, if it worked! But the whole experience feels like a long, hard slog by now & I'm weary!! :) Which ultimately leaves me feeling rather unenthusiatic about the whole situation.

I am 100% sure that once a new smartphone is available I will be trying it, but after recently having a quick play with a P900, if the next batch of phones are not a significant increase in quality, then I don't think I could be bothered with any more hassle. I have advised anyone who asks me against buying an e200.

[Guest londonlad]

uh huh, yeah, i guess im getting bit frustrated with SP2003 and whatevers next (ok, 2004 lol). But its mainly because its got so much potential, but im not able to make the most of it cos im not a smartphone programmer. Even though, i dont see much more stuff that can interest me in terms of apps. I have to say though, i would miss not having WM2003 capabilities on my phone.

Whats appealing to me now, is a nice stylish simple small phone. Im hoping the mpx 200 can do it, but then i already know the phone inside out (ok, not so much out). but I know everything its capable of and will be capable of. In terms of models, im thinking the SE s700 or something.

Thinking about it, SP2003+, I cant see any innovations, thats all done (hopefully not). Just faster processors and more importantly better battery life.

EDIT

Come to think of it, two things that would take me back to the glory days, or so:

1. be able to use my phone as a remote for the tv

2. be able to use my phone as a bluetooth webcam (only cam to capture is really needed)

I hear its impossible, but thats what was said bout changing the font too. Otherwise i'll get myself a nice PSP, that can do both, i hear.

[Guest midnight]

its very exciting for me, cos it gives us a great platform to develop games on (and none of that java sh*te), and looking forward to trying the new hardware and processors, i'm probably more excited as to the prospect of whats coming next (have to be as a developer cos we have to know whats coming out and judge what to develop when accordingly) but even now, with current hardware, we are going to push it further and further, allowing for better games, even on the original SPV.

But development aside, its good that moto are now going to take the ms smartphone seriously (i think the mpx200 was more of a 'test the waters' rather than full moto commitment), and also good to see the likes of Sagem and Anextek and even a new Samsung on the way, HTC no doubt will try and create something rather special to beat all these. Say what you will about HTC, they have always developed the best of whats available at the time, now they have to up their game to fend off Moto, Sagem, Mio, Samsung etc.

[Guest morpheus2702]

Say what you will about HTC, they have always developed the best of whats available at the time

Midnight, so you are developing for the E200 then?

[Guest Brody]

Of course he is! And all of the the devices :)

[Guest Taoski]

My enthusiasm peaks and troughs every few months for the SPV.

At the moment i am on the upward as the new Betaplayer has got me back to watching stuff on the train again. I was on a downward for quite a while after the peak of finding PocketMusic and Audio Book MP3s.

My original SPV does for me what a PocketPC PDA and a cheap nokia 3310 do - but in a smaller, slower way.

I find that the promise of the new Moto phones leaves me with a feeling of an "empty promise". After all - the phone will have a better camera and a faster processor - but that is only really an improved E200 with the Moto spin. Not a real advance in handset development.

The Mpx is the one to look forward to i think. That shows real development in a handset in design and software (even though i think it looks a little odd...)

[Guest Brody]

That and its not a Smartphone :) MPx220 or 100 for me next...

[Guest Disco Stu]

..and then it crashes and I have to hard reset and put it all back together and my enthusiasm is all shot to pieces again.... :evil:

[Guest zeta101]

although the mpx is cool brody is right in that its not a smartphone, and the one thing thats great about MS smartphones is that MS insist it had to be a one handed use deal (well ok on some games you need 2 hands, but smsing, surfing web, checking calendar is all one handed).

Ive had my e100 for nearly a year now (first smartphone) ive kinda peaked in enthusiasm now and then too. im looking forward to the mpx100 (which will probably be my next phone) but im not that overly enthusiastic to be honest, i might hold out for a while and see what other smartphones appear.

[Guest midnight]

Midnight, so you are developing for the E200 then?

sure, Kumite's main target device is the E200, much as we hate the joystick issues (which arent nearly as bad as the mpx200 joypad conflicts), surprisingly, even though the processor is supposed to be the same, we are getting about an 8fps difference in performance on the e200 compared to e100 :)

until another bluetooth device comes out, e200 is the most practical ms smartphone device available, ok, it has its bugs and quirks, but most people have learned to live with them, every phone ive had has has bugs in one shape or another, you think the E200 is bad, you should have had a Sony J5 :lol:

my next device... looking at recent piccies, could well be the Sagem (they really need bluetooth in that though), the things tiny, well, tiny compared to other ms smartphones. either that or the mpx100

[Guest TANKERx]

I've learned, with age, that getting anthusiastic and passionate about boxes of wires is a waste of time (and yes, I did often get suitibly frustrated with my Sony J5 ;-) ).

While I still believe Symbian is the best mobile OS, I was for a long time as bad as JPZR when it came to evangelising a platform (to my shame, I admit to sometimes reverting to my past self on a bad day). I started to realise that I was going too far when I saw the likes of JPZR and PocketPCThoughts and thought "Hang on a minute, I'm as bad as these, if not worse!" (I put those two, although on opposite sides of the friendly stick, in the same genre; 'people who live for their devices' or 'people who prefer devices to people' or 'I will change my life to make use of the cool stuff my device can do and then I will show all my friends and they'll think that I'm cool as well').

Having taken a good look at what I was doing, I realised that telephones are just not worth that much effort and I stopped doing a whle lot of the sad stuff in which I was getting involved. They're great for what they do and I love their functionality (and I accept that someone has to get excited over them in order for them to get made in the first place), but I'd hate to think that I got excited over them again.

Anyway, I'll stop before I fall off my high horse, which is currently balanced (precariously) on a soap-box.

:-)

[Guest biffsmash]

Hi,

I had to have my orange e200 replaced three times a few weeks back, three times in three days, the first because the update ruined the call quality, and the next two because of the joystick not functioning correctly.

I've had an E100, I convinced my best mate to have an E100, and I bought an E200, just because I liked the sound of the Smartphone platform and what I could do with the phones.

Unfortunately, things didnt work out as planned.

The E100's we're slow as hell and crashed a hell of a lot, meaning hard resets, re-installing and unlocking, re-copying videos, etc etc once a week sometimes.

This for me wasn't a problem although it did get me down, for my mate who is pc literate to a point, it was a nightmare.

I've had to go for a nokia 6600 in place of my E200, and although its only got 128mb storage, and bluetooth connection which is slow... it does what its supposed to do, properly. Texting is nice with it remembering all my words, call quality is perfect, picture messaging with sound works great, and the camera is twice as good as the e200. It plays video and although only records for 12 seconds, are good quality.

It's a little slow, but it gets there and it doesnt crash. I havent had to reset it and ive had all my programs, mp3's and games on it, and working fine for two weeks or something.

The games on it, including a moto gp bike racing game, and a rally pro racing game, are a hell of a lot better than anything ive played on my E200, and the list of games seems a lot better for it.

I guess what i'm trying to say is, that with all the promise the ms smartphone has, if the MPX range and others from sagem etc, fail to provide bug free phones that work, which the E200 couldnt, then imho smartphones have a good chance of failing, at least for me.

Everyone goes on about all these great programs that can come out etc etc, and even I spouted all that when I got into smartphones, but sadly, I don't see anything coming for smartphone I can get overlly exited about.

Even MSN messenger on smartphone is done on my 6600 via agile messenger which is much faster and more stable than msn was on my e200.

I really like the look of the mpx100 smartphone and the mpx, and I hope they are as good as they are cracked up to be. I fear I may be disapointed though :lol:

I miss this site since I had my nokia, couldn't find any forum worth a damn for symbian/series 60 whatever, and I miss the customisation of my homescreen, so for those two reasons, I hope my shiny new mpx100/mpx when they are released, do what it says on the tin :)

Thanks.

ps:sorry to go on lol

[Guest morpheus2702]

For this week I swapped back to my old T39m just for the hell of it. The main thing I noticed was the difference in call quality and clarity compared to my E100.

Is this better/worse/same for E200 and Mpx200?

[Guest TANKERx]

Hi,

I miss this site since I had my nokia, couldn't find any forum worth a damn for symbian/series 60 whatever, and I miss the customisation of my homescreen, so for those two reasons, I hope my shiny new mpx100/mpx when they are released, do what it says on the tin :)

Thanks.

ps:sorry to go on lol

Have you tried http://www.allaboutsymbian.com for a helpful forum and for themes and customisations, there's http://www.zedge.no ?

[Guest biffsmash]

Oh just looked back at this, i'll give em a shot, couldnt find either of them to be honest :)

thanks.

[Guest sparkisgti]

i love my spv's.. no real problems with either

and my e200 doesnt have a speaker problem or lock up :)

[Guest Disco Stu]

The spread of votes in the poll is amazing !

We seem to occupy all points on the scale, which is slightly surprising.

[Guest morpheus2702]

Stastically indifferent so it seems there will always be an equal number of evangelists vs. us naysayers!