WM5 Complete waste of time - don't touch it with a bargepole

[ColinSlater]

Am I the only one to fnd that WM5 is a complete waste of time and not worth upgradong for let alone buying. It is in fact a huge step back from 2003.

First of all the flaky Activesync 4 which has had minimal testing on anything approaching a real world PC. How could any developer worth anything have not tested this on a machine with half-decent secruity measures, especially moving the sync protocol to use the TCP/IP stack. TCP/IP -> firewall -doh! (not the laughable toy Windows Firewall either).

Onto the operating system itself, where do I start?

1. The new "improved" memory management???? where is the improvement. How can you class something an improvement when it slows everything down, makes usability more difficult.

2. The communications manager. ....why???? a dumb interface hiding access to needed functions, especially when you are setting up a wireless access, why put on a pointless window just to be able to "switch on" a function???

3.GPRS why hide functionality again? Why remove the connect option from the icon on the top bar. Why do I have to start an internet explorer session just to connect to GPRS?

4.Messaging. Why remove the send/receive button? now we have to press menu then navigate to the send/receive function. So much easier to use...I think not... and why is Outlook email the default, we are not all corporate clones yet

5.Contacts. Where are all the customisation funtions, why can't i arrange the display to suit me. Why can't i select more than one contact at a time, which bright spark of an MS designer (whose only experience of the real world is the trip to the coffee machine) thought it was a good idea to only select one contact at a time....

6. Uninstall programmes, doesn't work properly, stupid error message about not being able to uninstall completley, then bits being left over even in soft reset, making a hard reset inevitable. double doh!!!

7.Installation failures, for example installing MS own voice command, warns not to install on anything but main memory but then when that is selected comes up with a classic null error message, and takes up over 50% of the program memory anyway.

For those of us who haven't got time to sit and devise brilliant technical workarounds, for us who have to deal with an irate user group having this approximation of an upgrade forced upon them. WM5 is a complete waste of space.

:twisted: :evil: :x

[KTamas]

Am I the only one to fnd that WM5 is a complete waste of time and not worth upgradong for let alone buying. It is in fact a huge step back from 2003.

First of all the flaky Activesync 4 which has had minimal testing on anything approaching a real world PC. How could any developer worth anything have not tested this on a machine with half-decent secruity measures, especially moving the sync protocol to use the TCP/IP stack. TCP/IP -> firewall -doh! (not the laughable toy Windows Firewall either).

Onto the operating system itself, where do I start?

1. The new "improved" memory management???? where is the improvement. How can you class something an improvement when it slows everything down, makes usability more difficult.

2. The communications manager. ....why???? a dumb interface hiding access to needed functions, especially when you are setting up a wireless access, why put on a pointless window just to be able to "switch on" a function???

3.GPRS why hide functionality again? Why remove the connect option from the icon on the top bar. Why do I have to start an internet explorer session just to connect to GPRS?

4.Messaging. Why remove the send/receive button? now we have to press menu then navigate to the send/receive function. So much easier to use...I think not... and why is Outlook email the default, we are not all corporate clones yet

5.Contacts. Where are all the customisation funtions, why can't i arrange the display to suit me. Why can't i select more than one contact at a time, which bright spark of an MS designer (whose only experience of the real world is the trip to the coffee machine) thought it was a good idea to only select one contact at a time....

6. Uninstall programmes, doesn't work properly, stupid error message about not being able to uninstall completley, then bits being left over even in soft reset, making a hard reset inevitable. double doh!!!

7.Installation failures, for example installing MS own voice command, warns not to install on anything but main memory but then when that is selected comes up with a classic null error message, and takes up over 50% of the program memory anyway.

For those of us who haven't got time to sit and devise brilliant technical workarounds, for us who have to deal with an irate user group having this approximation of an upgrade forced upon them. WM5 is a complete waste of space.

:twisted: :evil: :x
1. Yes, with Persistent Storage we somehow lost more than we gained. Sure, if your battery goes down to 0, you won't lose your data, but the cost of this is a serious speed decrease. It was one of the reasons I went back to 2003SE. (Note: WM5 is slow not just on BA, but on every device; if you think it is slow because this is a leaked version, its not true...)
2-3. I don't use too much gprs/wifi
4. The loved/hated softkeys...i personally liked them, but most of the ppl hates it and somewhere i understand them too.
5. Pocket Informant rules.
6. It worked well for me..
7. Yes, i got some install problems too.

And one more thing that made me downgrade: ActiveSync 4. That sh*tty thing is:
a) Slow syncing
b) Slows down the device too
c) buggy
d) connection errors
e) slow syncing
f) have i mentioned how slow and buggy it is?...

[Roel_Wessels]

I too had problems using ActiveSync 4 Beta. Since this is a beta this is understandable.

As of yesterday, the current version of ActiveSync 4 is version 4.1 (an final version).

It can be downloaded from Microsoft via http://www.microsoft.com/windowsmobile/downloads/activesync41.mspx

Maybe you should try that. It works much bettter (faster, more stable) for me.

Regards,

Roel.

[BGJr]

Is that version of activesync (4) suitable for BAs running WM20003SE? And would you reccomend 'upgrading' to it?

[odie3]

Is that version of activesync (4) suitable for BAs running WM20003SE? And would you reccomend 'upgrading' to it?

#Faster file transfer speed and photo sync via Outlook are only available for Windows Mobile 5.0-based devices. For customers using Windows Mobile 2003 or 2002-based devices, please continue using ActiveSync 3.8

#Remote PC Sync (via Wifi or LAN) has been removed due to Enterprise customer feedback around security issues. If you are using this feature on a Windows Mobile 2003-based device, please continue using ActiveSync 3.x or earlier.

##############################################

As for WM5, the only thing that I dislike the is BT Disable after powering on the BA SX66. As for slower due to the newer storage, I rather have it like WM5 than like WM2003 - period!

ActiveSync, well seems to work okay for me [now that I disable anti-virus]. Version 4.1 (Build 4841). I would expect future versions to be better and most likey buggy in different ways - thats software!

Most of the other issues are corrected with 3rd pary Applications. Since I also used these Applications in Win2003SE it's no big deal to me [since I also disliked the WM2003SE tools].

But you are correct WM5/Active Sync 4 can be a pain in the ass for sure. But I recall earlier versions of WM/Active synce being pretty crappy too. Hopefully over time WM5/Active Sync will get even better and new PDA's "designed" for WM5 will be faster with this new OS.

[obiesoft]

Hi all, i understand your complaints. I think the cool thing about WM5 is the way it looks, it has not been that much faster for me, and i hate the fact that i cannot use my Bluetooth headset.

I have been using WM5 for a while now and i am getting used to it but i am really thinking of going to WM2003 SE (new tmobile rom) so i can use bluetooth. But i want to also wait for a little bit to see if the fix will come soon.

With WM5 when device is suspended, and you get a call, it does not ring right away, you hear the phone ring on the second to last dial tone, so i miss lots of calls and have to call people back.

Did i mention it is slow, u press a button and wait for it to respond.

WM5 is ok, lots of bugs but i will wait a bit before going to the new T-mobile rom, besides, i don't feel like reseting and re-installing, and all the stuff again, had about 3 scares in the past already.