francissteiskal

October 10, 2011 at 2:00am

An impressive share, I just given this onto a colleague who was doing a little analysis on this. And he in fact bought me breakfast because I found it for him.. smile. So let me reword that: Thnx for the treat! But yeah Thnkx for spending the time to discuss this, I feel strongly about it and love reading more on this topic. If possible, as you become expertise, would you mind updating your blog with more details? It is highly helpful for me. Big thumb up for this blog post!!!ocoee rafting

Rambus

December 08, 2009 at 1:42pm

Windows Mobile has been around for a long time. Microsoft fail to innovate. Apple came along and shocked the world with its iPhone. However, quietly Google's Android came out with something better - openness. It will be the clear winner in the long run. Its openness will make a big difference. You can see it now how things are changing at a rapid pace in the last 2 months (October and November 2009):

http://androidcompare.com/time-l.html

Currently HTC is keeping Windows Mobile healthy by coming out with the latest hardware running Windows Mobile and keeping Microsoft fan happy. Even HTC (Microsoft loyalist) are jumping ship and making more Android based phones compared to the one for Windows Mobile. In that time frame, look at the different hardwares that are currently available.

http://androidcompare.com/phones.html

In 1983 when Apple came out with its Lisa computer, and it was revolutionary. Microsoft-Intel-IBM platform was way behind with its DOS text-based operating system. The ability for Microsoft DOS to run on multiple hardware platform changed the whole game. In no time, that dog ugly platform eat up a lion market share of the microcomputer industry. It was Apple that bocame the underdog. Microsoft is not even innovative - as you can see it here on its Windows Mobile. Plus DOS and Windows is a monopoly of Microsoft and not an open system.

Google's Android will change this because both OS and hardware is open. iPhone had a 2-year head start but compare Android and iPhone right now:

http://androidcompare.com/iphone.html

You decide or just wait in a few short years. Nah, just make it one year from now.

Ominous

July 21, 2009 at 11:33pm

Please. Take the time to proofread. Or run a spell check. Or tell us up front that you typed this entire article on your BlackBerry/iPhone/PalmPre/Windows Mobile/Android/Etc.

darkmatter08

July 19, 2009 at 2:45pm

The article said that you loaded HD videos on to many of the phones and played them back well. Are you saying that I can play back a blu ray rip without reencoding on a cell phone processor running at less than 1GHz? Or are you talking about supposedly HD videos with low 720p res and a bitrate lower than DVDs? The article was vauge on this topic. Additionally, a chart with all media compatibility listed would be nice - that is usually the most vaugely described feature. Plenty of phones can play back videos, but in what formats exactly in what container files? Also, do any phones support FLAC music playback? That is a key feature for me.

sklep

July 19, 2009 at 8:30am

I'm using winmo devices since 1999. Here is why I think WinMobile OS is the best. Not only the amount of appls available for that OS, hundreds of different devices you can choose from, ability to customize the look of your OS, but  freedom of doing anything you want with your WinMo device - that the main reason why I wont swith to any other platform. WinMobile supports any media format your Iphone can only dream about. It has superior music and video player with features noone can beat, (except desktop programs) More than 10 navigation programs (some of them are free), that will work even if you are offline (no 3g, no network). You can completelly change the feel and look of the OS, making it touch friendly. and so on....I can only agree that speed is the only weak side of Windows Mobile. The rest is just better than any other platform.

Carbon

July 18, 2009 at 2:59pm

With almost 20 Android phones coming out by the years end on every carrier it will attract more users and developers and steam roll most of the competition.

And yea, Version 1.5 has been out for months that adds lots of features and fixes lots of problems.

 

 

dwforbes

July 17, 2009 at 1:17pm

Some of the info on the Android is a bit out of date. With the 1.5 cupcake release, for instance, the built-in Gallery app plays back a wide variety of video formats, include h.264 and divx.

AZWizo

July 17, 2009 at 11:28am

Dude, IPhone kicks em all to the curb clean and simple like!

 

RT
www.be-anonymous.tk

shades

July 17, 2009 at 11:08am

Well written article but it kind of misses the mark.

 You can't compare OS's and then make a conclusion based on features and performance.

 If I'm in the market for an SUV i don't go looking at mid size sedans and conclude that just because it has a better overall set of features I'm going to pick it over the Jeep for a safari!. What I'm saying is each device should be compared to your individual usage profile based on what YOU will actually be using it for.

More bussineess than fun - Blackberry.
More fun than bussiness - Iphone
Mix of both with a geeky background - Andriod
Can't talk about the pre don't have one. (its a Palm so it will lock up and crash, trust me on this :)
Love frustration and pain - Windows Mobile. (Roll on Mobile 7)

mtaylor924

July 17, 2009 at 10:42am

As a recent convert to the world of Blackberries, I wanted to expand upon a few things you stated.  I think they make an even stronger case for Blackberry OS as a rock-solid foundation that places function before form.

 1. Blackberry OS does create a separate icon for each email account you add to the device, but there is also one unified "Messages" inbox that combines all accounts.  This is actually more useful if you just need to look at recent messages to your personal vs. work account. You also have the option to integrate your SMS inbox into the unified inbox as well.

2. Applications may not make notifications of new messages in the same way the Pre does, but the stock apps, and some other well-coded apps, can make notifications instantly using sound, vibrate, and/or the built-in LED.  It's quite possible to learn of new emails, text messages, tweets, appointment reminders, etc. while doing something else.

3. There actually is an app for Blackberries that you referenced above - the Storm has a tilt-sensor and an app exists to use it for leveling purposes.  As this becomes a more standard feature in consumer media-centric smartphones, I expect RIM to add this to more than just their full-touchscreen lineup.

4.Because Blackberries come with removable memory, the Slacker radio app for Blackberry has the unique option to download and store different stations directly on the phone's memory card.  Try listening to Pandora or Slacker on another platform while riding the subway and then see how useful this caching feature is!

5.Apps.  While the relatively new Blackberry App World may not have a ton of apps available, Blackberry is not a closed system like iPhone or Android.  Apps can be purchased or downloaded free from a number of other app stores run by enthusiast websites or directly from develop websites.  This vastly increases the number and variety of apps available, although finding them can be a bit more difficult.

6. Newer Blackberry models, including the Storm, use a chipset that includes a (currently unused) graphics processor already embedded.  As RIM further develops the visual aspects of the Blackberry OS, its visual experience will grow to match that of the other mobile OS offerings when the potential of the now-dormant graphics processor gets unleashed.

nekollx

July 17, 2009 at 10:06am

 10 pages is a bit much can we cut the BS and get a nice chart break down like you do in every other frigging comparison?

------------------------------
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Five teenagers, one alien ghost, a robot, and the fate of the world.

Ur7MByh

July 17, 2009 at 9:02am

I just wanted to say that this is a very well written article that looked at every aspect of these mobile OS's.

 

The only thing that I would like to correct about this article is the fact that you said there aren't many apps for the S60 OS when in fact  there are many apps for the Symbian OS that are not in the Ovi store but that you can get on the internet. I currently have the Nokia N95 8GB phone running Symbian S60 and I have found an app for everything that I need through the web and have still yet to use the Ovi store because I am in Canada. I have tons of games which include Need For Speed Carbon, Project Gotham Racing, Worms, Wheel of Fortune, Sonic, Luxor, etc... I also have Office suite apps, and since it this phone has an accelerometer like the iPhone, I can play a bunch of games and use apps like the iPhone does. This OS is very reliable and you can find anything you want for it (most of the time for free) if you just look past the online stores. 

 

Having had a Blackberry, used an iPhone, had a windows mobile device and now own this Nokia, I would have to say that I would probably rank them Blackberry, Nokia, iPhone, Windows Mobile, with the Palm Pre being the wildcard because I haven't had a chance to use it yet.

Vadi

July 17, 2009 at 6:41am

What's interesting to me is that while both Android and Palm Pre are built on Linux, the former tries to "get away as far from Linux as possible" and re-implement their own things. The latter on the other hand is exactly the opposite - it uses so many common linux desktop technologies that it's surprising. Yet both are quite usable!

neo1piv14

July 17, 2009 at 6:16am

Great article. The only point of contention I had was saying that IPhone OS 2.0 didn't have push exchange support. Ever since the iPhone first came out, I've been setting them up for people here at work to use Active Sync on our exchange server. I'm not sure if you mean that they added more features to it or what not, but we've been setting up Active Sync from the beginning.

sotoa

July 17, 2009 at 5:15am

Great summary of the mobile OS's.  You obviously spent some time on them.  You've nailed the major strengths and weaknesses.  I enjoyed this.

mesiah

July 16, 2009 at 10:06pm

I enjoyed the article. I've been researching smartphones for a few months now because my treo 700 is getting quite old. Here are a few things I would like to comment on your article.

 

1.) You should number the phones if they are listed in order of your preference. I wasn't aware that they were listed in any order until I got to the end of the symbian OS review.

2.) As of the latest itunes patch released this week apple has intentionaly broken syncing with any non apple device. Now when you attempt to sync your pre with itunes the phone displays a picture of Steve Jobs giving you the finger (OK, that last part is a lie.)

3.) The multitasking you refer to in your article and true multitasking are a little different. Palm advertises that the pre is the first phone with true multitasking, and to my knowledge they are correct. What most phones with "multitasking" do when you switch applications are to save the application you were previously running in memory exactly the way it was when you left it. Then when you bring it back up it just recalls it from memory instead of reloading it from scratch. Palms multitasking works much the same way our PCs do, programs in the background are still running. They aren't in a dormant state, but still performing their functions in the backgroud. This can be good and bad. Its good because your nav program will continue to work while you are checking your calender (hopefully you aren't the one driving.) But it can be bad in the sense that all of these programs in the background are eating up processor time and slowing down your other apps. All in all, I think its an acceptable tradeoff.

4.) I would have liked to have seen an offering from samsung. Their omnia HD (symbian S60) looks very promising (although not currently available in the US.)

5.) If comparing smartphones for entertainment value the blackberry storm probably would have been a better phone to put up against the iphone and pre. Although the curve seems to have won out anyway based on its strong PIM and apps performance.

6.) Its hard to review just a phone OS since they are very much linked to the actual phone you are using unlike a desktop OS. Alot of things, like performance are tied to the hardware not the software. I don't know that giving an OS high marks for a minimalist or textual interface to prop up slow hardware is necessarily accurate.

7.) Some of your phones list data speeds while others do not. I would have liked to see data speeds for all. But again, this all depends on the network. And as is proven in the past you can't rely on a carriers published network speeds as verizon seems to have the fastest average speed even though at&t claims their connections are faster.

chaos.13037

July 16, 2009 at 9:37pm

Holy Shit! This a fucking awesome article! Great job John! I can only imagine how much time you put into this. Keep up the good work!