Using a Windows Mobile powered device - like HTC Touch Pro - is that simple. Full QWERTY keyboards make your life easier and emprove your efficiency

When I first got my hands on a Windows Mobile phone, I said “Damn it, this is Windows!”. In other words, I remembered about Windows 95 and how it crashed. The HTC Touch Pro was sent to me by the local McCann PR branch for a two-week test run. In the first seven days, it makes you go nuts. If you’re a regular Windows user, you know what I mean. But after the first week, you start to love it and you don’t want to give it back. And here’s why

Using a mobile device with a real operating system makes you see the endless possibilities. You can install software for almost anything you like. Instead of keeping the phone for two weeks, I kept it for a month and a half. Hopefully, the guys from McCann will still send me devices. And this happened for one single reason: you just start to love it and you just don’t want to give it back.

Actually, I had to give it back and I turned back to my old Sony Ericsson v630i. An old bad looking phone with no capabilities. Oh, joy!, I said. And then I got to test a Sony Ericsson, sent to me by a different PR agency. Yes, I said Sony Ericsson. But this time… well, it was the Xperia X1. Which is another device running on Windows Mobile. And the joy returned!

Where does all the joy comes from? From the software, of course!

True, not as much as in the first instance, basically because I had to reinstall all the software. And because of the keyboard, which is not actually full QWERTY (meaning it doesn’t have all the keys a regular laptop keyboard would have), like the HTC (believe it or not, beside the F-keys, it has almost every other key).

But the real fun comes from all the possibilities a Windows operating system is giving you. And it’s all about the software. Others tried, but it’s hard to actually create software for a mobile phone, I think. Especially when it comes to programs like video players or instant messaging clients. Here’s a few of what I use:

1. Core Player
   This one’s a must for anyone having a phone running on Windows Mobile. It’s the perfect player for any kind of video file, it allows you to browse a video and if you close the program, when relaunched, it will run the same video from the point you closed it. You can watch on your mobile phone episodes of your favourite TV series or any kind of movie in .avi format as long as you have enough space on your memory card.
2. Slick
   If you’re a instant messaging heavy user, Slick is the perfect application for your mobile phone. You can connect through any of the following services: Yahoo!, MSN, AOL, ICQ, GTalk and Jabber. It even stores some of your chat history.
3. iGO My Way
   If you have a car and you forgot to remove the GPS device from your car’s windscreen and someone broke into your car and stole it, you know that might happen again. Some guys crashed my car’s right door glass just to verify if the GPS device is in the glove compartment. And that happened because the rack was still attached to the windscreen. If that happens, I’m not sure you’d like to buy a new GPS device. But you can buy the GPS software and install it on your Windows Mobile powered phone.

These are only three examples. But you can do much more. And that’s the main reason I strongly believe Microsoft should start a marketing campaign for Windows Mobile.

What should Microsoft do?

I don’t know how much a Windows Mobile license costs. But in the first instance, I’d lower the price for phone producers. That means less production costs and, of course, lower prices for phones. That would be the first step in encouraging phone producers to install Windows Mobile on their products.

The second step would be a huge campaign to make the world know that the most used operating system in the world is working on mobile devices just as well and look, there are huge benefits! Microsoft runs a campaign for Office 2010, for Christ’s sake! Why not run a campaign for the future of your business: mobile entertainment!

Want it or not, the future is heading to mobile. Of course, no one will stop using laptops, it’s a huge difference between a 3 inch screen and a 17 inch screen. But only few people will dare taking their laptops out in the subway. Plus, the subway won’t give free wireless access. But mobile networks already have internet connections on reasonable prices. More, using a device like HTC Touch Pro, with a full QWERTY keyboard, allows you to send and reply e-mails while going to work. Instead of getting bored, you can finish at least 15% of what you have to do that day. That’s what I do.

Yes, there are a few issues

In Europe, Nokia is a lovemark. People love Nokia and most of them won’t give up for some other phone. But Nokia acquired Symbian, so they already have an operating system. Yes, but Sony Ericsson – which is another lovemark, by the way – doesn’t have one and their Xperia X1 runs on Windows Mobile. And there are plenty of other producers you can talk to.

Of course, not everybody affords a device running on Windows. My HTC Touch Pro costs as much as I’d pay for a laptop. But the technology inside costs as much as a desktop computer used to cost seven years ago. And I mean a lame configuration like: AMD K6-2 processor running at 450Mhz, 128 MB RAM and a 10 Gb harddisk. And that has a huge case. This device, on the other hand, is small and allows Windows to run helped by a Qualcomm processor at 528 Mhz and 288 MB RAM. And a 4 GB memory card costs no more than $20.

In a few years, devices running on Microsoft’s mobile operating system will be really cheap. Technology goes cheaper year after year. My Dell laptop was 1.000 euros last year. Now, it costs 550 euros. Beat that! So why not spend the money for the future instead of throwing millions on campaigns for products that people would buy anyway? And I mean Office, for example.

Well, we’ll live and see.