Windows Mobile Crossbow - screenshots + rant

Link: Windows Mobile Crossbow: More Next-Gen Screenshots – Gizmodo

Crossbow beta testers are disappointed, however. Unfortunately, most of its updates are cosmetic, and there’s still no way to actually quit applications. There’s no WiFi sync, either. Dang.

Charlie has the screenshots for you to see at the above link.

“I ain’t impressed,” As the Bishop said to the netball team. (Blackadder reference)

It’s apparently meant to look Vista like. It doesn’t to me. It looks like there’s some shading. Seriously Mr Microsoft, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE stop focusing on how it LOOKS and make it actually WORK fast.

Somebody PLEASE write a comment here to support my viewpoint. I am going absolutely NUTS.

I just got that Windows Mobile phone at the weekend, yes? The Lobster 700 on Virgin Mobile? Well. I’m not lying. I’m not being creative. I’m not spinning: It takes a total AGE to open u the messaging application. SECONDS.

It’s a sodding mobile phone. I want to click ‘messaging’ and I have a +/- tolerance of about 0.5 miliseconds for the messaging application to appear before I think I’m off my head.

If the phone has to display a SODDING hour glass (or the equivalent little circle animation) for one or two seconds to open messaging, it’s not a phone, it’s a glamorous piece of shi rubbash.

I clicked messaging on that Lobster and saw the hour glass — then I loaded up the TV application. And you know what? I sat there worrying — I had a little niggling voice at the back of my head saying to me ‘listen, you’re not getting the best performance from your device now that you’ve opened the messaging application.’

I’m actually sat there watching TV pictures appear and I’m worrying about the memory allocation procedures going on. I have to stop everything, go to the control panel and CLOSE down the stupid messaging application. That is, I have to actually go and actually click ‘stop’. THEN go back to my other application and continue using it — this time a bit quicker.

Seriously, when you have to manage your device’s own memory allocation, what the hell are you doing paying 200 quid to Virgin for the privilege of buying a handset that one would reasonably expect should be able to do it without intervention?

I am absolutely going out of my mind on this particular issue. Everyone I’ve contacted or spoken to seems to shy away from actually discussing the specifics. Someone from Microsoft has to help me out, put me out of my misery. Honestly it’s NOT me! I’ve spent thousands on these devices and they are slow.

You know what, I think, perhaps, it’s me. I think I have unreasonable expectations for how my handsets should perform. My C500 from Orange is perfect for making calls and writing the odd text message. Anything other than this, …… MSN messenger? Fancy little applications? It begins to get difficult.

So my revised position is thus: Windows Mobile is good however I have speed issues with ‘it’ (‘it’ being the devices and/or the operating system itself, I don’t quite know which).