The inevitable is going to happen. I will get myself an iPhone. On one hand I want one (let’s face facts, it’s a very very good product), on the other hand I don’t want fall into the Steve Jobs reality distortion field.
I was holding out hope for the Samsung Omnia II (Omnia Icon in some markets). It sounded like the Windows Mobile to have (aside from coming preloaded with WinMo 6.1). I recently had an opportunity to play with one in a Telstra T[life] shop and I was very disappointed. Samsung’s TouchWiz UI shell didn’t impress me (in fact it just made me think I was using their low-end F480 which everyone who’s had one seems to hate). And compared to the other smartphones around it, it’s AMOLED screen didn’t look special at all. I played with it for all of 2 minutes, got depressed, and went to see what other toys I could play with in the shop.
For comparison’s sake I also played with a HTC Touch Diamond2 which seemed to be running bog-standard WinMo 6.5 (IE without HTC’s TouchFLO UI). This is the first time I’ve played with a 6.5 powered device (although I have played with it in the emulator) and even though I know that clunky old Windows Mobile lurks just under the surface, I was pleasantly surprised as to how the new welcome and start screens worked (smooth, responsive, easy). There may be some hope for WinMo 7 after all (if MS and their OEM partners can get it right).
For now it looks like I’ll lock into an iPhone for 24 months. By then WinMo 7 will be mature and maybe the Marketplace for Mobile will have (almost) as many apps as Apple’s App Store. Or maybe Android will have taken over as mobile king-of-the-hill.
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