A full blown MS Windows phone? That's about as optimal and useful as an unoptimized Linux distro on your phone.
While perhaps useful, it's not really something wanted by the masses. That's a very niche request.
Hence the "If the phone part GUI was sufficiently well integrated so it'd not be just a Windows machine with skype-like telephony" part. I wasn't asking for unoptimized.
I think the N900 has shown that it's possible to make a GUI with a nice integration between traditional phone services and modern IM/VOIP services. I believe such a top layer could work even on Windows. I know though, that historically Microsoft haven't been very good to integrate the phone GUI with the windows GUI in Windows Mobile <= 6...
Oh, and apparently Windows 7 on a phone is not just a far fetched idea.
Anyway, I believe anything outside this niche is covered nicely by Android. Neither the N900 nor the N950 has a reach far beyond the same niche, IMO. And yet, here we are, those of us who want more powerful devices.
It's funny how the over-reaching assumption that more powerful products are wanted by a ton of folks since you want it - trust me, I can be convinced - but when I see products like the OQO Model 2 go from promise, to downright awesome to discontinued despite selling in decent numbers, it just didn't catch on.
I'm sure it's not too far fetched that folks want basically a pc in their pocket for a lot of tasks; however I'm not willing to sacrifice for a smaller screen like the N900, or for horrible battery life - like my old OQO 01+ (no telephony besides Skype though).
As it stands, I'll opt for a refined mobile OS that talks nicely to my desktop and allows me to carry the tasks I want to carry along with me that I think are suited for mobile usage.
If that means a nearly desktop OS on my phone, so be it. But so far, I'm not impressed by what's come out on any mobile phone so far. Maemo 5 excluded. But even it fell short for what I'm looking for.
People, in general, are neither technical enough nor geeky enough to really appreciate the N900. So what, I am and from my experience I'm more often right then wrong. In any event I won't ever own another made for Windows device mobile or other. I'm disappointed, like many people here with the what has happened with Nokia, but I'm no Nokia fan boy nor was I ever. They provided a product that I, thought at least, I wanted first with my N800 and now with my N900. To be honest I don't like FB, I don't like Windows, I don't like Android and I don't like Nokia. So where does that put me? A hermit with little interest in hardware upgrades, and hey that suits me.
People, in general, are neither technical enough nor geeky enough to really appreciate the N900. So what, I am and from my experience I'm more often right then wrong. In any event I won't ever own another made for Windows device mobile or other. I'm disappointed, like many people here with the what has happened with Nokia, but I'm no Nokia fan boy nor was I ever. They provided a product that I, thought at least, I wanted first with my N800 and now with my N900. To be honest I don't like FB, I don't like Windows, I don't like Android and I don't like Nokia. So where does that put me? A hermit with little interest in hardware upgrades, and hey that suits me.
Not sure where that puts you but it certainly makes you.... human?
It's funny how the over-reaching assumption that more powerful products are wanted by a ton of folks since you want it - trust me, I can be convinced - but when I see products like the OQO Model 2 go from promise, to downright awesome to discontinued despite selling in decent numbers, it just didn't catch on.
...where in the world of all that is TMO did you pull out such an assumption from? It most certainly wasn't from me. I ment to say that I think many AT THIS SITE might want a full OS. Or at least, that many that got the N900 might have been interested in it because of the power in the OS.
It certainly wasn't because of the slim design.
This is the same niche where another full blown OS would also be found.
(And then, even that niche would be fragmented into linux-only, debian-only, etc)
I don't think it can be different, I think I made that clear - but it doesn't stop being an irritation. I figure it is a limitation because I used to use a mobile and be able to look up stuff on a laptop or PC (or filofax) - but with all that squeezed onto the one device, it is just a matter of working differently.
Of course: if you use phone and laptop this is different.
Your laptop is the "off set device" that I meant.
It is just something that 'feels' awkward - I'm not sure there is any way of changing that, because as I said, it is a feature of the form factor.
On the other hand, when I make a call, I get a screen up that shows me who I am calling, the duration of the call, the option to end the call, and an option to turn on the speaker, mute the mike, and to bring up the numeric keypad. There would be room on that screen to have the numeric keypad and the other buttons all displayed (maybe slightly smaller), so that when using the device as a mobile phone, the screen would look like a mobile phone. When I call an automated switchboard, I have to take the device from my ear, the screen transitions from portrait to landscape, I tilt it back to portrait, and then I have to select the numeric keypad, then I can enter the number of my selection. That is a fair bit of fumbling to do an operation that should entail one key press - the number required.
But how do you want to enter the numbers in a different way?
The only thing that comes to my mind is "entering numbers per
voice" but all phones that I had, had difficulties with noisy environments.
On occasion, I haven't pressed the number in time, and been taken back to the previous menu, by which time it is not the number I want. These calls can be expensive - and some involve the input of 5 or 6 different options - so, having to go through the process is irritating.
But, you suggest this may be a configuration option - I have switched the phone display to default to portrait mode, but is it possible to set it to default to the numeric keypad when making calls instead of the caller display screen? If there is, I cannot find it in settings under phone
I do not have this setting either.
But to be honest: it is only one clock away
;-)
With 7, "full blown" is a matter of discussion, because W7 scales back depending on the machine. When I saw the behemoth allocate 2 GB just to breathe I thought that was it. Yet, it runs on a dual core atom like a charm, with half-a-gig of RAM. It chews of its own legs to fit in, rennounces eye candy, scales back of buffers, etc. It fits where XP used to.
I'm not saying I want W7 on my phone (this phone), but it's not quite as bad - hence the W8 unification. If I had a dual core 1 GHz Atom and 512 RAM I'd give it a spin.
