My Favorite Windows Mobile Standard Device is…

I’ve been a big fan of non-touch smartphones for a while now. I find that they are faster to navigate around, easier to use with one hand, and all around more stable than their touch brothers. I have also been very lucky in that I have had access to many of the different models that have come out over the years. Recently I made the following comment on Twitter: I think the Samsung Propel Pro is my all-time fav Windows Mobile Standard device. Original BlackJack with scroll wheel is 2nd. I was asked to explain why I felt this way, but that’s one area where Twitter falls short. There was no way I could explain why the Propel Pro was my favorite Windows Mobile Standard device in just 140 characters. So I sat down to explain why and ended up with 850+ words on why it’s my favorite.  I can’t see how to condense this down to just 140 characters.

Without wasting any more time, here are the reasons. Please let me know your thoughts and which non-touch Windows Mobile device is your favorite.

1: Form Factor – There are 4 main form factors – A) Screen with no keyboard, B) Screen with a side-slide keyboard, C) Screen with front-facing keyboard, and D) Screen with front-facing number pad only. I like the physical keyboard as I find it provides a better experience for people that do a lot of writing on their devices. That factor alone removes half the options from the above list leaving a front-facing keyboard or a side-slide keyboard. A lot of devices have the side-slide because it offers a larger keyboard while allowing it to slide away for protection. What drove me nuts when I was using a side-slider, is having to wait for the screen to rotate. It’s just too slow. The front facing keyboard devices don’t have this problem because there is no delay in waiting for the screen to rotate. The downside is that the keyboard is now exposed all the time.  The Propel Pro from Samsung is one of the few devices, and only current device, that offers a front facing keyboard but hides it with a up-slider design. That means there is no delay in waiting for the screen to rotate when you slide out the keyboard to type a message. Perfect!

2: Answering and Locking the Device – With the slide mechanism, you have the ability to configure the phone so that it can answer a call when the phone slides up and can hang-up a call when the phone slides down. Further, you can also tell the phone to lock the keys when the slider is closed.  So sliding your phone shut will turn off the screen, which saves your battery life, and it will lock the keys on your device so you can slip it into your pocket or purse and don’t have to worry about the phone accidently dialing. A number of phones will lock and turn off the screen after so many seconds of no activity, but that just wastes the battery and leaves the phone open to accidently dial a number as you put it away. Great feature!

3: Screen Size – When it comes to Windows Mobile Standard devices, there has only been 2 different screen sizes available to customers – 240×320 and 320×240. That changed when Samsung released the Propel Pro with its larger 320×320 screen. Browsing the web and typing emails are much more enjoyable with the longer screen as you can see more of the web page or email that you are working with. Since the release of the Propel Pro, the only other WinMo Standard device to come out with a non-standard screen is the Omnia Pro B7330 and is available in on the other side of the pond. The B7330 is a lot like the Propel Pro, just without the slider.

4: Camera – I’ve used a lot of Windows Mobile Standard devices over the years and without a doubt, the Propel Pro has the best phone camera I have ever seen. The auto-focus works very well to ensure that your pictures are always as crisp as possible. I’m not a camera wizard by any means, so I can’t tell you if it’s the lens, or the capture mechanism, or the software that makes it so good.  And I really don’t care why, just that it is that good.

5: Keyboard – I’ve found that the keyboard on the Propel Pro is great for typing on.  The buttons are just the right size to allow quick and easy text input, but not so large that your thumb can’t reach across to the other side. I would say that the slider format has resulted in the extra space to make this keyboard just right, but the Samsung Jack and Omnia Pro B7330 have pretty much the same keyboard without the slider. It’s just a well designed keyboard.

The only thing I would change on this device, is the addition of a scroll wheel.  The original BlackJack from Samsung had this and it made for a great experience on the device. It provided excellent one-handed navigation of the device. If you could take that and stick it on the side of the Propel Pro, it would be everything I could wish for in a device. Well, everything as of today’s standards. I’m sure that 6 months or a year from now, I’ll be looking for more.

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