Better voicemail indication

Anteaus · Joined: 31 Oct 2007 Posts: 10

WM5 phone (HTC Wizard)

-Is there any way that I can get a proper 'voicemail waiting' notification
to appear on the Today screen?

At present, incoming voicemail just results in a popup appearing, and if you
aren't around to see this at the time, then you don't know it's happened.
I've lost several important messages through this.

Archived from group: microsoft>public>pocketpc>phone_edition

LAMARCOMM · Joined: 15 Aug 2007 Posts: 28

You dont get the "standard" voicemail waiting icon?

--
--
Trent McMurray
LAMARCOMM, LLC
www.lamarcomm.com | www.lamarcommaccessories.com
"Anteaus" wrote in message @microsoft.com...
> WM5 phone (HTC Wizard)
>
> -Is there any way that I can get a proper 'voicemail waiting' notification
> to appear on the Today screen?
>
> At present, incoming voicemail just results in a popup appearing, and if
> you
> aren't around to see this at the time, then you don't know it's happened.
> I've lost several important messages through this.

Anteaus · Joined: 31 Oct 2007 Posts: 10

All I get is a tiny, almost imperceptible 'blip' in the top bar. This is so
similar to the half-dozen other such icons (too grand a word) as to go
unnoticed. As such it's useless as an indicator.

Yet, we have this pointless "Today" screen which tells us all sorts of
needless information, but which completely omits the one fact you DO NEED to
know- that someone is urgently trying to contact you!

IMHO the whole design is an excercise in 'Specification over function' - my
ancient Ericsson phone does this kind of thing properly, despite its small B&
W screen and limited keypad. The WM5 phone with its color touchscreen and
qwerty keypad phone does not.

The other advantage of the B&W screen is that it can be seen at a glance,
whereas the color screen is functionally like those 1970's LED watches, you
know, where you had to keep pressing a button to see the time. :-/ A total
PITA, and obsolete once LCDs were perfected.

If you think I'm somewhat underwhelmed with the phone aspects of this
technology, then you got the drift. Whoever designed it... never tried to
actually USE it. Having a computer in my pocket is cool. Having a phone that
constantly embarrasses me by goofing-up on basic functions is not.

"LAMARCOMM" wrote:

> You dont get the "standard" voicemail waiting icon?

Todd Allcock · Joined: 15 Aug 2007 Posts: 1029

At 22 Jan 2008 17:28:42 -0800 Anteaus wrote:
> All I get is a tiny, almost imperceptible 'blip' in the top bar. This is
so
> similar to the half-dozen other such icons (too grand a word) as to go
> unnoticed. As such it's useless as an indicator.

How does that differ frm most mobile phones? My Nokias all used a similar
"o_o" (cassete tape) icon just like my WinMo phone.

> Yet, we have this pointless "Today" screen which tells us all sorts of
> needless information, but which completely omits the one fact you DO NEED
to
> know- that someone is urgently trying to contact you!

Fair enough- a missed calls/voice mail status bar i the Today screen would
be appropriate, but I wouldn't call the info it does present as "useless."

> IMHO the whole design is an excercise in 'Specification over function' -
my
> ancient Ericsson phone does this kind of thing properly, despite its
small B&
> W screen and limited keypad. The WM5 phone with its color touchscreen and
> qwerty keypad phone does not.

I think you're misunderstanding the intended market for a WinMo Pro (PPC)
phone. It's a PPC first, and a phone (a very distant) second. If you want
a phone with soe PDA functions, WinMo Pro is likely not for you.

> The other advantage of the B&W screen is that it can be seen at a
> glance, whereas the color screen is functionally like those 1970's
> LED watches, you know, where you had to keep pressing a button to
> see the time. :-/ A total PITA, and obsolete once LCDs were perfected.

Is there a single mono-screen phone left on the market? ((That's not
designed for emerging nations.) Pick on WinMo all you want, but the use of
a color display isn't something they do differently than anyone else.

> If you think I'm somewhat underwhelmed with the phone aspects of this
> technology, then you got the drift.

You wouldn't be alone. When people ask about mine, I usually joke "it can
do e-mail, the web, GPS, play movies and music- it does everything except
make a phone call!"

> Whoever designed it... never tried to
> actually USE it.

I disagree- I think those who designed it just realize that making it a
good PHONE might compromise it's primary PDA functions. For example, a
"good phone" has buttons- a good ol' 12-key dial pad. I don't want that on
a PDA- I want a huge display that takes up most, if not all, of the
device's face, to maximize display size and minimize device size. A good
phonehas a simplistic menu structure with limited options for quick access
to important features- again, I don't want that- my PPC phone is
essentially a laptop substitute, and needs to perform any number of
esoteric tasks- simplicity of function is NOT something I desire- this is
where the iPhone got it wrong, IMO. It has a slick UI and prides itself on
"ease of use" but achieves that by leaving out a myriad of features and
functions it's hardware is capable of but it's designers thought might make
it "too complicated."

> Having a computer in my pocket is cool. Having a phone that
> constantly embarrasses me by goofing-up on basic functions is not.

Then you have the wrong device _for you_. For me, the "computer" is the
more important part- the phone is secondary. Were it the other way around,
I'd have a different device, like a WinMo Standard (non-touchscreen,
typically with a 12-key dialer), or a Nokia Symbian OS device.

Do I think MS could improve the WinMo Pro OS? Of course. My fear is that,
unfortunately, they're leaving that task to OEMs, who, frankly, are
dwindling to a single company- HTC. If that's the trend, I rather see MS
step up and design phone hardware as well, and OEM it through HTC if
necessary like they did the Zune through Toshiba.

Sven · Joined: 15 Aug 2007 Posts: 1711

So now that we have complained and rebutted, how about a mitigation
suggestion. One of the nice things about WM is if you don't like how it does
something, it is extensible and somebody might have fixed it, or more
accurately, provided it.

SBSH Phoneweaver is an add-on with Today Screen plug-in that can give you a
nice big voicemail icon, and count, among a lot of other nice to have
phoneish things that aren't standard-out-of-the-box with WM Pro.
http://www.sbsh.net/products/phoneweaver/

If you look I bet there are some free such Today screen items out there.

Just curious, BTW, doesn't the left soft key say "Notification" anytime you
have one of those imperceptible icons on the top bar, missed call,
voicemail, etc. Mine seems to.

--
Sven
MS MVP Mobile Devices
"Todd Allcock" wrote in message $jt1$1@aioe.org...
> At 22 Jan 2008 17:28:42 -0800 Anteaus wrote:
>> All I get is a tiny, almost imperceptible 'blip' in the top bar. This is
> so
>> similar to the half-dozen other such icons (too grand a word) as to go
>> unnoticed. As such it's useless as an indicator.
>
>
> How does that differ frm most mobile phones? My Nokias all used a similar
> "o_o" (cassete tape) icon just like my WinMo phone.
>
>> Yet, we have this pointless "Today" screen which tells us all sorts of
>> needless information, but which completely omits the one fact you DO NEED
> to
>> know- that someone is urgently trying to contact you!
>
>
> Fair enough- a missed calls/voice mail status bar i the Today screen would
> be appropriate, but I wouldn't call the info it does present as "useless."
>
>> IMHO the whole design is an excercise in 'Specification over function' -
> my
>> ancient Ericsson phone does this kind of thing properly, despite its
> small B&
>> W screen and limited keypad. The WM5 phone with its color touchscreen and
>> qwerty keypad phone does not.
>
>
> I think you're misunderstanding the intended market for a WinMo Pro (PPC)
> phone. It's a PPC first, and a phone (a very distant) second. If you
> want
> a phone with soe PDA functions, WinMo Pro is likely not for you.
>
>> The other advantage of the B&W screen is that it can be seen at a
>> glance, whereas the color screen is functionally like those 1970's
>> LED watches, you know, where you had to keep pressing a button to
>> see the time. :-/ A total PITA, and obsolete once LCDs were perfected.
>
> Is there a single mono-screen phone left on the market? ((That's not
> designed for emerging nations.) Pick on WinMo all you want, but the use
> of
> a color display isn't something they do differently than anyone else.
>
>
>> If you think I'm somewhat underwhelmed with the phone aspects of this
>> technology, then you got the drift.
>
> You wouldn't be alone. When people ask about mine, I usually joke "it can
> do e-mail, the web, GPS, play movies and music- it does everything except
> make a phone call!"
>
>> Whoever designed it... never tried to
>> actually USE it.
>
> I disagree- I think those who designed it just realize that making it a
> good PHONE might compromise it's primary PDA functions. For example, a
> "good phone" has buttons- a good ol' 12-key dial pad. I don't want that
> on
> a PDA- I want a huge display that takes up most, if not all, of the
> device's face, to maximize display size and minimize device size. A good
> phonehas a simplistic menu structure with limited options for quick access
> to important features- again, I don't want that- my PPC phone is
> essentially a laptop substitute, and needs to perform any number of
> esoteric tasks- simplicity of function is NOT something I desire- this is
> where the iPhone got it wrong, IMO. It has a slick UI and prides itself
> on
> "ease of use" but achieves that by leaving out a myriad of features and
> functions it's hardware is capable of but it's designers thought might
> make
> it "too complicated."
>
>> Having a computer in my pocket is cool. Having a phone that
>> constantly embarrasses me by goofing-up on basic functions is not.
>
>
> Then you have the wrong device _for you_. For me, the "computer" is the
> more important part- the phone is secondary. Were it the other way
> around,
> I'd have a different device, like a WinMo Standard (non-touchscreen,
> typically with a 12-key dialer), or a Nokia Symbian OS device.
>
> Do I think MS could improve the WinMo Pro OS? Of course. My fear is
> that,
> unfortunately, they're leaving that task to OEMs, who, frankly, are
> dwindling to a single company- HTC. If that's the trend, I rather see MS
> step up and design phone hardware as well, and OEM it through HTC if
> necessary like they did the Zune through Toshiba.
>
>

Anteaus · Joined: 31 Oct 2007 Posts: 10

I'll check that out, thanks.

However, I cannot see how it is 'moaning' when I pay for a premium product
which cannot properly perform the functions of a basic one. The
design-shortcomings are fundamental in nature, and should have been rectified
before the product ever hit the shelves.

Not that the phone section is the only part to be riddled with ergonomic
bugs. I've since realised that the Today screen shows only one due
appointment when in fact several are due er.. um... T-O-D-A-Y. Again this is
clearly a major coding blooper, and one which can lead to embarrasing
mistakes, and loss of business-cred for the user.

I wondered if a WM6 unit might be any better, but I think I already know the
answer.

A colleague in the know about such things commented that I should have
bought a pocket PC and separate phone instead, that in his experience the
combo units never work well. . I now see the wisdom of his advice.

"Sven" wrote:

> SBSH Phoneweaver is an add-on with Today Screen plug-in that can give you a
> nice big voicemail icon, and count, among a lot of other nice to have
> phoneish things that aren't standard-out-of-the-box with WM Pro.
> http://www.sbsh.net/products/phoneweaver/

Todd Allcock · Joined: 15 Aug 2007 Posts: 1029

At 24 Jan 2008 02:56:00 -0800 Anteaus wrote:

> Not that the phone section is the only part to be riddled with ergonomic
> bugs. I've since realised that the Today screen shows only one due
> appointment when in fact several are due er.. um... T-O-D-A-Y. Again this
> is clearly a major coding blooper, and one which can lead to
> embarrasing mistakes, and loss of business-cred for the user.

"Loss of business cred?" That's a bit dramatic, isn't it? Like many
perceived "flaws" it actually works fine when you bother to learn how and
why it works like it does.

Actually, while I don't fullyagree with the designers' decision, it's by
intent- not a "major coding blooper."

The Today screen has two primary functions: it is supposed to give a LOT of
info "at a glance" PLUS be a "quick launch" screen for the underlying apps,
so the Calendar plug-in, by design, shows your _current_ and _next_
appointments only- not your agenda for the entire day.

While I'd like it to be more configurable, I understand the design
decision (even if I don't flly agree)- it's a quick display of what you're
supposed to be doing now, and what you're supposed to be doing next, with a
one-tap method of opening the whole calendar to see your full schedule for
the day. So, you're always one tap away from protecting your "business
cred."

There's only so much real-estate on the Today screen- if you had, say, 6
items scheduled for today and it displayed them all, it'd scroll the other
info off the
screen (like Tasks, E-mail, etc.), making one of the Today screen's main
features (one-tap access to most information) far less usable.

I suppose an alternative would be to go with the iPhone/HTC Touch style of
home screen and replace the current/next listed appointment with an
icon/button to launch the calendar app and give no visual listing at all,
but that's even less useful than the current design. Your beef seems to be
that a "Today" screen should contain your agenda for Today. In that case,
I'll agree it's crummy name. If they called it the "Home Screen" or the
"Overview" would you feel better?

> I wondered if a WM6 unit might be any better, but I think I already know
> the answer.

You do. WM6 was an incremental upgrade. Essentially WM6 should've
probably been called "WM5 Second Edition" but I suspect that the release of
Apple's iPhone last June prompted MS' marketing department to declare
"look, we've got something new, too!"

Having said that, I prefer WM6 for it's HTML e-mail support in the
Messaging app (finally!) and VoIP support (seamless VoIP integration into
the existing phone app- when on WiFi, my phone will receive VoIP calls as
well as cellular without having to run any resource-intensive 3rd party
VoIP app.)

> A colleague in the know about such things commented that I should have
> bought a pocket PC and separate phone instead, that in his experience the
> combo units never work well. . I now see the wisdom of his advice.

I used to do that, but dropping from two devices to schlep around to just
one is worth the tradeoffs to me. As many folks wiser than myself have said,
Windows Mobile is the "Swiss Army Knife" of mobile devices- the Swiss Army
Knife is not useful because it combines excellent versions of knives,
screwdrivers, bottle-opener, scissors, corkscrew, etc., but because it
gives you access to admittedly mediocre versions of all those items in one
compact unit.

No one in their right mind would use the screwdriver in a Swiss Army Knife
if a real screwdriver was also handy, but carrying the knife means you have
some sort of screwdriver with you always. Similarly, my Windows Mobile
phone gives me admittedly mediocre equivalents of a phone, a video iPod, a
Blackberry, a digital camera, a GPS, an eBook reader, and even a small
laptop in one device only a little larger than a deck of cards. I've even
posted my replies to you in this thread with it (which hopefully explains,
if not excuses, any typos!) THAT'S the magic of Windows Mobile- it's the
proverbial jack-of-all-trades... and master of none!

Finally, as Sven pointed out, virtually any deficiency or shortcoming of a
WinMo device can be patched up with 3rd-party apps and utilities. There
are a myriad of Today plug-ins and enhancers available, as well as complete
replacements for the included PIM apps (Contacts, Calendar, Tasks.)
Unfortunately, I can't offer any specific suggestions, since I've never
found a need for any of them- the included PIM functions work well enough
for me.

Sven · Joined: 15 Aug 2007 Posts: 1711

I agree with a lot of what Todd says in response to this. Maybe it isn't
moaning when you complain about things you think the device should do, but
if it did everything that everyone complained about, it would be a nightmare
of bloat. While it does have a tremendous amount of capability out of the
box, enough so that a large majority never do anything to it, the device is
really a software platform. I bet you have a PC with windows on it at home,
(or a MAC). Did you take it out of the box and it meets all your needs, or
did you install other software? Actually that isn't quite fair because most
PCs out of the box, have significantly more loaded on them than just what MS
provides.

This isn't much different. The unit does a lot, but I bet most everyone has
an area in which they wish it did something more to their liking. Like I
said though, a lot of that can be mitigated. Should you have to pay some
third party for things you think should be there to begin with? Maybe not,
but I shouldn't have to pay extra for what you want, that I don't need, nor
should you have to shell out for what I think is lacking. That is what it
would come down to if everyone's desires were met out of the box.

I actually can recommend some additions. Take a look at some of the other
SBSH products like Pocket Breeze to help your Today screen issues. There are
also products at www.spbsoftwarehouse.com that extend a lot of the
functionality. Pocket Informant and Agenda Fusion also add a lot. I realize
I am pointing to pay solutions. There are actually many excellent freeware
and shareware offerings that do things you want. I tend to gravitate to the
commercial products because many have been around a long time, have a
history of providing support and upgrades, and I can depend on their
stability. I also like to support the ISVs because it is good for the
platform. If you are of a mind to, you can Google for PPC or Windows Mobile)
Freeware and find several sites that cater to that.

--
Sven
MS MVP Mobile Devices
"Anteaus" wrote in message @microsoft.com...
> I'll check that out, thanks.
>
> However, I cannot see how it is 'moaning' when I pay for a premium product
> which cannot properly perform the functions of a basic one. The
> design-shortcomings are fundamental in nature, and should have been
> rectified
> before the product ever hit the shelves.
>
> Not that the phone section is the only part to be riddled with ergonomic
> bugs. I've since realised that the Today screen shows only one due
> appointment when in fact several are due er.. um... T-O-D-A-Y. Again this
> is
> clearly a major coding blooper, and one which can lead to embarrasing
> mistakes, and loss of business-cred for the user.
>
> I wondered if a WM6 unit might be any better, but I think I already know
> the
> answer.
>
> A colleague in the know about such things commented that I should have
> bought a pocket PC and separate phone instead, that in his experience the
> combo units never work well. . I now see the wisdom of his advice.
>
> "Sven" wrote:
>
>> SBSH Phoneweaver is an add-on with Today Screen plug-in that can give you
>> a
>> nice big voicemail icon, and count, among a lot of other nice to have
>> phoneish things that aren't standard-out-of-the-box with WM Pro.
>> http://www.sbsh.net/products/phoneweaver/
>

Anteaus · Joined: 31 Oct 2007 Posts: 10

"Sven" wrote:

> I agree with a lot of what Todd says in response to this. Maybe it isn't
> moaning when you complain about things you think the device should do, but
> if it did everything that everyone complained about, it would be a nightmare
> of bloat.

No... I don't expect it to have every feature imaginable, in fact
expandability is the advantage of a phone with an OS, instead of a unit like
a Blackberry which has a fixed set of functions, take it or leave it.

The issues that do arise are ones of a fundamental nature though, and that
is the area where things SHOULD work right. But, in many cases, they don't.

Coming back to the Today appointments issue, I would add that the screen says:
-5 Unread messages.
-2 Tasks in-progress.
-Appointment: Dentist at 09:40

The inference here is perfectly clear: A numerical tally of items is being
shown, and there is ONE appointment today. (whereas in fact there are
several!) To me there is no issue of interpretation here, only that the
onscreen text was not proofread. If it had been, the gaffe would have been
spotted.

In fact, the useability issues stem mostly FROM feature-bloat, rather than
causing it.

I could list numerous examples, but I'll just add one more, namely that
although the unit sports a USB port, it is not a USB mass-storage port as we
know it, Jim. As such it cannot be used for mundane tasks like transferring
files via a PC driveletter. At least, that is, not unless you are prepared to
install a whole raft of invasive software onto every PC, and then transfer
the data to a special device-descriptor, a task which can only be performed
within Windows Explorer, and nowhere else.

I imagine it's been done like this for the sake of "ActiveSync" - But again,
the designers clearly didn't have the foresight to realise that in making it
like this they have crippled the USB interface as a means of transferring
files to or from a PC. I don't know what percentage of owners use ActiveSync,
but on the balance I would have thought this specialised USB port represents
a net loss of functionality as compared to a standard one.

Todd Allcock · Joined: 15 Aug 2007 Posts: 1029

At 25 Jan 2008 08:54:02 -0800 Anteaus wrote:

> No... I don't expect it to have every feature imaginable, in fact
> expandability is the advantage of a phone with an OS, instead of a unit
like
> a Blackberry which has a fixed set of functions, take it or leave it.

To be fair, there's quite a bit of 3rd-party development for the Blackberry
OS, but not nearly as much as thre is for Windows Mobile.

> The issues that do arise are ones of a fundamental nature though,
> and that is the area where things SHOULD work right. But, in many
> cases, they don't.
>
> Coming back to the Today appointments issue, I would add that the
> screen says:
> -5 Unread messages.
> -2 Tasks in-progress.
> -Appointment: Dentist at 09:40
>
> The inference here is perfectly clear: A numerical tally of items
> is being shown, and there is ONE appointment today. (whereas in fact
> there are
> several!)

I see your point, but that's YOUR inference. When there's only one task or
e-mail, it still reports "1 unread e-mail" or "1 Active Task" rather than
list the actual contents of the e-mail or task. This in itself tells you
the Appointments plug-in acts differently than the others, for good or bad.

> To me there is no issue of interpretation here, only that the
> onscreen text was not proofread. If it had been, the gaffe would
> have been spotted.

This is the way it's been as long as there have been PPCs. If it were a
"gaffe" rather than an intended design issue, SOMEONE might have noticed it
since "the gaffe" surfaced in April 2000! Wink

Again, my guess is that a visual display of where you needed to be next was
likely deemed more useful than "6 appointments today."

> In fact, the useability issues stem mostly FROM feature-bloat, rather
> than causing it.

Perhaps, but there's always a balance- each user has a different list of
features that are critical to them, and will see everything else as
"bloat." I'll wager my "bloat" is different than yours!

> I could list numerous examples, but I'll just add one more, namely
> that although the unit sports a USB port, it is not a USB mass-storage
> port as we
> know it, Jim.

True. This is a pet peeve of mine as well, but it seems to be a MS mindset-
their Zune portable media players are also "invisible" to a PC's file
system and can only be read/written to with the Zune sync software.

> As such it cannot be used for mundane tasks like transferring
> files via a PC driveletter. At least, that is, not unless you are
> prepared to install a whole raft of invasive software onto every PC,
> and then transfer the data to a special device-descriptor, a task
> which can only be performed within Windows Explorer, and nowhere else.

Yep. There are a bunch of workarounds- programs you can install on a PPC
to simulate a USB Mass Storage device, or, my preferred solution- the PPC
File Explorer can access network shares, so you can transfer files back and
forth from PPC to PC over WiFi.

> I imagine it's been done like this for the sake of "ActiveSync" -
> But again, the designers clearly didn't have the foresight to realise
> that in making it like this they have crippled the USB interface as
> a means of transferring files to or from a PC.

Again, you assume these shortcomings are "gaffes" or "oversights" rather
than intentional design decisions. Again, while I don't always agree with
the decisions, they are intentional.

Furthermore, if you investigate how the device works (i.e. RTFM) this is
explained- no "inferences" are necessary. In any ca e, now that you know
how this "gaffe" operates, you can either adapt to it to find a
workaround/replacement app.

> I don't know what percentage of owners use ActiveSync,

I'd say darn near all, at least until recently. Back when PPCs were mostly
business/enterprise devices Activesync was simply a necessary component of
syncing PIM data and file transfer. However, as more WM phone-based
devices fall into the hands of non-business users, I see a number of people
who don't bother with Activesync (just as they never synched/connected
their former "dumbphones" despite the fact that the ability to do it was
available.)

> but on the balance I would have thought this specialised USB port
> represents a net loss of functionality as compared to a standard one.

While I can't speak for the designers, I assume the idea was
simplicity/protection. From the start, the concept was that these devices
were "PC Companions" designed to portably carry your most useful/important
data with you. The idea was (is) that dropped the device in it's cradle,
and it automagically synced data WITHOUT user decisions or intervention-
your PIM data, files, even media just updates without you having to worry
about copying the 3rd-quarter sales report from the device's Excel
subfolder to the desktop. Hence, UMS (USB Mass Storage) was probably not
only considered unnecessary, but actually more "dangerous" since manually
cutting and pasting files might lead to more mishaps (i.e. copying an older
file over a newer one, etc.) not to mention more complicated since the
likelihood is that you'd manually have to toggle between UMS and sync modes
(like you have to do now to switch WM phones between Activesync mode and
PAM ("Phone as Modem") mode to use the phone's internet connect from a PC.

Maybe we need a different version of the OS for power users- leave a more
restricted "WM Professional" for the corporate types and a new "WM
Technical" for we geeks! Wink

Personally my biggest beef with WM from day 1 (well, day 2- on "day 1" I
was still reading the manuals and trying to decide whether to use the
"Windows CE Services 2.11" disc my Casio E-100 came with, or to try the
"new" Activesync 3.0 download from MS, but I digress...) is the whole "PC
Companion" concept. Today's WM devices are mini-computers in their own
right (I still have an old Toshiba Tecra Win95 laptop with less memory,
storage, and a slower clock-speed than the PHONE I'm keying-in this reply
on!), yet WM devices are still designed as if they're desperate to jack
into the nearest PC to get anything done.

Thankfully most of the shortcomings are addressed via 3rd party utilities,
but given the raw power of these devices, it seems odd that you can't, for
example, rename a file extension or edit a shortcut with the built-in
utilities.

But again, compared with other mobile platforms (Palm OS, iPhone) it's
actually amazing what tools ARE included that can potentially bugger-up
your device completely. There are probably a half-dozen things I dowith
File Explorer alone that would force me to hard-reset to recover from.
It's hard to imagine RIM, Appleor Nokia giving me that type of power to use
(or abuse!) While I don't agree with everything, I can understand and
appreciate the tightwalk between useability, simplicity and security the
designers have to walk. Unfortunately, the old adage that "if you try and
please everybody, you end up pleasing nobody" is probably true of many of
the decisions made.

It's easy to paint the designers as out-of-touch or incompetent when you
see "obvious flaws" but look at it from the idea of making the device as
usable, yet as malleable as possible, and it makes more sense. Take your
Today/Calendar example- while you are complaining that "6 upcoming
appointments" is better for you than "Dentist 9:40", I'd argue that
"Dentist 9:40" is far more useful- I can tell at a glance without launching
the calendar app that by 9:45, I'll need to be sitting in an uncomfortable
chair while my own personal Lawrence Olivier asks me "Is it safe?" before
lnflicting his professionally-trained, sadistic horrors upon me... Wink

James · Joined: 23 Jan 2008 Posts: 12

.... usually I don't reply to such railings ... this is not the forum for
your complaints... who made the device in question?

I purchased the HTC Touch and its Today screen rocks! It has large area for
missed email, calls and text messages as well as the soft key 1 has
"Notification" written on it! Perhaps you can return the device (30 day
policy).

Also, finding or making a program to augment a missed call has been down.
Pop over to ppcgeeks.com and start your complaint there.

If you get a change, look at the HTC Touch and HTC Crusier.

-James

"Anteaus" wrote in message @microsoft.com...
> WM5 phone (HTC Wizard)
>
> -Is there any way that I can get a proper 'voicemail waiting' notification
> to appear on the Today screen?
>
> At present, incoming voicemail just results in a popup appearing, and if
> you
> aren't around to see this at the time, then you don't know it's happened.
> I've lost several important messages through this.

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Anyone using this voicemail app for Smartphone? Posted with NewsLeecher v2.0 Beta 5 * Binary Usenet Leeching Made Easy *

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