Sixth Interview-Mukesh reckons that Windows Mobiles are the best

When this idea of interviewing the various users about their phones started, then I wasn’t aware that it gonna be this much fruitful and has even potential of standing on its own in form of some blog dedicated to such question-answer sessions, but after five interviews, even I am feeling that may be we are not giving each platform its proper share of attention (may be diverted in opinions by other users/blogs). Many of the questions answered, some of the doubts cleared a little and now the journey reaching to one more side of the market, which mostly went not well promoted- Windows Mobiles.

Here is Mukesh Nigam, a computer professional from New Delhi talking about his Windows Phone and man! he is really such a strong supporter of his HTC and windows mobile. Some really long answers sometimes and some of the hard statements.

Leaving the show on him from here onward …

Mukesh, Can you tell us something about you ? like your field, profession,background etc..blogging\ social life or anything special. 
Hi All, myself Mukesh Nigam, a computer professional from delhi. I have done MSC (Computer Science), DNIIT from NIIT, Web Page Programming from NIIT, CIC from IGNOU and some other courses on HW and SW from local inst. As well.

You got me by Google buzz that’s pleasant and still quite strange to me as I am not getting enough people engaged on Google Buzz in comparison of twitter. Are you active on twitter too? What’s the handle?
I Do have an account on tweeter with the same handle mukeshnigam2010

Its true that with Windows Phone 7, Microsoft seems to coming back strong in Mobile world. But its also a fact that no one can deny that Microsoft didn’t well with Mobile market. But still you stays with Windows? Any reason? 
Yeah Dear! you are right, winmo 7 has got some more features but here let me clarify you that windows mobile were better from the beginning but people didn’t knew it before. The windows mobile 7 has got more easier to use than its previous versions. Like earlier versions (like 6.0 shows a menu bar just like the Windows of desktop and you can customize the 7 main items, where as windows 6.5 puts u directly into the all program icons just like iPhone & others.

The main reason till Microsoft’s failure was only because the apps factor. Even yahoo messenger was not working well from the yahoo’s own site, But now you can get thousands of apps for your windows mobile for free. Even it got the messenger which works much better than the traditional yahoo messenger as you can chat with multiple account at the same period of time such as yahoo/icq/aim/msn/google/jabber/facebook at a single point of time. You can also share pics while chatting by drag and drop or from cam with this. ( The Messanger name is ‘SLICK’ for windows mobile.

As per my view, the reasons for failure of Windows Mobile till now been –

Its marketing strategy (less margin for dealer & min. marketing) & the lack of apps (which has overcome now in a way as you can have thousands of apps from various site, even Microsoft marketplace is going better and strong, which comes along with the phone. Some of the sites for apps are- htcfreeware.com (with htc winmo), pocketfreeware.com, mobile9.com etc.)

My reasons to stay with Windows Mobiles

1. The multi-tasking feature of windows is simple gr8, which you hardly find in any other cell because The basic funda of windows is multi-tasking itself.
2. Windows mobile provide the widest range for apps, functions and portability than any other os available in the market.
3. You may hardly finds a HTC windows mobile in a mobile store because of less margin, let me share an incident which took place a couple of months back I went to many store to get a new HTC winmo device named HTC HD2 mini (with win 7), but they denied. I went to a mobile shop for the cell, the owner said that “Why don’t u go for a blackberry” I said, ‘Dear, I don’t like the Dubba” he smiled in affirmative way and says to me “It means u have used a HTC mobile”. 

   Later in  our general talk, He confessed that the HTC has lesser profit margin than the blackberry and others so v usually don’t promote it but they got much value for money and that’s for sure & I may get it from a very few shops because of the same reason.

The list goes on & on. I have checked a lot of cells & then came to this conclusion that there’s mainly two types of people around, one who knows fully potential of a HTC winmo ( who knows it and using ) and others who are not aware of its greatness. (Or not using it, or need something else than the features). My friends & relative had it but now most of them are diverting towards HTC because of mine.

While I guess the list might be long, can you list out the phones you have used for last few years ?
Yeah I am using phones since more than a decade now, my earlier cells were Samsung 2400, SS R220, Panasonic d90/92, Samsung T100, Samsung True Eye, sony, Nokia 3200, Nokia 6600, Nokia 7610, Nokia 7210, Nokia N72, Nokia N73, Nokia N92, Nokia N95, HTC 3470, HTC touch 3G, HTC touch 2 (current).

HTC HD2 mini (with win7) or higher (in a near coming months)

When did you plan to go for your first Windows Phone (is it a plan or accident ?) Do you go by the OS, platform (Windows/ Android/ Symbian) or the vendor (Samsung\HTC\Nokia)?
I Got my first winmo abt 4 yr back & it got just happened by chance. My friend Puneet, who lives in U.K. came to India, and by him I came to know that HTC is the most appealing brand there. Things related to HTC got me fascinated about it soon.

I decided to lets have a change from Symbian to Windows mobile. I got a HTC 3470, it had GPS, EDGE, windows 6.0 professional, 200 mhz pro, 128 mb ram, I really got very excited with its speed on net (with edge) as It gave much more speed from my Nokia N95 and was able to open virtually any site with its MS explorer. The HTC freeware came along with, from which I downloaded some of the apps too, such as flash player & Google maps etc.

Whats your views on touch screens? Do you really feel that they are at par with Non-Touch ones about text entries? 
Yeah the Touch screen phone are really great if the makers are pioneer in Touch revolution like HTC or Apple, Nokia seems to be a fresher in this field, but considering the responses to Nokia N8, it seems they are also getting better.

All of these answer were written on my virtual keyboard of HTC Touch2 and its really nice and easy. What I found from my experience in touch phones is that, HTC user interface is much better than the rest with its added feature of ‘TouchFlow’ on its windows or android platforms.

For me, Windows phone didn’t catch up well for keeping a similar approach as they had on Desktop. Pricing vs Hardware ratio were also didn’t went par with the market at right moment. Is it really preferable for someone to buy a Windows phone, if at the same price Nokia etc might be offering much more capable phones?
SURE Buddy… I will recommend HTC more even it comes at much higher price than the rest.

People can do virtually all the thing on the HTC winmo because they provides a good HW quality and  performance than the rest.

You use your phone for accomplishing which thing most… calls, browsing, navigation, movies, twitter.. which one? Do you use it as main phone or had used? 
I use it for ALL of ABOVE. I use it as my main phone too. But got an another supplement phone too.

When we talk about mobile OS, then things revolve around performance in limited resources, more and more accessibility in limit screen space, always connected smooth signals and finally the longest battery performance. Where HTC stands around it? 
Well. If you keep its LCD contrast a bit low, HTC Touch2 may last for the whole day with high usage such as internet, you tube, and emailing.

I admit that HTC Sense was a nice approach for the home screen, how much it has improved from the earlier versions HTC was trying. Have you used any of the old windows mobiles, if yes then how the things changed from there? 
In earlier versions, it was 2D only then it became 3D along with good animation, later it got more colors and easy to use interface with the exciting UI. Currently it has refined in areas to make it more user friendly with smooth & great animations. Windows mobile experience on a HTC mobile is Above from the Rest. Its like having an IBM computer (pioneer in H/w with quality product) with a Genuine Windows PC (pioneer in good quality s/w product).

When we go for Mobile OS other than Symbian, then often we find ourselves encountering serious limitations that we always took for granted on Symbian? Anything special with Microsoft which Symbian and most common Symbian phones around unable to do or do not that efficiently? 
AS I have told in my earlier answers, it does virtually all the things which are even impossible to do in rest. Can u tell me what the specials which are you talking about?

Battery is something which makes or breaks things for many. Where HTC stands about it?
Batter life is not a big deal in it, if you do simple e-mailing and maps ( w/o GPS) etc. Then it provides a very decent backup of around two days easily. I will give it 8 out of 10

Slim factor is something people talking much about now days. How was the form factor of HTC for you? Some of the models were not liked due to the fact 
Slim factor is also which matters the most for me too. Slim means more comfortable and easy to carry.

There is much of the talk around Camera, Gaming, HDMI etc. Where is HTC and Windows on this?
Camera quality is very good compared to others who got higher resolution it captures the nice quality pics. 3 D gaming is also works gr8 on my touch2 cell, I do play Price of Persia (HD) 3d and works gr8. I find it at par with rest of the market and even better.

Check out the pics given below, taken in day light

Your phone is total touch only, right? So, Portrait or Landscape.. what you prefer about texting? Whats different about touch keypad here than other platforms you might have tried? I guess there was no swype, right? Have you heard about Swype?
The swype or slideIT is not available in htc touch2 ,but available in HD version of HTC. But you may download it from various site for free. Plz Check http://www.Bestwindowsmobileapps.com for some exciting games & apps

How is the IM, Video experience on it? You need app for that or its like Nokia N900 Maemo or something? SMS/ MMS experience?
Winodows msngr comes by default or may install Slick (described earlier) for free.

Well at some places, smart phone become a bit lesser attractive when loose internet connection. How is it about HTC and Windows? What can keep you engaged when offline?
SURE BUDDY.. you can still be engaged with its GPS apps such as ‘Sports Tracker’ – keeps us footprint records, your travel track, speed, max, min, avg, up(in meter), down (in meter) or ‘Cycle Computer’ or Smart Runner – Provides ur speed and calory burn, ‘Sporty Pal’- Provides & keeps track of all ur activities & calory burns such as driving, swimming, walking, running, flying, cycling etc. or you can play 3D games on it with a lot of cool stuffs, which you may download for free.

How is GPS there on HTC? Which Maps application Windows phones are generally using? How rich they are in comparison of Ovi Maps or Google Maps? Is there any things like free voice assisted navigation etc, which most of the Nokia phones come equipped with now days?
THE GPS of my HTC touch2 Works really gr8. shows the precise and exact location on map too.

Twitter, facebook … been the biggest buzz of town now days and sometimes become the deciding factor to define a mobile platform too for some people. How much you are into these two mediums and which app you used for these? Is there any shipped with the phone out of the box?
Yeah, I do both. The apps are provided in the phone . You may access directly by your phone browser too or can place a bookmark with the logged on on opera mobile 10. where you can always be online and can access at any time just by taping on the linked window.

Now on real things, is it loud on calls? What about the music performance?
FM works great, its decent on calls, music performance is quite fine, but superb in headphone rather than the speakers.

Bluetooth transfer, MicroSD cards etc. How it stands in a world where you find much lesser Windows phones users in comparison? How you work out if some of the friend asks you to transfer some song to his Nokia phones or if your phone ran out of battery and you need to find a charger which is sure not that easy job as easy it is to find a Nokia universal charger?
The Bluetooth transfer is supported and is really fast with it and also the microSD card. It can play virtually any format so no worry about it.

As about charging, then if you don’t have any charger it will still work in case of HTC mobile via USB charging, because you can charge it from virtually any device such as your Car’s Stereo, computer, FM Modular, Laptop, desktop, all you need is a USB cable.

Do you think Your HTC can act as a full time "phone" in your hands or you need some backup phone too .. considering touch screen and battery limitations in mind?
YES it can be used as a full time phone if you don’t watch you tube clips for hours or runs of map with GPS on for several hours, but that’s general situation for every brand.

Where HTC stands in camera battle with likes of Nokia N8, SGS and iPhone 4 with HD recording capabilities? 
Not particularly this model might be very big on video recording, but it does not provide HD recording but you may capture MPEG 4 with CIF (352*288 resolution) format.

How many apps are there in Microsoft Store for their Mobiles? Is HTC provide their own Store too? How many free apps are there and what are prices in general? 
Thousand of apps are available for Microsoft mobile, a good one is www.myphone.Microsoft.com 

What feature(s) are completely different and most attractive to you on Windows, which you find no where else ?
Literally many like …

Microsoft Office 2010, Stability and Performance, Transcriber, MyPhone, You Tube, HTC touchFLo, One Note2010, NET Speed of 384 kbps on Even at 2G (touch2 also supports 3G network), Full mail support as v do in Desktop computer, RSS Hub, Remote desktop Mobile, Qmenu, MSN Weather, Superb Multi-Tasking Environment, Support for Zip files, Quality of HTC

Me: I will say, most of them are available at  other platforms as well though native support for RDP is what always excited me.

What you dont like about Microsoft or HTC?
The Camera Flash is not available in most of the models such as mine (Touch 2), so cant shoot pics in dark, pics in daylight is wonderful.

What about cloud Services? Android betting on Google Cloud, Apple making their own, Nokia with Ovi? What Microsoft is betting on?
Google and other Cloud services could be accessed via Windows Mobiles in the same way, you might be doing with Desktops, so not an issue.

Let’s say, you got a SIM with no GPRS and you have to start a fresh piece of HTC without internet, is this really cut then?
As Described earlier, Can still worthy.

Will you recommend others to buy HTC Touch2? If not all, then any particular segment? Or which other handset?
ha ha!! Do you still need the answer for it, dear? Check out the video given below

Does Windows has a future as per your guessing, when even HTC exploring Android on big scales and it has boosted the number of handsets for them? 
YEAH sure. Because now windows mobile has got thousand of apps too which were lacking before, the future for winmo is bright. People looking for more will go for it.

Your score points to the HTC Touch 2 (rating if any..)
9/10 (1 point less because No cam flash or HD recording like Nokia N8 and others have)

Thanks Mukesh, its been a fun talking to you. You really seems to be a hardcore fan of HTC and Windows mobile. If any of the readers have any queries related to Windows then they sure can leave their comments here.

Please express your views that how much you agree with the points and keep on showing love for this current series of interviews going on.