At the moment, I’m using a Palm Pre’, which is light years ahead of anything I’ve used that runs Windows Mobile. Even so, I’ve got more than my share of gripes with it, including it needing a regular “therapeutic reboot.” It makes me feel like I’m running Windows Mobile (or Win 98) when that happens. – Tim

I suppose we’ll know more in about 10 hours, but the latest reports suggest that Apple is using the webdav (web services) interface to connect into Exchange Server (which presumes that OWA support has been configured).

Given that you can have a “live” OWA session (which apparently keeps port 80 open for responses back from a is-there-a-new-message request), and that several people have already reverse-engineered the webdav protocols, I would think it’s a matter of negotiations between Apple and MS over whether MS wants Apple to go in the front door (license the ActiveSync protocol) or the back. – Tim

I am not a huge cell phone user though… I’m a PDA and internet guy… I SPLIT a 550 minute plan with my wife… and usually half or more of our minutes get flushed down the toilet at the end of the month… most months we use 30 mins each… where as I will send like maybe 200 text messages… and hell last month I played an MMORPG for a week in Orlando via my phone in a hotel with no internet access.

Both devices have a target audience… Windows targets pocket-PC enthusiasts… iPhones will target MP3 & phone people. There is no 1 size fits all phone…. even for people who don’t want MP3′s or internet still face the battles of camera or no camera… black and white or color.. candybar, twist, slide, or clamshell All with payouts… Clamshell protects the buttons nd large screen but gives a weak hinge… candybars have scratched screens but are easy to access and no weak hinge… black and white saves battery power… cameras can’t be taken into govenment facilities causing you to leave a phone behind…

So if people can’t pick a standard phone as “the best” then these hybrid items are even less likely to have a clear winner.

My Sprint Vision contract was already in effect with my previous phone, and “expired” in late January. My hefty data charge was while it was in effect. I’m familiar with EVDO-tethering, which is not clear or easy to set up on this phone. It’s a pain.

As for the TCMP and ORB players, why should I have to download and grab an open-source player? Why should I expect to download a bunch of add-ons, instead of it just working out of the box.

How often do you take notes with the stylus on your phone during a call? Sorry for being weird, but the only reason I ever used the stylus on the 6700 was when I was trying to access one of the too-small icons or menu items. Theoretically, I should need a stylus less with the 6700 than with an iPhone, due to the slide-out keyboard, but the only time I’ve used that is for SMS messaging, and not for “taking notes during a call.” I don’t type Word docs from my phone. The 6700′s keyboard is great, but one or two sentences at a time and I’m done.

For the rest of the items mentioned, the fact that you don’t have to add a bunch of stuff, download this, download that, and basically fix the OS is one of the main reasons that the iPod took off, and left other MP3 players in the dust. Yes, among computer nerds, or people with lots of time on their hands, Windows is “no problem” and OS X is “too simplistic” or “takes away too much control from me.”

The “hefty price tag,” as noted elsewhere, is not much (if any) worse than what I paid for the 6700. As for the article you referenced, it’s clearly as biased against the iPhone as you’re suggesting that mine is. DivX? Thanks for the comment and link, but I can’t see any PocketPC phone, running WM5, being anything to get excited about, based on the interface that Jobs demo’d.

Time will tell. – Tim