Guy Vs. Guy: The Mobile Phone Paradox

Welcome to Guy Vs. Guy! In this new feature, Rick and Dave square off on the business and technology issues of the day. Today's topic: Cell phones. Why can't these modern marvels manage information half as well as their decade-old PDA forebears?
Dave: A few years ago, everyone who was anyone carried a PDA -- generally either a Palm or Windows Mobile device. Then there was an amazing revolution. Like brontosauruses turning into pigeons, PDAs were supplanted by better, more powerful, and smarter phones. So can you explain to me how, 10 years later, mobile phones have replaced PDAs utterly and completely, yet there's hardly a phone on the market that can do what PDAs once did even half as well?

Rick: Hey, stop making sense. You're blowing my mind! It's true: The average cell phone really sucks at managing contacts, calendars, tasks, and notes. And keeping all this vital info in sync with your PC? Forget it. Of course, that's where smartphones come into play, but most models are still pretty lacking in PDA skills. My iPhone, for instance, can sync with Outlook's address book and calendar, but notes and tasks? Nuh-uh.

Dave: Actually, I've also noticed that the "smarter" a phone is, the worse it is at actually doing, you know, phone things. My trusty Blackjack can check e-mail and surf the Web. But enabling my Bluetooth headset takes a dive into the menus 12 levels deep. And changing the ringtones requires an advanced degree in particle physics. It's like the guys that design these phones have never had a cell phone of their own, but simply designed it based on fanciful descriptions they read in a novel.

Rick: You opened the door, so I'm stepping in: Windows Mobile (the OS that drives your "trusty" Blackjack) is a horrendous OS. Actually, the touchscreen version is livable, but trying to navigate that OS using just buttons? Ugh. You really have to hand it to Apple for crafting such an elegant, innovative, and usable interface. I mean, think about it: Feature for feature, most WinMo phones can do everything an iPhone can. And they're actually better at syncing with Outlook. But in terms of usability (and, let's face it, fun), they're a train wreck.

Dave: Funny you should mention the iPhone; it's tantalazingly close to something I'd actually want to own. But I don't know what frustrates me more: The freakishly inadequate memory capacity or the way it mocks the memory of my old PDA. Sure, the iPhone has an elegant interface if all you want to do is look something up that's already in there. But between you and me, there was a time when I could actually enter data in a handheld device. Easily. Did you ever try taking even a short note on an iPhone? Add a calendar event? Come on, dude. It's easier to tattoo the info onto my chest like the guy from Memento than to rely on an iPhone (or any other phone, for that matter).

Rick: Oh, and using a stylus to write tiny, overlapping characters is easier? Gotta call you on this one: Data entry on any phone-sized device is going to be slow and awkward. Unless, of course, you can use your voice, as you can with Google's stellar iPhone app. Even so, this goes back to the issue of synchronization: As long as your phone can pull info from your PC, on-the-go data entry is less of a concern. I've always viewed my phone (and, before that, my PDA) as an extension of my PC, not a replacement for it.

Dave: You can call, but I won't be answerin'. Certainly, data input on a phone will never be as seamless as it is on a laptop. And I've seen my share of cat-lady-crazy input schemes. Wacky keyboards you strap to your arm like a Borg. "Holographic" keyboards that project virtual keys onto a tabletop. And the list goes on. But the reality is that gesture-based handwriting (like Palm's Graffiti) was brilliant. Easy to learn, 100% accurate, and as fast as handwriting. I'd give a spare lung for that kind of input on a modern smartphone. Imagine if the iPhone had information manager apps and text input like the old Palm V. I'm dizzy just imagining it.

Rick: Dizzy is right. For one thing, the touchscreen-based WinMo phones still have your precious handwriting recognition, though you can't sit there and argue it's faster than the iPhone's onscreen keyboard. Anyway, seeing as your original thought is now just a speck in your rear-view mirror, allow me to sum up: Phones, all phones, need to do a better job storing and syncing our data. That they don't represents a giant step backwards from the heyday of the PDA.