This week-end marked the end of an era for me. I walked into a T-Mobile store and got an Android phone (a Samsung Vibrant Galaxy S) to replace my old Windows Mobile one.

It was an emotional moment for me as I almost worked on Windows Mobile when I joined Microsoft ‘99. By the time I arrived in Redmond the mobile group for which I was hired got scrapped and a re-org landed me in an another part of the company. In any case, I got my first Microsoft phone in 2002 via some internal dogfood program and it was a shiny silver Samsung i-600 that ran Windows Mobile 2002 and weighed a good kilogram (I really did like the form factor actually). It was promising. I wrote a blog post from my phone for the first time.

The i-600 was also the first phone to bluescreen on me. The error had a spelling mistake in it. I wrote about it here.

In 2006 I moved to a T-Mobile SDA (HTC Tornado), code name “clunk of clay”. It ran Windows Mobile 5. I posted about the phone when I got it:

It's several clicks to lock it, including pressing a stupid power button that is well _protected_ from being pressed. There're media player buttons that are bigger than the buttons you actually want to use. They haven't fixed anything around configuring e-mail, so have a [vodka] shot before you try to configure Exchange, IMAP, etc - the menus are a total labyrinth.

I remember having a couple of those since they all had a recurrent sticky key problem. I even used some artisanal methods that included pouring an industrial cleanser on it. It didn’t help.

I finally got a T-Mobile Dash (HTC) that ran Windows Mobile 6. The phone itself was pleasant, but I was hugely disappointed by the overall performance and especially responsiveness. I then discovered the XDA forums and the 3VO ROMs and upgraded the phone to Windows Mobile 6.5. I did it a few times and every time it got just a bit more bearable. Still, the same problems persisted version after version.

1. Occasionally my phone would stop receiving text messages or calls. Everything would seem normal except that it went relatively quiet for a while. I would get yelled at in the lines of “Why aren’t you picking up your stupid phone? What if I needed to reach you right now because of an emergency?”
2. Eventually the scrolling wouldn’t work by holding the down key. I would have to energetically press it to scroll down. That made reading any American website rather difficult – most Russian websites that I read don’t have money for a lot of graphics.
3. After a few weeks of text messages there would be huge delays loading anything. Occasionally I would have to purge my inbox and outbox of SMS messages. Forgetting to do that regularly required a lot of patience since to purge messages you need to open them first.
4. I had to get three batteries and two chargers since the phone wouldn’t last a working day.
5. The volume touch pad drove me crazy.

I used to say: I’ll take the first phone that can easily support two Exchange accounts (my personal e-mail has always been on Exchange too). The phone I chose is the Android. I decided that I won’t want a Windows 7 handheld because I am not up for another disappointment. I need a change, I’ve done enough Microsoft phone testing.

The Galaxy S is a beautiful device. It does everything I want and more.

So far,

1. I painlessly setup two exchange accounts for my personal and work e-mail. How did I live without having an integrated calendar and e-mail before?
2. I installed the free Daily Dilbert from the Marketplace.
3. I installed Kies to get the latest USB phone driver.
4. I rooted the phone and installed wireless tethering (internet connection sharing) that works perfectly.

I then read Habrahabr for an hour on the beach today and took a bunch of pictures of my sleeping baby. I also got a phone call.