what OS has the most free software?

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Yuan

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Which OS has the most free software?

I am a windows user looking for a phone that has office functionality and a variety of other options. What OS can read and or edit PDF, DOC, excell, and ideally sync with quick books or another good accounting program, work with google docs, yahoo webmail; and also have a good selection of programs to make life easier, like dictionary and evernote? also sync and backup would be nice.

from my research it seems that win 6 pro can do a lot of that, but is not being developed? am i right?

android has some cool stuff but lacks the office suite.

from what i hear iphone has some stuff, but if im not mistaken not much of it is free? (and the phone is expensive too.)

what about the others, series 60 (/80?), palm, UIQ, windows mobile standard?

is there a page the compares them all? I couldn't find any. Sorry if I missed it, but I have given up on searching for now. Please help if you can.
 
Windows Mobile Pro is the only one that has it native and able to create/edit files.

Windows Mobile Smartphone and Standard can only view files.

If you want to work with .doc and .xls files you would be insane to go with any other vendor.

The activesync feature will do your syncing without any kind of fuss at all.

So, Windows phone, Windows desktop, Windows application software. Makes for a much smoother integration solution.

There will probably be some answers that involve duct taping a whack of disparate pieces together from various sources to try to even come close.

But, do you want to get on with your work or spend all your time trying to keep the whole thing from coming unglued?
 
yeah i figured that might be that way. too bad, was hoping that a lynx option would be available. thanks for the help.

any other opinions?

hmm, upon further research i have found only four phones that meet my criterion and have win moblie pro: win mobile pro, 3.5mm jack, wifi, QWERTY, GSM

HP iPAQ Glisten: not available used (on ebay) only available with AT&T contract

HTC touch pro 2: 300$!

Palm Treo Pro: no used phone available, 220$

samsung intrepid SPH-i350: no used, no unlocked. 315$


so i guess the palm treo pro is pretty much the way to go?
 
Not true... WM Standard (Smartphone) can definitely edit Pocket Office files (doc, xls, etc) as of WM6 (and WM5 could with minor effort). WM6/Std officially can't *create* such files, but it is trivial to circumvent this restriction (just copy an existing, even empty file and start editing).

The classic answer to the question is/was that PalmOS has/had the most free software -- and it still has a lot. WM also has a lot. But it isn't all collected in a single place, although one of the best sites is http://www.freewarepocketpc.net/

But admittedly development of new WM software appears to be slowing down relative to the iPhone and now Android. Clearly those two are where the momentum is at. Perhaps WM7 will help, but the bets are against it.

Nevertheless there is a ton of existing and some new WM (mostly PPC/Pro not Std) software out there and it is, IMHO, still a reasonable choice, particularly for those that want seamless doc/xls support and Exchange connectivity.

I didn't see that you indicated your carrier of choice, although it looks like it might be Sprint. If that's the case, you can also consider the Diamond and the TP, both should be available on ebay for $150 or so. They don't have the 3.5mm jack, but the adapter costs $2 and really isn't that big a deal, IMHO...
 
iPhone OS and Android has tons of free software. Yes, Android has an office suite already. Its the same one already made available for iPhone, Symbian and Blackberry users, Docs To Go, and see below.

If you want free office suite, then you have to pick a "business" oriented smartphone because these usually have Docs-To-Go packaged included. Examples are Blackberry like the Tour, Storm and Bold series, and the Nokia E-series. Both will edit the file formats mentioned above right out of the box and even directly from your email attachments.

Evernote is available for all these platforms as well. Including Android.

All the stuff mentioned in the first post, fits my Blackberry Tour right to a tee.
 
While it's true that Docs To Go can edit Office documents, it's not nearly as good as Office Mobile 2010. The free version of Docs To Go is only able to edit existing documents and the premium version is $49.99. I believe you can upgrade an existing WM phone with Office Mobile to the latest version for $29.99. Office Mobile 2010 has a free beta version but it expires in April 2010. I'm not sure what the price will be for the 2010 version when the final is released.

On top of all that, the 2010 version will have SharePoint Mobile and OneNote Mobile. This may or may not be important to you.
 
the only problem with BB tour is no wifi.

so let me get this straight, WM standard has a functioning office suite with the minor inconvenience of having to copy docs to create them. docs to go will work with android (which would be ideal) but costs too much.

or wait, there is a free docs to go that will work fine with the inconvenience of copying empty docs to make new ones? but it's not nearly as good as office mobile 2010, in what way?

so now the main question is: is the free docs to go functional enough to make it worth going to android for the sake of the future programs to be?
 
The Tour will get a new version soon with Wifi called, naturally, the Tour2. Its not a problem with other Blackberry that has the Docs to Go and wifi already included, such as the Bold2 and the Storm2.

Short of the iPhone, Android has the most software potential in all the plaforms. The Market appears to have grown to 24 to 26k apps recently, not as much as the 148k on the iPhone but certainly better than the 800 or so titles on Windows Mobile Marketplace. It has tremendous development momentum behind it.

I usually don't plan a phone purchase just to do very specific things. You're going to be stuck with the phone for two years, you need to see where you want to be and where you want your phone to be after two years. So the future evolution of the platform is now more important as compared to doing a few things here and now.
 
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