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What Windows Mobile needs is a better UI, not a change in feature-set or functionality. They should partner with SPB and give them free reign on the UI. Microsoft should concentrate on the OS and functionality, not the UI. Leave the UI to someone who can focus only on the UI and build a truly great device.

You can use this freeware tool, there are a few other freeware tools, or use SPB Mobile Shell 3.5 - a REALLY great UI, easy, big buttons, and slick enough it makes my iPhone toting friends go "whoa". HIGHLY recommended. I plan on getting the new HTC Touch Pro 2 (my i760 has a LOT of battle scars), and TF3D will be gone - it will be Mobile Shell 3.5 instead.

"personally I'm saving up for the HTC Touch HD."

Stop now. I upgraded from a Q that would crash constantly to a HTC 6800 running wm 6.1 and it's absolutely horrible. Every time it checks email it pops up a notification whether it's a new email or not, and the notification overrides anything you're doing including making a phone call. So you're typing in the number and the notification pops up and takes over the screen, close out of it and uh-oh your number is gone, start over. I've found a registry hack that's suppose to work but it doesn't.

I've been desperately seeking something to replace the interface but I've found nothing sufficient. Spb Mobile Shell is close but it doesn't replace the keypad and it doesn't stop the email notification.

I also can't stand only having a onscreen keyboard or sliding keyboard on the side. On the Q the keys were available and could be used with on hand, so the rare times I was driving and lost I could quickly google name and zip and find the address. That's very difficult to do with a touchscreen and impossible to do with the keyboard sliding to the side. Because of this I'm seriously considering a Palm Pre or Blackberry. The only thing that holds me to Windows Mobile is dashwire, an absolutely essential utility that automatically uploads all calls, contacts, photos, videos, text, etc to a website. Unfortunately it's only WM compatible but if it supported another OS I would be gone.

Far be it for me to piss off the iPhone fanbois, but there are already devices and apps to do all this.
My HTC PDA running WM5 (yeah yeah, I know) has GPS, HSDPA, GPRS, Bluetooth, WiFi, and an OS you can write apps for. Consequently, when TomTom lets me down I simply fire up Google Maps, set it to use GPS and it shows me where I am and tracks my movement, with markers for every listing I care about popping up on screen as I travel. Even TomTom tells me if there is a low bridge or a weight limit on my route (relevant when driving 44 tonnes). When I needed to find a branch of a particular fuel station I went to their website, downloaded the pdf of all the locations, and put the post code into Google maps. My email comes in regularly, I can SSH into the server, post photos (taken on the PDA) to my favourite truckers forum, listen to music, play videos (why I would want to, I don't know) and even make phone calls when necessary !
Ok, it's not as skinny as the iPhone, and the screen doesn't automatically flip round as I fumble with it, but I see that as a plus. And when I'm bored I can read an ebook.
So please don't try to tell me that I'm too far from my data, it's all in the palm of my hand right now (unfortunate pun sorry).
(oh and it's sold sim free too, with replaceable battery and works out cheaper than an iPhone even after adding 2x 2GB miniSD cards [it will apparently read a 4GB ok too])
You can even make WM5 look nice.

As an owner of an iPaq h6315 PocketPC phone, I can understand this question as well as answer it. The device is awesome, conceptually, and for a geek with my patience, it's great about 90% of the time, but 10% of the time for me it's a pain in the ass, and for the average user, it just sucks.

Major Flaws-

Every once in a while (like every few months), it performs a hard reset, losing all information, settings, etc. Usually not too big of a problem because it performs an incremental backup on my computer when I plug it into the charging cradle, but still a pain in the ass. Especially when it did it in the middle of my trip to NYC, when I was away from my computer.

Stupid interface decisions, such as-

-Copying the windows interface is insufficient for a handheld device. None of the programs can be easily operated with one's fingers. Even the on-screen "buttons" for the phone are too small. I don't want to have to pull out the stylus just to do basic things. Like, if I'm browsing the web, I should be able to use my fingers to scroll up and down, go forward/back, etc. Fortunately, I'm pretty good at tapping with the corner of my pinky, but I don't think this is acceptable for most people.

-No way to lock the screen without putting the device in standby. I can start music playing in WMP, but I can't put the phone back in my pocket, because the only way to lock the buttons and screen is to put the device in standby, which turns off the sound! One would think that the most basic usability testing would have revealed this flaw.

-The whole "programs don't close, they just disappear" paradigm. I don't know whose stupid idea it was, but fortunately there's SPB Pocket Plus to get around it. I shouldn't HAVE to buy 3rd party software to make my device work properly.

-Inadequate webpage rendering. It's getting better, and NetFront is pretty good, but it's in no way there yet.

The camera is worthless. They basically put the simplest, cheapest sensor in there just to say it has a camera. And it doesn't record video, either.

Insufficient storage is also a problem, as well as the USB being too slow for data transfer. Neither of these are huge problems for what I use the phone for (I don't care about having my ENTIRE music collection with me at all times) but I think the average consumer demands more than the 64MB onboard plus 2GB one can add w/SD cards.

I also wouldn't mind having a more powerful processor that can handle playing through bluetooth stereo headphones. I tried a pair, but you basically can't be doing anything else with the phone, and it's still glitchy.

Don't get me wrong- there are tons of things I love about it. Being able to check my e-mail and surf the web from anywhere is cool. Being able to sync w/MS Money is a godsend, because I'm terrible about keeping a checkbook register. Having one single device to put in my pocket that is all these things, as well as a MP3 player and my phone, is excellent.

Alas, this continual source of joy is also a continual source of frustration. I suppose those of you who are Linux users can sympathize. I can't help thinking Apple, or some other company with an eye for good UI/product design could make something that does everything my device does, but without the headaches. Maybe someday they will... but I'm not holding my breath...

SPB Imageer + large memory card = absolutely essential for wanking in the office bathroom.

I bet you they cost ten times more and are 40 times more latent, and they run Windows CE which is even LESS clusterable than a slow copy of XP HOME.

OH WAIT IT'S NOT FUCKING FUNNY!! SO WHY BOTHER?