Windows Mobile and one handed navigation

One handed navigation seems to elicit a range of opinions and emotions from users, especially when it comes to Windows Mobile. This is one area where Microsoft missed the boat, but they have time to catch up and make it right. Mike Calligaro on the Windows Mobile team blog has brought the subject front and center with his post "Let’s Talk About One Hand Navigation". As users this is our opportunity to influence the discussion at Microsoft, so don't be afraid to comment but please make it constructive. I get tired of wading through comments with criticism for weaknesses we all know are there.

Over the years of using Pocket PCs I got use to using the stylus, but as the Pocket PC phone became more usable, the need for one handed operation became more apparent. Here are some of my comments regarding Windows Mobile and one handed navigation:

• Phone Dialer - I personally do not need a hardware based keypad to use the telephone. I use my thumb with the T-Mobile phone dialer. Microsoft should not force vendors to provide a hardware based keypad. The market should decide. Contrary to some posts, I find the HTC Smart Dialing 2.2 utility quite useful, it does recognize keypad characters and allows me to scroll through contact phone numbers. However there is still room for improvement like using the left D-Pad to backspace when you are using the keypad.
• WM5 soft key hardware buttons - It looks like a lot of folks remap the top two hardware buttons for Start and OK. Check out Smartskey on xda-developers, it remaps the soft key hardware buttons tap and hold functionality to Start and OK. The OK functionality also allows you to configure applications to stay open, otherwise it attempts to shut them down.
• Pocket IE - The default mode is not very friendly. With the addition of Smartskey and MultiIE the volume button to scroll block at a time and MultiIE keeps the up and down D-Pad for link to link scrolling. You have the best of both worlds and tabbed browsing.
• Pocket Outlook - I agree with most comments that the inability to scroll through mailbox folders is limiting, however you can scroll to the last folder accessed, across mail providers by moving backwards or forward from the top or bottom of the folder you are viewing. Helpful but not a complete solution.
• Menu Items - I think it is also important for application developers to be aware of where they place items in menus to limit the number of scroll actions. I love the delete being at the top of Pocket Outlook's menu, on the other side of the coin I hate that ActiveSync placed Connect via Bluetooth at the bottom, requiring an extra scroll. Configurable menus would be great.
• Task Manager - My biggest complaint is the lack of a one handed Alt-Tab implementation. I agree with the comments made that using the start menu to navigate through active application is flawed. I use Omega One's Battery Pro and with the latest version it would have been nice for them to implement a one handed task switching capability.