Any real reason to use ASP.NET Mobile?

Question

I've been putting together a small web form for our technicians to use from their phones out in the field. However I'm having a lot of trouble getting things working using ASP.NET Mobile, and there seems to be few resources out there to help learn this stuff. I'm also having trouble getting help.

So the thing is, do I really need to use the mobile controls? The phones will all have web browsers, so I'm thinking if I'm careful with the interface I can get as good or better results than using the mobile controls.

The only thing I would like from the mobile controls is the PhoneCall control... so the follow up question would be: Can I get the functionality of the PhoneCall control without using it?

Answer 1

Use mobile controls has same adventages that web controls in web. Using Mobile Controls + Controls Adapters + WURFL helps to developing very fast to many devices.

Yes, you can use WTAI primitives of WML: <a ref="wtai://wp/mc;34123456789">Call</a>

Answer 2

You can always navigate to a page that has those phone controls when needed

Answer 3

Depends which phones your customers will use. Not all phones support the full and rich HTML produced by classic ASP.NET controls. Mobile controls tend to produce simpler and specific for the device. Certainly there are limitations on the controls, but this is due to the limitations of the end devices.

So, test if the classic ASP.NET pages are working with your target device, before doing a Mobile version.