The iPhone gets a lot of attention these days, and rightly so. It's an attractive phone/media player with a beautiful interface. And Apple brought the idea of an innovative finger-friendly multi-touch display to the masses. But you know what? The iPhone isn't for everyone. There are plenty of things it can't do, or that you can do better with another device. And while the price of the phone continues to drop, you have to pay a rather pricey phone bill every month if you really want to make use of the phone.

With that in mind, Download Squad brings you anti-iPhone day. Throughout the day, we'll be looking at alternatives to the iPhone. To kick things off, I wanted to review some of the posts of DLS past that have already shown that there's little you can do with an iPhone that you can't already do with a Wndows Mobile-based phone.

Program Launchers

Somewhere between the time when Steve Jobs first demoed the iPhone and the day it actually hit the shelves, third party developers decided it would be cool to create an iPhone-like interface for Windows Mobile. Probably the most interesting project is FreeStyleWM, which started out its life as WhoNeedsAniPhone.

But not every third party developer wanted to replicate the iPhone interface. Some were just inspired enough to go out and create their own easy to use, finger-friendly program launchers and other applications. Thus GoodWin and iSwish were born.

Meanwhile, before the iPhone was even threatening your pocketbook, folks were puting out software that takes Windows Mobile and makes it feel like an entirely different operating system. Over a year ago, we brought you a roundup of applications designed to make Windows Mobile look and feel a bit more like Windows XP or Vista.

When we told you about GoodWin, an iPhone-like program launcher for Windows Mobile, we included a link to a similar app that we'd discovered this summer. While the $20 GoodWin is pretty, it's also a bit clunky and difficult to use. The other application, on the other hand was elegant and free. The only problem is that last time we checked, it was in Alpha, meaning it was still pretty buggy. It also kept changing its name.

Now that other program has reached public beta, and is reportedly pretty stable. Oh yeah, and it has another name. The program formerly known as WhoNeedsAniPhone and FUILauncher, is now called FreeStyl.

There's still a pretty hefty list of requirements:

• Windows Mobile 5.0 or newer
• 320 x 240 pixel screen (or higher resolution screen with the same aspect ratio)
• Touch screen
• Microsoft .NET Compact Framework 2.0 SP2
• Adobe Flash Lite 2.1

FreeStyl includes a program launcher, a screen locking application, and a redesigned contacts application. Developer Jason Jaegers is also working on a weather program and a music player that will also be finger-friendly. You can also choose from several different wallpapers.

From the Apple Newton to the Palm Pilot to the Windows Mobile PDA, there's been one constant in mobile touch screen devices: the stylus. The Apple iPhone shook all of that up this year with the introduction of a finger-friendly display and application launcher. And it didn't take long for Windows Mobile developers to follow suit and design utilities that make it easier for you to smudge your pretty little screen.

VITO Technology's GoodWin is the latest finger-friendly program launcher for Windows Mobile. This $20 application acts as a replacement for your Today Screen. There are large icons at the top of the screen for email, messaging, phone calls, and setting your clock and alarms. Underneath is a list of all your programs and settings. And when we say all, we mean it. If you've got Pocket Informant installed, for example, you'll see at least 7 icons for launching PICalendar, PIContacts, PISearch, and other Pocket Informant subprograms.

So it's a good thing that there's also a favorites section giving you easy access to the applications you use most often. But for some reason, VITO thought it would be a good idea to include the running programs and favorites in the same section. Although favorites are marked with a star and running programs feature a little triangle, it's difficult to tell at a glance which applications are currently running and which are favorites.

Right now, we're not convinced GoodWin is worth the $20 asking price, but if VITO adds some folders and/or tabs to make the display a bit more manageable and separates the favorites and running programs sections GoodWin could be a useful little application. There's a free trial available for Windows Mobile 2003 and newer.