Windows=based smartphones work best with Exchange.

Let’s face it, your users are going to want to connect  to your organization’s Exchange services with their mobile phones. Rather than allow that activity to grow willy nilly, you may want to impose some controls on the process. So it might make sense to know what smartphones play nicely with Exchange.

Smartphone makers have been steadily improving their handsets’ Exchange capabilities. What’s more, Microsoft has also moved, with the release of Exchange 2010, to better accommodate phone warriors. For example, with Exchange 2010 and ActiveSync, members of your organization get real-time access to their communications on literally hundreds of devices. Email, contacts and calendar items can be automatically synchronized over the air quickly.

What’s more, a user’s inbox becomes truly universal. Barriers to all forms of communication–email, voicemail, rights-protected messages, calendar requests, RSS feeds and saved instant messages–have been removed allowing one-stop access for members of your organization.

In addition, versatility and productivity of mobile email has been boosted with features like previewing messages with speech-to-text voicemail and creating a contest for messages with a conversation view.

Microsoft didn’t leave administrators out of the equation either. They have greater control over device access. They can create lists of devices to block, quarantine or permit access to their network. And budget-strapped IT departments will be glad to hear that the additional mobile support is included at no additional cost in Exchange 2010. Some of that cost, no doubt, is unloaded on smartphone makers, who have to pay a licensing fee to use ActiveSync.

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