Windows Mobile 6.5 under-delivers

Rudolph Muller

Rudolph Muller is the editor at MyBroadband and covers telecoms and broadband news. Rudolph comes from an academic background, but left the University of...

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To be honest Microsoft is in something of a spot right now with Windows Mobile. The big changes in the mobile phone operating system that everyone are hoping for aren’t really expected to seen until the release of Windows Mobile 7 early next year,

But, in the meantime, Windows Mobile 6.1 was in desperate need of a facelift. Which makes Windows Mobile 6.5, released this week, something of a stop-gap release meant to give users something new to talk about.

Over the past year, and specifically the last six months, Google’s Android operating system has been gaining some serious traction in the market place with the likes of HTC pushing out a rapid succession of phones with Google’s mobile phone operating system, each of them better than that last. Which makes Windows Mobile 6.1 look decidedly dated in comparison.

Windows Mobile 6.5 does have a few new, or improved, features but they are by no means overwhelming and certainly not enough to consider this release much more than a refresh. What has changed includes:

- A new Today screen which looks a little bit more like a Zune home screen and which is the most obvious sign of change in Windows Mobile 6.5.

- The icons have also been given a reworking, making the default application images just a little bit more appealing.

- Better finger input. The idea of stylus-based input for touch screens is decidedly dated and Windows 6.5 makes it a bit easier for users to control the input using just their fingers.

- Microsoft’s Internet Explorer browser has also been updated in this release making web-browsing a lot easier. The mobile version of IE has also been updated to include support for the most recent web standards and technologies, meaning IE should now be able to browse most pages with ease.

- Windows Market place is also being introduced with version 6.5, which is the big step Microsoft has been needing to make into the world of managed application stores, some time behind most other mobile brands. For now the marketplace will be exclusive to Windows Mobile 6.5 but later this year is expected to also be available for earlier releases of Windows Mobile 6.

Windows Mobile 7

Windows Mobile 6.5 is very much a place-holder until the release of version 7 of the OS next year. Microsoft has already said that it expects Windows Mobile 7 to be the “premium” experience operating system while WM6.5 will remain on the market as a low-cost alternative. The two operating systems are expected to co-exist while WM7 targets the high end of the market, the portion of the market where the iPhone, Blackberry and Android phones are dominant.

The most obvious changes in Windows Mobile 7 will be the rewritten interface. In place of the traditional folder view of earlier Windows Mobile releases, Windows Mobile 7 uses 24-bit icons spread across the screen to access applications, much like the iPhone does. Also included in WM7 is access to the Windows Phone market place, a repository of WM-focused applications along the lines of Apple’s App Store. Google’s Android operating system also has its own dedicated application market place.

Windows Mobile 6.5 – discussion