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Smartphones and Cell Phones

Matthew Miller
Home / News & Blogs / Smartphones and Cell Phones

Windows Phone Classic to coexist with Windows Phone 7 Series

By | February 18, 2010, 5:16am PST

Summary: In my HTC HD2 announcement post from a couple of days ago I mentioned that I would probably not buy the device because Windows Phone 7 Series devices would be rolling out 6-8 months later. I just read over on istartedsomething that Windows Mobile 6.5 will co-exist with Windows Phone 7 for some time and be rebranded as Windows Phone Classic.

In my HTC HD2 announcement post from a couple of days ago I mentioned that I would probably not buy the device because Windows Phone 7 Series devices would be rolling out 6-8 months later. I just read over on istartedsomething that Windows Mobile 6.5 will co-exist with Windows Phone 7 for some time and be rebranded as Windows Phone Classic. You may recall that Microsoft had Pocket PC Classic devices at one time too so the naming is not unexpected.

While I do believe a clean cut needs to be made to move forward with their innovative Windows Phone 7 Series devices, it makes some sense to continue to support 6.5.x devices for a while. Enterprise users may not jump all over the latest and greatest right away (similar to their behavior in the desktop OS area too) and may prefer to stick with familiar Windows Mobile devices. There are also thousands of applications for the current Windows Mobile OS and many are vital to the way people work and there is still a lot of unknowns when it comes to applications in WP7. As I have said before I find Windows Mobile to be a viable smartphone choice that offers the BEST Exchange experience out there. HTC does some amazing things with 6.5.x so these devices are still quite attractive. It will be interesting to see how Microsoft brands and promotes the Classic Series.

The HD2 is a fantastic piece of hardware and now that I know Microsoft will not totally abandon the OS, I am pretty sure I will be picking one up when T-Mobile releases it. I should be able to easily get a good year out of it, which is a long time for me and a smartphone.

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Phone, Device, Microsoft Windows Mobile, Smart Phone, HTC HD2, Microsoft Windows, Operating Systems, Mobile Operating Systems, Handhelds, Mobile Applications, Software, Hardware, Matthew Miller

Matthew Miller started using a Pilot 1000 in 1997 and has been writing news, reviews, and opinion pieces ever since.

Disclosure

Matthew Miller

Matthew is a professional naval architect by day and a mobile gadget freak at all other times. He purchases his own devices and then sells them on eBay or Craigslist to buy more. Many other devices are sent for review on a 30-day loaner basis and then returned to the carrier or manufacturer. If any are provided as “long term loaner units” this will be clearly disclosed in his reviews.

Biography

Matthew Miller

Matthew Miller started using a mobile devices in 1997 and has been writing news, reviews, and opinion pieces ever since. He is a co-host with GigaOM's Kevin Tofel on the MobileTechRoundup podcast and an author of three Wiley Companion series books. Matthew started using mobile devices with a US Robotics Pilot 1000 and has owned over 125 different devices running Palm, Linux, Symbian, Newton, BlackBerry, iOS, Android, webOS, Windows Mobile, and Windows Phone operating systems. His current collection includes an HTC Radar 4G, Dell Venue Pro, Apple iPad 2, HTC Flyer, Samsung Galaxy Nexus, Nokia N9, Apple iPhone 4S, MacBook Pro, and many more, along with tons of accessories and classic devices like the Apple Newton MessagePad 2100 and Sony CLIE UX50. Matthew can be found on various discussion forums under the user name of "palmsolo".
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Blackberrys are losing ground
jfreedle2@... 18th Mar 2010
Our company actually started rolling out Windows Mobile devices to replace Blackberries because they work well and cost less to utilize over Blackberries. It would seem like they are aligning their Windows Mobile policy to match that of the personal computer policy.
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MS is abandoning its users and partners
rynning Updated - 18th Feb 2010
"...it makes some sense to continue to support 6.5.x devices for a while."

You think? Devices with the operating system are all of 4 months old. I would feel burned had I bought one.

"Enterprise users ... may prefer to stick with familiar Windows Mobile devices."

I don't believe that for a second, unless they're forced to. What is an "enterprise user" anyway? Is it someone who works for a company that uses Exchange, probably half the work-force in the US? They are us or at least no different from us. Unfortunately for Microsoft, WinMo being "familiar" is no barrier to leaving that platform.
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I wonder if an emulator could work for backwards compatibility?
Qbt Updated - 18th Feb 2010
The new phone hardware will be substantially more powerful than the hardware that WinMob is/was running on. I wonder if an emulator can be used to run WinMob 6.5 in order to run older applications.

Actually, I am sure it could be done technically, it is probably more a matter of whether they will put enough resources into making it happen.

This has the advantage of being backwards compatible while at the same time making a clean break.
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However, the Classic model calendar runs out in June 2010. (Not really)
Robert Carnegie 2009 18th Feb 2010
Well, not really unless it gives every month from June onwards 31 days, or something. And when it's legacy product, why fix it?

Speaking personally, I hate the Roman calendar, anyway.
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Enterprise must abandon Windows Mobile
gjafg 18th Feb 2010
Enterprise users must quickly start planning for the migration away from Windows Mobile (or "Classic" as it has been renamed).

The problem for enterprise isn't the Exchange support. The main problem is the legacy software. Companies that use legacy WinMo apps must begin planning a software roadmap, and make the decision about what platform to migrate to. Those decisions need to be made now.

Windows Mobile (Classic) is reaching its end for the reason that the platform was generally unpopular and losing market share. Therefore, if we must migrate to another platform, we should choose one that is popular and gaining market share. We don't want this to happen again next year or the year after.
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Not a problem for most...
condelirios 28th Feb 2010
because almost all large corporations are 99% blackberry anyway. Win Mobile is allowed because it is easy to setup...but for the most part Blackberry rules the roost.

Believe me, enterprise IT is not planning anything in this regard other than...blackberry, blackberry and oh. yeah.. blackberry.
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Blackberrys are losing ground
jfreedle2@... 18th Mar 2010
Our company actually started rolling out Windows Mobile devices to replace Blackberries because they work well and cost less to utilize over Blackberries. It would seem like they are aligning their Windows Mobile policy to match that of the personal computer policy.
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RE: Windows Phone Classic to coexist with Windows Phone 7 Series
SnittyKitty 9th Mar 2010
In regards to Microsoft, I just don't care anymore. Whether it's Windows 7, Windows Phone 7 it seems to those of us who have used their OSs they have lost touch with reality or at the very least, common sense. To release a statement and imply Windows Phone 7 will not be compatible with the HTC HD2 (Leo) because of a few hardware buttons is simply the dumbest thing I've ever heard. Yet, XDA and other websites have done wonders with the ROMs "chefs" have released and I find myself scratching my head in regards to being black and white about this. I'm perfectly fine with the HD2 and Windows Mobile 6.5 and whatever XDA chefs can cook up for the device. For Christ sake, I have Windows Mobile 6.5.5 on my Touch Pro 2 thanks to NRGZ28. He tells me HD2 will be 10 times faster across the board, I believe him!

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