Image Gallery: Windows Mobile 6.5 screenshots

Summary: Microsoft announced Windows Mobile 6.5 at Mobile World Congress 2009 and this gallery includes a few screenshots of the operating system update. The focus is on the user interface and making it more finger friendly, at least on the top couple of layers. Manufacturers have been adding these types of interfaces for some time now and Microsoft is now taking it to an OS level. Most of the updates appear to bring what we see already in WM 6.1 on non-touch screens to the touch screen devices.

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This is what the new email program looks like when you are reading a particular email.

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Topics: Software, Hardware, Mobile OS, Mobility, Operating Systems, Smartphones, Wi-Fi, Windows

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13 comments
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  • At least it still has a Start button

    It was innovative in 1995 and is still so today!

    And I really like those big hexagons separating all the app icons. Don't want them too crowded on that small screen.

    Love the "Move to Top" and "Move Down" menus! So much easier than using a finger swipe.

    But the Boat Picture is what really sets this OS apart from previous iterations.
    rynning
    • You crack me up...

      I needed a laff today.
      -- Olderdan
      Olderdan
    • thanks for the laugh (nt)

      nt
      faxmonkey
  • RE: Moving around icons (Image Gallery: Windows Mobile 6.5 screenshots)

    If I wanted an Apple paradigm I'd buy an iPhone. The calendar icon gives the day (hopefully "30" is the day of the month), but where's the month and year? No, I don't need the celestial date (nice educational tidbit), but 3-D icons with no useable information is a waste of a screen. Microsoft should adopt the military paradigm regarding menuing, operational menus are restricted to 3 layers. We need info, FAST. Enough with all menus and entertaining features. The beef is missing at many levels.
    yetnot
  • RE: Moving around icons (Image Gallery: Windows Mobile 6.5 screenshots)

    Definitely a dribbling ball to the pitcher. "Out at first!" Kind of like buying the same paperback book twice because it has different cover art. If Microsoft cannot hit the I-phone out of the park, speed up the interface, add kinetic and two point scrolling, plus some AI features, then they are doomed to be in last place forever. I can get pretty pics anywhere.
    dbtown@...
  • RE: Moving around icons (Image Gallery: Windows Mobile 6.5 screenshots)

    Nothing new to see here people, move along, move along and quit rubber-necking, yer' holding up traffic!
    Alongwayback
  • RE: Moving around icons (Image Gallery: Windows Mobile 6.5 screenshots)

    Same old ugly interface that will be placed on devices with not enough battery or screen resolution or CPU power.
    The issues that got me to sell my windows mobile Treo after 3 months will probably still be there, apps that stay running and eat memory, Will have problems running third party apps for previous versions - and very few new apps out when the new OS shows up on new phones, and no way to update on older phones.
    My palm treo went through three OS updates, and could still run apps form back when I had my palm III
    chromeronin
  • RE: Moving around icons (Image Gallery: Windows Mobile 6.5 screenshots)

    Another minimal effort with maximum expectations. It really saddens me that it's so hit and miss with Microsoft. They're a multi-billion dollar company. Innovation should be rolling out their cornholes.

    And that "hex" menu screen? You gotta be kidding me. My iphone can hold 16 icons (20 if you count the 4 quick picks at the bottom and WM 6.5 can only show 10 Max with 2 halfway in and out. I understand the "fat finger" thing, but I don't know anybody who's fingers are THAT fat.
    mkleinpaste@...
    • Some have fingers that are THAT fat....

      [i]"I understand the "fat finger" thing, but I
      don't know anybody who's fingers are THAT
      fat."[/i]

      Haven't you ever seen a "well hung" lesbian???


      LOL!!!

      i8thecat
  • RE: Moving around icons (Image Gallery: Windows Mobile 6.5 screenshots)

    I like rynning's sarcastic commentary - it's just so true.

    Leave it to Microsoft to implement a context-menu for something so simple as moving icons around on the home screen... *sigh*

    While I like my Touch Diamond, it's Achilles heel has always been the underlying Windows Mobile OS. Microsoft, with its immense resources and experience, should have released a truly intuitive, finger-friendly mobile OS by now. If that's going to be WM 7, well, they're *already* a year late, and getting later. This 6.5 "point" update seems to at least be a genuine improvement, but the incrementalism is killing their platform.

    Why is Microsoft so unable to simply play with some iPhones and Android phones, have an "ah HA!" moment, and design an interface that has the fluidity of the iPhone, coupled with the (immense) functionality buried in WinMo's deeply-nested menu screens...

    Honestly, Steve Balmer should either be firing someone, or be fired himself; with a really revamped OS (even just a very revamped UI, honestly), along with aggressivly-low pricing, Microsoft could own a big chunk of the exploding smart-device market. Instead, they're pitching another very modest update to an OS that still pays far, far too much homage to it's stylus-based PDA origins.

    I'm sorry, Microsoft - I'm a developer on .Net and Windows (luv Win7!), but WM 6.x has been a horrendous disappointment, bordering on pathetic. You should be kissing HTC's rear in gratitude for their hiding the WM interface from users as much as possible (along with Samsung, et al), since they're the only reason WM is still relevant for consumers in the non-Enterprise space.

    Kirk Davis
    blog.hackingbangkok.com
    kirkaiya@...
  • RE: Moving around icons (Image Gallery: Windows Mobile 6.5 screenshots)

    where it is available ?
    bangartsr@...
  • Clutter

    Looks like work in progress...
    minardi
  • Looks OKAY ...

    They're coming right along... can't wait now for version 7.0 to hit the market.
    jjjjjandj@...