What's new in Windows Mobile 6.5.3

A few blogs noted on February 2 that Sony Ericsson has a new Windows Mobile phone out that's running the Windows Mobile 6.5.3 operating system.

What's new in 6.5.3? This looks like the long-rumored update to Windows Mobile that provides support for capacitive-screen phones. It also provides some browser-speed tweaks.

I asked Microsoft for a feature list for 6.5.3 and was provided with the following:

Ease of Use features

* Capacitive touchscreen support * Platform to enable multitouch * Touch controls throughout system (no need for stylus) * Consistent Navigation * Horizontal scroll bar replaces tabs (think settings>system>about screen) * Magnifier brings touch support to legacy applications * Simplified out-of-box experience with fewer steps * Drag and drop icons on Start Screen

IE Browser Performance

* Page load time decreased * Memory management improved * Pan & flick gestures smoothed * Zoom & rotation speed increased

Quality and Customer Satisfaction features

* Updated runtime tools (.NET CF 3.5, SQL CE 3.1) * Arabic read/write document support * Watson (error reporting) improvements and bug fixes

Does this mean there isn't a Windows Mobile 6.6 or 6.7 waiting in the wings for a Barcelona Mobile World Congress unveiling? (In other words, is 6.5.3 what tipsters meant when they were talking 6.6/6.7?) Guess we'll see in two more weeks....