HTC reveals official Windows Mobile 6 upgrade plans

It seems HTC has finally gotten all of its leaves in a pile by releasing the much anticipated Windows Mobile 6 upgrade roadmap; while this news isn't a surprise, it's always reassuring to hear it straight from the manufacturer. Starting in April (the clock is ticking HTC) the updates will begin rolling out on HTC's European site for your downloading pleasure (link below). The list includes the HTC Advantage, HTC TyTn, HTC S620, HTC P3300, and the HTC 4350. All of you folks rolling with carrier-branded handsets will have to wait until June, and to make it a bit more unbearable, no operators or devices are specifically mentioned. HTC's rationale in choosing these handsets over others in their portfolio -- in case you are screaming "why not me?" -- is that devices with a focus on messaging will most benefit from the upgrade. Maybe it's just us, but aren't all of HTC's handsets focused on messaging? We will be bringing you a blow by blow as these things land, so if you see one posted and we haven't mentioned it, drop us a line.

[Thanks, Sed]

Read - HTC's WM6 roadmap [Warning: PDF link]
Read - HTC Europe download site

[greg @ Apr 19th 2007 9:48PM]

WTF dont bother us with you lonely life filled with porn

[Turtle @ Apr 19th 2007 4:35PM]

I can't see how they'd blow off their US installed base... even if most US users have no idea who HTC is and know their brick only by whatever name T-Mobile or Cingular calls it.

I'd much prefer an announcement saying they're flipping off Redmond and signing on with Palm's Linux-based OS...

[Mark Kent @ Apr 19th 2007 4:58PM]

Uhh...Turtle if you wanted a Palm why did you buy a Windows Mobile device? I for one are very glad to use Windows Mobile, and I much prefer it to both Blackberry devices and Treo/Palm (and have used both extensively).

[JTM @ Apr 19th 2007 5:04PM]

T-Mobile announced a while ago that the Dash will be getting a free upgrade to WM6. We have to wait a little longer but the US is not being blown off.

[j0nkatz @ Apr 19th 2007 10:43PM]

I have a Palm, a Windows Mobile device and an HTC...
It's the same device.. Treo750. Where the F**K is my update?

[Ryan @ Apr 19th 2007 5:12PM]

Anyone who prefers Windows OS versus a Blackberry either is 1) A diehard Microsoft fan or 2) is stupid. Most users will fall into category #3, which is: both.

Blackberry rules baby!

[Moff @ Apr 19th 2007 5:23PM]

@ryan.. you're the idiot. Mobile is much better than Blackberry and I know since I have had both. Plus I don't have to pay a "Blackberry" premium on my servers.

WM5 and WM6 rules baby!

[Rich @ May 22nd 2007 12:56AM]

Blackberry? Oh Gee... I have Email!

BB's are for employees, nothing more than an IT controlled e-leash.

Palm and WM5/6 are for people who have a life.

[psxp @ Apr 19th 2007 5:46PM]

ha ha!!! YEAH !! finally S620 updates!! yeah!!

BTW - Ryan, every try developing software for C@ntberry's? Its a whole lot easier on the WM platform !! ha ha!!

[ScOObyDoo @ Apr 19th 2007 5:46PM]

Anyone who prefers Windows OS over a Blackberry is 1) Someone who was able to get their email all week without a day of downtime.

[Devin Lussier @ Apr 19th 2007 5:49PM]

I use a Mac primarily and Ubuntu at home. I hate Windows. Yet I'd much rather have my WinMo Dash than any PalmOS Treo or Blackberry. There's a heck of a lot you can do with WinMo. I'll say that it's reasonably buggy, but from my experiences with a Treo 680 it's way more stable than PalmOS. And with The Missing Sync it works just fine and dandy with my Macbook, including syncing address book, iCal, iTunes, iPhoto, Safari Bookmarks, etc. I can watch video on it and use it as a navigation system with my bluetooth GPS dongle.

So, sorry Ryan, you're wrong: you don't have to be stupid or a die hard MS fan to use and like WinMo.

[Alan Strangis @ Apr 19th 2007 6:16PM]

Wow, some Blackberry employees posting today? Who would thunk it possible? :)

Personally, I didn't want to make the switch to WinMo (5) from Palm (and this after chucking my Blackberry against a wall), but my Wizard has been the most reliable out of the three (though secretly I'm hoping Palm gets their groove back with Linux).

BTW a little birdie (torrent) told me that WM6 works on the 8125. :)

[garbuhj @ Apr 19th 2007 6:58PM]

Bleah! Ugly ugly ugly! They look like the type of knockoff products you get from cheapo companies in taiwan.

[Jeff Lewis @ Apr 21st 2007 8:28AM]

Actually, this is the company that MAKES the phones all those cheap 'knock offs' are selling. In fact, HTC is the company that makes almost all WM based phones and PDAs other than for companies like Fujitsu-Siemens or Sony.

Fortunately, a lot of us are more concerned with what our devices do than how they look...

As for the upgrade - What? Nothing for the Wizard/MDA/Vario crowd?

[Josh @ Apr 19th 2007 7:08PM]

Any chance someone will port this to the 6700 (like they did with AKU 3.5)?

[Uranium @ Apr 19th 2007 7:19PM]

HTC Wizard not Messaging focused enough with its Qwerty Keyboard? I hope they release an official ROM for the Wizard with WM6. ^_^

[jason @ Apr 20th 2007 9:53AM]

There will be no upgrade for the wizard, as the hermes which is getting the upgrade, is the wizard replacement in HTC's eyes. Also note that although Tmo may be offering an upgrade later on for some of there devices, Cingular never will. Cingular appears to prefer to sell and get new customers, not keep current ones happy, I have never seen an upgrade for anything cingular, only critical updates (DST update). And since XDA is no longer permitted to host images, it will be a pain to find someone who took the EU image, and ported it to a wizard friendly image... which by the way, there are a few out there if you look hard enough

[Chrisphillers @ Apr 19th 2007 7:35PM]

Whatever happened to their 'normal' phone plans I wish they could make a decent (ie small) phone, then I might consider buying one of them.

Also its a pity they exclusively use Windows Mobile, Symbian is the king od mobile OS in my opinion (With Linux 2nd)

[xboss @ Apr 19th 2007 7:47PM]

Personally (I'm sure many share my view) I think the HTC P3600 / Orange SPV M700 should also be included for an upgrade.

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/P3600UpgradetoWM6/

Please sign the online petition and hopefully they will include the P3600 / M700

[saq @ Apr 19th 2007 7:53PM]

I've been running WM6 on my Hermes for about 2 months now (various versions courtesy of the xda-developers.com forums). Its a good improvement over WM5. Comparable to Win2k -> WinXP iow: mostly the same, but the UI is completely done over, and some of the core features have been fleshed out and worked over. Its also very speedy. The improvements to the messaging client are VERY nice.

To those who wonder if the 6700 (Apache) will get WM6, chances are pretty solid in favor of one never existing (and HTC never having even worked on one). The primary seller of Apaches is Verizon. Verizon HATES PDA's because its loaded with tons of functionality (and near unlimited features with all the PPC software out there) that they can't charge you for. If they aren't going to make any money on a WM6 upgrade they have no incentive to release it. Hell they would have to spend time, resourcse and money on a WM6 upgrade, so that gives them an incentive NOT to make a WM6 build.

[dblanchard @ Oct 3rd 2007 5:14PM]

Like you said, head to xda-dev for your WM6 fix. I love it on my Sprint branded Apache.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=326532&highlight=helmi_c

[MistrChief @ Apr 19th 2007 8:05PM]

I am expecting my T-Mobile Dash (aka HTC Excalibur; aka HTC S620) in the mail tomorrow. I may have misunderstood, but I thought I heard that the Dash will be upgradable to WM6. Could somebody please shed some light on my situation?

WM5 and WM6 RULES!!! (Blackberrys are okay... only if you like to have your beloved e-mail go down! =P)

[Ryan @ Apr 19th 2007 9:07PM]

Guy's we (a Fortune 500 Company running STABLE Linux servers) experienced no down time. :)

[Ian @ Apr 19th 2007 9:47PM]

MistrChief:

Yes, you will be able to upgrade your phone. I have the beta ROM on it now and it rocks.

[Olivier @ Apr 20th 2007 4:48AM]

Any love for Samsung Blackberry owners?

[sean @ Apr 20th 2007 10:11AM]

Cingular will be offering updates for WM6:
http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2007/03/26/cingulars-treo-750-blackjack-and-8525-get-wm6-treatment/

[Trent @ Apr 20th 2007 1:53PM]

Actually Jason, I'm running WM6 on my Cingular 8125 right now. Do some Googling on "xda-developers" and "Faria ROM" and you'll find what you need to update your HTC Wizard to WM6. This is of course "unsupported" from Cingular and will most likely invalidate your warranty, but since when did that stop us?

Its a tricky upgrade but it can be pulled it off. ;-) Honestly upgrading the ROM was the easy part. Backing up the existing ROM was much harder because Cingular intentionally makes their ROM not work with the HTC ROM tools so I had to back rev the ROM to an official HTC ROM first then do the "Faria ROM" upgrade after that.

[Jeff Lewis @ Apr 21st 2007 8:29AM]

I thought the Faria ROM was a hacked WM5 ROM with some WM6-like features hacked into it. Is it really full WM6?

[E71 @ Apr 21st 2007 10:47AM]

Dubya Tee Eff. Anyone else wondering why the P3600 (Trinity) ain't getting upgrade? You would have thought it would given it's the highest spec phone they're selling at present. It's basically the TyTn plus GPS (despite the removal of Qwerty).

[_V3ndetta_ @ Apr 26th 2007 5:14PM]

Umm. Guys? BlackBerry will always own MB for eMail purposes.

[SuicideNinja @ Apr 27th 2007 1:57PM]

Weird...I deal with Blackberrys a lot at work. A friend of mine tried selling me one for $40. I declined; I don't see why you'd want to rely on RIM services when they aren't necessary.

Windows mobile is great, but it doesn't make much for a functional cell phone. Hopefully WM6 will be better.

[taylor @ Jun 20th 2007 2:15AM]

argh, they still haven't released them yet and they won't return any of my inquiry emails!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!damn you HTC you god of Windows mobile you!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Dharmendra Verma @ Sep 17th 2007 6:54AM]

Hi,

Are your windows mobile 6 upgrade will work on I-mat KJAM device?

regards,
Dharmendra