First decent Windows Mobile 6.5 screenshots leak out
By Nilay Patel 
posted February 12th 2009 1:38PM
posted February 12th 2009 1:38PM
posted February 12th 2009 1:38PM
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I'm starting to like the honeycomb menu interface.
reminds me of Settlers of Catan.
I'll trade you 2 sheep for 1 wood.
I have winmo and I HATE IT!!!
The interface/ease of use/reliability EVERYTHING SUCKS....
This new interface might keep me from switching to a different OS. Palm pre doesn't sound so bad right now
@bangladeshiluv Sorry man, but it's gotta be said... You want someone that's got wood for sheep? Or you've got wood for sheep?
Can someone explain to me what the point of the honeycomb interface is? Does it tie-in with some efficient form of navigation?? Or is it just a gimmick to make the launcher look less crowded?
No, no. It was the barter system back then. Pull up to a street corner: "How much?" "I'll give you a woody for 2 sheep."
Just what in the world are you all talking about?
It's a great board game called Settlers of Catan -- and well played, Tony C. That happens every time someone has a trade going... unless you do the trade then find out you and the other guy had it confused. :)
I kinda hoped the honeycomb system would provide a seamless navigation - you know, not be cut off on the left and right edge, but loop in all 4 directions. That would have been rather cool imho.
As it is (apparently) it seems a bit pointless really...
Attention:
The source that Engadget linked is now reporting that this is a 3rd Party (aka custom) firmware!
This is not what 6.5 will look like apparently.
Thank you,
GenoMalice
@GenoMalice:
They're talking about the virtual keyboard, not the firmware or shell. Apart from the keyboard, and barring any major changes, this *is* how Windows Mobile 6.5 will look.
... You have all died of Dysentery.
Good God! That beehive design has me on the floor laughing. I guess they wanted to make darn sure no one accused them of copying a certain fruit company's design. Mission accomplished!
On the floor laughing? Really? You have a very odd sense of humor man. That or you need to get out more
Come on, man, if another company had designed that, people would be burning down the internet just to make it go away. In fact, if a certain fruit company had designed that, people would be saying that that company had ran out of ideas and was certainly doomed forever, but because it's Microsoft, everyone will "give it a chance."
Fanboyism at it's worse.
He's just a troll.
The "Home screen" way of displaying all the information you need at a glance is very good.
Where as apple has a nice UI, if you want a quick and easy way to get info about your email/sms/mms/ect notifications you cant beat the home screen.
It just shows that they are going after different markets in a way, apple are all for non power user, who gets a smart phone because its cool or something, not saying that the hardware and OS isnt able to for fill both roles of cause.
Where as WM is more pointed at the enterprise/business world where it matters more to be able to quickly see all the important information, this has been at the expense of prettiness so far, so its nice to see them fixing that a bit.
@Angus Hedger
Well, functionality is another topic altogether. I was just commenting on the ugly interface, that's all. And it IS ugly, as a few other people have pointed out. I guess they're all trolling too.
@Paul A. Chapel
Prettiness/ugliness is a matter of opinion.
And its not all what you are saying that makes you a troll, its also how you say it.
So there is a nice way to say something is ugly? Uh, I don't think so.
@ Paul A. Chapel
No, I am saying we all have our own tastes, and what you may think looks nice, is different to what I may think, it is all a matter of taste.
What a joker. It's scary to me that people like Paul actually exist and are roaming the streets.
@Angus Hedger
Yeah, people have different tastes, just like people have different opinions. And my opinion is: this interface is ugly. There's no reason to get upset about it.
My mother likes reality television, doesn't make it any less dumber.
Paul,
We get it. You really like Apple products and services. You like them to the point where you are comfortable making a corporate shill jackass out of your self multiple times in order to prove your love and loyalty to Apple.
People see you as an idiot, troll, and otherwise as a total moron.
As you can tell 99.9% of the Apple users here, some of which may be fanboys, do not subscribe to your level of fanaticism to even post agreement with your absurd views.
So take a hint. If you dont like non Apple stuff, and you feel a need to go overboard in airing those views, just close the browser and go take a walk until you find something else to do.
Wait, Paul is calling someone a fanboy?
Who said something about Apple? If I think something is ugly, it doesn't automatically make me a fan of something else. It just means, I think something is ugly.
Get a Grip.
"copying a certain fruit company's design"
you meant apricot computers?
It's not so much the fact that it's ugly, but from a design perspective (and I am a designer, so I'd say I have some cred) It doesn't look like it's visually integrated with the experience. A beehive design may be interesting, but in this case it looks more 'shoe-horned' in, fit-n-finish does account for something, beyond a certain 'fruit' company.
BTW, Paul you talk too much.
Wow...are you guys gonna go on like this??
In that case, I would prepare myself with some chips and salsa, keep refreshing the page, sit back and enjoy the show. :D
Come on Angus...your turn!!!
quit feeding the troll!!!
The iPhone interface looks like shit in still pictures.
It looks decent when its moving around.
The Pre looks good all the time, however.
Considering the power of WM, I would gladly give up some flash for the functionality it offers.
I can install absolutely anything i want, whenever i want, with no ones approval but my own. That assures ill stay on WM. That and, it is so easy to skin it so i dont have to use what Microsoft gives you.
I was actually referring to RIM when I mentioned the "fruit company." They make this smartphone called a blackberry. Just thought I would clear that up. Thanks.
Less dumber? ROTFL! What a way to prove an unintended point!
Wow that would be awesome if it would work on my blackjack 2
Bird is the word
WTF?
That Honeycomb better be easy to navigate
That's what I was thinking. How will diagonal movement work with a regular 4-way D-pad?
Its very finger friendly, also, if you look at newer d-pads they are moving away from the old 4way, to a more omnidirectional design.
man that honeycomb is looking nice! i hate the new scroll bars. they look so cheap and clash with the rest of the UI. why can't they just make them like vista's?
Ok Engadget, I guess you guys don't look at pocketnow.com They have been showing new WM 6.5 screenshots nearly daily. They have had more 6.5 coverage than anything else lately.
if it ain't apple related, engadget coverage will be poor.
I hear the engadget team "j in their p" every time they touch the iphone.
I just hope its faster. That is really all that is important. How they make it look is all cosmetic. You can already customize windows anyway you choose. So if it's performance is tweaked and made better, then that is good. Otherwise this is all just colorful and pretty to look at; just attract some mac people.
The core OS is a good deal faster/smoother, this is of cause with a lot of bugs, driver issues, and having to replace parts of the core OS with WM6.1 files to get it to boot on older devices, so, it should be pretty dam good when things are fixed up more.
I have used this hands on running on a HTC Hermes (64meg ram, 400mhz Samsung cpu, old ATI imageon).
Its a bit slow, but the driver issues are being worked on.
If you look at this and laugh, then you don't understand how nice it is to use.
The whole OS has very good, fast, and smooth finger scrolling now, more efficient and nicer looking scrollbars, and the Titanium home screen is pretty dam functional.
WM is a VERY flexible, and customisable OS, its good that is is finally getting a pretty base.
I have only tried it on a old slow arm core with almost no ram, it will fly on a good arm9/11 core with a power VR chip, or snapdragon.
WM is a OS that you use if you want to get something done, or if you want to make it look however you want.
And you know what, if you don't like this new look, you can turn it all off, and use 3rd party apps to change everything to how you want it.
If you don't like wm, head over to:
http://forum.xda-developers.com
Give some time reading, and i am sure you will find something to change your mind ;)
Quick follow-up:
Screen grabs of my WM6.5 experience:
http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c295/Veyka/joshwm65beta3.jpg
And the rom
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=3310915&postcount=6
It looks way better in those screenshots.
It's all poor photoshop. If you know how you use photoshop well, there are tiny little clues in the photos EVERYWHERE that it's just some douche with too much time on his hands. I.E., the selected clock configuration on the first 'screenshot' has an inner glow, and it's set on 'Overlay', you can tell because it get's brighter on the dirt of the background.
Engadget. Pay attention. You're beginning to look stupid.
It's a shoop. I can tell because of the pixels and I have seen many shoops in my time.
if you REALLY think its photoshop then you're stupid. You can use these ROMs for yourself: http://forum.ppcgeeks.com/showthread.php?t=54678