First Windows Mobile 6.5 device launched without a shred of officialness

If Microsoft had its way, Windows Mobile 6.5 wouldn't be coming to a retail device for a few months yet -- and if HTC had its way, manufacturers wouldn't be cloning its devices. This is the so-called real world, though, where a quick search on the internet will lead you to a cooked 6.5 ROM, and another search will instantly transport you into a magical universe of countless low-cost rips of your favorite name-brand handsets. It was just a matter of time before those two shady gray markets merged -- and, well, here you go. The Touch Viva knockoff is apparently based on a white-labeled Huawei platform that offers some sort of 460MHz core, quadband EDGE, a 3.2 megapixel cam, WiFi, and a 2.8-inch QVGA display. Given the forgettable design and spec sheet, we think you'd have to be extraordinarily hard up for 6.5 to bother dropping the requisite 1,099 yuan (about $161) -- but then again, you'd be making history with this one whether Microsoft likes it or not.

[Via wmpoweruser.com]

[Richard Harris @ May 12th 2009 4:14PM]

Fugley!

[Pop @ May 12th 2009 4:17PM]

I think that's just the asian characters and ugly background that make it look ugly.

[Templarian @ May 12th 2009 4:40PM]

^ And the actual device. Screens should be flush not indented a full cm.

[XIYL @ May 13th 2009 12:40AM]

I don't believe that is a KIRF, there isn't any differences between that and the HTC Touch Viva at all, not to mention xdadev has 6.5 roms for it.

[VS Dude @ May 12th 2009 4:32PM]

Never mind the case or the color theme (both of which can be changed), I'm wondering what the performance is like - especially compared with Google's Android.

Oh, and before the fanboys have a crack at it, I'm not interested in ever, ever, EVER buying an iPhone.

[TareX @ May 12th 2009 4:41PM]

I have no idea why MS wasted their resources on 6.5...... time should have been spent speeding up the launch of a Tegra WM7 device.

[Kris @ May 12th 2009 7:05PM]

Think about it. In order to make your product matter (WM7), you need more time (another year or more) and your competition is showing off better operating systems. What do you do? Simple, delay the newest one another 3-4 months and grab some folks to make the previous version look a little better.

I don't like it but it makes perfect business sense to me.

[Mofongo @ May 12th 2009 4:43PM]

I agree...I will never ever, ever, EVER buy an iPhone...ever.

[Andir3.0 @ May 12th 2009 5:04PM]

never ever? ever?

[VS Dude @ May 12th 2009 5:34PM]

Never!

LOL

[spellprince @ May 12th 2009 4:45PM]

yuck

[Matthew F @ May 12th 2009 4:53PM]

Running a cooked 6.5 ROM on my Sony Ericsson XPERIA X1... the new home screen is very refreshingly simple and pretty elegant, the glass transparencies look pretty (though, probably due to that pesky 65k color limit of WinMo devices, some banding is visible), and it's nice to be able to re-order start menu items. However, many applications which are key to my user experience with WinMo, like SPB Weather and G-Alarm and G-Profile, install themselves as Today screen plugins, which makes them useless now with the new Titanium interface. Good news though, the guys @ XDA forums have already worked out how to configure and add new items to the new Titanium today screen!

[iKurt 5D @ May 12th 2009 5:26PM]

That looks like Palm Pre, and I agree, it doesn't look as good as the iPhone.

[Lancelot @ May 12th 2009 6:38PM]

I'm not surprised that MS didn't pronounce "Windows Mobile 6.5" arrival. How can they be proud of another resource that's fallen behind so far, so fast, they'll never catch up. It won't be long before this OS will be hard to find on any of the more popular mobile devices. Unless there's been some major changes it will still be a resource hog & have such a convoluted interface that most new users will be as frustrated as most Vista users. As usual, I'm sure all they got right was the hordes of DRM restrictions they build into every layer..

[Al @ May 12th 2009 11:26PM]

Based on the 6.5 ROM I installed on my T-mobile MDA, I have to say that it is quite an improvement over 6.1. My MDA never ran so stable with 5, 6, or 6.1. I've had no freeze ups with 6.5 yet, and I've rarely had to soft boot it. It's definitely not enough of an improvement to compete with the iPhone or G1, but for the WinMo faithful, it MIGHT just be enough to keep them from drifting towards the competition.

[kadajawi @ May 12th 2009 6:48PM]

The price is very low though for the specs...

[pika2000 @ May 12th 2009 7:54PM]

Because:
1. This is a knock-off, with an unofficial ROM. They probably don't pay any licensees for the OS.
2. Cellphone components are really not that expensive. So if a company don't spend the money for R&D, they obviously can sell a product with lower cost and maintain a good profit.
3. It's the Chinese market, and it's already filled with other cheap knock-offs.

[rich_rich @ Jun 19th 2009 4:24PM]

I am pretty sure that the price can be much lower since the entire chipset only runs for $40-$60.
:) I have the other knock-off that has the same spec plus GPS build in. (The one that looks like HTC Pharos)
From what I know, both phones are based on Hisilicon (ASIC department of Huawei) K3 platform.
With an 460MHz ARM926 core, 128M 256M.2.8' QVGA screen. Bluetooth, Wifi. Not too bad for the price.