Certain user interface elements of the sundry
Windows Mobile 7 mockups we've seen floating around over the years have remained more or less constant -- a general gravitation toward better touchscreen usability and some positively bizarre bottom-aligned signal and battery meters, most notably.
WMExperts is showing off a newly-acquired document of some sort comparing screens in
6.5 and what was apparently supposed to be 6.5.1 -- the finger-friendly tweak of 6.5 that would precede 7 -- but those mockups on the bottom there have apparently been pushed forward and are now being repurposed as guidance for 7's visuals. For what it's worth, the mockups look so drastically different from 6.5 (and so similar to what we've seen prior 7 leaks) that we're inclined to believe this stuff was destined for 7 all along -- and it actually looks pretty snazzy, save for those dang meters down below -- but whatever, Microsoft, let's just get this moved to RTM already.
Update: pocketnow.com has some additional mockups posted, possibly from the same batch; it looks like they were playing with the appearance of elements, because the meters have a distinctly different appearance (though they're all still at the bottom). Can you tell we hate the fact that they're at the bottom?
posted Oct 20th 2009 8:31PM
Nice, polished, woot!
I really wish that MS would allow all 6.5 phones to go to 7. I'd get a winmo phone now if that were guaranteed, but as it is, 7 looks so much better that waiting for its arrival seems more prudent.
The name "Windows" is kind of silly, on a phone. There aren't any windows.
How about "Screens". Hmm.. I should probably go and register that name!
bondsbw: Sony Ericsson Kiki
@Engadget
I believe the battery and volume are bottom aligned, not battery and signal.
@ Robert
I'm sorry, but that is by far one of the worst ideas i've heard in a while for win 7 or even 6.5. There's no way i'd want my mobile phone to be using minimum specs from from circa 2006, cuz honestly these are the specs for 6.5: 400 Mhz processor, 128 MB ram and...well, thats pretty much it. If MS were to do this they'd have to do one of two things, both of which wouldn't work too well. Either 1) bring down the minimum specs on Win7 or 2) have all their hardware OEMs make hardware that was as sick as the HD2 hardware.
As much as it would be nice to have all 6.5 devices performing w/ HD2 capabilities, i dont the majority of the market would be willing to pay a substantially larger price for a phone thats running ''just'' win 6.5. I say ''just'' because as much as i love win 6.5, and think its a vast improvement over 6.1, you have many bloggers and trolls alike who have come out and said its nothing more than a polished over 6.0. I just got my Tilt 2 today for a 170 bucks which is quite cheap. Would i pay an extra 100 or 200 for a snapdragon processor and damn near a 1GB or ram...hell yes. But i dont think people like my mom or sister would.
Thanks. Now I know Windows "7" is actually 6.5.1.
Wake me up when 65k color limit is breached.
Wake me when they announce that WinMo7 = Windows 7
Winmo is old and it feels old
They still don't have the simple touches. How comne the "off" toggle doesn't have a light reddish tint to it .. and when the toggle is "on" it should have a green tinge. That would make it more visually informative and less eye taxing.
Actually you know what .. I am calling fake on these shots.
From one the screenshots on pocketnow.com
http://pocketnow.com/html/cache/http___www.metrilitix.com_651_settings.jpg
See how it says Toggle Switch in the middle? Now look at:
http://pocketnow.com/html/cache/http___www.metrilitix.com_651_text.jpg
Why does it say Toggle switch in the middle of that too?
Pretty reassuring for anyone hoping for a great Windows Mobile 7 (I think I'll head on over after my fun with Android).
It sure makes 6.5 look shitty. Thank goodness for HTC.
Yep, iPhone swiped, but these Windows fanboys don't want to hear the truth so they will vote us all down....
how did you manage to get that out of what he said?
back to what you ACTUALLY said, i am very torn between WinMo 7 and Android. i will be getting a new phone in February and it will be very interesting to see what is available by that time.
The odd thing about this is that those screenshots appear to be on a low resolution device. I was under the assumption windows mobile 7 would only work on 480x800 (and the wide-screen variation).
Either way I can't wait to try it out and develop for it.
WinMo 6.5 is what made WinMo 6.5 look shitty. WinMo 7 just looks slightly less shitty.
Well, you got to start somewhere XD.
Doesn't look that nice IMO they look exactly like the first mockups we saw 2 years ago.
BTW MS is finally developing gaming on WinMo according to this: http://www.mobiletechworld.com/2009/10/20/windows-mobile-to-become-a-gaming-platform/
While I do agree the toggle switches look ripped off, I still think it looks pretty good, or at least alot better than before!
Apple invented the toggle too? What innovators!
@WinMo_is_trash
Just pointed someone to your post, they asked me what a "troll" means
All they can do... Rip off... Pile of garbage? That's how you quantify your statement? It is a switch...Just a switch...
I hate when people use the word "everyone"
tc3, because it's impossible that anyone would emulate anything about the iPhone. Every accusation is shot down with a sarcastic comment about how they didn't invent ___ because everyone knows the iPhone OS was absolutely nothing new and therefore can not be copied!
Looking Good So Far, but...
If they really want WinMo 7 to be something special, MS need look no further than what HTC has done with TouchFlo 3D/Sense UI.
They're obviously already 'partners of sorts', so why doesn't MS stop the lolly-gagging and just collaborate with HTC's GUI designers and create something extraordinary?
They should be talking to SPB instead of HTC, actually.
SPB Mobile Shell 3 blows away any version of TF3D in terms of functionality, design, speed, and customizability.
But the fact is you can install SPB Mobile Shell on a WinMo phone. The sliders and checkboxes and so forth do suck, but WinMo's biggest problem is shitty default apps. The calendar, contacts, etc apps are just absolutely pathetically awful. And they need to do some serious work on reducing lag and unresponsiveness. SPB Mobile Shell and PointUI show that it can be done.
@ Jon
Too bad SPB can't make Mobile Shell work reliably on all WM devices. It's absolute crap on the Treo Pro, for example. It looks nice but it has a lot of shortcomings.
Really? That's unfortunate. It was fantastic on my Diamond. Made the thing bearable until I replaced it with a Hero.
@ Jon
I don't know what you've been smoking but HTC Sense blows any other phone UI out of the water. I guess UI beauty is in the eye of the beholder.... ;)
I was referring to their Windows Mobile shell[s], not the Android shell.
IMO SPB produces a much better WinMo shell than HTC ever has.
And for the record, I'm not saying this is copied from iPhone. It's just annoying how there can be something like the Creative Zii Egg and the comments here are always "because Apple invented ___!!!!!!" Sometimes people copy others. It gets old.
You're a fool if you think the iPhone hasn't heavily influenced WinMo 7. Without iPhone they wouldn't give a damn about being all fun looking and finger friendly.
I can't wait for the day when I come to Engadget and read "Winmo 7 revealed; first hands on" :3
i can't wait til i see "Jason from Google trolls: banned"
Looking good to me.
about bloody time!
They could of at least put the 6.5 shots in colour. Trying to make it look even worse than it already does?
It's like those infomercials where the person in the "before" clip is utterly incompetent. Disheveled woman in black-and-white, standing on a ladder in the kitchen, cans falling off the shelf onto her head...
.... but now with the SuperCanGrabber3000, all of those horrible nights in the ER are over!
If you look at the top right shot, the taskbar looks like it has the same scrolling art as the zune hd running behind it, just a small observation
Wow! This might actually make me consider another WinMo device. That's if the iPhone doesn't get a UI overhaul before then....
Looks great though! Keep it up MSFT. I might love Apple products for the time being, but I'm keeping an open mind.
How do you overhaul the iPhone UI? It's grid. They'd have to totally reinvent it.
Overhaul, rebuild...whatever, make the UI something better then a glorified start menu.
Honestly, the mock ups are what 6.5 should have been. This doesn't look very fresh today (much improved over 6.5 sure), so waiting another year isn't going to help. I sure do hope MS is leaking these images now, so that they can unleash a fresher look when Windows Mobile 7 is released, but I'm sure that's just wishful thinking.
The one who needs a spanking are their UI designers. Who's big idea was it to put the bars on two completely unrelated buttons for goodness sakes. Top part of screen, status indicators ... bottom part, buttons. Those bars belong on top.
http://pocketnow.com/tech-news/windows-mobile-7-exclusive-screenshots-and-analysis
some more shots of email and contacts etc
This doesn't impress me at all!
Show me some Zune HD UI because I'm starting to lean towards Android after seeing version 2.0.
Not sure what you looked at, but the screenshots clearly show an implementation of the Zune's twist ui.
The iPhone and most other mobile platforms have been spanking WinMo for years now. The most interesting story line about the next version of WinMo, whenever it is finally released, will be just how utterly behind schedule it is.
Jon, the iPod interface is basically a dumbed down version of the classic Palm interface. It doesnt mean they stole anything from Palm - its just means the grid is an effective interface for that type of device.
They all copy from each other - every time someone has a good idea everyone jumps on it if they're smart. But *everything* apple does is "innovative." Its crap. They go good work, but its not handed down from the gods.
Its a freaking button. Nobody stole it.
Pocket Now has a lot more pics:
http://pocketnow.com/tech-news/windows-mobile-7-exclusive-screenshots-and-analysis
Come on, pull a Windows 7 with this too.
Jason.
Fails.
Simple.