We know, today is totally
Android 2.0's day to shine, but what would a Friday night be without a little diversity?
Windows Mobile 6.5 officially landed on a gaggle of
Windows Phones back in early October (a month ago to the day, in fact), but by and large, all of 'em have seemingly drifted off into some forgotten corner while Motorola's DROID has taken over the hype. Still, we've got a feeling at least a few of you loyalists went out and gave Sir Ballmer a few more of your nickles, and now we're eager to hear if you're loving or regretting that choice. Is 6.5 really a worthy update over 6.1? Are you waiting for WinMo 7 instead? What would you change about 6.5 in order to make 7 the best mobile OS
of all time? Sound off in comments below!
posted Nov 7th 2009 12:59AM
why the hell would you guys ask a question like that knowing damn well what you have just started
FOR THE LOVE OFF GOD ( an i usually don't say that cuz im atheist)
*of
thank you
Am i the only one who feels the lack of apps for android and the abundance on winmo would drive many towards it?
Two words: UNICORN HEART.
They'll know what that means.
Replace it with secure *nix OS and talented UI designers that understand usability and can follow standards like CSS and HTML 5.
This would mean saying good bye to Windoze and IE.
How bout making phones more open so if I wanted I could get WinMo 6.5, WinMo 7, Andriod, or even WebOS on my phone.
You know, make them like computers.
Nothing is better than a news site wondering why a certain story doesn't seem to be getting hype.
As for the real question - what would you change ... I'll be real curious to see the responses. I bet 90% of those commenting on improvements have never used WinMo 6.5. This post will turn into a thread of people barfing up crap they have read here and on MacRumors. Most of which is total BS.
As someone who has been using 6.5 since very early builds I can honestly say the OS is top notch. I like it better than the UI on my iPod Touch. I like it better than Android 1.5 (which I also run on my phone). For people who are serious business users or tech enthusiasts WinMo offers more flexibility and customization than any other platform. It really is in a class by itself. It may not be the simplest OS or the most finger friendly. However, 6.5 represents a huge step forward and should get folks really excited about the possibilities with 7.
Add support for screens with more colours.
I mean, look at the banding in that screenshot!
^ Or perhaps introduce a simple dithering algorithm for the limited palette.
Better default browser, better onscreen keyboard, better UI guidelines and help for developers to implement said UI guidelines, update the graphics, standardize the OS and abstract it from the hardware so you can update the OS without waiting for XDA-devs or manufacturer to cook up a new ROM and most importantly of all: better responsivity to user actions. I don't want to sit there and debate whether the phone has heard me or not.
Oh and standard edition? You can die now.
@pa1.annoy.nymous: No you're not the only one - I love the look of all these new mobile OS's especially webOS, but there's just no apps for them (that I want anyway). So I'm sticking with my WinoMo 6.1 Treo Pro for now which my apps: GPS plotting, Internet Radio, Geotagging and Sirius, http://amirite.net ?
Zune Layout. Thats It.
I do use WinMobile.
Honestly, other than getting updates directly from MS, and not have to depend on lazy OEMs.
And...
Maybe upping the eye candy transition effects to make it more Zune-like.
I dont really find anything that needs to be changed. It does everything iPhone, Android, and BB does. All of the software that runs on those platforms can easily run on WinMobile.
For me I think that MS should stop messing around with WM6.X and hurry up with WM7. The hardware is already here (HD2) just finsih the godamn software now. http://www.mobiletechworld.com/2009/10/09/windows-mobile-7-rtm-in-spring-2010/
RTM in spring is too late (would mean ship in Q42010)
@superhobo The screens already support more than 65K it's a software limitation though (well MS said a couple of years ago that it wasn't and it was OEMs who chose to only support 65K lol). Should be lifted in WM7 tho.
Chao_Sama:
WinMo 6.5 has the Zune interface. The screenshot above is just the main Home screen, which honest to god, nobody ever uses, because as you can see, it's totally useless.
As for what I would change, the tiny little X button in the top corner is my biggest pet peeve, but that's fixed in WinMo 7 from what I understand. (All those interface buttons are now thumb buttons on the bottom.)
Also there is no good way to lock the phone. There are apps for it, but they all require you to actually open the app to lock the phone, or switch to it. There's no just "lock" on the "Today" screen, which there should be.
Uh... woops :)
I forgot to look at the screenshot.
Ok, there is no "lock" on MY WinMo 6.5 phone for some reason :)
"WinMo 6.5 has the Zune interface. The screenshot above is just the main Home screen, which honest to god, nobody ever uses, because as you can see, it's totally useless."
That is not the main home screen, that is the apps screen.
"Also there is no good way to lock the phone. There are apps for it, but they all require you to actually open the app to lock the phone, or switch to it. There's no just "lock" on the "Today" screen, which there should be."
Click on the Windows logo, and at the bottom you see "Lock". See the image above.
Do you even use WinMobile?
@Tiptup300 For what it's worth, Windows Phones are really the only phones that are close to that. Android has been ported to a number of phones (not perfectly, yet, but definitely usable on several phones), and RIM has an unreleased app called BlackBerry Application Suite that lets you run a virtual BlackBerry on top of WM. So on my Fuze, theoretically, I can choose between three different different OS's. Apple definitely doesn't have an app for that!
Hit the start button and then there is a lock on the botom left, Jeff. I prefer one on the today screen, but two buttons is pretty simple.
i'm almost certain winmo still doesn't offer gpu acceleration support. i'm sure it would make touchflo 3D and other video apps run like a champ if id did. fiddlesticks
The lock softkey only shows up on the "Home Screen" Unsure why, but I only discovered it a few days ago.
continuing what varun said,
It's worth emphasizing speed and response again! You shouldn't be waiting for your phone, the phone should be waiting for you. We should be having speeds like this(except for the calender this is an alpha released yesterday):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUGMalo8a3g
Also, it needs a better task manager to allow switching between all apps/windows from anywhere (wktasks attempts this by implementing something similar to desktop os taskbar, htc has this too)
A calendering app that supports more calenders and better way to view all the appointments description without having to click on them (webos does this well) even integrate tasks into it...
If these are the minimum hardware specs of WM7...
And if WM7 is going to have the same code base as Zune HD, MS shouldn't spend ANY more time on WM 6.5. It already works well, but it's unspectacular.
WM7, with the Zune media goodness available beyond the US borders, with Tegra/Snapdragon hardware, would be awesome. I know it's not due out to the licensees until Q1 2010, but they need to expedite this.
If not, just hand all the design work over to HTC. HTC is leaving everyone in the dust when it comes to mobile interface design. It's the main reason I've stuck with WM (well that and the flexibility, especially when you roll in the amazing things various devs at XDA-devs and PPCGeeks have done).
Windows Mobile has demised! Why would people go to graveyard and dig? Let's move on!
Why change it? Just get rid of it. No need to. It's getting rid of itself all on it's own. It's becoming one of Steve Ballmer's famous rounding errors. Rounding itself down to zero.
I'd change it to iPhone OS
Look at the image above of the WM screen. Now try and use your finger to touch any of the icons across the top. Now try that on a real one where the screen size is half or less than that of the image above. Good times.
What I would change,
A fully functional and working PhoneCanvas which properly locks the touchscreen. No more having to use HTC's, just make it natively functional.
Stop outsourcing the innovation and improvements of your platform to your ODMs. In-house resources and expertise is always better. The fact you spent almost a decade outsourcing it really shows, and since none of your ODMs really share, you're the only common denominator -- the lowest and crappiest part of the platform.
By making it die a painful death, involving Vin Diesel and your mother
Flamebait/Trollbait article
@Manuel
Funny, I'd have said the same thing about you.
@ Look_Around_You
Thank you for explaining that to him. I'm just to lazy to.
Vin Diesel and Manuel would be an overkill ... but who knows "anything that can be killed, can be overkilled"
Turn it into Android
Why? I never owned win 6.5 mobile before, so i'm not going to be judgemental.
Even though i would like it to make any girl i date into a supermodel...or cook me breakfast...or actually make michael bay movies watchable...
I wanna de-rank you to the point where your words aren't visible.
I'm speachless... An Android fanboy, nay, any fanboy comment for that matter, before a "make it an iPhone" comment!?
I'd turn it into a full desktop OS. Screw mobile, run XP
Nay...nay...NAY I say.
I said no way
To the nay you say.
And like the light of day
This ain't no Cray™
And It's not served on a tray
yep lets have our phones running a ful OS that requires 2gb space to install and requires 3rd party programs to use a phone. /sarcasm
rub mobile OSX! lol jk
MULTI TOUCH, real multitouch and make it simpler not that technical
RUN* not rub lol
I definitely agree. I see countless people throw away their WinMo phones because they just dont know how to utilize it. Its just way too technical for the average joe. If they can just simplify everything, I think that would be one hell of a step towards the right direction
Jesus Diaz, go back to Gizmodo. Nobody wants you here.
@Jesus
Is a simple hierarchy of organised folders too difficult for you to grasp? Or are you one of those people who prefer viewing everything in a 4x5 grid of icons?
Can I hide the Icons to show off my wallpaper? Because that's what I want.
That's why I like Android: folders. Does WinMo allow you to make folders? If not, then that's how I'd change it. Add the ability to organize shortcuts into folders.
Of course you can!