Sony Ericsson Aspen: first with Windows Mobile 6.5.3
By Thomas Ricker 
posted February 2nd 2010 3:06AM
posted February 2nd 2010 3:06AM
Back to Windows Mobile 6.5.3 for a second, although this is a .dot.dot update it's actually a fairly significant move for Microsoft. For starters, this release now includes a more finger-friendly layout (no stylus needed even when digging deep into the OS), support for capacitive touchscreens (huzzah!), and acts as a platform to enable multitouch. Microsoft has also improved browser performance with faster page load times and better memory management while improving the pan and flick gestures and zoom and rotational speeds. Sounds like somebody is getting ready for Mobile World Congress.
Look it can run flash! Can it?
@cdf74dc9
has to make you coffee first!
@cdf74dc9 Yes, with Skyfire.
@Herr Synnberg install another browser on a phone? who would ever want THAT? :) (another thing i could do any dumpphone but not the jesus one)
@Herr Synnberg hulu blocks Skyfire...sucks!
@davepermen The quad-band phone’s candy bar design features a sleek body with the latest update from Windows Mobile with version 6.5.3. The 2.4 inch QVGA touchscreen and full keyboard offer some interesting options with a strong eco-conscious approach to packaging and design.
More Aspen Details: http://bit.ly/sony-ericsson-aspen-details
@lisagumpz lulz, eco conscious, filled with all sorts of nastys a battery that needs charging every night and it pulls down internets making servers use even more power.
Oh, and then many times the battery and even the phone itself can end up in a landfill...
SE reminds me Samsung 3-4 years ago...
@suland And samsung reminds me of Oher manufactueres 6 years ago..
@suland - just without the optimistic outlook...
@suland
So in 3 or 4 years SE will be the largest tech company in the know universe?
@Punch Rockgroin If they won't f***up!!!
@suland Well we all know they will so....
Who was I kidding when I thought SE had already hit rock bottom?
WM is shite, but wow, that is a nice looking piece of hardware.
Slap Android on this thing and you have your customers' attention.
Save WM for the retro museum.
@Wesscoast
yeah, we shall all be hip and have android now! and run after the next fad in some months.
win mobile works just fine, has tons of nice apps, and interesting support other devices most likely will never get.
i know i'm old in having wm 6.1 on an xperia. but you know what? it works just fine, so what am i missing, exactly? except being hip.
@davepermen your right, people would rather be waist
@manifest3r haha. i guess i should have chosen 'cool', or 'in'? but i like waist :)
@Wesscoast You Android fanboys keep on crying.
I keep hearing this same statement every time a new WM phone comes out... every single comment when the HD2 came out in November was "w0w, this thang is teh awesome, just slap Android on to it and I'm totally thar."
Guess what, I've been enjoying my 4.3 inches of goodness since November while you guys are still in a huff that HTC chose WM for it instead of Android. And where's the Android version of the HD2? Oh, it's still only a rumour.
Face it, 'buddy', there's a reason why WM continues to get nice hardware and that's because it's still a very viable choice for many consumers.
@Koofteh Ha, I bothered to reply to this guy and then downraked his comment only to have it become hidden.
No worries, anything to save more innocent minds having to read baseless and biased commentary.
@davepermen
Hip? Anyone?
@Koofteh
"Guess what, I've been enjoying my 4.3 inches of goodness since November"
Did you have that Marilyn Manson rib removal surgery?
@davepermen I remember telling my buddies I was getting a G1 and they all told me that Android would never catch on and I was wasting my money. Now it is "the hot new thing". Better is just better. Sorry.
Why do I find this slightly appealing. It's not in the slightest. It's like an E71 in drag or something.
SPB Mobile Shell, yum...
@Lando Calrissian shhh that's a secret :) (and a great one at that :))
that is one small screen.... or a relatively large keyboard
Remember when SE used to release phones.... Now they just announce them, Any one wanna bet 3 intenets on when this phone will actually be released?
@Edobe
my thoughts exactly. if they actually sold some of the phones they keep showing then they might not have to keep laying people off.
what's with the winmo hate?
not as if it ate your family or something.... :(
It's not a BAD looking phone, but they should have picked a better phone for 6.5.3. With a QVGA screen and what is almost certainly dated internals I don't think this is the device that's going to showcase 6.5.x. Though 6.5.3 is old hat. I've been running 6.5.5 for almost a month now.
Don't get me wrong I really like windows mobile I really want them to succeed. but Is it just me or am I the only one who thinks windows 6.5.3 is a sorry excuse for a finger friendly OS?
I mean look at that ugly option bar at the bottom. The options are not even symmetrically laid out. The colors are ugly also. It doesn't even go with the rest of the OS UI.
Winmo 7 better be something really good, I mean revolutionary good because Im about to hop back on over to the Android wagon.
@mmafighter077
Have you tried 6.5.x? Because going from 6.5 to 6.5.x takes the finger friendliness to another level. For an interim release before WinMo7, it works quite well. While it may not compete toe to toe with the iPhone and the like, 6.5.x isn't meant to. For such a radical UI change from the WinMo norm in such a short time frame, I'd say MS is doing a decent job. They've still got a looooong way to go though, and I expect much much more out of them for WinMo7.
@mmafighter077 I agree with this completley, been saying this since I first saw 6.5.3 in 2009.
I'm using WM, have been for years, but their attempts at improving 6.5 are just horrid. The way they've rearranged the top and bottom menu bars makes no sense, and looks really really bad aesthetically speaking.
And there is nothing wrong with 6.5.0 and finger-friendliness. On a capacitive screen device like the HD2, and with some obvious additions there is absolutely no need for a stylus... that's why the HD2 doesn't even ship with one. Even programs that were written back in the mid-2000s before Apple came spoiled the stylus fun for us all somehow work well enough on the HD2 even though it's moved on to capacitive input.
I really wish Microsoft had not bothered to tart up the old stuff and focused more on WM7. What's worse is that they're going to sell this alongside WM7, which I think is going to continue to put some people off the Windows Mobile camp altogether.
@mmafighter077 Symmetry can be a crime ;)
*Cough* QVGA screen sucks ass *Cough*
Just get an E72!
@Munk
agree..
@aryk
Yeah, why not, mine works at any rate.
@Munk or just get an HTC S521
@Munk
E72 + Ovi maps = massive win!
Note to self don't buy a Sony Asspen u never know where it's been before
@1800BelowMe
Although I kind of like the phone except for the small screen... you made me laugh, so thanks for the comment. ;)
@Please forgive me
Well now that im on my desktop and not my tiny iphone screen it actually looks really good like my old HTC caviler. Although I'd never go back to winmo just not good for what i use in my phone.
While I'd rather wait for WinMo7, this update is a good way to keep people looking at WinMo. Smart move, Microsoft.
@MastrCake
In nine months? You're gonna see if MS can do their iPhone 2007 impression? Amazing~
we now know what the offspring of a Moto Q (black/top) and E71 (black/bottom) would look like. And I have to say, this is pretty KIRF-ish of them. is this REALLY running wm? i couldve sworn i saw this on totobay. Sony "Ericcson" and "java to do running windows look skin." .../joke
Can't wait to see WinMo7...when's the MS keynote at MWC?
what's with the huge bottom-bezel between the screen and the keys?
@mrqs They took a look at the iPad and figured thick bezels were making a comeback, and wanted to make their device hip!
Seriously, even the iPhone has way too much black bezel. Don't mean to sound biased, but the HD2 is an example of efficient design. There is little to no bezel.