Windows Phone 7 Series faces off against its Windows Mobile past
By Paul Miller 
posted February 15th 2010 6:08PM
posted February 15th 2010 6:08PM
 Windows Mobile 6.5 |
 Windows Mobile 6.5.3 |
 Windows Phone 7 Series |
| Windows CE kernel | 5.2 | 5.2 | 6.0 |
| Minimum resolution | None | None | WVGA |
| Skinnable | Yes | Yes | No |
| Finger friendly | No | Barely | Yes |
| Multitouch | No | Basic | Yes |
| Capacitive touchscreen | No | Yes | Yes |
| Stylus | Required | Optional | None |
| Touchscreen keyboard | Unfriendly | Finger-friendly | Finger-friendly |
| Required buttons | Start | Start | Start, Back, Search |
| Operating metaphor | Apps | Apps | Task hubs |
| Pane switching | Tabs | Swipe | "Pivot" |
| Browser | IE Mobile 6 | IE Mobile 6 | New, still IE-based |
| Zune integration | No | No | Yes |
| Xbox integration | No | No | Yes |
| Courting enterprise | Yes | Yes | Not yet |
| Social networking | Apps / Skins | Apps / Skins | Built-in |
This is a comparison of core OS functionality and differences, handset skins and carrier tweaks aren't factored in.
If you couldn't tell from the chart above, the "differences" between Windows Phone 7 Series and Windows Mobile of yore (last week) are rather hard to quantify: it's like comparing a bed with an oven. Two very different things, for two very different purposes. Windows Mobile has had a justifiable position in the realm of business, and will probably continue to maintain a legacy install base for some time to come, but it's pretty safe to say that the days of Windows Mobile as a consumer-facing OS are rapidly coming to an end. Bring on the new!
umm.. 6.5 is finger friendly and doesnt *require* a stylus guys.
You think they're gonna do a Professional/Business version of WP7? They are calling it the 7 "Series" after all. I don't know, I mean it looks like it would be business usable, but maybe a little too social networking infused to be taken seriously in the business world. Maybe a business option that'll let you turn off some of the more flashy features and aspects or take them out of the forefront in place of more business based features. That'd make sense to me...