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Windows Phone 7 Series faces off against its Windows Mobile past


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!