Windows Mobile V6.5 - Too Little, Too Late? Comments

as someone who's stuck with winmo for way too long all i can say is MEH!

it's just another skin and not even a very impressive one at that. wm7 may be amazing but i'm sick of waiting.

apple, you'll have to really mess up with v3 for me not to switch now.

Agreed. It really feels like MS don't have a clue about the level they need to bring WM up to.

I'm very much looking forward to WinMo6.5. For all 6.x's foiballs, it's a very reliable OS.

I'm presently suffering with an iPhone which I'm very much looking forward to getting rid of - sure it's a fabulous gadget but a lousy phone. Living with the thing just drives me mad. Darned 18 month contract!

I do however hope that WinMo7 takes the OS to where it needs to be and becomes the OS of choice. (Yea I know, I'm hoping a bit much)

Speaking as someone who has used an WinMo phone and has an iPod Touch 2G (Which is just a phoneless-iPhone.) I can't really say which I prefer more. WinMo might be more clunky compared to the mOSX (mobile OS X) but allows for far more customization than Apple will ever allow. And that most of them don't have backs that attract scratches and heat up noticeably after extended usage.

6.5 was never going to be the ground up redesign that trusted reviews seem to think it would be, thats why 7 is being being built concurrently. However if they build in some finger friendly functions then i'll be happy.
I like the fact winmo can be whatever you want it to be, not happy? reskin and go.
Not happy with the way the iphone looks (and i never liked it) TOUGH!
I'd rather have a phone that doesn't have to be brick sized and allows you to use it as you want, not how apple demands.
And when it comes to Android, it's an unfinished work in progress, no thanks!

@Ed -> How so?

Yeah, I'm struggling with that one. This is the second person who says he owns an IPhone and is disappointed, alarm bells start ringing when people say this (do they really have one), especially when they don't give a reason why?. Not saying the I-Phone is perfect, but a lousing phone, mmmm.. The biggest problem with the I-Phone is Apples's politics.

WinMo 6.5 is really underwhelming; it doesn't even catch up with the current competition, let alone move the game forward. If they're only concerned about making the user interface more touch-friendly, then MS should have simply bought out a company like SPB, who do a great skin for WinMo, allowing you to use it on a touchscreen phone without having to constantly resort to a stylus.

Check out the video on their site: http://www.spbsoftwarehouse.com/pocketpc-software/mobileshell/

If they'd outsourced/bought-in people to design the interface, then they could get on with actually designing some new features to allow people to be more productive on their WinMo device, instead of messing around with crappy changes like the honeycomb layout, which appear to be simply for change's sake - a simle grid of icons would be far too sensible and space-efficient...numpties!

I do love how WM is so flexible and can be changed around exactly as you want. But it just takes too much effort and I can't be bothered anymore to go to XDA Devs and flash this ROM or edit that xml. I just want something that works. I hate how locked down the iPhone is but it's got to a stage where I think there's more benefits that outweigh the lockdown.

I'm a little confused by all the WM slating going on here! I use WM 6.1 on the HTC Touch HD and its by far the most flexible phone OS i've used for a long time. This coupled with the excellent hardware and complete synchronisation with my Windows desktop is a winner. WM 6.5 and 7.0 will only improve an excellent package... Same old story on these boards any thing made by Microsoft is evil and everything Apple is wonderfull. Grow up

@Ataripower
I've only used/bought HTC devices since 2004 and had 6 differnt WM phones, both smartphone and pocket pc. I've stuck up for WM against @Gordon repeatedly but I'm running out of arguments.

It has loads of functionality but it takes too much effort to find it. They may be more powerful than other devices but I'd never recommend it to a non geek over an iPone.

It's like IE. It came way before Firefox but MS just rested on it's laurels and they've never caught back up. I'd love MS to pull something out of the bag but I'm not holding my breath any more. I can think of so many iPhone negatives but at least Apple are fixing them.

@Gordon - admitidly I have not had the pleasure of using Android yet so cannot comment but lots of experience with BB and iphone. Perhaps this is not the forum but what exactly is the problem with WM? I find the iphone hardware to be flawed in so many areas with little or no flexibility but fear capture and subsequent torture from all the Apple fanboys out there if I dare mention any of these faults.

Can Microsoft ever stick to a release date? I think the iphone has done a pretty good job, since apple have not been in the mobile market for long. I only hope WM V6.5 and 7 delevers what MS say (If they are ever released!) and maybe win back some of those iphone owners. They will need it to be amazing though, wich i don't think they can do, and not be a desaster like the Vista release!

@Gordon - Did you really just say the iPhone was more flexible than WM? In S2U2, there are more options to make things exactly as I want them than in the entirety of the iPhone OS and every application in the App Store. Very flexible now isn't it?

@Ataripower - I totally agree. I have a Diamond at the moment, and being able to turn on full speed HSDPA/HSUPA and sync all my files with Live Mesh and my computer is truly wonderful. I may not have 8GB of internal storage, but I can access my 2TB storage server via the net.

@Cactus - I don't think Microsoft ever set a formal release date. They just said "sometime next year". So your point isn't that accurate. Also, WM6.5 is clearly coming soon as it's readily available for anyone with virtually any WM device (look who has a more flexible device now :)). It may be a bit slow, but combine the pluses of WM6.5 - true kinetic scrolling, nicer menus, all the low level changes, sliding panels etc, with a 6.1 XIP/SYS and you end up with great speed and all the new things.

Also, at one point in the article I read something about sliding panels being on the 6.5 Standard OS. Should that be the 6.1 standard OS?

Let's put an end the the Windows v Iphone argument.

Until 3 months ago I hadn't touched an apple in anger since my ad agency days... I've owned at least 6 HTC/imate/palm handsets running every windows mobile platform until the current windows 6.0 OS. Every single one has hung & crashed and failed to find a wireless network pretty regularly. The design is pretty appaling, because the handset and OS are not designed together you often find that fingers miss the right area on the touchscreen (which is too small for the touchflo for example), and it takes you ages to execute the command you were attemptiong).

I need MS exchange to work on the handset so I had to wait for the 3G iphone, I wasn't excited particuylarly, but when O2 told me that I could have an iphone free or another XDA I chose to try it.

For those of you who have not moved between the two, the first month makes you smile... the leap in usability is stunning, you wonder why you didn't do this years ago. Battery life is fine for a day out (I commute to london every few days and use ipod/phone/email/web/train apps etc... all day and it doesn't run out), and it's a joy.

My iphone has crashed once... I tried to recharge it in a very old ipod speaker dock and it warned me then the next morning had to be restarted). Other than that it quite possibly is better than my last windows handsets (TytnII or Touch HD) by a factor of 3 or 4.

This new 6.5 OS from microsoft looks like an improvement, but the design of the interface still looks like something from the 1980's to me. It simple will not match up to the apple OS. We need to face facts, the developers at apple know how to do usability, and on a phoen the importance of that skill is intensified because we the human finger has limitations. the iphone makes the user appear skilled, MS OS's do not.

@Oliver Levett - have a look at
http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/18/editorial-ten-reasons-why-windows-mobile-6-5-misses-the-mark/
and i think you will see what i am talking about. they are trying, but are just not getting there. also, I don't think that WM will ever catch up with the iphone now (although i am a very loyal windows user, and would like it to) and it is fighting a bit of a lost battle. can only hope that WM 7 will be amazing, but like I said before, it may be to late.

To begin with this website like many others is totally applie biased.

But more important Windows Mobile doesnt need to "beat" apple at its game. Apple Iphone is designed for media consumption only. For all else it is rather mediocre.

What WM should be is the best device for those who do a lot of data creation and input - and be competitive at media consumption. This will make it a godo device for both business power users, tech savy and the average consumer.

To that end, they need more devices with built-in keybaords, better on screen keyboards, better cameras. And get rid of that gow-awful stylus-intensive interface. That's all the need. Because ultimately the trend is for consumers to PRODUCE and SHARE content more and more. And for that the iphone is useless. I mean a phone that couldnt do MMS and had no cut and paste. Seriously....