News Windows Mobile 7 being beta tested

http://www.bit-tech.net/news/bits/2009/09/07/windows-mobile-7-being-beta-tested/1

Rumours abound that Microsoft is beta testing Windows Mobile 7 even before version 6.5 is released - and is looking to launch the two just six months apart.

 

Looking forward to 6.5 - anything will be an improvement over 6.1.

LOL - that Baseball guy has a Mullet!

 

Tried 6.5, imho just a shoddy facelift, the interface is actually pretty annoying, doesn't come close to HTC touch flo.

 

I'm running 6.1 on my HTC Touch Diamond and it works just fine. Runs everything I want it to do and is one of the phones that allows me to share my mobile unlimited broadband with my netbook via bluetooth while I'm away from the office.

I'm not one to spend the whole day using apps on my phone so I can only say that for what I use my mobile for, 6.1 is fine.

 

used 6.1 on a friends sony erricson... possibly the Xperia... i can't remember. hated it. way too clunky and slow to do anything and a stylus was almost required, bad times indeed. luckily it got stolen the other day and she's getting something else!

i hope Microsoft can make a radical departure with Mobile7 and make it as good an experience as Windows7 is.

 

Windows Mobile has a tiny share of the market these days, at least in the UK. I'd argue it's not in competition with the iPhone OS: that's never going to be used on anything other than iPhones. What Microsoft need to do is convince the handset manufacturers to plump for Windows Mobile as opposed to the likes of Android and Symbian, something I'm not sure they're capable of with the product in its current, rather out-dated and bloated form.

 

This was always intended to be the case since 6.5 was always a stop-gap, it's just 6.1 with a couple of the 7 UI elements. Microsoft's major problem is that the things driving the new generation of phones, namely massive online connectivity and multimedia are the very things that Microsoft are terrible at on all platforms.

 

I wonder how long it'll take for the XDA-Developers to get hold of this WiMo 7 beta and get it into cooked ROMs...

 

QFT!

 

I dont think they struggle with teh 360 with X-Box live, that seems to handle multimedia very nicely from a streaming point of view.

The other advantage Apple has is its OS only has to run on 3 or 4 types of hardware, MS has to cater for much of the market. Maybe MS should look at making a phone OEM style and sell that to the carriers to modify as they see fit.

That way the OS would not have to be written for a sea of devices

Kimbie

 

I'm using 6.5 at the moment on my Xperia X1.

Definitely an improvement over 6.1, much more finger friendly, but hopefully 7 will improve the speed.

 

If it will be realesed six months after the 6.5 I'm only seeing it as a version with few bug fixes just to have the same number as the Windows 7.

I grew up on Windows Mobile 5, yes it isn't finger friendly but I still manage to hit the smallest buttons with my thumbs which ain't small. Microsoft should learn from HTCs TouchFlo 3D.
What is different about Windows Mobile from other OSes like iPhone OS is it needs a geek touch.

 

running 6.5 and it is faster than 6.1, they have some great builds on XDA devs - esp the manila 6.5 Athine OS.
The default OS is not great but getting better but the multimedia performance is much better, esp as it now supports Flash natively in IE on it. I hate to say it, it's now my favourite mobile browser (sorry it really does work better than Safari on the iphone)

 

Is Windows Mobile even relevant anymore?

 

spose it would be good to give it a try and upload it to my pda check it out! but i think i willk wait for WM7 tho to see if the speed is better!

Nikumba - very good point btw!!!!!

 

Windows mobile 7 is supposed to be for high-end smartphones, while 6.5 is supposed to be for entry or mid-level smartphones.

Think of 6.5 as something on a phone like the HTC Ozone (although hopefully touchscreen) and WM7 being on a "ZunePhone".