Windows Mobile 6 Standard Edition
From pocketnow.com
| pockectnow.com > |
Contents |
Read the Full Review
Click here to read the full pocketnow.com review
Introduction
It was back in May of 2005 that we first saw Windows Mobile 5.0; it added a lot of useful features, such as Push email (available via an AKU update), better multimedia management, picture caller ID (which many consider to be worthless), Office Mobile (for Pocket PC), QWERTY keyboard support, Persistant Storage, and better GPS integration. Windows Mobile 5.0 also brought the Smartphone and Pocket PC platforms closer together by having a common, dual soft-key interface.
Jumping forward to early 2006, we received news of Windows Mobile 6, though of what we saw, it seemed like just a visual refresh: prettier icons, a Vista-like start button, and some "glass" thrown in to boot. But under the skin, what else is new? We'll take a thorough look at Windows Mobile 6 Standard, or Smartphone Edition as it was previously referred, and see if Microsoft has a winner.
Review Date: February 8, 2007
Picture Highlights
| 
|
| The differences between the Home Screen of WM 5.0 and WM 6 are clear...the icons are nicer, the default color is different,and the top and bottom bar have a glass-effect. Don't forget the Vista-like Start icon. | |
| 
|
| Office Mobile is a new addition to WM 6 Standard. We now can view and edit Word and Excel files, and view PowerPoint. How did it work? | Although I'm not one to use the built in calendar application, it has been improved a bit. A visual refresh, plus a appointment preview has been added to the bottom, called the Ribbon. |
Overall Impression
I've been using Windows Mobile 6 for a few weeks now, and I can report that my experience with my Smarphone is slightly more pleasant, simply because everything looks more polished. The additional features such as HTML support in email, text size adjustment in email, Office Mobile, call history integration with Contacts, and other features such as remote "Out of Office" state change over Exchange, are overdue features that should have been added to Windows Mobile 5.0 through an AKU update. They are nothing breakthrough. Windows Mobile 6 is a refresh, it's as simple as that. But that's ok, too, because Windows Mobile needed a refresh -- it's ugly in comparison with many other device interfaces (the iPhone comes to mind), and it's time to play catch up.
According the Microsoft, there are more than 10,000 changes to WM 6 - most of them are small things that, like I said, make the Windows Mobile experience better rounded. I look forward to seeing Windows Mobile 6 on the next wave of sexy devices. Looking ahead, I have my eyes on the next version of Windows Mobile, Photon, which should change the way we think about this platform.
