“I had a chance to preview the new Windows Mobile 6.5 cellphone operating system that Microsoft is introducing today. I was unimpressed with the new graphic flourishes that are the bulk of the changes,” Saul Hansell reports for The New York Times.
“Most of Microsoft’s changes to the operating system are meant to update it to work better on phones that people touch with their fingers rather than tap with a stylus,” Hansell reports. “That means that the pull-down menus are de-emphasized in favor of icons and scrolling lists of large, friendly-looking type. The overall effect is pleasant, but it appeared derivative, with nothing that I noticed that pushed the art of cellphone interfaces forward.”
“Unlike the iPhone and the Palm Pre, Windows Mobile does not recognize gestures with more than one finger at the same time,” Hansell reports.
MacDailyNews Take: Before mentioning it in the same breath as iPhone, let’s first wait until the Palm Pre ships… or doesn’t.
Hansell continues, “Microsoft is also announcing a free service called My Phone that will backup information on Windows Mobile phone and synchronize it with a computer. It also will introduce a marketplace from which you can buy Windows Mobile applications, although the details are sketchy. (Have I heard of those two ideas somewhere else?)”
“Windows Mobile 6.5 will support Adobe Flash and Flash video in its browser. This in theory will bring a most of the video on the Web to Windows Mobile phones. In the demo I saw, Flash was very sluggish, potentially backing up Apple’s contention that Flash is too inefficient for small phone processors. But Microsoft and handset makers have months to try to speed up the Flash experience,” Hansell reports.
“Phones with the new operating system, from manufacturers including LG, won’t be available until the end of this year,” Hansell reports. “All in, there was nothing I saw that made me lust for a Windows Mobile phone.”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Lummoxsoft.
MacDailyNews Note: We cut out all of Hansell’s “Microsoft openness” claims since they’re complete bullshit.
