“The last time Microsoft delivered a major upgrade to its smartphone software, Windows Mobile 6, in early 2007, Apple’s iPhone was still five months out on the horizon,” Stephen H. Wildstrom reports for BusinessWeek. “You can tell how radically Apple changed expectations about smartphones if you pick up any Windows Mobile handset today. The software seems positively quaint.”
MacDailyNews Take: Archaic is a better word.
Wildstrom continues, “On Oct. 6, Microsoft released a significant upgrade, Windows Mobile 6.5, on HTC handsets from AT&T and Verizon Wireless. Unfortunately the results fall far short of what Microsoft requires to get back into the top tier of mobile communications. And it won’t get another shot until version 7.0, a complete overhaul that should appear in late 2010.”
MacDailyNews Take: Far too little, far too late.
Wildstrom continues, “In the case of WinMo, all kinds of things go wrong. If, for example, you have an e-mail message or Web page that doesn’t fit on a single screen, you flick your finger to move the text up, just as you would expect. But the display also has scroll bars for use with a stylus. This wastes screen real estate and causes confusion, because sliding the scroll bar up actually moves the text down.”
MacDailyNews Take: Click “Start” to “Shut Down.”
Wildstrom continues, “Microsoft executives concede that version 6.5 is a placeholder until a more modern Windows Mobile 7 is ready. The company plans to impose much stricter rules for hardware, which will allow a more coherent software design and a better user experience. WinMo 6.5 will plod along until then, but Microsoft and its software are sure to take a lot of abuse.”
MacDailyNews Take: More empty, vaporous promises from Microsoft for the criminally gullible.
Full article here.