Before Windows Mobile 7 begins shipping on new handheld devices in mid-to-late 2010, Microsoft will release a second revision of Windows Mobile 6: Windows Mobile 6.5.  It features significant changes over WM6.0 and 6.1 with greater emphasis on touch control, Cloud-based service integration and general UI attractiveness.  However, at its core, Windows Mobile 6.5 is an evolution of the operating system rather than the totally revamped version that competitors like the iPhone, Android and Palm’s webOS warrant.

In this Pocket PC Central Product Brief, we’ll explore some of the features of Windows Mobile 6.5, timetables for its release and what you might expect from future WM6.5-powered handhelds.

Most of this brief is dedicated to the touchscreen version of the OS, however we’re told the styling and “workings” of both the touchscreen and non-touchscreen versions of WM6.5 have merged and operate the same.  More on this later.

The Today / Home Screen Windows Mobile 6.5 features significant updates to the Today (or Home) Screen, the screen you see when you power on a WinMo handheld. An up-down, left-right Zune inspired slider interface has replaced the dated lined system status sections from previous versions, allowing the user to move up and down to make selections and left or right to scroll through selection-based options. The general look of the Today Screen has also been refreshed, with a focus on wallpaper and theme; as you can see, the toolbars are now transparent, which allows the wallpaper to show through. The Today Screen still provides quick access to email, calendar, voice mail, text messages, and more.  Presumably, it will also continue to support plug-ins and widgets from third party software to displays program-specific information.

Like most of the updates to Windows Mobile 6.5, the new Today Screen has a finger-friendly design with large active-touch areas which make finger selections easier and more natural.  As you will see, this focus on touch navigation largely defines WM6.5.

A New IE Mobile Windows Mobile 6.5 includes an updated (and seriously long overdue) Internet Explorer Mobile.  IE Mobile 6 provides a more desktop-like mobile browsing experience and should handle most web sites fairly well. The look of IE Mobile 6 has been completely changed. Pages are rendered with fingertip-sized control buttons below, an address bar above and a zoom slider which allows you to zoom in and out of web pages for a better view of images or text.  All of these elements can be hidden for full screen viewing. The new IE Mobile also supports Flash and Ajax, though to what extent is not yet clear.  It should also be noted that IE Mobile 6 uses the same rendering engine as the desktop version of IE6, which is now three years old.  While a huge improvement over the current version of IE Mobile, it’s not quite the improvement many had hoped for.

My Phone Over-the-Air Syncing

One of the most exciting features of Windows Mobile 6.5 is its new over-the-air syncing service called My Phone.  Microsoft’s My Phone allows Windows Mobile to sync contacts, calendar entries, tasks, text messages, videos, photos, music, documents and more with the Cloud, so that the data is available online and so it’s backed up in case you replace your Windows Phone.  My Phone will be a free service for Windows Mobile 6.5 users.

Microsoft will provide users with 200MB of storage free of charge with My Phone.  The company also plans to offer additional storage (and perhaps features) for a fee.  Details on these options will be released later this year.

Windows Mobile Marketplace

The new Windows Mobile Marketplace works much like the iPhone’s App Store.  It will provide users the option to browse, purchase and download Windows Mobile software without the need to connect to a PC.  This is already possible through .CAB file installations, but the Marketplace will provide a single location for software developers to offer their applications.

Users will still be able to download and install software with a PC.  The Windows Mobile Marketplace is not expected to work with previous versions of Windows Mobile.

Videos, Music, Photos & Documents

The media player has been updated in Windows Mobile 6.5, as has the bundled photo software.  However, at this time, we don’t have many details as to what those updates are. We do know that these multimedia sections of the OS have been revamped with touch-friendly controls.  We’ll keep you updated as new details become available.

Hardware

Microsoft isn’t yet saying what specific hardware Windows Mobile 6.5 requires in order to run, but we do know that all WM6.5 handsets will be required to have a Windows-logo hardware button which takes users directly to the new honeycomb Start Menu.  For this reason, all pre-2009 Windows Mobile hardware will not be compatible.

HTC has announced two handsets, the HTC Touch Diamond2 and the HTC Touch Pro2.  While these smartphones will not likely ship with WM6.5 at launch, they do meet the requirements for the new OS and upgrades will be released after Windows Mobile 6.5 ships.

Touch & Non-Touch Versions

Windows Mobile 6 and 6.1 feature Professional and Classic editions - which run on hardware with touchscreens - and Standard Edition for non-touchscreen hardware.  These two versions are quite different in interface and appearance, and aren’t even compatible with the same third-party software.

It appears as though this is changing somewhat with WM6.5.  There hasn’t been much detail on this point from Microsoft, but some sources are reporting that the touchscreen and non-touchscreen versions of Windows Mobile 6.5 will look largely the same, the primary difference being the way the user interacts with the OS.

Clarification on this point should come in the next few weeks.

Release Schedule

All we know so far is that Windows Mobile 6.5 is scheduled to begin shipping on new handhelds in the second half of 2009; so much for specificity.  Over the coming months, more information will be made available, both by Microsoft and its hardware partners. As soon as release information is formalized, we’ll post it here, along with links to new devices running WM6.5 and any upgrades which are released for Windows Mobile 6.1 handhelds which are compatible with the new OS.

Additional Thoughts