Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional: No, the other one

If you are having a hard time trying to keep up with the happenings with Windows Mobile imagine how I feel.

We all got an update for Windows Mobile 6 Standard that was called 6.1 to be compatible with Office 2007 documents.

But then word leaked out that there is going to be a Windows Mobile 6.1 upgrade with tweaks and improvements to Windows Mobile 6 in general that was kept under wraps with a ton of NDAs for the invited guests at a super secret, back door meeting. Yes, I'm still miffed that my invitation must have been lost in the mail.

Okay, but things continue to get stranger as msmobiles.com has a link to some screen shots of Windows Mobile 6.1 (the upgrade, not the one that will let you see Office 2007 files) from a site written in Portuguese that looks very little like the leaked screen shots from the secret meeting.

The is the new Getting Started set of applications to make the New User experience easier to understand.

Here are the rest of the improvements:

Office Mobile now includes also One Note Mobile application - apart from Word Mobile, Excel Mobile and PowerPoint Mobile, one new application is available - it can record voice notes and drawings and textual notes

Internet Explorer now has function "Zoom Out" what enables page-overview mode and better overall navigation through web pages

Windows Mobile 6.1 still is based on Windows CE 5.2 so no upgrade to Windows CE 6.0

SMS chat view mode is available so SMS messages can appear in threaded-way - more comfortable to follow SMS conversations

instead of "Settings / Memory / Running Programs" now a Task Manager is available with possibility to set settings of executed threads/processes like CPU (indication of dual-core Windows Mobile devices?) and memory

new menu item "Managed Programs"

Here's the screen shot for Internet Explorer:

But, the rest of the screen shots look very much like upgrades for Windows Mobile 6 Professional which could mean the screen shots for Windows Mobile 6.1 Standard are still on track.

I'm still confused though. It's great that new Windows Mobile users are getting some new features to make their experience easier. But Microsoft hasn't said very much about any of this and I'm concerned how this is going to be deployed to existing users, if it will be available at all.

Unlike Apple, Microsoft has been very reticent about offering upgrades to existing users that circumvent the carriers. Look how long it took BlackJack I users to get the upgrade from Windows Mobile 5 to 6? Microsoft could have easily made the OS available to everyone when Windows Mobile 6 was released.

And there has been steady talk for owners of Windows Mobile 6 devices as to what exactly does Windows Mobile Update do on our phones since there hasn't been a single instance of Microsoft delivering an update like they do on the desktop PC side.

In a couple of weeks, Dieter at WMExperts has heard serious rumors that the NDAs will finally be lifted and Microsoft will allow all those lucky stiffs who saw it to begin talking about Windows Mobile 6.1.

I guess I'll have to be confused a little longer then.

Hit the READ link if you read Portuguese or what to oggle some more photos (they are in English)

Comments

[GoodThings2Life]

Actually, to defend Microsoft a little bit... I have never heard of them holding back on updates to new WM versions. It's generally left to the phone manufacturer to decide whether or not to put the effort into an update for a phone.

[Contributing Writer, Aaron J. Walker]

Thanks for the comment GoodThings2Life.

I'm not attacking Microsoft, but I sure wish they would get a little "backbone" and start flexing their muscle a little bit more when it come to Windows Mobile.

The whole carrier approved updates is just one more way they exert unwarranted control over the phones we've all paid for. OS updates should not be held hostage by them.

My theory is, because they've stripped out some built-in features of Windows Mobile to get us to have to pay for what is already included, they don't want Microsoft updating the OS, fixing the various carrier "homebrew" and them losing a revenue stream.

In the beginning, carriers may have had a leg to stand on. But in this day and age, it is increasingly showing it is simply greed that is preventing auto updates.

That is what makes the iPhone deal so important. Apple has taken a great deal of control from AT&T to the benefit of iPhone owners.

Even though Microsoft doesn't make the actual hardware, they should at least have final say on their own operating system.

PC Makers have all sorts of custom configurations that don't prevent Microsoft from issuing Service Packs and updates, why not the same for cell phones?

[mike]

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