Windows Mobile 6.5: the UI was rushed, more on widgets - General Topics

A TechEd 2009 video gives more information on widgets, talks about how the UI in Windows Mobile 6.5 was rushed, and that Silverlight won't be coming till a later version.
More info:
http://arstechnica.com/microsoft/news/2009/05/windows-mobile-65-widget-details-no-silverlight.ars
If already posted please delete

Windows Mobile 6.5: the UI was rushed
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and your suprised by this?
I had the beta on my omnia for what must have been about 10 seconds.... its awefull.
SPB Pocket Shell/TouchFlow are FAR better (well SPB PS is the best of both but thats my personal opinion).

Monty Burns said:
and your suprised by this?
I had the beta on my omnia for what must have been about 10 seconds.... its awefull.
SPB Pocket Shell/TouchFlow are FAR better (well SPB PS is the best of both but thats my personal opinion).
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I am not surprised
In fact I have not installed and don´t want to...
Just wanted to share the info

the home screen from 6.5 is a long overdue 6.1 update.
remember when standard got chome in 6.1 and when the shadow got the first version in 6.0...
every professional user asked where is our home screen update ?
microsoft said they had no plans on a professional chome version. but looking at the reg for 6.5 its the same minus a few changes from tmobile neo home screen and 6.1 standard chome.
so microsoft needs to step up and hire some actuall workers instead of these assclowns living the comfortable life and releasing crappy upgrades.

Well, don't be so surprised it's only a bit of a cosmetical change. Although some things are really changed from the ground up (apparantly). But all in all it's just a patched up 6.1, just to get through time until WM7 comes out.
And ofcourse they're not going to invest such an amount of money and effort in 6.5 when they have WM7 coming along. It's just that they were forced in 'upgrading' 6.1 because the whole market is asking for finger friendly and smooth scrolling stuff.
Personally I think 6.5 is what 6.0 should have been (or at least 6.1). MS is a bit too late. While we all here kinda love WM, the WM platform is getting more and more negative amongst people. And with Android, Palm Pre and the iPhone as direct competition I don't think 6.5 will close the gap :/.
That said, I do love the improvements in 6.5. It's better than 6.1. And that's about it, but a welcome change and improvement. And improvement which we should have gotten a long time ago!

6.5 is just a band-aid to hold people off until WM7 comes, which should be awesome (if it ever comes). WM6.5 is certainly an improvement over previous WM versions, but it's still nothing too special.
However, the one thing I really notice is the new IE6 mobile. It actually works quite well, and I've been using it instead of Opera for a while, with no regrets. The only problem is that is still doesn't do flash video very well on my device, but that will probably improve in more final builds. Overall, I'm quite happy with it.
WM 6.5 is certainly better than 6.1, as I said before, but seeing how much time MS put into it, it seems like we could have gotten something a little better than some bigger menus, minor UI tweaks, a new home screen, and an improved browser (not really saying much, my 1980 Commodore PET does better web browsing than the old version of PIE). Just some of my thoughts.
Dave

If you ask me, looking at the size of a software project it is, they didn't invest a lot of time in it at all. As they admit, it's rushed.
I think they started this too late, and rushed us a semi finished product which does resolve some of the biggest issues most people have with WM. But the 6.5 was probably never planned in a way as it is now... I doubt they started it after (or even before as is kinda usual) 6.1.

I love WM 6.5, I think that the improvements may not be amazing, but they are still needed, and help improve the overall experience of WM.

I've been using our great xda chefs 6.5 beta roms for months, and I would never go back to 6.1!

The UI is one thing...
That MS is incapable of producing semi-decent applications (SMS, Phone, Weather), which any programmer is capable of doing in a couple of months is a disgrace.
The SMS application specifically, even in 6.5, makes me puke. It's 1993 all over again. It's f****g unprofessionnal.
I have little hope for 7 to be honest... And I will probably go back to the iphone or to Android

Related

TF3D2 vs WM6.5 Default

Which one is cooler? I've been using XBMod's TF3D2 cooked into my fave ROMs for a month now and I've grown quite accustomed to it.
However, As of the last three days I've been using WM6.5 and the interface is nice. I'm still using TF3D2 but I'm considering moving over to WM6.5 becaue its so much lighter, simpler, and snappier.
However, TF3D2 is more versatile and stylish.
What do you guys think?
hmm I think tf3d2 is definitely very nice but because its not part of the os and it has to run on top of winmo, I'd rather give up a little bit of style and keep things going nice and fast without sacrificing ram and resources. And I kinda like the sliders and other new stuff that 6.5 has to offer although I can't wait for 7
I just realized that WM6.5 doesn't do weather I use the weather tab a lot.
I also use the Youtube/Internet tab too in TF3D2
Im using the default. I like TF3D2 alot, but its landscape mode is buggy
Yeah, thats true. I think I'm going to turn to default WM6.5 for a while after all.
i made the leap and flashed my Fuze for the first time and w/ Da_G's base WM 6.5 rom. i like the new 6.5 today/home interface. i also wouldn't be surprised if icons get added to the text on the home page once the final version is released. while TF3D has a lot of nice features, it's ultimately eye candy. i think the 6.5 interface consolidates things nicely on one screen and is finger-friendly enough. when i was using the stock rom, i was actually using PointUI's Home2 instead of TF3D as that just used too many resources and I really only used maybe 3 tabs.
*rant/aside*
i think microsoft needs to bring WM to a level where the core functionality of the device, foremost it's phone/communicating functions, is solid and can stand on its own without these user-made shells/enhancements. honestly, i think this is where the iphone succeeds--it's core functionality is done very well and for probably 90+% of the market, it does what users need it to do w/o any hassles. on the other hand, w/ WM more often than not, one is always trying to tweak the device as the UI and/or out-of-box experience isn't always pleasant. as for tweaking, frankly it gets tiring and frustrating--i've got other things in my life to do and would much rather be able to have a device that's useable right out of the box. overlooking its lack of physical keyboard and deficiencies w/ bluetooth (which should be remedied in OS 3.0), if the iphone platform weren't so locked down (have to go through apps store for everything and compulsory internet plans), i probably would have gone that route and am still contemplating it as my next phone.
^I don't think you get the value of the M$ business model.
Mac for iPhone is just like Mac for their home computers; its designed the way that the OEM wants it, and since they are the OEM, thats that.
WinMo is designed to appeal to a much much larger range of distributors. Its designed vanilla to keep costs low so that the resellers can tweak it however they want and make their own product out of it. People are happy to use the product as it is. Its mostly just the geeks that get annoyed with it, but all the T-Mobile Wing users out there don't complain, despite the phone running like a smelly piece of ass. Why? Because its cheap and, in the end, gets the job done.
You'll never catch a business mass ordering iPhones for their field workers because that's not what they are for. iPhones are entertainment devices. WinMo phones are work devices.
Its actually very intelligent. Sure, the OS isn't as tight as it could be, but they can get away with it because its such an effective model. Its just how business works.
6.5 does do weather. you install titanium weather. i like tf3d better. its flashier which is always a wow factor and i think alot more development went into it. chome is good but it does feel like a competitor. an iphone user wouldnt be impressed with chome. its up to you what you want to use. the brilliance of windows mobile is you can have it look and do whatever the hell you want.
So I'm back to Wm6.1. Didn't like the random bugs in Wm6.5and there was nothing special about it anyway.
hidavi said:
So I'm back to Wm6.1. Didn't like the random bugs in Wm6.5and there was nothing special about it anyway.
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You just did exactly what I was going to suggest you do...
I HIGHLY suggest you try out EnergyROM 2.0 series... IMHO it's the best 6.1-TF3d2 ROM out there: It's fast and furious, no joke.
Rock on.
Is it CDMA-compatible?
I don't think a fair comparison can be made between 2 leaked beta interfaces that may never be officially released for our device. TF3D2 does come off more polished because it's a whole lot closer to release. It will be interesting to see what HTC brings to 6.5. I can't imagine that they won't bring some part of TF3D interface along to maintain their own branding. It's inevitable that everyone here who doesn't jump to another phone will be running 6.5 eventually, whether it's officially released for the tp or not. I'm also interested in what effect the Palm Pre's interface will have on WM devices. I haven't used a Pre, but I have used TealOS on my wifes 755P and it points the way to a superior interface for a multitasking environment. Task managment is not something WM has ever done well and neither 6.5 or TF3D seems to improve that much at all.

Getting sick of WM, What would you switch to?

I have recently been getting really irritated at WM and how difficult such easy tasks are. I have been getting irritated at the stability, lack of features, difficulty to use among other things.
Other OS's seem just so far ahead of WM even with 6.5 and 7, by the time 7 comes out ill probably have another 3 phones anyways.
Just wondering everyone elses opinions.
Well, 6.5 is coming out soon, May 11 to be precise. I'll stick with WM, and if for some strange reason probably involving torture I get tired of WM, I'll go with Symbian, since the Omnia HD runs it and the Omnia HD is AWESOME!
icewhitenewyear said:
I have recently been getting really irritated at WM and how difficult such easy tasks are. I have been getting irritated at the stability, lack of features, difficulty to use among other things.
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Same here man!
I won't stick von Windows Mobile, I will sell my Xperia and buy an iPhone. Maybe I will sell my iPhone when WM 7 will be released, but untill this day, the iPhone experiance is something special. Windows mobile interface looks like the ones, from the first Pocket PCs from 1999!
Especially the landscape mode in WM sucks because of this windows task bar, it kills half of the screen in landscape mode!!
And the videos are bucking in the first seconds, forwarding mp3 has got deceleration and so one. That's not what I expect from my phone.
Even when WM has a lot of things which are great (torrent, mms, possibilties to modify it, business stuff), the iPhone has a lot of thing which are even greater (multitouch, smooth and easy interface, fingerfriendly menus, nice mp3 and video function).
Just like I said, right now the iPhone is the ultimate touch experiance.
I hope WM 7 will change it, so that I can buy a Xperia again, because I love the hardware and the look of this phone.
I said a lot about that in a other thread.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=3660089&postcount=43
@ Kafro
Yes, Idou will be great too
http://www.viddler.com/explore/engadget/videos/256/
Andriod or Symbian.
That means Get G1 or wait for Idou..
i am running android on my vogue and its great
but i really want to try out webos cuz im blown away with the vids
Would DEFINITELY go to the new iPhone in June hands down.

AT&T Upgrade to 6.5 for Fuze

WIth the Tilt 2 and WM 6.5 coming will the Fuze see an upgrade or will it be only for the Tilt 2?
Good question, but highly unlikely.
AT&T has already released a new rom for the Fuze with several fixes over 6 months ago. I'd be really amazed if they do offer a 6.5 rom for the Fuze. Though in all reality, i still fail to see why people stick with an oem 6.1 rom when 6.5 has so many improvements.
rumor has it that they're not going to give the upgrade for fuze owners. You'll have to deal with the cooked roms, (which i think really rocks, especially NRG's rom). People don't like trying new things and it's also about the big change from 6.1 to 6.5 which require a slight learning curve. but if you're here, then you're willing to learn.. i hope.
Agreed, huge NRGrom fan here, the latest release (genesis) is really nice!
you'd be quite happy with it - there is not much to fear about cooking. So long as you can have activesync connected to your phone for 10 minutes without interruption for the hardspl and rom install, you're golden (translation, don't try with activesync 3.0 or something really old that may not be reliable)
I personally REALLY like the new start menu for windows 6.5 - especially on newer builds where you can click and hold to move around programs
You will definitely not regret installing a cooked rom (again, my personal vote for newbs goes for EnergyROM)
rumours that AT&T is upgrading samsung jet & epix to wm6.5.
There are changes that fuze will be upgraded too.
whyhon said:
rumours that AT&T is upgrading samsung jet & epix to wm6.5.
There are changes that fuze will be upgraded too.
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Does anybody know of a date yet?
Seeing as how 6.5 is not officially to be released until october 6'th when the windows marketplace goes live, we'll see how long after that so AT&T can 'customize' the experience / Butcher the hell out of the rom.
I have a good feeling as soon as 6.5 comes out we are going to see a LOT more people hate their oem rom's.
i really really doubt there will be a 6.5 upgrade. to get an official rom approved, it requires the check off of the manufacturer (htc) and carrier (att) and maybe microsoft, im not really sure about them and winmo licensing to devices. but it would be easier to only focus on the newest devices. if you really want 6.5 they would prefer you buy a new device with it. ive been running 6.5 on my fuze for forever. it rtm'd in may so thats the real "release date" of 6.5. you dont buy windows mobile so dont focus on dates. new builds come out everday since forever. itll be interesting to see what htc does with 6.5 cause the new builds are ugly. for some reason microsoft decided to "improve" the interface without consulting on htc's design brilliance but whatever. we will see.
Does anyone know if you can install a cooked rom using Vista or Windows 7? I don't have access to a WinXP box right now.
Thanks
of course you can. theres no real difference. i have both vista and 7 for cooking. just right click and click run as administrator.
Cassetti said:
...Though in all reality, i still fail to see why people stick with an oem 6.1 rom when 6.5 has so many improvements.
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Really? Seriously? Granted, there are "under the hood" improvements but the UI is a bad joke.
How did it happen that MS can't even line up a grid of icons on a rectangular screen?
I'll tell you how. The artistiicly inclined design folks missed a meeting, and a geek with a slide rule explained how there would be more area for your fat thumb if icons were arranged in a "honycombed" grid.
This absurdity never got caught in time. Too late. Can't change it now. Wait for WM7.
Remember this whenever you look at your device.
Just my opinion. Doesn't matter. Some will be happy with whatever slop MS ships.
Sorry. I couldn't resist.
hi,
recently one of my friend give me at&t fuze of following Specification
ROM=1.95.502.5 WWE
Radio=1.02.25.32
now need help to upgrade the rom and radio,
i tried latest TAEL rom but it is giving me error.
can u suggest me any idea...
thanks in advance..
suraj

Is Upgrading to WM 6.5 Worth the Trouble

I have been using and programming iPhones for 4 years. I got sick of the crap going on with Apple and the phone and got talked into the WM 6.1 HTC Touch Pro 2. After tweaking and adding special apps to the Pro 2, I have a phone that works as good as an iPhone (gave them away last week). But with the Pro 2, I have an excellent keyboard, (and a terrific one on the screen). I have made the screen very sensitive (changed the register). The HTC syncs easily even wtih bluetooth. And with the new Skyfire browser app, I can view over 90 percent of the videos on the internet.
Should I upgrade to WM 6.5? Could I lose some of my added programs and tweaks? I used to have this problem when I upgraded the iPhones.
It sounds like your happy with what you have so its probably not worth the hassle. 6.5 has a better internet explorer which still sucks and has better performance but nothing spectacular.
John Cipolletti said:
I have been using and programming iPhones for 4 years. I got sick of the crap going on with Apple and the phone and got talked into the WM 6.1 HTC Touch Pro 2. After tweaking and adding special apps to the Pro 2, I have a phone that works as good as an iPhone (gave them away last week). But with the Pro 2, I have an excellent keyboard, (and a terrific one on the screen). I have made the screen very sensitive (changed the register). The HTC syncs easily even wtih bluetooth. And with the new Skyfire browser app, I can view over 90 percent of the videos on the internet.
Should I upgrade to WM 6.5? Could I lose some of my added programs and tweaks? I used to have this problem when I upgraded the iPhones.
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Click to collapse
Well, have in mind that 6.5 is more RAM eater than 6.1 so I don´t think you get it working faster than 6.1 (if you do please let me know)
6.5 is indeed more nice graphics, better UI and much more finger friendly and because of this RAM consumption is higher
Personally I prefer 6.5, I have it running on my Rhodium very smooth.
By the way, there is no such problem upgrading!!
Just my opinion, hope it helped
6.5.3 is better in most respects than 6.1 - I shouldnt imagine there would be much of a memory/speed issue considering its a HD2..
BUT..
As has been said before, if you are happy with what the phone is running now and you've made the adjustments you need for it to be how you like it its probably easier to leave it running 6.1 simply on the old adage "if it aint broke, dont fix it" - one which I have ignored a couple of times and spent a few hours laboriously putting my phone back to the way I had it before (early 6.5 build ROM's come to mind).
6.5.3 is prettier, and slightly easier on the touch-centric side of things, but thats really all the difference there is - so you have to decide whether thats enough for you to spend the time and risk in upgrading..
orb3000 said:
Well, have in mind that 6.5 is more RAM eater than 6.1 so I don´t think you get it working faster than 6.1 (if you do please let me know)
6.5 is indeed more nice graphics, better UI and much more finger friendly and because of this RAM consumption is higher
Personally I prefer 6.5 even if it´s slightly slower.
Just my opinion, hope it helped
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As orb said
Anyway, I prefer Wm 6.5 too! A better UI worth 5 or 6 mb of extra used ram (at least, on my diamond, with a small screen)!
Still a hardcore 6.1 user, yes 6.5 looks nicer but i like my phones no frills stable & functional, tryed to get into 6.5 but every ROM pushes me back to 6.1 without the feeling i'm missing out..
Of cause this is just personal oppinion and the only way you will find out is via flashin after all you can always revert back...
Have fun flashing
I've went back to 6.1 due to stability in the past.

Is There Any Performance Gain in WM 6.5?

I have an official 6.5 upgrade program for my WM phone but......
I haven't seen anything about a performance boost in this upgrade. It looks like the improvement is in how pretty something is. Well, after 4 years of using and programming iPhones I got tired of all the problems, attitudes (in Apple and AT&T), and limitations (like NO flash player). I thought about an Android OS but was talked into WM 6.1. Because of terrific programmers like I find on sites like this, I used apps and tweaks to make my Touch Pro2 work as good as my iPhones (believe it or not). I even gave away my last iPhone a couple of weeks ago. Now, I have a WM phone that does what I did on the Apple phone but better. With this WM OS 6.1 I have a supersensitive screen, all the apps I had on my other phones, and with Skyfire 1.5, I have a pretty good browser with a flash player. Sooo...will I get anything more out of upgrading to 6.5? Please let me know? I would even appreciate it if you could contact me at [email protected].
John C

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