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WM6.5 = Worst UI

I have an old Trinity, and tried WM6.5 ROMs. Twice.
WM6.5 seems a bit faster for me, than 6.1. It is also stable.
But, it has, IMO, the WORST user interface of any OS out there!
It's cluttered. It's busy. It's hard to navigate.
The file screen is pure visual mess: something a grade student with bad taste would create, and think it's "cool."
And of course, below it all, it's still the old, old WM.
I love HTC hardware. But with WM7 beyond the horizon, I am taking a hard look at other options. Maybe the new iPhone coming out in June, maybe HTC Android, if they polish up a bit.
Has MS completely lost it? Or do people actually like WM6.5?

Umm, whats wrong with the interface? i love it, its easy to navigate, I really dont know what ur complaining about. Im using it on my tilt and it works great!

Same here, I'm using it on my kaiser, and in addition to being much more responsive, the UI is a big improvement over previous versions. Titanium is finger friendly, and nice looking too. The large start menu is nice and finger friendly, as well as more convenient than navigating through endless menus just to open a program. And speaking of menus, the finger friendly menus are really nice; I barely have to use my stylus anymore.
The only thing I don't really like about the UI is the start menu's meager level of customization, but I'm sure someone here will come up with a tool to fix that. If you want the old WM interface back, you can always just install an old WM theme, and everything but the start menu will go back to Windows 3.1 style.
Dave

If u think WM 6.5 has the worst UI then u haven't used WM 5 or below.

Agree with original poster, in fact i've listed my polaris on eBay and am just buying a nokia - and I've been using HTC's (about 6 of them) since the original xda.
Given up on MS.

it's the the best but it is one of the simplest UI to navigate. also, with WM6.5, i dont have to install 3rd party apps for sms (because of the big and scrollable UI), contacts (same as sms), and with all the titanium plugins being developed, no more favorite contacts launcher, pograms launcher, weather forecast, twitter, etc. but then again it's not the best UI

Havent tested personally, but from a graphical/friendly point of view I´m not rushing for testing...Not like it at all
Just my opinion,

Im quite a fan of the new interface
I find it incredibly easy to navigate around it.
The only thing i dont like about it is how you return to the desktop after using an app, i would prefer it to return to the start menu where it was last.

It's their first attempt for a finger-friendly UI. It's still ugly (compared to iPhone), and seems a bit too serious, that's why nobody uses the Windows Today screen and everybody installs custom roms or "today screen" alternatives like SPB mobile shell 3 and other similar products.
6.5 is a bit more operable when using it with your hands, but you still need the stylus or a nail for some operations. That's because WinMob started as a PDA OS and now that it's a Phone/pda OS they should redesign it from scratch.
Well, instead of making all UI parts big for a finger touch, Microsoft said that 6.5 will only be available on devices that have a dedicated button for "Start menu".
And I still don't like the honeycomb. (And I'm not gonna buy an iPhone because I like their UI )

For some reason I think this not-so-long development improved WM UI a lot more than HTC with all those touch flos...

meh...its not the best, but its not the wost..lol

meh...its not the best, but its not the wost..lol

Actually VanAuberjim, they changed the upgrade to 6.5 requirements a month or two ago. Requiring a hardware start menu was a stupid idea, and I think they caught on to their mistake. Now, a minimum of a 400MHz processor and 128MB of RAM are the only things one needs to be eligible for an official upgrade. Unfortunately, it's still at the manufacturer's discretion, so older devices won't get an official upgrade. Of course, that's why cooked ROMs were invented .
Dave

I agree too.
They messed up Windows Mobile 6.5 completly.
The improvements are not enough, I expected a lot more from the "new" windows mobile.
In my oppinion it doesn't deserve the adjectiv "new" because it isn't. They made the buttons bigger (like we have a long time with finger menu), the scrolling better (there was no possibiliy to make it worse then it was) , a new start menu (which is nearly like the one from TF3D 2) and new lock screen (which is pretty good).
Wooow.
And the rest?
The UI is still like from a nother, old time,, but the UI of iPhone, Android and Palm, yeah, they look new and fresh.
The Windows Mobile 6.5 UI still looks like Windows 95.
And why we still have to use the stylus on Windows Mobile 6.5.
Hellloooo M$ welcome to the non stylus finger friendly century!!!
That's why I'm selling my Xperia right now to buy the new iphone in this summer. Just beause of the interface.
I hate apple and I would love to keep my Xperia. But not this way.
If M$ isn't able to create a nice new Windows Mobile, they will lose in the next years, the won't have a chance against Android and iphone when this OS will have things like Office which is one of the main arguments for a Windows Mobile device.

i agree with the OP and a lot of posts here, 6.5 is just not enough and im sick of the mediocre updates to winmo and they keep pushing back wm7 that i think it might not even stack up as well with the competition when it hits due to the fact that the give us real updates and it may not be up to par by the time it releases...... Im moving on come september or sooner when my contract is up and get me an iPhone 3rd Gen or a Palm Pre
at least they know how to bring the big updates to their OS (Palm gave us the Upgrade that M$ should have done and in a BIG WAY)
and apple (even though they are air tight) at least gave us copy-paste/mms and a lot of things that they were behind on so all iPhone haters can look for something else to complain about now

I like the new interface, and now more compared to the overloaded TF3D 2, I must say that WM6.5 is not the best thing out there in matter of usability and design, but it represents a big improvement over the older version, I just love the scrolling, and the new menus. I would like to see improvements on tasks switching and the control on the icons on the topbar, but I think that at this stage that's not gonna happen.
The real promise is Windows7 but they're taking tooooooooo long. I think the most interesting OS out there is the OS of the Palm Pre. Apple? well, I just realize that I don't want a phone with virtual keyb, I can't type without seeing the screen.

I have recently installed the WM6.5 ROM on my Diamond and I really like the responsivness of the new OS, especially with the new HTC Album, Camera, etc. So the underlying code must have been greatly enhanced.
When it comes to the visual of the home screen, I think I still prefer the HTC TouchFLO 3D. So together, they are a winner

I too agree with the original poster here. It is really terrible in my opinion. In fact, after installing it and using it for a few days, I came to the conclusion that microsoft is incapable of delivering any credible handheld OS for the foreseeable future at least, and have already switched to iPhone. I'm really very very happy with iPhone. WIth it jailbroken, I can multitask, cut and paste, do video recording, do bluetooth file transfer, do MMS, and many other things which everyone says iPhone can't do. Not only that, I find that other than GPS navigation software, which is still terrible on iPhone, the third party applications on iPHone are a lot better. Everything is so well thought out in iPhone, although it has just one button. Easy to switch tasks, VOIP and phone calls are of much better quality, volume control that could be adjusted in small increment, so much room for customization and tailoring (when so many incorrectly says that you can't customise iPhone).
I now use my HD to run my Tom Tom, iGO, Garmin and Mapking only. Once similar application exist on iPhone, I'd be 100% done with winmo.

WORST++
Definitely one of the most pathetic attempts of MS. Sucks big time, what on earth were they thinking?
For instance, if i've scrolled the menu down somewhere and the clock/date is not in the screen....and i leave it there and come back to my today screen....boom! i got to scroll back just to see the damn date!
A today screen is to give a quick glance on all the important stuff. This is plain ridiculous....all you get to see is some boring menus in font size 32.
boo MS....booooo!

I'm not going to tell anybody what they should think, but I think a lot of negative opinions in this thread are because people are misunderstanding what 6.5 actually IS.
It's a patch job. It's a little facelift to buy time for WM7, which is an actual overhaul. Based on comments that have dribbled out from the WM team, I don't think WM7 really has been "pushed back." Instead, WM8 was pushed FORWARD and rebranded as WM7. The "original" WM7 was drastically reduced and rebranded as 6.5.
IMO, 6.5 is MOSTLY an improvement over 6.1. The menus and scrolling are definitely better. There's a handful of little tweaks and changes that are definite improvements. CHome is a bit flashier and more "current" than a bare Today screen (and, remember, you can easily disable it and use the "classic" Today screen if you want).
The only part I'm not very fond of is the Start menu. The design is questionable, and it's too darn clunky to rearrange. They really should have made a fullscreen "smart" menu that works more like the Vista / W7 Start menu.
Also, the new version of IE is absolutely useless. Slow, clunky, and lousy page rendering. Older versions of PIE were lousy for the "real" web but great for mobile sites. The new IE is good for neither. Luckily, that can also be reverted.

best iphone clone apps

Probably been posted before but I find its nice to get a fresh new post every now and then.
Well I'm impatiently waiting for my new HTC Kaiser as I'm upgrading from an HTC Magician so I'm looking at sprucing it up as soon as I get it. I know how programs get outdated and replaced so often in the WM world and I havn't updated my Magician in a long time. All I had was spb diary & weather, AE Button, cl launch, pocket agenda on my Magician and it did the trick but nowadays it seems so rudementry especially compared to my girlfriends new iphone lol...
I'm not looking to make an exact clone of the iphone, but to steal some of its more useful features such as kinetic scrolling and finger swipes and gestures to make my phone more appealing and finger friendly for day to day use. So far I've found a few very nice efficient and free programs such as icontact and slide2unlock, and some others you have to pay for like SPB Mobile Shell 3 and Vito Winterface, as well as Opera and Skyfire browsers.
Are there any other good programs along these lines? What would you guys suggest? Such as media players and such, as well as game emulators (Big reason why I bought the Kaiser, hope it doesn't let me down!). I can't wait for my Kaiser to finally come in so I can mod the crap out of it. I'd like to remove most traces of the ugly default windows mobile look without bogging my Kaiser down too much.
Thanks!

I cant imagine why an HTC/WM owner should want his/her device look like iphoney...
But in case you want to, have a look on developing & hacking section there are plenty of them

orb3000 said:
I cant imagine why an HTC/WM owner should want his/her device look like iphoney...
But in case you want to, have a look on developing & hacking section there are plenty of them
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No not to just look like one, mainly to add its finger friendly interface, the iphones gesture based system is the way mobile touchscreen phones should be as far as I'm concerned, very intuitive, but without the iphones limitations, as for looks I would make it look quite different than an iphone as most WM programs are re-skinnable and very modable.
The problem is knowing WM I'll need a nice set of programs to have a fully touch friendly phone, as in phone/texting, contacts, pim, launchers, media, browsers, today plugins, office. So I'm just looking for the best ones atm, I love icontact for one and spb mobile shell 3 looks like it covers most of the others.

RedruM said:
No not to just look like one, mainly to add its finger friendly interface, the iphones gesture based system is the way mobile touchscreen phones should be as far as I'm concerned, very intuitive, but without the iphones limitations, as for looks I would make it look quite different than an iphone as most WM programs are re-skinnable and very modable.
The problem is knowing WM I'll need a nice set of programs to have a fully touch friendly phone, as in phone/texting, contacts, pim, launchers, media, browsers, today plugins, office. So I'm just looking for the best ones atm, I love icontact for one and spb mobile shell 3 looks like it covers most of the others.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok
Now I understand
Have a look on the section I told you and if you need any special app I can help you to find it
I´m agree with you
WM for itself is not very good, but with several apps you can have a great device!

What happens to HTC when Windows 7 is out ?

I am just wondering what will be happen to HTC when windows mobile 7 is out ? Right now, we have the great Manila, which is in my opinion much more important for my daily use than the underlaying mobile OS. So I don´t care about windows mobile 6.1 or 6.5 it is not important for me, I need just ANY windows to use all my windows mobile tools. But everey new version of manila is the great new development at the moment: New tools, new usage, new design ! I could say for years with 6.1 when htc would update manila fast and steady. I have no problem to have nearly all tools twice, one from windows mobile and one from htc, for example calculator, contacts, calendar...
But what happens when v7 will arrive and Microsoft did everything new and hopefully better ?
First: If the ned design and UI is really great, we don´t need manila anymore. I don´t belive this but maybe it will happen and there is a problem for htc, because nobody wants manila and they are back thrown to just a hardware manufacture.
Second: Windows 7 UI is not so good. In this case we need manila, but we are still in the same situation than today: Everything is double on the device, one time from MS and one time from htc, which is not the best solution in terms of hardware resources, speed and funcionality compared to other mobile phones.
What do you think about this future ?
hans

Okay....
Just so I understand this clearly, your primary worry is regarding Manila's compatibility with Windows Mobile 7.
First: Yes, it's true that if the new Windows Mobile 7 is great, then Manila will be less needed, but I find that doubtful. Unless Microsoft copies Manila directly, then there will still be those who needs HTC's unique interface for whatever reason.
Also, I'm not sure if you realize this, but developing Manila actually cost HTC money. Companies often develop an interface for WinMo (Manila, Touchwiz, etc) because it is to hide the ugly original interface and to improve productivity. If they no longer have to do this, it would actually save them money. Hardware is, in fact, HTC's primary method of making money (after all, they don't sell Manila; it comes free).
Second: Yes, if WinMo 7's interface is not good, then more resources will be needed for the OS and the secondary interface, but the performance drop may not be as great as you think. One of the things about Windows Mobile 7 is that it is supposed to better utilize modern hardware, which will make it far more efficient. The increased resources needed will probably be more than offset by WM7's increased efficiency.
Secondly, if, for some strange reason, the combination of WinMo 7 and Manila ends up being too resource heavy, I really don't see this being a huge issue as hardware will inevitably be improved to handle any extra needed resources. Or XDA will end up taking care of any slack HTC has (and if the past few years have been any indication, there will be plenty of slack on HTC's side).
After all, one must remember that the WM6.1 stock ROM with HTC Manila is not exactly the fastest thing in the world.

Perhaps this is a little too much optimism, but I don't think we need to worry about WM7's interface. MS have been making a lot of great interfaces lately -- Win7, the Xbox 360, and the Zune all have extremely nice interfaces. WM7 is a big deal to MS, and I'm sure they're giving a lot of resources to developing a good UI. WM6.5 may seem like a disappointment, but all indications seem to be that 6.5 was purely a low-priority patch job.
As has been said, HTC will probably be BETTER off if they DON'T have to reskin the OS. Maybe instead they can spend those development resources on useful add-on tools instead of basic functionality.
And if the core WM7 UI is lame and HTC DOES feel the need to step up, I bet it'll be possible. MS knows that customization is practically the one thing they really still have over the competition, and I doubt they'll squash that.

What makes me optimistic is also that WinMo 6.5's titanium does not look so bad to me, as well as the new locking system...
Even if it does not provide as many functionnalities as a good old manila, it's still some improvement over the classic naked WinMo look and feel. What do you think ?

Is HTC Sense UI on Android identical to Windows Mobile?

Is HTC’s Sense UI identical on Android and Windows Mobile? I’m trying to decide on a new phone this month – HTC HD2 versus HTC Supersonic. I’m leaning towards the Supersonic, but really like how Sense looks on the HD2.
I understand that there would be differences in system configuration, etc., but am mostly interested in core Sense UI functionality.
Thanks in advance!

They really aren't that much the same. You still get the retro clock but the Android SenseUI is very much different than the WM one.
The thing with the Android version is that it does not truly replace the shell the way the WM version does. On Android it enhances the widgets and the home screens but the underlying functions of the app tray, etc. is still Android. I imagine the reason for this is because Android is already much more modern than WM from the start.

@naplsbill - Thanks for the info!

From my understanding(haven't use Sense on WM, but have an Android phone w/Sense) and the contact management is similar among both phones. I want to say the speed dialing works the same, but I am not too sure of that.

sense is just an overlay of both winmo and android
sense on winmo enhanced the experience if u dont go into the system much for finding a file you downloaded or such
android with sense is an "enhancement" to the android experience
winmo with sense is a cover up of microsofts horrible work on a mobile operating system
ive owned both types phone
a tp2 and a g1 mytouch and nexus
im not a fanboy or anything
but when it comes to great experience i choose htc/google android/sense user experience. it does a better job of the phrase "getting things done" and if u have a gmail account getting an android phone is very helpful with keeping up with stuff
my whole life is on google
tasks, calendars, photos, gmail (3 accounts)
so in the end it comes down to u but this is my experience
the supersonic btw is SICKKKKKKKKKKK

bigballa said:
android with sense is an "enhancement" to the android experience
winmo with sense is a cover up of microsofts horrible work on a mobile operating system
ive owned both types phone
a tp2 and a g1 mytouch and nexus
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Amazing arrant nonsense. I have had many winMo phones and used Hero, Moto Cliq and my Touch 3g and the winmo interface is light years ahead of the crude looking android.
HTC interface is excellent on both TP2 and Hero and it is a"cover up of" microsofts and google's "horrible work on a mobile operating system". Actually the HTC sense enhances the interface of both android and winmo. It actually makes basic functions look alike on both platforms.
im not a fanboy or anything
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Really?!

haha okay...
well i am not a fanboy
i appreciate both OS's
but when it comes down to choice its all about how you like your information given to you
some people like it the winmo sense way and some people like it the android sense way...
i side with the android sense way/regular android way
cuz you can customize what info you want

sense UI on droid and WM
I had several WM mobile devices and played with a few andriod devices. I definitely think the way the UI animate and stuff on both platform are completey not a like. lets create a list of things we can use to compare. I will start with the wm list since i currently own the hd2 and can someone create a list for the droid. i definetely getting the evo so i would like to know what to expect.
thank you to all.
wm sense UI:
contact photo sync with myphone and oulook (no photo id downscaled issue)
animated weather and wallpaper
animated foolprint
silder bar
s2u2 - fullscreen callid
lame that it can only sync with one active sync account unlike the pre
good that it does not sync all the fb contact like the pre. super anoying on the pre
droid sense UI: (please list)

Stupid things in 6.5 & 6.5.x

Despite some minor improvement in 6.5 and 6.5.x in compare with 6.1, it’s so strange to me why Microsoft always forget some basic assumptions and doing very stupid modifications?! For example I cannot understand why in 6.5 and 6.5.x drop down start menu which is contained recent opened application is missed, while it was so useful!
Another Foolishness thing is the new lock screen! Why instead of locking the home screen or today screen which is contained user required information, a new lock screen created? And then due to the shortage of information in lock screen many developers are working to make it as complete as possible!? Also why there is a lock button just in Start menu page? If it’s useful to be available, why it does not exist in other pages?
Anyway, it’s always been fault of Microsoft! Day after day creating new things, but loosing basic concepts like ease of usage and simplicity. You can see this matter from moving from XP to Vista and then to W7!
I wish somebody were in Microsoft to listen to customers carefully and check their ideas by himself.

Well said....

I dunno, I disagree. While the recently opened apps was handy at times... it created a lot of clutter on the start menu.
As far as the lockscreen... the new one is awesome. It's VERY awesome. Try setting up an autolock after display goes out. The new lockscreen still displays calendar appointments and lists all missed notifications. It also has a call and alarm feature built in. Very awesome.
I admit the stock theme doesn't look appealing but I've skinned my lockscreen and it is very attractive.

I'm quite happy with just about all I've got, and everything on my phone is running stock. No skins, everything plain and OEM.
That being said, I didn't really play around with any WinMo phones with 6.1, but on a touchscreen device like mine, the almost everything about 6.5.x is better than earlier versions.

In Poland we have a saying: Employer pays just enought for you not to quit and you work just as much that you will not be fired.
microsoft makes crapy programs but good enought for us not to quit using it. And as long as we will be buing they will not get it any better.
To put it simple - im disapointed with my new TP2 because of new "obstacles" microsoft prepared... thnks to this forum most of them are gone alredy

Thread moved as it is not Development and Hacking.

Fully agree