REVIEW: Windows Mobile 6.5 Improvements Leave Much to Be Desired

Familiar Features

When I explored the device further, I started seeing some familiar features. There’s a Notes application that’s basically identical to the one on my older HTC phone with Windows Mobile 6.0. In fact, the old drop-down menu was back, requiring me to get out the stylus. That’s when I realized that Microsoft may have prettied up the Windows Mobile interface in some places, but it still has a long way to go to appease those of us who have been spoiled by the iPhone.

Further exploration revealed more of the same. For example, once inside the Settings from the main Windows Mobile Applications page, I saw many of the same icons I had on earlier phones. On the Settings page itself, the screen was all fancy and new, but when I opened the Settings programs themselves (such as the Memory setting), I saw the same old thing: There were some slight improvements—for instance, the Memory page has a couple tabs at the bottom with a neat 3D look, and one of the tabs has been moved to its own settings page—but, by and large, not much has changed.

So will this be the iPhone killer? Perhaps we should look to the CEO of Microsoft, who reportedly said Microsoft “screwed up” by releasing Windows Mobile 6.5 and should have gone to 7.0 right away.

Perhaps Version 7.0 of Windows Mobile will change the world of smartphones. But, until then, we’re stuck with a prettier interface on top of an operating system that’s much the same as it was 10 years ago, before the OS was even considered for phones—only for PDAs with a stylus.

Jeff Cogswell can be reached at jeff.cogswell@ziffdavisenterprise.com.