Windows Mobile 6.5 arrives with new marketplace, cloud sync

Windows Mobile 6.5, Windows Marketplace for Mobile, and Microsoft My Phone have all officially launched today. It's an important release for Microsoft and its smartphone strategy, setting the stage for next year's launch of Windows Mobile 7.0.<BR><BR><a href='http://meincmagazine.com/microsoft/news/2009/10/windows-mobile-65-arrives-with-new-marketplace-cloud-sync.ars'>Read the whole story</a>

 

[Glav]

Smell that?<BR><BR>It's the fresh minty scent of Competition.

 

[djixas]

WinMo for the win

 

[omnicronx]

Too bad the apps suck **********... There is absolutely nothing new! How on earth are they going to compete with anyone let alone Apple? I was really excited for the app store, but right now I'm wondering why I still use WinMo.. There are more C# programmers out there than objective C, and you can't release your app store with at least one app that was not available beforehand? This is not going to hold anyone off until winmo 7, its just the same old same old. I can't express how little I am impressed so far.. If there is not one good app within two months, I swear I'm switching platforms.<BR><BR>edit: making matters worse, EVERYTHING IS OVERPRICED! 22 dollars for a program to tell me the weather? 54.99 for Office mobile? 29 dollars for a game of Sudoku? WTF are these guys smoking to think anyone is going to pay these prices?<BR>Especially when you consider there are FREE alternatives out there already.

 

[Inscitia]

Lots of nice pieces, all mediocre. Oh, the joy. <BR><BR>Best case scenario is that it provides a good stopgan to Windows Mobile 7, which will bring Microsoft up to par (or even leapfrog).<BR><BR>Most likely scenario is that Windows Mobile 7 disappoints as well...

 

[Cless]

At least Engadget told it straight—this reads like a press release. There's <I>no</I> innovation here, just Microsoft trying to polish a turd into something that looks a little more modern. WM 6.5 is just another embarrassing sign that Microsoft has totally missed the boat in the mobile space. iPhone OS, Web OS, even Android are all far more compelling offerings.

 

[matt_w]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Glav:<BR>Smell that?<BR><BR>It's the fresh minty scent of Competition. </div></BLOCKQUOTE><BR><BR>QFT<BR><BR>I think this is the only space where Apple, Google and MS are all competing directly. Throw in Palm and RIM and you have yourself a party.

 

[backtomac]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by omnicronx:<BR>Too bad the apps suck **********... . </div></BLOCKQUOTE><BR><BR>With only 200MB of online backup/storage with My Phone, MS must not expect this to get better. That's really pretty paltry IMO.<BR><BR>The 18 apps on my iPhone use 500MB alone. I have another 100MB plus in data. Many iPhone users have even more apps.<BR><BR><BR>Edit for stupid spelling error.

 

[nehalem]

Is their OS very stable? I've had one windows mobile phone, the blackjack by Samsung. I've never had to restart a phone so much in my entire life. I still get angry thinking of that piece of junk. <BR><BR>As for the rest of it, I don't think this will help MS much. The problem is this doesn't really match the capabilities of what already exists. Even if version seven was released today it would still be hard to recover from the free reign Apple, Google, etc has had on the more advanced smart phone market.

 

[kindakrazy]

While normally Microsoft will slag their current release as part of the PR for the next release of a product (as in XP is OK, but Vista will make you cream your pants, then Vista is OK, but Windows 7 is the real deal, etc), but this is one of the few times where, even before it's released, MS has basically crapped on it for the following release (WinMo 7).<BR><BR>And what makes this really sad, is that MS still hasn't figured out that end-users like getting new features by uploading a new version of the OS to the phone instead of needing to buy a whole new phone just to get the latest OS/features.

 

[Deleted member 129457]

My Sprint Mogul is starting to die and I've been waiting for the release of 6.5 devices. But the Samsung Intrepid is just a monstrously ugly device. So that's not happening.<BR><BR>So, it's looking like either Palm Pre (and I'm tired of changing OSes on these things every 3-4 years) or ditching Sprint. <BR><BR>Or waiting a while longer. Or maybe just getting rid of a phone altogether. Unless Skype goes kaboom because of the lawsuits.<BR><BR>Fark.<BR><BR>Yeah, technology has made life so much more pleasant.

 

[lloeki]

From what I read all around, reviews of 6.5 are dismal, at best. Even from the most fervent zealots. Insider echoes are not much more promising about 7.0. MS is catatonic in front of the current mobile competition offering.

 

[jabber_wolf]

"omnicronx"<BR><BR>Wait what does iphone have to compete with this? um NOTHING!!!<BR>So please take your fanboy BS somewhere else unless you have an argument.<BR><BR>And as with charge applications where ARE free ones or much cheaper ones that do tell the weather along side many other apps that are dirt cheap for WinMo.<BR><BR><BR>backtomac - Um and you can Download as many apps as you want on WinMo as well!<BR>But the backup of 200MB is not bad, and you can probably install applications on a different phone as well. The backup is something to backup things you CANNOT re-install and info you want duplicated - not applications.<BR><BR>Oh yeah still complaining about 200MBs only when iphone has.. none?! T<BR>ypical macfans.<BR><BR>MS is more, can do the same as iphone sync with google offerings, and can DO MORE!

 

[mujadaddy]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by nehalem:<BR>Is their OS very stable? I've had one windows mobile phone, the blackjack by Samsung. I've never had to restart a phone so much in my entire life. I still get angry thinking of that piece of junk. <BR> </div></BLOCKQUOTE>Interesting. I have a Blackjack sitting right here in my pocket that I got from Cingular, from before the AT&T merger. I've had to restart it, to be sure, but only about as many times in two years as the corporate-issued iPhone I carry has had to be restarted in the two months that I've had it.<BR><BR>I got my wife a Blackjack as well last year (to share chargers), post-AT&T merger, and hers is a little more flaky than mine.<BR><BR>YMMV, I guess.

 

[doornail]

The actual reviews are slaughtering it:<BR><BR>http://www.mobilecrunch.com/20...view-it-still-sucks/<BR>http://blogs.zdnet.com/cell-phones/?p=2213<BR>http://gizmodo.com/5374876/win...s-no-excuse-for-this

 

[Inscitia]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by mujadaddy:<BR>I have a Blackjack sitting right here in my pocket that I got from Cingular, from before the AT&T merger. I've had to restart it, to be sure, but only about as many times in two years as the corporate-issued iPhone I carry has had to be restarted in the two months that I've had it. </div></BLOCKQUOTE><BR><BR>I've been horribly disappointed by the speed and stability of my iPhone 3G. I had one week where I had to restart it <B>four</B> times, and it seems to collapse on me at least once a week these days. And 10 seconds to open the SMS app? <BR><BR>Well, I had friends who told me it was all sunshine and joy, so while not <I>terribly</I> disappointed, I've been disillusioned.<BR><BR>I had a WinMo phone a few years ago, and it was at least as stable.

 

[dlux]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by jabber_wolf:<BR><BR><complete jibber-jabber> </div></BLOCKQUOTE><BR>Man, you really have the ADD Intarwebs posting routine down!<BR><BR>Extra exclamation points!!!!! - Check.<BR>Random ALL CAPS interjections - Check.<BR>Poor T<BR>yping skills - Check.<BR>Lack of, can english composition ability - Check.<BR><BR><BR>Too bad you left your spell-checker on or you would have achieved a perfect score!<BR><BR><BR>(And you've been saving up for almost two years to post <I>that?</I>)

 

[hugodrax]

A Press Release Masquerading as news.

 

[backtomac]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by jabber_wolf:<BR>"omnicronx"<BR><BR>Wait what does iphone have to compete with this? um NOTHING!!!<BR>So please take your fanboy BS somewhere else unless you have an argument.<BR><BR>And as with charge applications where ARE free ones or much cheaper ones that do tell the weather along side many other apps that are dirt cheap for WinMo.<BR><BR><BR>backtomac - Um and you can Download as many apps as you want on WinMo as well!<BR>But the backup of 200MB is not bad, and you can probably install applications on a different phone as well. The backup is something to backup things you CANNOT re-install and info you want duplicated - not applications.<BR><BR>Oh yeah still complaining about 200MBs only when iphone has.. none?! T<BR>ypical macfans.<BR><BR>MS is more, can do the same as iphone sync with google offerings, and can DO MORE! </div></BLOCKQUOTE><BR><BR>My iPhone is backed up by iTunes. <BR><BR>All of it. Not just 200MBs. <BR><BR>Nice try.

 

[Sinclaw]

Getting a bit fed up of coming to Ars to read a flapping press release....

 

[dlux]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Sinclaw:<BR>Getting a bit fed up of coming to Ars to read a flapping press release.... </div></BLOCKQUOTE>Given the poor collection of reviews so far, it's probably tough to find much else to say that can be posted in a Microsoft-centric journal.

 

[zukes]

apple has iDisk and iDisk app, its 60$ a year for 20 Gigabytes, but i quess ms has it for free to lure more costumers.<BR><BR>p.s. iDisk storage is also accesible from any browser big plus!

 

[Hookoa]

Obviously, someone who has never touched an iPhone. LOL!!!<BR><BR><BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by jabber_wolf:<BR>"omnicronx"<BR><BR>Wait what does iphone have to compete with this? um NOTHING!!!<BR>So please take your fanboy BS somewhere else unless you have an argument.<BR><BR>And as with charge applications where ARE free ones or much cheaper ones that do tell the weather along side many other apps that are dirt cheap for WinMo.<BR><BR><BR>backtomac - Um and you can Download as many apps as you want on WinMo as well!<BR>But the backup of 200MB is not bad, and you can probably install applications on a different phone as well. The backup is something to backup things you CANNOT re-install and info you want duplicated - not applications.<BR><BR>Oh yeah still complaining about 200MBs only when iphone has.. none?! T<BR>ypical macfans.<BR><BR>MS is more, can do the same as iphone sync with google offerings, and can DO MORE! </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

 

[wanorris]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by backtomac:<BR>My iPhone is backed up by iTunes. <BR><BR>All of it. Not just 200MBs. <BR><BR>Nice try. </div></BLOCKQUOTE><BR><BR>And you can back up your whole WinMo phone to your computer as well. This is comparing online backup services, not the essential and obvious ability to back up to your computer.

 

[bartfat]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by wanorris:<BR><BR>And you can back up your whole WinMo phone to your computer as well. This is comparing online backup services, not the essential and obvious ability to back up to your computer. </div></BLOCKQUOTE><BR><BR>So basically Apple has got them beat there with iDisk... offering up to 100 times as much storage. I fail to see how backup for your phone will be useful OTA, as downloading and uploading must take a hella long time. It'll probably save you some agony (w/ the cell drop-outs... not to mention carriers not liking you uploading 250MB over their networks) and much waiting to simply hook it up to a computer via USB and backup.

 

[Solomonoff's Secret]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by dlux:<BR>Given the poor collection of reviews so far, it's probably tough to find much else to say that can be posted in a <B>Microsoft-centric journal</B>. </div></BLOCKQUOTE><BR>(bold mine) How do you figure?

 

[wanorris]

The nasty reviews are pretty much inevitable, because 6.5 is a face lift for an OS that needs more than that. The reality is that if you want a WinMo phone, get an HTC, because TouchFlo 3D is a much better fix for the UI than 6.5.<BR><BR>And honestly, if you compare the apps, there's very little that you can do on any of the phones that you can't do on an HTC WinMo phone, and some extra power that comes baked in that's hard to find elsewhere.<BR><BR>Clean, integrated, touch-based UI: solved by HTC.<BR>Maps: solved by Google, integrated into the UI by HTC.<BR>App store: solved by Microsoft now.<BR>Browsing: Mobile IE isn't horrible any more, but HTCs ship with Opera Mobile, which can hang with any mobile browser. Want real, full-on Flash apps? Install Skyfire. Solved. <BR><BR>Plus you get onboard Office doc editing and devices with badass 3.6" 800x480 screens and roomy physical keyboards. The TouchPro 2 has the niftiest speakerphone in the industry, including the ability to set it down on its face and have it automatically shift to speakerphone mode. There are a ton of apps available for WinMo, and they're generally much more mature than iPhone apps.<BR><BR>As an extra added bonus, if you <I>still</I> don't like the UI, the media player, the browser, or some other random feature, there is, in fact, an app for that. Don't like some aspect of the core functionality of the iPhone? My understanding is that you're SOL, because Apple won't let you swap that part out (unless you jailbreak).<BR><BR>Of course, even given all that, there's a reason everyone's waiting on v7. Aside from the fact that there are still nooks and crannies in the UI that haven't been modernized, the main problem still remaining is that the OS, designed to be lightweight and fast, doesn't prevent rogue apps from leaking memory and even crashing your phone -- never mind shaky hardware drivers. There's also the secondary problem that patches and updates are a nightmare because carriers only release them through to users on their own whim.<BR><BR>These problem, as everyone knows, are due to shipfail. The current WinMo 7 was originally supposed to be v6, until it got delayed, and a moderately improved version of 5 got released as 6. v7 kept getting delayed, so they released 6.1 as a patch, and 6.5 as a further stopgap. There's even a 6.6 due the first half of next year. WinMo 7, if we're lucky, will hit in late 2010.<BR><BR>Even worse, whatever design for v7 that they conceived way back in the WinMo 5 days was pre-iPhone, and the phone market has made a quantum leap since then, so it's been even more delayed as the requirements change every 6 months to keep up with a moving target.<BR><BR>WinMo 7 is a major change of the magnitude of Win 3.1 -> Win95, Win 98/ME -> Win 2K/XP, Win XP -> Vista/7. This is the release where they *have* to fix all the underpinnings for WinMo. No more crippling memory leaks, hard reboots, or apps that break the whole phone.<BR><BR>Having said all that, I'm leery that WinMo 7 will be another Vista: it solves the underlying problem, but ships with a half-baked UI and a bunch of compatibility problems due to the underlying changes. So it may be the release <I>after that</I> before they finally ship the OS they should have shipped three years ago.<BR><BR>Fortunately, I find 6.x pretty livable since HTC has stepped up to the plate. All the functionality is there, and I can live with rebooting every once in a while. And the best-in-class screens and keyboards certainly make it worth the occasional bother.

 

[dlux]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by newwb:<BR><BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by dlux:<BR>Given the poor collection of reviews so far, it's probably tough to find much else to say that can be posted in a <B>Microsoft-centric journal</B>. </div></BLOCKQUOTE><BR>(bold mine) How do you figure? </div></BLOCKQUOTE><BR>Not sure what you're asking. This article is posted in this section of Ars:<BR><BR>http://meincmagazine.com/microsoft/

 

[Solomonoff's Secret]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by dlux:<BR>Not sure what you're asking. This article is posted in this section of Ars:<BR><BR>http://meincmagazine.com/microsoft/ </div></BLOCKQUOTE><BR>I thought you were implying that Ars is biased toward MS and that by "journal" you meant the entirety of Ars.

 

[wanorris]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by bartfat:<BR>So basically Apple has got them beat there with iDisk... offering up to 100 times as much storage. I fail to see how backup for your phone will be useful OTA, as downloading and uploading must take a hella long time. It'll probably save you some agony (w/ the cell drop-outs... not to mention carriers not liking you uploading 250MB over their networks) and much waiting to simply hook it up to a computer via USB and backup. </div></BLOCKQUOTE><BR><BR>Right, but if what I've read is correct, the 200MB backup is free, not $60 a year. Big difference.

 

[dlux]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by newwb:<BR>I thought you were implying that Ars is biased toward MS... </div></BLOCKQUOTE>Pretty far from it, judging from the majority of articles and comments they generate.

 

[WiseWeasel]

Tell us how you really feel, Ars! C'mon, one of you guys needs to take one for the team, put down your iPhone for a day and give us a real review of WinMo 6.5 from a user's perspective. I can read this type of useless press release on Forbes if that's what I'm looking for.

 

[Kressilac]

I'm impressed with my Touch Pro 2. Here's a few things it does that my wife's iPhone can't do.<BR><BR>First is the already mentioned speaker phone. People cannot tell they are on speaker with the noise cancellation features of the phone. It's that good.<BR><BR>Next, I've installed an app that turns my phone into a WiFi hotspot. WiFi down at your Fantasy Football gathering. No Problem. Turn on the WiFi router on my phone. Everyone has WEP secured WiFi access. I know WEP isn't all that but for a transitory/mobile hotspot it's fine.<BR><BR>How about complete Exchange integration and contact centric messaging? Every contact has a running history of IMs, Emails, calls and SMS/MMS messages I've sent and received. HTC's UI takes care of it. All of the contacts are stored in Exchange, complete with phone numbers, addresses, IM addresses and emails. I can edit the address book in Outlook or Outlook Web. In my honest opinion, the iPhone doesn't even come close to the capabilities of the Touch Pro 2 in the communications department. I have Windows Live Messenger. Does the iPhone even have a Live client? When my phone gets upgraded to Windows Mobile 6.5, I'll get Twitter intgration and better Facebook integration but honestly, both of those services are easy to use on 6.1 through Opera Mobile.<BR><BR>HTC has even integrated Facebook into the contacts. Birthdates and profile pictures are updated automatically from facebook.<BR><BR>Windows allows me to run multiple applications at once and the battery life is pretty good when doing so. I use it every weekend to run my Fantasy Football site in Opera while doing other things on the phone. The iPhone can't do that.<BR><BR>Lastly, I have a full keyboard. Typing longer emails or documents while on the go is a breeze with this phone. Even the onscreen keyboard from HTC is decent for short messages, though I will admit that the iPhone has a better one of those.<BR><BR>The thing about all of this is that while I am using the phone, I do not long for an iPhone at all. I'm not bound and chained to a music player to manage my phone. I'm free to install anything I want on the phone, including my own applications. Windows Mobile suits my needs much more than an iPhone could and I can live without the fart application, the lightsaber application and the level application.

 

[Anita Man]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Kressilac:<BR><snip><BR>I'm not bound and chained to a music player to manage my phone. I'm free to install anything I want on the phone, including my own applications. Windows Mobile suits my needs much more than an iPhone could and I can live without the fart application, the lightsaber application and the level application. </div></BLOCKQUOTE><BR>This part of your post is poor and points to a bias. The wealth of iphone apps is nothing to scoff at. The wifi hotspot, speakerphone, facebook contacts, etc is neat however. Don't know how many consumers care for contact centric exchange messages .

 

[Error601]

I nominate wanorris' post as the *real* review here. Obviously an informed WinMo user, yet still reasonably objective.<BR><BR>Thanks for some *real* information!

 

[darkpill]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">In many ways WinMob 6.5 is a transitional release, meant to tide handset makers and consumers over until the long-awaited overhaul due with version 7.0. </div></BLOCKQUOTE><BR><BR>Hahahahaha! How is this not a transitional release? <BR><BR>Not to nit pick, but my only complaint about he article is that it does not fully communicate how f*cked Microsoft is.

 

[the_leander]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by jabber_wolf:<BR><BR>View image: http://i139.photobucket.com/albums/q285/the_leander/wharrgarbl.jpg <BR><BR> </div></BLOCKQUOTE><BR><BR>Yes.

 

[MarkKB]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by kindakrazy:<BR>And what makes this really sad, is that MS still hasn't figured out that end-users like getting new features by uploading a new version of the OS to the phone instead of needing to buy a whole new phone just to get the latest OS/features. </div></BLOCKQUOTE> <BR><BR>Actually, Microsoft has acknowledged the lack of updatability issue and is working on a way of doing this that the OEMs can agree with. (In the meantime, they have a list of upgradeable phones here.

 

[solomonrex]

Emil, if these posts are necessary to get along with MS, I'm hardly surprised but a website like this can't afford to burn readership with barely warmed over press releases. I'm not the only one publicly whining about that now.<BR><BR>As for this release:<BR>"North American users will get to choose from AT&T's HTC Pure (pictured above), the HTC Tilt 2 (also from AT&T), the HTC Imagio from Verizon, and the Samsung Intrepid from Sprint (available next week)."<BR><BR>One handset per carrier? There's Windows device diversity for you. Their only (albeit minimal) advantage, and they threw that away. Terrible.

 

[Bicentennial Douche]

It's pretty amazing how little MS has done here. WinMO 6.0 was released in early 2007. So in a bit over 2.5 years they managed to get us to 6.5 which is pretty minor upgrade. Why is it that in two years Apple managed to release three major versions of their OS, each with tangible and useful new features, while in 2.5 years MS managed to make some minor changes to their OS?<BR><BR>My guess is that iPhone and Palm too MS by surprise. MS can't really move any faster because under the hood, WinMo is a mess, which makes rapid progress difficult. Hell, this messiness extends to their marketing, where Zune runs a different version of the OS! Compare that to Apple where the phone and the iPod runs the exact same OS. <BR><BR>Will WinMo 7 be better? Well, it will be better than 6.5, that's for sure. But then again MS routinely tells us that "the NEXT version is going to be really great, just you wait!". 6.5 isn't even able to match the original iPhone-OS, maybe 7.0 will. Too bad that by the time 7.0 is released, it will be competing against iPhone OS 4.0...<BR><BR>It's amazing how badly MS has dropped the ball in this business. Which makes Ballmer's infamous iPhone-comments even funnier:<BR><BR>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5oGaZIKYvo<BR><BR>"I like our strategy, I like it alot". So Steve, did your "strategy" involve driving your business to the ground?