Windows Mobile 6.5

Microsoft Smiles, Shrugs as Hackers Wangle Mango Onto Old WinMo Gear

Ina Fried in Mobile on July 8, 2011 at 10:03 am PT

Although Microsoft has no plans for a commercial upgrade allowing older Windows Mobile 6.5 devices to move to the Mango release of Windows Phone, the company is taking a laissez-faire attitude toward the developers who have managed to cram the new release onto an older HTC phone.

Windows Mobile 6.5: Instant Classic

John Paczkowski in News on February 18, 2010 at 1:41 pm PT

If “Windows Phone” is to be the new designation for Microsoft’s mobile OS, the company can’t afford to have four-month-old Windows Mobile 6.5 muddle its branding. So the company is renaming it. The rumored moniker: “Windows Phone Classic.”

Windows Phone OS 7.0: Nowhere Near as Clunky as its Name Implies

John Paczkowski in Mobile on February 16, 2010 at 6:59 am PT

It’s a real pity that Microsoft’s new Windows Phone OS 7.0 won’t be available until the end of the year, because it seems–at first glance, anyway–to be a robust and elegant offering. Certainly, it is a departure from what we’ve come to expect from Microsoft in the mobile space.

CES: Steve Ballmer Keynote

John Paczkowski in News on January 6, 2010 at 6:00 pm PT

Steve Ballmer is delivering his annual state-of-Microsoft address at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas tonight–the second he’s given since taking over the duties of former CEO Bill Gates. If anything like last year’s, Ballmer’s address will offer a broad overview of Microsoft’s consumer strategy for the year, touching on everything from the company’s hardware-software ecosystem to its home entertainment offerings. Likely to figure prominently in tonight’s address: Windows 7 and the new touch-enabled PC form factors it has evidently inspired; Bing; and Natal, Microsoft’s controller-less game control system, which will launch in time for the 2010 holidays.

Waiting for WinMo

John Paczkowski in News on December 15, 2009 at 4:30 am PT

Windows Mobile’s long march into irrelevance continues apace with no apparent change in tack. Certainly, the launch of Windows Mobile 6.5 in September–a superficial, stop-gap point release–did little to convince anyone that Microsoft will ever deliver on its promise of a “modern” mobile operating system. And now, with the official release of Windows Mobile 7 reportedly delayed until late 2010, you’ve got to wonder if the company hasn’t already blown its last chance at a comeback in the mobile space.

Windows Mobile 6.5 Slightly Less Unmemorable Than Predecessor

John Paczkowski in News on October 6, 2009 at 8:50 am PT

The majority of Windows Mobile users have no idea what operating system is running on their phones, a recent survey from the CFI Group found. Microsoft is hoping to change that with the release of Windows Mobile 6.5 and the opening of Windows Mobile Marketplace, its long-awaited answer to Apple’s iTunes App Store.

Windows Marketplace for Mobile: 600 Apps Down, 64,400 to Go…

John Paczkowski in News on July 14, 2009 at 10:44 am PT

As Apple marks the one-year anniversary of its App Store with a bit of celebratory smack talk, Microsoft has provided a few more details about its forthcoming rival offering: Windows Marketplace for Mobile store. At its Worldwide Partner Conference in New Orleans this morning, the company said it will begin accepting applications for the store on July 27 with an eye toward opening it by the end of the year.

Windows Mobile 6.5 "an Amazing Engineering Feat," All Right…

John Paczkowski in News on May 14, 2009 at 10:30 am PT

Windows Mobile 6.5 might be a necessary stopgap on the path to 7.0, if not exactly an elegant one. But what can you expect from an OS with such a hurried path to launch? Not much, according to Microsoft developers who admit that the incremental update was a rush job that suffers from all of the problems attendant thereto.

Windows Mobile 6.5 “an Amazing Engineering Feat,” All Right…

John Paczkowski in News on May 14, 2009 at 10:30 am PT

Windows Mobile 6.5 might be a necessary stopgap on the path to 7.0, if not exactly an elegant one. But what can you expect from an OS with such a hurried path to launch? Not much, according to Microsoft developers who admit that the incremental update was a rush job that suffers from all of the problems attendant thereto.

Stink the Pink

John Paczkowski in News on April 28, 2009 at 1:53 pm PT

As if the Zune weren’t embarrassing enough… Microsoft and Verizon are reportedly discussing a touchscreen multimedia cellphone that could launch on the carrier’s network in 2010. The project is codenamed “Pink” and will apparently involve some ungodly combination of Windows Mobile and Zune software.