We took a look at the early Windows Mobile 6.5 build for the old HTC Blue Angel handset that was leaked yesterday. There’s not a whole lot to see yet, but here’s what matters:
- There is a new interface! Sort of! The typical 6.1 home screen is still present at times, but there appears to be an alternate, Zune-like menu too. It’s glitchy for the time being, but it looks like a step in the right direction, and it runs significantly more smoothly than many of the third-party interface layers out there (Yeah, I’m talking about you, TouchFlo 3d). There are also a few new element skins—namely a new dialer, finally. The keyboard doesn’t get shown off, but I’d assume that’ll be changed too.
- Zune integration is here, in a way. The aforementioned new menu doesn’t just look and feel like the clean Zune UI we’re all so used to, it contains icons for media playback at the bottom, including music and photos. Both had image previews in their entries, and there were specific music functions built into the first layer of menus. In other words, the default user interface for Windows Mobile will be usable as a media player.
- Intertial scrolling is everywhere now. This might seem minor, but the psychological impact of smooth interface movements is huge. Grids of icons can now be thrown around, as can the contact list and web browser (though we saw this in the Mobile IE6 emulator).
There are a few other new, minor features seen in the video, but it’s unclear which of them belong to Microsoft, which to HTC and which to random third parties (this is XDA, after all). And as I said before, this is probably a very early build and not totally representative of the final product. However, if these few improvements are anything to go by, the user experience will be markedly improved for users of WinMo 6.5, especially on touchscreen handsets.
Dorothy
Friday, January 23, 2009 at 10:29 AMPointui Home 2 FTW!
SkateNY
Monday, January 26, 2009 at 8:39 PMI don’t doubt that many or even most Zune owners are satisfied with what they have. Here’s my thing: Apple dove into the MP3 market when that market was already well on its way to maturity. The iPod quickly made a big splash, and iTunes has played no small part in helping the iPod acquire a 70% market share. Apple did not engage in illegal, monopolistic business practices in order to achieve that level of prominence; nor did Steve Jobs hypnotize buyers, steering them towards the iPod.
When the iPod was released in October of 2001, it succeeded during a recession caused by the terrorist attacks of 9/11. If the current economic climate adversely affected the Zune and other consumer products, then it stands to reason that it also adversely affected iPod sales. Yet, Apple reported a growth in iPod sales for the most recent quarter, versus a 54% drop in Zune revenues. How much better would the iPod have faired this quarter without the deepening recession?
I believe that Microsoft and its investors need to re-evaluate the Zune with regard to how it affects other products, and how it affects shareholder interests. If I’m a Microsoft competitor — and I don’t believe that Apple and Microsoft compete in the sense that they appeal to very different groups of customers — then I truly hope that Microsoft continues to throw money and other resources at the Zune. Let them and their investors learn the hard way. Again.