If
you are a long-time Windows Mobile user, you might remember
Windows Mobile 2003 Second Edition, which was an update to Windows Mobile
2003. And, as we
recently learned from DigiTimes, there are rumors that Microsoft will
introduce a Windows Mobile update between the soon to be released Windows Mobile
6.5 and the future main release Windows Mobile 7. While neither the Windows
Mobile 6.5 update (which I'm going to call "Second Edition" for now) nor Windows
Mobile 7 are official yet, it came to my mind that the 6.5 Second Edition might
be be based on the recently leaked Windows Mobile builds.
If you have a closer look at the following screenshot, which represents a
very new Windows Mobile 6.5 version (Build 23034), you see some serious differences
between the Windows Mobile 6.5, as we know it today and what Build 23034 shows
us:
Look at the top-bar which is now expandable in a way Windows Mobile was never
before or notice that the Windows Start flag moved from the upper left corner to
the lower left (quite similar to Windows Mobile Standard devices where the Start
flag was on the lower left corner from the beginning).
Furthermore, Fuzemobility just produced a very detailed 10 minutes video of a
slightly older Windows Mobile 6.5 build (Build 23028) which comes without any ODM
enhancements but just represents the naked Windows Mobile build. Again you might
notice that Microsoft seems to rearranged the softkeys and buttons which
definitely makes sense, I wrote about this problem back in 2007 already (THOUGHT:
Is the Windows Mobile Touchscreen UI finally single-hand use ready?).
Again, there is no proof or confirmation yet, that the builds above
represents Windows Mobile 6.5 "Second Edition" but it would make sense, if these
kind of builds doesn't represent the current Windows Mobile 6.5, as it is
expected to be released on October 1st.
As far as we know, the Windows Mobile
6.5 RTM code was released to ODMs some time ago already which makes again sense
because ODMs have to adopt the Windows Mobile build to their devices. This means
that an ODM cannot work with changing ROM builds, especially not if the GUI and
UX changes are that dramatic. But for something, the builds above must be good,
so I would expect they represent the next version of Windows Mobile; especially
because they are time bombed/expire which again speaks for very early Windows
Mobile builds, not yet designed for either ODMs or end users.
Cheers ~ Arne
