While
Microsoft announced during the last Mobile World Congress
Windows
Mobile 6.5 as well as
Windows Marketplace
and My Phone, it
seems Microsoft forgot to talk about a Windows Mobile 6.5 feature which surfaced
now: Widgets. As an anonymous tipster told us today, Windows Mobile 6.5 will
support Widgets
which are using the Internet Explorer 6 rendering engine but are running
stand-alone without requiring to start Internet Explorer.
As a matter of fact, Widgets - which are a kind of zipped HTML files containing
JavaScript and graphics files (similar to Windows Vista
Gadgets) - can be
launched straight from the Windows Mobile 6.5 start menu (see the MSN Money
example bellow):
As said, Microsoft hasn't given any further details yet and therefore it's
unclear how Microsoft will use Widgets in Windows Mobile 6.5 but the source is
sure it will be a (yet forgotten) standard feature of Windows Mobile 6.5
That's not the source, they have different screenshots and the screenshots above look different but legit. Anyway, time to follow Opera and again Microsoft is late to the party. As far as I remember, Opera have launched Widgets for Opera Mobile some time ago.
Posted by Arne Hess on 10.03.09 - 22:18:10
@Surur: Thanks, in the meantime I've found the WMPowerUser in my RSS feeds as well, however, I've received the E-Mail this morning. But anyway, maybe it's the same source? @TrueSync: Yes, you are right - Opera has Widgets available already and it was first introduced with T-Mobile.
Posted by Surur on 10.03.09 - 22:22:52
Seeing how the wmpoweruser story went up 23 hours ago I think its the original stimulus for your tipster.
Posted by Arne Hess on 10.03.09 - 22:29:40
@Surur: Yep, seems so. However, we have no info yet where WMPU got the info from (wasn't disclosed, unfortunately). While their screenshots looks way better (hope Windows Mobile 6.5's Gadget's will be that graphic rich) the screenshots above look like taken from a real device. Aynway, I'm wonder why Microsoft hasn't announced it during the Mobile World Congress. That's big news, especially if the Windows Mobile Widgets will be compatible to Windows Vista Gadgets what they hopefully are!
Posted by Surur on 10.03.09 - 22:35:58
Seeing how I wrote the story at WMPoweruser.com I know it did not come from a 3rd party. Its something I noticed from a new WM 6.5 ROM.
Posted by Anonymous Tipster on 10.03.09 - 23:24:52
I'm the source and Arne got it from me. I got the screenshots from a ODM Rom which is real, not self cooked.
Posted by Surur on 10.03.09 - 23:34:23
Anonymous Tipster wrote:
I'm the source and Arne got it from me. I got the screenshots from a ODM Rom which is real, not self cooked.
We shall leave it as a strange coincidence then.
Posted by Max Headroom on 11.03.09 - 20:37:44
Interesting! Any information if the widgets can also plug-into the Today screen and if the widgets can display notifications like new tweets? Otherwise these widgets are just local web sites occupying memory.
While
Microsoft announced during the last Mobile World Congress
I know it did not come from a 3rd party. 
Its something I noticed from a new WM 6.5 ROM.
