Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Microsoft Announces Developments In the Marketplace, Windows Live, and Windows Mobile 6.5
Posted by Darius Wey in "Pocket PC News" @ 11:15 AM
Windows Live for Windows Mobile
On the Windows Live front, the free and popular Windows Live for Windows Mobile application will be made available to a wider audience (twenty-five countries, to be exact). In addition, a new beta version of Windows Live Hotmail will be made available at m.mail.live.com, and feature full HTML support, an updated user interface, and a new search feature.
Windows Mobile 6.5 Personalization
Remember the Theme Generator Power Toy from the Pocket PC 2002 era? Well, Microsoft is bringing it back. A new and improved Theme Generator will be made available later this year, and support custom pictures as background images, and custom colours for Windows Mobile's navigation bar, scroll bar, and highlighted text.
Microsoft will also team up with two prominent design houses, Design Museum London and Council of Fashion Designers of America, to deliver a set of designer themes exclusive to Windows phones. (Hopefully, they're different to what's in the screenshots above and below, which we can only best describe as a digital flannel shirt.)
Windows Mobile 6.5 Upgrades
Microsoft has clarified the policy surrounding Windows Mobile 6.5 upgrades. Earlier in the year, we were treated to some upcoming Windows Mobile 6.1 devices, such as the Touch Diamond2 and Touch Pro2, which were promised Windows Mobile 6.5 upgrades at a later stage. It is worth noting that said upgrades are by no means constrained to upcoming Windows Mobile 6.1 devices. There may be instances where a partner could release an upgrade for an existing Windows Mobile 6.1 device, as long as the hardware meets the minimum requirements of a 400 MHz processor and 128 MB RAM. However, as of this moment, no such devices have been announced, and for better or worse, upgrade paths will be determined entirely by the partners involved, not Microsoft.
- Discuss [7 replies]
- Permalink