Brighthand Provides a Brief Glimpse into the Future of Windows Mobile

[Ekkie Tepsupornchai]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://brighthand.com/article/Glimpse_of_Crossbow_n_Photon' target='_blank'>http://brighthand.com/article/Glimp...ossbow_n_Photon</a><br /><br /></div>Ed Hardy at Brighthand provides us with some very brief tidbits of information regarding the next revisions of Windows Mobile. First, an upgrade for WM5, currently codenamed as "Crossbow", is in the works that is scheduled to release in the first half of 2006. The upgrade should analogous to what we saw with WM2003SE, with changes mostly focused around improvements and enhancements, as opposed to new features, though no details were provided as to the nature of those improvements and/or enhancements.<br /><br />The next major release of Windows Mobile (WM6?) is currently scheduled for 2007 and is codenamed "Photon". Again, little is known regarding the changes that are planned, but Ed does hint that those who have been privy to some brief demonstrations came away very impressed. I can only surmise that Microsoft is continuing to push Windows Mobile as a critical tool for the enterprise. I would expect further bolstering of their messaging, collaboration, and connectivity capabilities along with tighter integration with desktop enterprise applications. For the consumer market, I would expect the focus to be on media capabilities. What do you guys think?

[kiwiruss]

Hopefully the windows mobile 5 update next year will center on reducing the ram footprint and increasing the os speed.

my priorities would be ,
1. take up less ram
2. speen improvements
3. built in today launchbar and task switching so we would not longer need to install apps to do these functions.

[stevelam]

Hmm I think I will keep my trusty h2210 until we have a system with such features known only by the codenames 'Crossbow', 'Monahans' and 'Stanwood'. Who thinks of theese codenames anyway, the're great. :)

[SteveHoward999]

What was the point of the article? It says

"Microsoft are doing stuff. We cannnot tell you what it is they are doing, but we hear some folk liked it"

Well you could knock me down with a feather. I am so excited, I could crush a grape!

[Perry Reed]

Obviously everyone has their favorite wishlist of enhancements or fixes or new features they'd like to see in Windows Mobile. And there are so many different directions Microsoft could take it.

It'll be fun to see which way they actually do take it!

[Raphael Salgado]

I wanted to know what is the best way to inform Microsoft about bugs and feature requests with their Windows Mobile platform, if there is one?

Sometimes I feel that going through your device manufacturer, while probably the recommended or first-line-of-defense method, your calls may go unheard to Microsoft.

As the technologies develop and many of us Windows Mobile / Pocket PC / Palm PC / Palm-sized PC veterans are getting close to the surface of how this whole platform works underneath the hood, I feel it more and more fruitless to try to talk to the manufacturer about an issue that we are more than certain belongs to Microsoft.

That being said, with the few, hopefully productive, times that live chats with the developers are available, is there a direct line to these developers that would hopefully make the necessary changes, send them down to the manufacturers, who would then trickle them down to the wireless carriers (if applicable), and provide them as firmware updates or patches to end-users?

[IpaqMan2]

It's nice to see after so many years of neglect the Pocket PC/Palm PC, ect, finally get some real attention by Microsoft maybe get the wrinkles ironed out.

Microsoft needs to allow the OS on future Windows Mobile devices to be upgradeable with updates much like the desktop OS is. Force OEMs to allow this and to keep "their" code on top of the OS so updates can be done.

I also would like to see Microsoft allow the platform to drop a 30 gig hard drive in a Pocket pc and have it be about the same thickness of current generations of Ipods, with serious focus for consumers and multimedia.

[adamz]

I wanted to know what is the best way to inform Microsoft about bugs and feature requests with their Windows Mobile platform, if there is one?


There used to be a Microsoft Wish program where you could send feature requests and bug reports directly to the product managers, but it doesn't look like that's around anymore. I like to think that's how I got the contact photo syncing and photo caller ID features into Windows Mobile 5.

I bet the next upgrade will fix what was broken by WM5 in Windows Media Player... but it will break something else. If everything worked, why would you want to upgrade?!

[powder2000]

Hmm I think I will keep my trusty h2210 until we have a system with such features known only by the codenames 'Crossbow', 'Monahans' and 'Stanwood'. Who thinks of theese codenames anyway, the're great. :)

Actually, growing up in the NW, Stanwood is a town 45 minutes north of Seattle. I can't tell you how they got the others. :wink:

[ADBrown]

I also would like to see Microsoft allow the platform to drop a 30 gig hard drive in a Pocket pc and have it be about the same thickness of current generations of Ipods, with serious focus for consumers and multimedia.

This isn't really a function of the OS such as it is the engineering. iPods don't also have to power a large screen, fast processor, and random HD access the way a handheld would. You could dump a 30 GB drive into a PPC, but the result would be an inch thick and have bad battery life. Look at Palm's Lifedrive for an example of the kind of hit that you would take.

[Jason Dunn]

What was the point of the article? It says "Microsoft are doing stuff. We cannnot tell you what it is they are doing, but we hear some folk liked it" Well you could knock me down with a feather. I am so excited, I could crush a grape!

To be fair to Ed, that's all he COULD say - but he still wanted to get the news about it out.

[sapibobo]

Actually i really dont give a damn about their latest development of the OS. I just want MS to ironed out simple things first on their current WM OS.

First, the implementation of WMP 10. It sucks. It has a name that makes people think it will perform as good as its desktop version. In the practice WMP 10 had crippled functions such as playlist and enhancement features (and of course, besides other things such as support to more popular formats: AAC, MP4, etc).
I really miss the enhancement features they left out from desktop version. SRS WOW is one of those. For the replacement i use TCPMP, it simple, perform better and have wider support for multimedia files. It just a shame that i really like their WMP desktop version but the PPC version is a crap. I prefer they left out the WMPlayer and replace it with another more useful program (well, then again, i dont think MS will do these kind of thing :devilboy: )

Second, inability to adjust the 'gigantic' start menu system bar that filled out the precious VGA screen. I just dont get it why the system bar have to be that big. It disturb me unnecessarily when viewing excel documents. (Yes, i have SE VGA but that makes everything looks uncomfortably smaller).

They are other things about their crippled current WM. But i think we could find those at another thread. From all, the two above that bugged me the most.

[Jonathan1]

It sounds like this WM2005SE might be what ships for the iPaq 4705 or at least the time frame sounds right for it. Wasn't it around April they were saying the OS update for the 4700?

[Darius Wey]

It sounds like this WM2005SE might be what ships for the iPaq 4705 or at least the time frame sounds right for it. Wasn't it around April they were saying the OS update for the 4700?

Yes, it's scheduled for Q2, 2006. But who knows, if you remember HP and their decision to not provide WM2003SE upgrades for their previous generation of devices, we might not see Crossbow for the hx4700 either.

HP reaps what they sow - unfortunately, a lot of people have lost confidence in them to provide updates.