Windows Mobile 6.1 Eye Candy

[Paul Martin]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://phonearena.com/htmls/First-look-at-Windows-Mobile-6.1-article-a_2401.html' target='_blank'>http://phonearena.com/htmls/First-l...cle-a_2401.html</a><br /><br /></div><i>"A Portuguese site published the first review of the still unannounced version 6.1 of Windows Mobile Professional OS. According to some sources, it will be officially unveiled at 3GSM convention in Barcelona (February 11-14). The new version of the system should be considered as minor improvement, instead of as the next-generation WM OS. This can be guessed by its model number which is 6.1 instead of 7. As it was with the version 6, compared to 5, the 6.1 is better optimized, which results in overall higher performance and faster loading of menus, with the hardware being unchanged. An improvement that will concern the Internet fans is the new Zoom feature in the Internet Explorer. Probably inspired by iPhone, the developers now offer “SMS Chat View Mode”. The mobile variant of Office is now updated to open Office 2007 files (.docx, .xlsx) and features one new application: One Note, which is used for voice recording, drawing, etc. Other changes are just minor."</i><br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/martin-20080204-pocketpc-wm61.jpg" /><br /><br />Information about a Windows Mobile 6.1 release has been <a href="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=447675">trickling out</a>. Now a Portuguese site, <a href="http://www.pocketpt.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=20433&st=0&p=129005&#entry129005">Pocketpt.net</a>, has lots of <a href="http://translate.google.com/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pocketpt.net%2Fforum%2Findex.php%3Fshowtopic%3D20433%26st%3D0%26p%3D129005%26%23entry129005&langpair=pt%7Cen&hl=en&ie=UTF8">nice screen shots</a> [<i>with machine translation</i>], highlighting the SMS Chat view Mode, new Getting Started options, Pocket Internet Explorer Zoom, a Managed Programs option, new Task Manager interface, and Office One Note. It's nice to see a few updates, especially since WM 7 is still about <a href="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=447535">a year away</a>. 8O

[Sven Johannsen]

"... and features one new application: One Note, which is used for voice recording, drawing, etc. ...."


Well that would be nice, since it doesn't support drawing now. OneNote Mobile is designed for the SP platform and captures audio and pictures well.

On a touch screen you can type/tap input. You can even use Transcriber and it will show the ink and then recognize, but it doesn't allow drawing. No ink shows up unless in Transcriber, and then it will try to recognize it.

Beyond that it is not like you get a copy of your OneNote files, you get a tab on the desktop version that is your Mobile Notes. (Note your Outlook ones, your OneNote ones)

[Nurhisham Hussein]

On a touch screen you can type/tap input. You can even use Transcriber and it will show the ink and then recognize, but it doesn't allow drawing. No ink shows up unless in Transcriber, and then it will try to recognize it.

Beyond that it is not like you get a copy of your OneNote files, you get a tab on the desktop version that is your Mobile Notes. (Note your Outlook ones, your OneNote ones)

*cough*Evernote Mobile*cough*

[JKingGrim]

Uhh, info trickling out? I already have wm 6.1 on my mogul.. :D

[Paul Martin]

Uhh, info trickling out? I already have wm 6.1 on my mogul.. :D

Soft launch? :)

[JKingGrim]

Hacked custom ROMs. 8)

[jalex]

When I got my TyTN II and was exploring it, I noticed that Settings::System had an icon for "Windows Update" -- of course I checked for updates immediately and found none.

Do we think this is how 6.1 may be released, or do we think it will be substantial enough to demand a ROM update?

More importantly, is everyone else hoping (just as I am) that this won't have to wait until the various providers release it as a ROM update and that anybody will be able to pull this down OTA?

[JKingGrim]

I don't think windows update can do it as ROM components need to be replaced. I think windows update will only be capable of updates for things that can be installed by cab.

[Ed Hansberry]

I don't think windows update can do it as ROM components need to be replaced. I think windows update will only be capable of updates for things that can be installed by cab.
If the device has enough flash memory on board to hold the update, it can indeed do a full OS upgrade via WU. Don't look for it though, unless the carrier or OEM is providing the build. Every device out there has some carrier/OEM addition and they won't soon let MS overwrite that with a vanilla version of WM.

[JKingGrim]

What about unlocked phones directly from the distributor like HTC and Imate?

[Ed Hansberry]

What about unlocked phones directly from the distributor like HTC and Imate?

same thing. No device runs pure WM. OEM's add their own stuff. MMS isn't part of WM, nor are features in the Touch, Kaiser or any other device. for it to work, WU would have to detect your device and download the OEM/Carrier provided ROM. Possible, yes. don't hold your breath waiting on it though.

Heck, MS didn't even use WU to download the timezone changes in 2007. so much potential, but a plan without action is just a hallucination.

[JKingGrim]

I see. So you are saying that WU is capable of downloading a ROM and actually flashing it to the OS partition, or would it reside in storage ROM overriding existing files? If it could flash, that would be pretty cool.

[Sven Johannsen]

Yea, WU is capable of flashing the entire ROM...but..it would have to be done by the OEM because of the customization that each does to their release of Windows Mobile.

Think about large corporations with Windows installations. They often have restrictions on what gets loaded and updated on the enterprise systems. For that the IT department gets the updates from MS, the IT department evalutes them and if appropriate rolls them out on their own Windows Update Servers, to which the enterprise machines are pointed, That keeps the rank and file from getting unwanted updates from MS.

I expect the same thing could be done for WM, but I really don't see the vendors, ATT, Sprint, O2, HTC, HP, etc. setting up update servers.

[Richard76]

I am looking forward to this update and hopefully it will be available soon from HTC.

I currently have an Advantage X7500 running WM6 but I am experiencing some strange behaviour. Sometimes, for no apparent reason, it runs extremely slow like several programs are open and running in the background.

I make sure my cache is cleared, cookies are deleted, and all programs are closed via SETTINGS->SYSTEM->MEMORY->RUNNING PROGRAMS but it still runs slow. My Storage memory and Program memory are fine (76MB and 61MB free respectively) and Bluetooth and WiFi are turned off but still I cannot affect the speed. I click on something and I wait...and wait.

Then, for no apparent reason (and nothing changed) it will run fine, quick and totally responsive.

It has got to the point that I cannot use the phone because when it is running slow, it takes so long for my bluetooth headset to pick up the call. Generally, I can hear the person's voice coming out of the Advantage speakers for 4-5 seconds before I can hear them on the headset.

The only thing I can figure is that this may be caused by something that happened during the upgrade process (from WM5 to WM6) that was done by the selling dealer before I received it.

If anyone has any other ideas, I would be happy to listen.