12-09-2005, 03:30 AM
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Editor Emeritus
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 15,171
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News On Windows Mobile "Photon", Out Of Mobius
Jason and SPT managing editor Mike Temporale are at Mobius, and it looks like they've gleaned a little public information on an upcoming version of WM from Seattle:
"I've been able to gather a little information on Photon. For those that are not aware of Photon, it's the code-name for the next major version of Windows Mobile. When I say a little information, I mean little. I have been told by some people inside Microsoft, that Photon will see the merge of Pocket PC and Smartphone platforms together into one common base. That means there will be no more Smartphone and no more Pocket PC. It will all be Windows Mobile. :mrgreen: Unfortunately, there is no official release date in mind.  "
The Engadget folks at Mobius say basically the same thing, adding that "We can�t say too much about it...but what we saw was hot, it�s without a doubt a big (and much overdue) leap forward for the platform. The new OS is still 'years' away...". I'm not going to comment on this--my NDA takes precedence--so if I knew anything about Photon, I don't think I could say I knew anything. 
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12-09-2005, 03:54 AM
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Developer & Designer, News Editor Emeritus
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 12,959
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Nice! Looking forward to this.
Of course, to go with it, there will be another wave of consumers getting pissed off at OEMs for not providing upgrades (unless some dramatic changes are made to the way Windows Mobile upgrades work).
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12-09-2005, 04:08 AM
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Sage
Join Date: Mar 2005
Posts: 800
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Come on! Tell us more about it!! Do you accept bribe? :devilboy: :rotfl:
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12-09-2005, 04:44 AM
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Thinker
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 316
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Everyone cross your fingers... merging the Pocket PC and Smartphone platforms could either be very good or very very bad.
Good: Developers can have one codebase and will only have to compile (and test, presumably) once, even if they are not using .NET. Applications will all be cross-platform. Future innovations like Persistent Storage will be very nearly concurrently introduced.
Bad: The Smartphone security model may win out. And you thought installing and running unsigned applications was difficult on Windows Mobile 5.
MVPs, you know what to do.
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12-09-2005, 06:05 AM
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Pupil
Join Date: Jun 2005
Posts: 49
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Crazy! I can't wait to hear more info on it! So sad fot the HX4700 series users, they still haven't gotten their WM5 yet. :lol:
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12-09-2005, 06:50 AM
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Thinker
Join Date: Dec 2006
Posts: 450
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How will they solve the missing touchscreen on smartphones?
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12-09-2005, 07:09 AM
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Pontificator
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 1,041
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I think this is a positive. We're already seeing Pocket PCs that look so much like a regular phone. It's just silly to have two different OSs for these devices. I have clients with Smartphones that need Pocket PC applications.
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12-09-2005, 08:39 AM
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Pupil
Join Date: Nov 2005
Posts: 31
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Re: News On Windows Mobile "Photon", Out Of Mobius
Quote:
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say basically the same thing, adding that "We can�t say too much about it...but what we saw was hot, it�s without a doubt a big (and much overdue) leap forward for the platform. The new OS is still 'years' away...". I'm not going to comment on this--my NDA takes precedence--so if I knew anything about Photon, I don't think I could say I knew anything.
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Let's hope it's a bigger leap forward than WM5 was; the softbuttons are a nicec idea, but my JasJar is much less responsive and has less memory than my x50v, so not a great improvement. I tried an iMate SP5m (WM5 smartphone with WIFI) and it doesn't have the connection settings that the PocketPC has - so I can't get onto my network at home, whereas I can with my JasJar. Why on earth did MS think that a Smartphone should have crippled Connection Manager software?? WiFI settings are WiFi settings, irrespective of the device you access them on.
It's nearly enough to send me back to Palm OS
thenikjones
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12-09-2005, 01:52 PM
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Philosopher
Join Date: Dec 2005
Posts: 541
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I hope that the Photon will bring more than just "merger" of smartphone and PocketPC. While this is great especially for developers it does not do much for users/consumers (with exception of not having different versions of Software).
If Microsoft does not want people to complain that there is nothing new in the system they will have to change/add something more apparent to the users.
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12-09-2005, 02:45 PM
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Ponderer
Join Date: Dec 2004
Posts: 87
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by alese
<snip>
If Microsoft does not want people to complain that there is nothing new in the system they will have to change/add something more apparent to the users.
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Especially since the user's point of view is that this merger happened in Mobile 2005 (in that they look pretty much the same... although I haven't exactly used Mobile 2005 and thus I wouldn't know of any glaring differences).
I'm certain there is more cooking than the merger of the platforms, unless this next OS is going to be named Windows Mobile 2005 SE. 
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