Windows Mobile Team Blog

Message says that video is not available!!!

The video works fine with me. Wow, 40 minutes long! I gotta get some popcorn or something

Task manager you say? Could we get some explanation on that because "That’s like saying that car owners should be required to change their own oil.  I don’t think so." as Mike said.

This new Home Screen "Bronze" will be available for WM6.1 Professional or only for Standard version?

If you're going to do a new home screen, please overhaul the damn today screen for WM Professional devices too!

It works only in IE. If your using FF... it's a MS classical :)

Is pretty bad that Professional version doesn't have the new Home Screen because the touch functionality in Windows Mobile Professional is really bad, small menus, no good looking home screen, Home screen feels disorganized and limited, at this point WM6.1 Pro doesn't have any new value for the standard consumer only one or two new features and the same 10 years old interface that remembers me Windows 3.1

I whant to know how to put in a mobile device the unread mail when you have rules in the server.  i have the new touch from sprint and i dont know the emails in the folders only if i gi to it. take to much time and sometimes hard.

http://blogs.msdn.com/windowsmobile...1-features.aspx " Windows Mobile 6.1 was just announced at

I'm a little new to mobile.  So I assume people with 6.0 won't recieve upgrades to 6.1 via windows update?

wow, the new home screen is such a complete waste of space.. What kind of "upgrade" is it if half of my screen is now taken up by a mostly empty clock widget? Now if I want to check for any messages/missed calls, I have to:

1) unlock my device

2) hit down a few times

3) hit left and right

My current home screen lets me do that all at a glance. And I can still see the time! I'm not blind after all..

Also, Mr. Interviewer Guy, learn how to use the damn microphone properly! I couldn't hear a word the guy you were interviewing said, all I could hear was you

interesting but how about giving the other guy a mic so we could ACTUALLY hear what he had to say ? I ended up just forwarding through the video as it was getting painful to try and listen to what the intelligent guy had to say.

This was not 'cool' - outdated functionality and confusing navigation.  No wonder operators create their own home screen which are way way better than anything Microsoft has put out.

Come and talk to consumers about what they want!

I would like to know, if the update to windows mobile 6.1 is schedule also for LG KS20, or for lg smartphones with windows mobile.

Wow.... Frigging finally a copy and paste function. Everything else is preety much irrevelant except that feature, especially the home screen change.

Question on applications which were designed to get a LOGO "Designed for Windows Mobile Version 6". Is this logo good for a device which is running on version 6.1?

It seems strange that the professional version dosen't get any additional "eye candy". As I run a Sprint Mogul, this announcement is sort of a disappointment.

Put SBP mobile shell on your professional pocket pc and save yourself the trouble.

(I second the poor mic in the video. I couldn't understand a thing..I just jumped through it)

For what its worth I actually quite like Windows Mobile on my HTC Tytn2, and still prefer it to the iPhone.  However next to the iPhone it looks clunky and slow.  So what I'd most like to see if I'm to stick with WM is performance.  I hate selecting an option and having to wait for the screen to change or for something to load.    Pictures & Video for example, this can be so slow and laborious I often give up.  Also setting up MMS messages, I can touch the part of the screen that brings up the option to include a picture and can wait for anything up to 8 seconds for anything to happen.  A lot of the time I'll press again thinking it didn't register only for the screen to change and then for the phone to pick the image that happened to be where I pressed.  Its painful to say the least.  Before adding new features and faffing around with the interface, fix the performance!

PS.  I like the SMS stuff.  Very nice.

I love it. Can't believe the negative comments.

I'm a power user, been using PDA phones for over 8 years and Palm Pilots before that. First Windows phone was an SMT5600 purchased four years ago; currently own a Pantech Duo. This is a great upgrade, and certainly several steps in the right direction.

It seems that only whiners leave comments, so I just wanted to give some positive feedback. Looks like very effective navigation from the home screen with much more flexible access.

Looking forward to upgrading.

Good work!

no offense Roger, but maybe your expectations have been lowered through the many years of using these things. I've had a BJII for maybe half a year now, and it's better than having nothing but I wouldn't say I enjoy using it. There are so many things that could be improved with Windows Mobile, like the lousy internet browsing, busted behavior of reminders, inconsistent ability of applications to actually use the GPS, etc.

But instead, I come here and maybe half of a 40 minute video is dedicated to trivial improvements of the home screen (the one piece of WM I actually like)! I don't know where the WM team gets its priorities from, but it sure doesn't seem like it comes from customers, or even people who use these devices. This new home screen is a shining example of this: what actual problem with the existing home screen does the new one fix? With "features" like this getting all the attention and effort, it's no wonder Apple is able to embarrass you guys with their first version of a phone.

Why not spend all your effort making the browser better (I thought I heard that was part of the 6.1 update, but maybe not)? Or making cool modules like weather, traffic, etc that ship built into the OS so I didn't have to go buy them as an afterthought?

So no, I don't think this is whining. This is complaining, because I don't like the current situation. And I'm not doing it to make myself feel better, I'm doing it in hopes that whoever's in charge over at MS wakes up and realizes they could be doing a lot better, instead of going on with the false belief they're already doing a great job.

Greg is right in every line.

The true is that all the new features and enhancements are keeping for WM7, of course, bad for us good for Microsoft. Is like Windows Vista and Windows 7.

When would WinMobile have "Reply All" in sms?  You would then have to embedded the original sms addresses in the incoming sms.  Would be cool to be able to do that.

Everything in WM6.1 has been done before, and is done better. For example Opera Mobile is a much better browser than PIE and has been out for some time. Why can't Microsoft accept this and spend time developing the shell and not writing pointless today screen plugins that just annoy people?

Message says that This playlist cannot be loaded!!!

Great new features. Especially in conjunction with SCMDM! Will there be a Device Emulator for WM6.1 soon? Makes testing easier... Thanks, Christian.

Iwante Windows Mobile6.1 for PPC

totally like cool like sex appeal like gee.... a big clock and some eye-candy. How about stopping WM6 from having to be rebooted daily. How about making sure the ring tone doesn't stop working for no apparent reason. How about some self-test function. How about making the windows update feature actually see updates such as the recent daylight savings update. beauty is only skin deep :-)

Now if only Samsung and Verizon will let me get this flashed to my very buggie I760

upgraded to WM6.1, but still not able to tap dial phone from Outlook..

I also got the "Playlist cannot be loaded", so I decided to read the comments instead.  Looks like you failed twice MS.  From the comments, I don't think I'll bother.

Wow this is like so awesum almost as kewl as the new ZUNE any1 whos complaining is just a stupid iSheep crapple fanboi...

i have a htc touch dual, how can i update to windows mobile 6.1?

Windows Mobile 6.1 was just announced at CTIA. A bunch of us got together to record a video demoing most

@andrew: My Blackjack phone doesn't have to be rebooted daily.  Or even weekly.  Or even biweekly.

The biggest problem with Windows Mobile is the same problem with desktop Windows -- unstable drivers and preloaded craplets from the OEM.

My old AT&T/Cingular 8125 (aka HTC Wizard, aka T-Mobile MDA) had to be rebooted about once every three days, responded slowly, froze at times.  Then I did a hard reset and prevented OEM customizations from loading.  After I got rid of all the OEM crap, the phone stopped freezing and stopped crashing, and became very stable.

I know Microsoft is all about the platform and the OEM.  But one would think that the phone is the point where you give up and take control of the user experience.  People don't care if it's Microsoft's fault or the OEM's fault -- they will always blame Microsoft for the problem.

Alternatively, there must be some clever way to shame the OEMs into higher quality without actually getting them upset.

OK - this definitely seems like an improvement over 6.0 (we're currently using HTC S730 in our company - about 15 mobiles).

I am generally very happy with Microsoft-software and always check with you guys before buying some thirdparty software. But with Windows Mobile I am more than dissappointed.

Sorry for my bad english.

What we're struggling (6.0) with today are the following:

- Slow Windows Mobile (very very slow) - lot's of wasted time! Maybe 10 min /day/user equal to 10x365x15 = 38 days a year wasted on slow mobile.

Depending on salary - we might loose around USD 5000-6000 each year in lost productivity. For SME this is not good.

- Compared to Symbian/Nokia phones, we notice how easy "mobiling" is when on Nokia. (please buy a Nokia phone, something old like 6230, and use it for a month, then switch back to WM). Primary features like calling and sms should be available in only one click (not two or more).

On Nokia phones;

- you can just hit the left-button (in the 5 directions field) to begin typing your sms.

- You can change the shortcuts of the phone easily (configure hardware buttons)

- Quick startup and response

I am just wondering why Microsoft does not prioritize mobiles even more than what you already do you now? Every report about social habits for technology future points at everything being will be mobile, so why not allocate even more developers and do some heavy work on making the best software on your mobile platform?

Google is already moving fast with their Android platform - not hoping they will outrun you as they have done with searching.

And please include Windows Mobile in the Microsoft Update webpage.