On Tuesday, Neowin reported that's Sony Ericsson's 'Aspen' handset would be powered by Windows Mobile 6.5.3. Details on the point release to Microsoft's mobile OS are scarce but it was widely believed that version 6.6 would be released this month, with Microsoft taking the wraps off Windows Mobile 7 later in the year. With 6.5.3 appearing to bring native capacitive multitouch support, which was rumoured to be the big feature in 6.6, it's possible that Microsoft may now opt to jump straight to Windows Mobile 7.
Since Sony Ericsson's announcement earlier this week, more details have emerged on the changes Microsoft have made in Windows Mobile 6.5.3. Jkontherun.com and ZDNet report the biggest changes appear to be:
Support for touch based gestures throughout the OS
- A magnifying tool to aid in using touch in older applications
- Simplified initial setup
- The ability to rearrange icons on the home screen by drag-and-drop
- Slicker rotation, zoom, pan and gesture functions
- Browser page load time decreased
- Improved memory management within the browser
- Updated runtime tools (.NET CF 3.5, SQL CE 3.1)
- Support for Arabic documents
- Improved Dr. Watson error reporting features
It is widely believed, although not confirmed, that Microsoft will unveil Windows Mobile 7 at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona which runs from February 15-18.
21 Comments - Add comment