You may have seen some information on various sites indicating that the next version of Windows Mobile dubbed Windows Mobile 6 is coming. Microsoft was waiting to make the big announcement on Monday at the 3GSM World Congress on Monday in Barcelona. However someone released their story early and stole some of their thunder, so they have allowed some of the information to be released.
Here are some screenshots courtesy of the
Hive:
If you notice some of the screenshots give Windows Mobile a "Vista like" UX(User Experience). There are several added features as well as a change as to what Windows Mobile devices will be called and referred to in the future.
- Email in Rich HTML Format.
- Live links to SharePoint sites.
- Windows Live for Mobile included in Windows Mobile 6.
- New Security features such as remote wiping capablities if your device is lost or stolen.
- Enhanced Windows Vista Syncronization through Windows Mobile Device Center.
- Calendar ribbon gives you your important appoints quickly.
- Contacts with context – call records now attached to individual contact cards in Windows Mobile 6.
- .NET Compact Framework and SQL Server built in to Windows Mobile 6.
You get three flavors of Windows Mobile 6 depending on what kind of device you have. Pocket PC's without phone capability are Windows Mobile 6 "Classic". Smartphones are Windows Mobile 6 "Standard" and Pocket PC Phones are Windows Mobile 6 "Professional". In Windows Mobile 5, phones without touchscreens (Smartphones) were a bit more limited than their high end Pocket PC phone brothers. In Windows Mobile 6, certain changes were made regarding making those limitations less of a problem. Word Mobile, Excel Mobile, and PowerPoint Mobile work on phones without touchscreens for instance.
There are some other new enhancements and we will cover it all in detail after the offical announcement at the 3GSM World Congress on Monday in Barcelona.