Hasta La Gadget!

Seeing the gold build of Windows Mobile 6.5 in action was pretty nifty, but Inquirer‘s recent video actually managed to unveil a few juicy tidbits about version 7 as well — a platform that’s shaping up to be that massive, ground-up rewrite of WinMo we’ve all been hoping for for years (as far as we can tell). The lack of multitouch is a sore point for some in 6.5 — not just because of the goodness of the multitouch gestures themselves, but because it’s indicative of a broader failure on Microsoft’s part to recognize that touch-based mobile UIs have been wholly reinvented since the days of Windows Mobile 2003. Redmond looks to be cognizant of that, though with a mention in the video that 7 will “exploit the hardware” and “introduce multitouch,” going on to say that it’ll be able to go toe-to-toe with “competitor devices” — ostensibly a reference to some combination of webOS, Android, and the iPhone. The video also mentions that 6.5 will end up being a “breadth play” while 7 branches out into the premium end of the market — at least to start — and over time, 7 will become Microsoft’s mainstream mobile platform as future versions are released. In other words, Microsoft looks like it could be setting itself up for a two-version cadence going forward — one for the unwashed masses, one for the gadget fiends. You know which category we fall into — and we suspect we know yours, dear readers.

[Via Unwired View]

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

Windows Mobile 7 to be a premium, multitouch beast of a platform originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 03 Aug 2009 16:34:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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