Another rare peak at Windows Mobile 7
Windows Mobile developers have been crying out for improved user interface controls, and it seems Microsoft is set to deliver in Windows Mobile 7.
WMExperts have been dropped this slide which shows design mock-ups used internally, and shows a toggle switch, slider, soft keys, pivots and various other smaller elements.
It should be clear that Microsoft has been moving its Windows Mobile 6.5 user interface to closer ape Windows Mobile 7, and with their announced plan to keep WM 6.5 in the market at the same time as 7, the experience may very well be like the difference between TouchFlo2D and touchFlo3D, with the earlier meant for low power devices while the later being intended for more powerful devices with graphics acceleration, but both sharing the same design language.
Looking at the above mock-ups, are you satisfied that Microsoft plans to do enough for Windows Mobile 7, or do you expect even more? Let us know in the comments.
Many more screen shots in this post here.
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It's an improvement and looks great, but I wonder if Microsoft could do anything at this point to regain market share. I have a bad feeling that even if Microsoft gets it perfect with WM7 (and let's face it, what are the odds of that?), they are still going down as an also-ran. They've taken too long and have lost any hope of regaining momentum. I hope I'm wrong, but I'm not very optimistic at the moment.
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OMG! I think we are in trouble.
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simbadogg Reply:
October 21st, 2009 at 3:11 am
in trouble…show me one platform that makes calendar look exciting. This is hardly an indication of what the plaforms UI will look and feel like
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I think it looks good! I don't think it looks revolutionary though. But as long as its fast, smooth, and avoids silly things like screen redraws it should at least be enough to keep the current base of WM users. Do I see it stealing users of WebOS, Andriod, or iPhone? No… Unless WM manages to pull some tricks out of its hat beyond UI improvements.
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Ohh, and it needs to do some serious clean up of the current mess that is "settings". Talk about a mess….
I guess while I'm on it, please MS, do something about media syncing and playback that doesn't revolve around me downloading something other than Windows Media Player on my desktop and/or on my phone.
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Awesome. In a world where at least 60% of all the smart phones go to giddly little 16-20 year old impatient kids, they make another version of their OS that isn't very finger friendly. Honestly, all they'd have to do to win me, and probably a significant number of other people over, is to make their buttons big enough for most people to use without a stylus. I'm by no means overweight; I couldn't imagine how tough it'd be for a fatty to try and use this with his pork pinchers.
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Wow, I am insanely disappointed. I mean, I was looking for some improvement. This looks like they have barely touched the damn thing. I’m hoping that these four screenshots are extremely preliminary from a build in like 2004.
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@azthel Reply:
October 20th, 2009 at 8:51 pm
u know the upper ones are 6.5?
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So the first to are 6.5 and the bottom is 7? Looks like the same girl with more make-up. If Micro$oft plans on competetion, the need fluidity and also software expansion….they don't need Beer chugging apps, but it would really kill to link th ZUNE, XBox, and Winmo all together. Cloud networking is the future…not recreating what exist.
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Am I correct in assuming that the top to screenshots are not from WM7 but rather WM6.5?
I think it looks better, I also like the battery and volume indicator at the bottom. Very hard to get an idea of an entire os based on 2 screenshots, so I will not judge yet.
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I am also pretty disappointed as well.
Maybe disappointed is the wrong term, I should say I'm underwhelmed. This looks okay, I guess I was just expecting something more after all this time. This is more of a reskin than WM has ever seen, but it still looks like a mere reskin. Did they need to take so much time and start from scratch just to make it look a little different?
Still, before someone jumps on me, I will say that I will reserve judgement. We don't know when WM7 is coming out, so these are just very, very early mockups. But that still doesn't bode well for Microsoft because if in Q4 2009 they're still at such an early stage that's bad news.
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i feel ashamed of being WinMo fan , cuz man that screen shots are like some iphone clone phone …
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You guys know only the bottom is supposed to be WM 7, dont you?
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damn its jus a settings menu. do you want a multi touch menu with extreme graphics. its jus a settings menu. plus this might just be a version of 6….
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i dont like the calender though, they can do something better with that.
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Too big, too much wasted screen space. i refuse to believe anyone has fingers that big and can still use any phone. I don't like the font either. Also the lack of any information on the top bar is stupid. and just having those two buttons on the bottom is very inefficient and the 6.5.1 buttons are much better if a little ugly.
This cant be more than an example of one idea they could go with. and even then i doubt the top and bottom bar are part of that design and instead are just there just because they needed something to show it's for a phone.
I do like the slider and the switches are ok but would look better with some slight alterations and a better colour choice.
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Man, I wish WinMo 7 would try to get rid of the soft keys! Those buttons take up valuable screen real estate! They can be replace with a small "Options" button that pops up a list of functions or spread it out as several buttons. All the new major smartphone platforms have found a better efficient way around soft keys that seem to work for the most part.
Otherwise, it does appear to look better. Come on Microsoft, you can certainly find a way to do without soft keys.
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