Microsoft Moves Smartphones Forward

May 10, 2005
PCMag.com

Microsoft announced its latest operating system for PDAs, smartphones and media players today, adding support for many features available in cutting-edge phones and giving mobile carriers more flexibility in customizing devices—which might just lead to more Windows Mobile devices appearing on store shelves.

Windows Mobile 5.0 isn't a radical re-imagining of Microsoft's previous OS, Windows Mobile 2003 Second Edition. Rather, it's an accumulation of new features designed to satisfy users' wish lists, stave off competition, and prepare Microsoft for the devices we know are coming in 2006. Like other evolutionary upgrades, it's backwards compatible. Almost all Windows Mobile 2003 software will run on 5.0, Microsoft says.

According to research firm Gartner, Windows Mobile is now the number one standalone PDA OS, but the Smartphone version is way behind Nokia's Symbian devices in global market share, and Research in Motion's Blackberry devices are gaining in the PDA space.

So, to help fend off Blackberry's rise, Windows Mobile 5.0 will include Hotmail e-mail and MSN Messenger support directly into the OS — though Microsoft corrected an earlier report by telling us there's no push e-mail yet. And in an effort to help defeat the phone-centric Symbian, Windows Mobile will cut its power requirements by up to 30 percent and allow mobile carriers like Cingular to customize home screens in new ways, locking in specialized wallpaper, icons and key arrangements.

Windows Mobile 5.0 will also add support for persistent memory similar to that found in the PalmOne Treo 650. Persistent memory doesn't vanish when a device's battery runs down, a common problem on PDAs and smartphones.

Wi-Fi on smartphones and simultaneous voice and data support over UMTS networks (like the one Cingular is building) foreshadow next year's devices, and hint that finding VoIP on cell phones isn't that far down the road. Bluetooth 2.0 was conspicuously absent from Microsoft's announcement, though.

There's a little something for everyone in Windows Mobile 5.0. Many of the improvements address users' pet peeves. For instance, the OS now handles picture caller ID, a popular user request. Devices will sync over Bluetooth, and the once awful Pocket Office suite has been improved with support for viewing Microsoft Word tables and the ability to edit Excel charts. A new PowerPoint component, ironically, matches what Palm OS PDA owners have enjoyed for a while now in the thid-party Documents to Go suite.

Those developing media players for the OS get a bit of a boost with this version as well. There's now long-awaited support for playlists and song ratings synced to Windows Media Player 10, along with support for the latest Microsoft DRM schemes. Lack of playlist support has been a major barrier for developers trying to convince people to play music on their phones. Support for USB 2.0 will allow faster syncing of media, and support for hard drives on phones and PDAs will blur the line between handhelds and media players.

For gamers, Windows Mobile 5.0 offers developers Direct3D, DirectShow and DirectDraw APIs. With both ATI and nVidia offering 3D-acceleration chips for mobile devices, the new APIs could create the kind of explosion in high-quality, mobile games that DirectX created on the PC.

While Windows Mobile 5.0 brings the codebases for Pocket PCs and Smartphones closer together, and it will be easier for developers to port software between Pocket PCs and Smartphones, programs written for one platform still won't run on the other.

Pocket PCs running Windows Mobile 5.0 will start to appear this summer, Microsoft told us. PDA/phones will appear this fall, and Smartphones will surface this winter. The new OS could also be offered as an upgrade for existing devices, as it runs on older hardware, but that's up to individual device manufacturers. "Both Dell and HP have announced that they will offer the OS as upgrades to their devices. Owners of the Dell Axim X50 and HP iPAQ hx2100/hx2400/hx2700 /hx4700 series models will be able to get the new OS on CD later this year.

Pubished on May 10th.2005
Source: pcmag.com