Windows Mobile 6.5: new interface, old browser

It’s been seven years since its first release, Microsoft nudges its users to upgrade, developers shove users to upgrade, yet it’s still going to be included in the latest offerings from Windows Mobile.

The Microsoft Windows Mobile platform has been allowed to lie dormant for quite some time, being vastly overshadowed by Apple’s iPhone offering. However, Microsoft is now trying to claw back this lost platform with the release of Windows Mobile 6.5. It sports a more modern and approachable interface, but with largely the same codebase as version 6.  Internet Explorer is also being upgraded in their mobile platform. Don’t get too excited.

Smartphones are increasingly used for their ability to connect to networks as well as the 3G world-wide services. A modern browser is needed to get the best out of the modern Web. However, the scourge of web-developers everywhere, Internet Explorer 6, is being put into the Windows Mobile update. First released in 2001, the browser is now hugely out of date, resulting in it being unable to handle modern websites and web technologies well, causing many hours of tweaking and fiddling for web developers to try to get their site working well on it. The announcement was made in late 2008, but the new browser will not be rolled out until version 6.5 of Windows Mobile is released. If Windows Mobile takes off, developers may find the browser that they love to hate sticking around even longer. With an update to the browser not expected until version 7 of Windows Mobile, we may just see this outdated browser sticking around for even longer.