Windows Mobile 7: It Can’t Be Worse than Vista

The next full version of Windows Mobile, once code-named “Photon”, will officially be dubbed Windows Mobile 7. While it is not the most original name for the OS, it at least stays consistent with its previous naming conventions. With little information being realized, what can we look forward to?

Like everyone else in the cell phone market, Microsoft will be competing with the iPhone. Thus Microsoft has been pushing its designers towards a more touch-based User Interface. Navigating through menus, documents, web pages and mail will all be done through touch motions. A flick of your finger will replace conventional scrolling. It is also rumored that Windows Mobile will be getting multi-touch support.

With multi-touch support, Windows Mobile 7 will likely include support for gestures. With the help of the camera, the OS will detect tilts, shakes and twists to allow the user to enter commands in the device running it. With that, the OS is rumored to detect when the device is in a pocket or other enclosure. This is possible since a similar feature is found on the iPhone. The use of accelerometers could also be used to achieve the same results.

Under the hood improvements are great, but there isn’t much point if it is not aesthetically pleasing as well. Microsoft apparently has this covered as well. While credible mock screenshots are hard to come by, what is known is that Windows Mobile 7 will have Silverlight 3 incorporated into the browser, Apps, and the User Interface. Why is that significant you might ask? The inclusion of Silverlight allows Microsoft to revamp their style giving the overall appearance of Windows Mobile a new feel. From what has been seen, this appears to be a mash up of Windows Live, ZuneHD & Windows 7, and hopefully that doesn’t change.

What can also be expected is incorporation into the cloud. Don’t worry, this is not a hostile take-over. It just means that Windows Mobile devices will be able to sync wirelessly with an array of cloud-based services. This will mainly be take form as MyPhone and Windows Mobile Marketplace. It is also rumored that MyPhone’s capacity will increase from 500MB to a whopping 2GB and migrate onto the Live Mesh platform.

With all the new changes coming about in the Windows Mobile world, it’s easy to get excited about it. An ever-changing release date, Microsoft’s numerous mobile platform teams, and devices incapable of running Windows Mobile are all roadblocks Microsoft will have to overcome to make this a success.