Windows Mobile
Encyclopedia
Windows Mobile is a mobile operating system
developed by Microsoft
that was used in smartphone
s and Pocket PC
s, but by 2011 was rarely supplied on new phones. The last version is "Windows Mobile 6.5.5"; it is superseded by Windows Phone
, which does not run Windows Mobile software.
Windows Mobile is based on the Windows CE
5.2 kernel
. and first appeared as the Pocket PC 2000 operating system. It is supplied with a suite of basic applications developed with the Microsoft Windows
API
, and is designed to have features and appearance somewhat similar to desktop
versions of Windows
. Third parties can develop software
for Windows Mobile with no restrictions imposed by Microsoft. Some software applications can be purchased via the Windows Marketplace for Mobile
. By 2011, much software is developed and maintained only for the newer Windows Phone; there is little development and support for the obsolescent Windows Mobile.
Most Windows Mobile devices come with a stylus
, which is used to enter commands by tapping it on the screen. Microsoft announced a completely new phone platform, Windows Phone
, at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona on February 15, 2010. Phones running Windows Mobile 6.x will not be upgradeable to version 7, officially. Several developers however, have ported Windows Phone to devices natively running Windows Mobile, an example being the HTC HD2
.
Windows Mobile's share of the smartphone market has fallen year-on-year, decreasing by 20% in Q3 2009. In August 2010, it was the fifth most popular smartphone operating system, with a 5% share of the worldwide smartphone market (after Symbian, BlackBerry OS
, Android, and iOS).
‘feature phone’ designer Sendo
based on MS Windows Pocket PC, itself a version of MS Windows CE. As Microsoft failed to provide them with enough source code access to launch their Sendo Z100 product with the expected quality, Microsoft took all Sendo’s work and passed it on to HTC, who had its HTC Canary
launched as the Orange SPV 100 product. Sendo had to shift all its resources to Symbian
development, but sued Microsoft and got a US$40 million dollar settlement. This did not stave off Sendo’s decadence and it was eventually acquired by Motorola
.
(PDA) that does not have telephone functionality. It was formerly known as the Pocket PC
. It was the original intended platform for the Windows Mobile operating system. These devices consisted of both standalone Pocket PC devices without mobile phone
capabilities, and those that included mobile phone capabilities. The most current name of Windows Mobile intended for use on Pocket PCs is officially "Windows Mobile 6 Professional" for devices with mobile phone capabilities and "Windows Mobile 6 Classic" for devices without mobile phone capabilities.
s) became the next hardware platform after the Pocket PC to run Windows Mobile, and debuted with the release of Pocket PC 2002. Although in the broad sense of the term "Smartphone", both Pocket PC phones and Microsoft branded Smartphones each fit into this category, it should be noted that Microsoft's use of the term "Smartphone" includes only more specific hardware devices that differ from Pocket PC phones. Such Smartphones were originally designed without touchscreen
s, intended to be operated more efficiently with only one hand, and typically had lower display resolution
than Pocket PCs. Microsoft's focus for the Smartphone platform was to create a device that functioned well as a phone and data device in a more integrated manner.
3.0. It was the debut of what was later dubbed the Windows Mobile operating system, and meant to be a successor to the operating system aboard Palm-Size PCs
. Backwards compatibility was retained with such Palm-Size PC applications. Pocket PC 2000 was intended mainly for Pocket PC
devices, however several Palm-Size PC devices had the ability to be updated also. Further, several Pocket PC 2000 phones were released, however Microsoft's "Smartphone" hardware platform was not yet created. The only resolution supported by this release was 240 x 320 (QVGA). Removable storage card formats that were supported were CompactFlash
and MultiMediaCard
. At this time Pocket PC devices had not been standardized with a specific CPU architecture. As a result, Pocket PC 2000 was released on multiple CPU architectures; SH-3
, MIPS
, and ARM
.
The original Pocket PC operating system had similar appearance to Windows 98
, Windows Me
, and Windows 2000
operating systems.
Features/built-in applications for Pocket PC 2000 included the following:
3.0. Although targeted mainly for 240 × 320 (QVGA) Pocket PC
devices, Pocket PC 2002 was also used for Pocket PC phones, and for the first time, Smartphone
s. These Pocket PC 2002 Smartphones were mainly GSM devices. With future releases, the Pocket PC and Smartphone lines would increasingly collide as the licensing terms were relaxed allowing OEMs to take advantage of more innovative, individual design ideas. Aesthetically, Pocket PC 2002 was meant to be similar in design to the then newly released Windows XP
.
New features and built-in applications included the following:
Premium Edition", "Windows Mobile 2003 for Pocket PC Professional Edition", "Windows Mobile 2003 for Smartphone
" and "Windows Mobile 2003 for Pocket PC Phone Edition". The last was designed especially for Pocket PCs which include phone functionalities. The Professional Edition was used in Pocket PC budget models. It lacked a number of features that were in the Premium Edition, such as a client for L2TP/IPsec VPNs. Windows Mobile 2003 was powered by Windows CE 4.20.
New features/built-in applications included the following:
.
This was the last version which allowed users to back up and restore an entire device through ActiveSync
.
New features/built-in applications included the following:
x51. It used the .NET Compact Framework
1.0 SP3, an environment for programs based on .NET.
Further new features and built-in applications included:
. It comes in three different versions: "Windows Mobile 6 Standard" for Smartphones (phones without touchscreens), "Windows Mobile 6 Professional" for Pocket PCs with phone functionality, and "Windows Mobile 6 Classic" for Pocket PCs without cellular radios.
Windows Mobile 6 is powered by Windows CE 5.0
(version 5.2) and is strongly linked to Windows Live
and Exchange 2007 products.
Windows Mobile 6 Standard was first offered on the Orange's SPV E650, while Windows Mobile 6 Professional was first offered on the O2's Xda Terra.
Aesthetically, Windows Mobile 6 was meant to be similar in design to the then newly released Windows Vista
. Functionally, it works much like Windows Mobile 5, but with much better stability.
New features/built-in applications include the following:
2008, a product to manage mobile devices. The most apparent of the other differences is that the Standard version (like prior versions) still creates automatic links for telephone numbers in Tasks and Appointments, which allows for the easier click and dial of stored telephone numbers within these Outlook items. This feature is not supported in the Professional version. Windows Mobile 6.1 also had improved bandwidth efficiency in its push-email protocol "Activesync" of "up to 40%"; this considerably improved battery life in many devices.
Aside from the visual and feature distinctions, the underlying CE versions can be used to differentiate WM6.0 from WM 6.1. The version of Windows CE in WM 6.0 is 5.2.*, with the final number being a 4 digit build ID (e.g. 5.2.1622 on HTC Wing). In WM 6.1, the CE version is 5.2.* with a 5 digit build number (e.g. 5.2.19216 on Palm Treo 800w).
, as "not the full release [Microsoft] wanted" until the multi-touch
-enabled Windows Mobile 7 (now replaced by Windows Phone
) arrived in 2010.
Version 6.5 is an upgrade to Windows Mobile 6.1 that was released to manufacturers on May 11, 2009; the first devices running the operating system appeared in late October 2009. This minor incremental update includes some significant new added features, such as a revamped GUI, new Today screen with vertically scrollable labels (called 'Titanium'). WM6.5 also includes the new Internet Explorer Mobile 6 browser, with improved interface.
Microsoft unveiled this version at the 2009 Mobile World Congress
in February, and several devices were supplied with it; devices running Windows Mobile 6.5 and later are marketed as "Windows phones". Along with Windows Mobile 6.5, Microsoft announced several Cloud computing
services codenamed "SkyBox", "SkyLine", "SkyMarket". "SkyBox" has been confirmed as My Phone
, while "SkyMarket" has been confirmed as Windows Marketplace for Mobile
. Some aspects of the user interface were redesigned, with the home screen resembling that of Microsoft's Zune
player and the sliding panel interface of Windows Mobile 6.1 Standard. This version was designed mainly for easier finger usage. Whilst this version of Windows Mobile does not natively support capacitive screens, mobile manufacturers have been able to use them on their devices
Several phones running Windows Mobile 6.1 can be updated to Windows Mobile 6.5.
, improved threaded text messaging, and performance improvements.
Aspen with Windows Mobile 6.5.3 was officially announced, making it the first Windows Phone 6.5.3 smartphone. Since November 2009, several 6.5.3 builds had leaked (28nnn) and had been unofficially ported to some Windows Phones.
Windows Mobile 6.5.3 brings a more finger-friendly user interface with several new usability features such as support for multitouch, complete touch control i.e. no need for a stylus, and drag-and-drop start menu icons. Touchable tiles replaced soft keys." Internet Explorer Mobile 6 has also received some major updates including decreased page load time, improved memory management and gesture smoothing.
Additional features of newer Windows Mobile 6.5.3 builds include threaded email and Office Mobile 2010.
Windows Phone was initially intended to be released during 2009, but several delays, likely due to the move away from Photon and to building an entirely different and new platform, prompted Microsoft to develop Windows Mobile 6.5 as an interim release. During the Mobile World Congress 2010 in Barcelona, Microsoft revealed details of Windows Phone, which features a new operating system and integration with Xbox Live
and Zune
services.
Most phones currently running Windows Mobile 6.x are not upgradeable to Windows Phone, although hacked firmwares with Phone 7 are becoming increasingly popular.
in 2008. Microsoft Kin was developed inside Microsoft's Premium Mobile Experiences (PMX) division. Microsoft brought in employees from Danger Inc.
, with the intention of infusing industry talent and mobile experience into the project. The goal was said to be to create a mobile platform far superior to that of the Danger Sidekick
. Reports say that Microsoft Kin was originally going to be based on Windows Phone
. However, due to delays with the latter, it was built directly upon Windows CE
. It featured the Zune
marketplace, and used XNA
as a game platform.
The platform was aimed at producing phones designed for users who are heavily into social networking and instant messaging. The technology acquired from Danger Hiptop has been described as a family of mobile devices running a bespoke
operating system as part of a client–server system that is then licenced to mobile carriers.
Microsoft introduced two new handsets based on Microsoft Kin, codenamed Turtle and Pure, possibly to debut at the Consumer Electronics Show
. The Microsoft designed phones were manufactured by Sharp
and co-branded.
The devices received very critical reviews and Microsoft announced the discontinuation of the KIN line on June 30, 2010, only six weeks after it was launched.
Other: Windows Mobile for Automotive 1.0, Windows Mobile software for Portable Media Centers
market has been in decline year-on-year. Gartner
research data showed that while the total smartphone industry grew 27% between 2008 and 2009, Windows Mobile's share of the smartphone market fell 2.7% in that same period.
In 2004, Windows Mobile accounted for 23% of worldwide smartphone sales. Windows Mobile was projected to overtake Symbian to become the leading mobile OS by 2010. But by 2008, its share had dropped to 14%. Microsoft licensed Windows Mobile to four out of the world's five largest mobile phone manufacturers, with Nokia being the exception.
Although Microsoft apparently has 50 handset partners, 80% of the 50 million Windows Mobile devices made have been built by one contract manufacturing group, HTC, which makes handsets for several major companies under their brands, and under its own brand.
In February 2009 Microsoft signed a deal with the third largest mobile phone maker, LG Electronics
, to license Windows Mobile OS on 50 upcoming LG smartphone models. But in September, 2009, Palm, Inc.
announced it would drop Windows Mobile from its smartphone line-up. An October 2009 report in DigiTimes
said that Acer will shift its focus from Windows Mobile to Google Android.
At one time Windows Mobile was the most popular handset for business use, but by 2009 this was no longer the case; 24% of planned business deployments of mobile application were for Windows Mobile, putting it in 3rd place, behind Blackberry (61%) and iPhone (27%); Gartner estimated that by the third quarter of 2009 Windows Mobile's share of worldwide smartphone sales was 7.9%. By August 2010, it was the fifth most popular smartphone operating system, with a 5% share of the worldwide smartphone market (after Symbian, BlackBerry OS
, Android and iOS).
Samsung
announced in November 2009 that it would phase out the Windows Mobile platform, to concentrate on its own Bada
operating system, Google's Android, and Microsoft's Windows Phone.
Gartner
analysts questioned whether Windows Mobile had a future beyond version 7, due to its poor performance and falling market share. However, Gartner said that while Windows Mobile may be discontinued for consumer-focused smartphones, it still had a future in specialized industrial applications, such as for ruggedized devices used in warehousing and delivery trucks. Gartner said that Windows Mobile 7
could be "the last throw of the dice."
In August 2009, analysts J.Gold Associates predicted in BusinessWeek that Microsoft would probably exit the mobile operating system market sometime between 2010 and 2011.
The New York Times reported in 2009 that Windows Mobile "is foundering", as cellphone makers desert it in favor of Google's Android phone platform. It cited the difficulties in Microsoft's business model, which involves charging handset manufacturers up to $25 for each copy of Windows Mobile, while rival Google gives away Android for free.
The Washington Post said Windows Mobile is "bleeding market share in the space, and the future looks grim." It said that Google is using Android to "kill" Windows Mobile.
In February 2010, Microsoft announced a new mobile operating system, Windows Phone
. It has been built from scratch and bears no resemblance to its predecessors. It was released on October 21, 2010 in Europe and on November 8, 2010 in the United States.
by third parties for the Windows Mobile operating system
. Developers have several options for deploying mobile applications. These include writing native code with Visual C++
, writing managed code
that works with the .NET Compact Framework
, or server-side code
that can be deployed using Internet Explorer Mobile or a mobile client on a user's device. The .NET Compact Framework is a subset of the .NET Framework
and hence shares many components with software development on desktop clients, application servers, and web servers which have the .NET Framework installed, thus integrating networked computing space (a.k.a. "The Cloud").
Microsoft typically releases Windows Phone software development kit
s (SDKs) that work in conjunction with their Visual Studio
development environment. These SDKs include emulator
images for developers to test and debug
their applications while writing them. Microsoft also distributes Visual Studio 2008 / 2005 Professional Editions, and server / database counterparts to students as downloads free of charge via its DreamSpark
program.
Developer communities have used the SDK to port later versions of Windows Mobile OS to older devices and making the OS images available for free, thus providing the devices with the current feature set. Microsoft has tolerated this procedure for some time but decided in February 2007 to ask developers to take their OS images off the net, which in turn raised discussions. At the same time Microsoft offered upgrades to Windows Mobile 6 versions to manufacturers for free.
Lazarus
, Lexico, NS Basic
and Basic4ppc
provide alternative development environments. They allow development on a separate computer, which is then downloaded to the target device. NS Basic and Basic4ppc allow development on the target device.
Some 3rd party development tools such as Basic4ppc use the .NET Compact Framework
. This has been possible only for the last couple years. Prior to the release of Windows Mobile 2003, third-party software was developed using Microsoft's eMbedded Visual Tools, eMbedded Visual Basic (eVB) and eMbedded Visual C (eVC). eVB programs can usually be converted fairly easily to NS Basic/CE. or to Basic4ppc.
Windows Mobile applications need to be optimized for touch screen user interfaces. The developer also needs to take into the account the lower CPU performance of older devices. .NET Compact Framework
thus offers only a very basic and narrowed functionality of .NET Framework
. Some 3rd party tools such as Resco
MobileForms Toolkit, which is built into Microsoft Visual Studio, add various controls, components and libraries for Windows Mobile developers.
There is also a GCC port called CeGCC. For scripting languages, there is a Python
port named PythonCE, and a Tcl
-Tk port called eTcl. It can be used to develop applications on Windows Mobile phone.
Satellite Forms is a rapid application development
(RAD) tool that can produce Windows Phone compatible applications that use an RDK runtime engine. Extension libraries extend the functionality for various hardware.
On 5 July 2009, Microsoft opened a third-party application distribution service called Windows Marketplace for Mobile
.
Mobile operating system
A mobile operating system, also known as a mobile OS, mobile software platform or a handheld operating system, is the operating system that controls a mobile device or information appliance—similar in principle to an operating system such as Windows, Mac OS X, or Linux distributions that controls a...
developed by Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
that was used in smartphone
Smartphone
A smartphone is a high-end mobile phone built on a mobile computing platform, with more advanced computing ability and connectivity than a contemporary feature phone. The first smartphones were devices that mainly combined the functions of a personal digital assistant and a mobile phone or camera...
s and Pocket PC
Pocket PC
A Pocket PC is also known by Microsoft as a 'Windows Mobile Classic device'. It is a hardware specification for a handheld-sized computer, personal digital assistant , that runs the Microsoft 'Windows Mobile Classic' operating system...
s, but by 2011 was rarely supplied on new phones. The last version is "Windows Mobile 6.5.5"; it is superseded by Windows Phone
Windows Phone
Windows Phone is a mobile operating system developed by Microsoft, and is the successor to its Windows Mobile platform, although incompatible with it. Unlike its predecessor, it is primarily aimed at the consumer market rather than the enterprise market...
, which does not run Windows Mobile software.
Windows Mobile is based on the Windows CE
Windows CE
Microsoft Windows CE is an operating system developed by Microsoft for embedded systems. Windows CE is a distinct operating system and kernel, rather than a trimmed-down version of desktop Windows...
5.2 kernel
Kernel (computing)
In computing, the kernel is the main component of most computer operating systems; it is a bridge between applications and the actual data processing done at the hardware level. The kernel's responsibilities include managing the system's resources...
. and first appeared as the Pocket PC 2000 operating system. It is supplied with a suite of basic applications developed with the Microsoft Windows
Windows API
The Windows API, informally WinAPI, is Microsoft's core set of application programming interfaces available in the Microsoft Windows operating systems. It was formerly called the Win32 API; however, the name "Windows API" more accurately reflects its roots in 16-bit Windows and its support on...
API
Application programming interface
An application programming interface is a source code based specification intended to be used as an interface by software components to communicate with each other...
, and is designed to have features and appearance somewhat similar to desktop
Desktop environment
In graphical computing, a desktop environment commonly refers to a style of graphical user interface derived from the desktop metaphor that is seen on most modern personal computers. These GUIs help the user in easily accessing, configuring, and modifying many important and frequently accessed...
versions of Windows
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
. Third parties can develop software
Software development
Software development is the development of a software product...
for Windows Mobile with no restrictions imposed by Microsoft. Some software applications can be purchased via the Windows Marketplace for Mobile
Windows Marketplace for Mobile
Windows Marketplace for Mobile is a service by Microsoft for its Windows Mobile platform that allows users to browse and download applications that have been developed by third parties. The service was available for use directly on Windows Mobile 6.x devices and on personal computers...
. By 2011, much software is developed and maintained only for the newer Windows Phone; there is little development and support for the obsolescent Windows Mobile.
Most Windows Mobile devices come with a stylus
Stylus (computing)
In computing, a stylus is a small pen-shaped instrument that is used to input commands to a computer screen, mobile device or graphics tablet...
, which is used to enter commands by tapping it on the screen. Microsoft announced a completely new phone platform, Windows Phone
Windows Phone
Windows Phone is a mobile operating system developed by Microsoft, and is the successor to its Windows Mobile platform, although incompatible with it. Unlike its predecessor, it is primarily aimed at the consumer market rather than the enterprise market...
, at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona on February 15, 2010. Phones running Windows Mobile 6.x will not be upgradeable to version 7, officially. Several developers however, have ported Windows Phone to devices natively running Windows Mobile, an example being the HTC HD2
HTC HD2
The HTC HD2 , is a smartphone belonging to the HTC Touch family, manufactured by HTC and running the Windows Mobile 6.5 operating system. The phone was designed and manufactured by HTC, and was released in Europe in November 2009, and in December 2009 in Hong Kong...
.
Windows Mobile's share of the smartphone market has fallen year-on-year, decreasing by 20% in Q3 2009. In August 2010, it was the fifth most popular smartphone operating system, with a 5% share of the worldwide smartphone market (after Symbian, BlackBerry OS
BlackBerry OS
BlackBerry OS is a proprietary mobile operating system, developed by Research In Motion for its BlackBerry line of smartphone handheld devices...
, Android, and iOS).
Common features
Most versions of Windows Mobile for Pocket PC have these standard features:- Today screen shows the current dateCalendar dateA date in a calendar is a reference to a particular day represented within a calendar system. The calendar date allows the specific day to be identified. The number of days between two dates may be calculated. For example, "24 " is ten days after "14 " in the Gregorian calendar. The date of a...
, owner information, upcoming appointments, e-mailE-mailElectronic mail, commonly known as email or e-mail, is a method of exchanging digital messages from an author to one or more recipients. Modern email operates across the Internet or other computer networks. Some early email systems required that the author and the recipient both be online at the...
messages, and tasksTask (project management)In project management a task is an activity that needs to be accomplished within a defined period of time. An assignment is a task under the responsibility of an assignee which should have a start and end date defined. One or more assignments on a task puts the task under execution. Completion of...
. (Home screen in later WM6.5 builds) - The taskbar shows the current timeTimeTime is a part of the measuring system used to sequence events, to compare the durations of events and the intervals between them, and to quantify rates of change such as the motions of objects....
and the audio volume. - Office Mobile, a suite of Mobile versions of Microsoft OfficeMicrosoft OfficeMicrosoft Office is a non-free commercial office suite of inter-related desktop applications, servers and services for the Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X operating systems, introduced by Microsoft in August 1, 1989. Initially a marketing term for a bundled set of applications, the first version of...
applicationsApplication softwareApplication software, also known as an application or an "app", is computer software designed to help the user to perform specific tasks. Examples include enterprise software, accounting software, office suites, graphics software and media players. Many application programs deal principally with...
, including Outlook MobileMicrosoft OutlookMicrosoft Outlook is a personal information manager from Microsoft, available both as a separate application as well as a part of the Microsoft Office suite...
. - Internet Explorer Mobile, an Internet browser developed by Microsoft for Pocket PC and Handheld PC that comes loaded by default with Windows Mobile and Windows CE for Handheld PC.
- Windows Media PlayerWindows Media PlayerWindows Media Player is a media player and media library application developed by Microsoft that is used for playing audio, video and viewing images on personal computers running the Microsoft Windows operating system, as well as on Pocket PC and Windows Mobile-based devices...
for Windows Mobile. - Client for PPTP VPNs.
- Internet Connection SharingInternet Connection SharingInternet Connection Sharing is the use of a device with Internet access such as 3G cellular service, broadband via Ethernet, or other Internet gateway as an access point for other devices...
(ICS), which in mobile phones allows the phone to make its Internet connection available to computers via USB and Bluetooth. - File system similar to that of Windows 9x/Windows NT, with support for many of the same file types.
- Ability to multitaskComputer multitaskingIn computing, multitasking is a method where multiple tasks, also known as processes, share common processing resources such as a CPU. In the case of a computer with a single CPU, only one task is said to be running at any point in time, meaning that the CPU is actively executing instructions for...
.
History
MS Windows Mobile was originally developed by the EnglishEngland
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
‘feature phone’ designer Sendo
Sendo
Sendo was a British Birmingham, England-based manufacturer and supplier of mobile phones founded in 1999. The company went into administration in June 2005 and its technology was bought by Motorola....
based on MS Windows Pocket PC, itself a version of MS Windows CE. As Microsoft failed to provide them with enough source code access to launch their Sendo Z100 product with the expected quality, Microsoft took all Sendo’s work and passed it on to HTC, who had its HTC Canary
HTC canary
HTC Canary is a smartphone released in November 2002 in Europe and China by the providers Orange and China Mobile, respectively.-Specifications:Manufacturer: HTCDistributor: Orange, China MobileAvailability: Europe, ChinaDesign type: Candybar...
launched as the Orange SPV 100 product. Sendo had to shift all its resources to Symbian
Symbian
Symbian is a mobile operating system and computing platform designed for smartphones and currently maintained by Accenture. The Symbian platform is the successor to Symbian OS and Nokia Series 60; unlike Symbian OS, which needed an additional user interface system, Symbian includes a user...
development, but sued Microsoft and got a US$40 million dollar settlement. This did not stave off Sendo’s decadence and it was eventually acquired by Motorola
Motorola
Motorola, Inc. was an American multinational telecommunications company based in Schaumburg, Illinois, which was eventually divided into two independent public companies, Motorola Mobility and Motorola Solutions on January 4, 2011, after losing $4.3 billion from 2007 to 2009...
.
Hardware
There are three versions of Windows Mobile for various hardware devices:- Windows Mobile Professional runs on smartphoneSmartphoneA smartphone is a high-end mobile phone built on a mobile computing platform, with more advanced computing ability and connectivity than a contemporary feature phone. The first smartphones were devices that mainly combined the functions of a personal digital assistant and a mobile phone or camera...
s with touchscreens - Windows Mobile Standard runs on phones without touchscreens
- Windows Mobile Classic which runs on 'Windows Mobile Classic devices' (Pocket PCPocket PCA Pocket PC is also known by Microsoft as a 'Windows Mobile Classic device'. It is a hardware specification for a handheld-sized computer, personal digital assistant , that runs the Microsoft 'Windows Mobile Classic' operating system...
s). *In exceptional
Windows Mobile Classic devices (Pocket PC)
A 'Windows Mobile Classic device' is a Windows Mobile personal digital assistantPersonal digital assistant
A personal digital assistant , also known as a palmtop computer, or personal data assistant, is a mobile device that functions as a personal information manager. Current PDAs often have the ability to connect to the Internet...
(PDA) that does not have telephone functionality. It was formerly known as the Pocket PC
Pocket PC
A Pocket PC is also known by Microsoft as a 'Windows Mobile Classic device'. It is a hardware specification for a handheld-sized computer, personal digital assistant , that runs the Microsoft 'Windows Mobile Classic' operating system...
. It was the original intended platform for the Windows Mobile operating system. These devices consisted of both standalone Pocket PC devices without mobile phone
Mobile phone
A mobile phone is a device which can make and receive telephone calls over a radio link whilst moving around a wide geographic area. It does so by connecting to a cellular network provided by a mobile network operator...
capabilities, and those that included mobile phone capabilities. The most current name of Windows Mobile intended for use on Pocket PCs is officially "Windows Mobile 6 Professional" for devices with mobile phone capabilities and "Windows Mobile 6 Classic" for devices without mobile phone capabilities.
Windows Mobile Smartphones
The 'Windows Mobile' (Microsoft's term for its range of smartphoneSmartphone
A smartphone is a high-end mobile phone built on a mobile computing platform, with more advanced computing ability and connectivity than a contemporary feature phone. The first smartphones were devices that mainly combined the functions of a personal digital assistant and a mobile phone or camera...
s) became the next hardware platform after the Pocket PC to run Windows Mobile, and debuted with the release of Pocket PC 2002. Although in the broad sense of the term "Smartphone", both Pocket PC phones and Microsoft branded Smartphones each fit into this category, it should be noted that Microsoft's use of the term "Smartphone" includes only more specific hardware devices that differ from Pocket PC phones. Such Smartphones were originally designed without touchscreen
Touchscreen
A touchscreen is an electronic visual display that can detect the presence and location of a touch within the display area. The term generally refers to touching the display of the device with a finger or hand. Touchscreens can also sense other passive objects, such as a stylus...
s, intended to be operated more efficiently with only one hand, and typically had lower display resolution
Display resolution
The display resolution of a digital television or display device is the number of distinct pixels in each dimension that can be displayed. It can be an ambiguous term especially as the displayed resolution is controlled by all different factors in cathode ray tube , flat panel or projection...
than Pocket PCs. Microsoft's focus for the Smartphone platform was to create a device that functioned well as a phone and data device in a more integrated manner.
Pocket PC 2000
Pocket PC 2000, originally codenamed "Rapier", was released on April 19, 2000, and was based on Windows CEWindows CE
Microsoft Windows CE is an operating system developed by Microsoft for embedded systems. Windows CE is a distinct operating system and kernel, rather than a trimmed-down version of desktop Windows...
3.0. It was the debut of what was later dubbed the Windows Mobile operating system, and meant to be a successor to the operating system aboard Palm-Size PCs
Palm-size PC
The Palm-Size PC was Microsoft's first attempt at a computer conforming to an 'in your hand' profile.- Information :...
. Backwards compatibility was retained with such Palm-Size PC applications. Pocket PC 2000 was intended mainly for Pocket PC
Pocket PC
A Pocket PC is also known by Microsoft as a 'Windows Mobile Classic device'. It is a hardware specification for a handheld-sized computer, personal digital assistant , that runs the Microsoft 'Windows Mobile Classic' operating system...
devices, however several Palm-Size PC devices had the ability to be updated also. Further, several Pocket PC 2000 phones were released, however Microsoft's "Smartphone" hardware platform was not yet created. The only resolution supported by this release was 240 x 320 (QVGA). Removable storage card formats that were supported were CompactFlash
CompactFlash
CompactFlash is a mass storage device format used in portable electronic devices. Most CompactFlash devices contain flash memory in a standardized enclosure. The format was first specified and produced by SanDisk in 1994...
and MultiMediaCard
MultiMediaCard
The MultiMediaCard is a flash memory memory card standard. Unveiled in 1997 by Siemens AG and SanDisk, it is based on Toshiba's NAND-based flash memory, and is therefore much smaller than earlier systems based on Intel NOR-based memory such as CompactFlash. MMC is about the size of a postage...
. At this time Pocket PC devices had not been standardized with a specific CPU architecture. As a result, Pocket PC 2000 was released on multiple CPU architectures; SH-3
SuperH
SuperH is a 32-bit reduced instruction set computer instruction set architecture developed by Hitachi. It is implemented by microcontrollers and microprocessors for embedded systems....
, MIPS
MIPS architecture
MIPS is a reduced instruction set computer instruction set architecture developed by MIPS Technologies . The early MIPS architectures were 32-bit, and later versions were 64-bit...
, and ARM
ARM architecture
ARM is a 32-bit reduced instruction set computer instruction set architecture developed by ARM Holdings. It was named the Advanced RISC Machine, and before that, the Acorn RISC Machine. The ARM architecture is the most widely used 32-bit ISA in numbers produced...
.
The original Pocket PC operating system had similar appearance to Windows 98
Windows 98
Windows 98 is a graphical operating system by Microsoft. It is the second major release in the Windows 9x line of operating systems. It was released to manufacturing on 15 May 1998 and to retail on 25 June 1998. Windows 98 is the successor to Windows 95. Like its predecessor, it is a hybrid...
, Windows Me
Windows Me
Windows Millennium Edition, or Windows Me , is a graphical operating system released on September 14, 2000 by Microsoft, and was the last operating system released in the Windows 9x series. Support for Windows Me ended on July 11, 2006....
, and Windows 2000
Windows 2000
Windows 2000 is a line of operating systems produced by Microsoft for use on personal computers, business desktops, laptops, and servers. Windows 2000 was released to manufacturing on 15 December 1999 and launched to retail on 17 February 2000. It is the successor to Windows NT 4.0, and is the...
operating systems.
Features/built-in applications for Pocket PC 2000 included the following:
- Pocket OfficeMicrosoft Office MobileMicrosoft Office Mobile is an office suite by Microsoft for Windows Phone 7 and Windows Mobile Professional, Classic, and Standard editions. It consists of Word Mobile, Excel Mobile, PowerPoint Mobile, OneNote Mobile, and Outlook Mobile. It is meant to be compatible with desktop versions of the...
- Pocket Word
- Pocket Excel
- Pocket Outlook
- Pocket Internet Explorer
- Windows Media PlayerWindows Media PlayerWindows Media Player is a media player and media library application developed by Microsoft that is used for playing audio, video and viewing images on personal computers running the Microsoft Windows operating system, as well as on Pocket PC and Windows Mobile-based devices...
- Microsoft ReaderMicrosoft ReaderMicrosoft Reader is a Microsoft program for the reading of e-books, originally released in August 2000.Microsoft Reader is available for download from Microsoft as a free program for computers running Windows. It can also be used on a Pocket PC, where it has been built into the ROM since Windows CE...
- Microsoft MoneyMicrosoft MoneyMicrosoft Money was Microsoft's personal finance software. It was designed for computers using the Microsoft Windows operating system, though versions for Windows Mobile were also available .The last version, released in August 2007, was called Microsoft Money Plus and came...
- Notes, a written and sound note-taking application supported by most versions of Windows Mobile
- Character recognitionIntelligent Character RecognitionIn computer science, intelligent character recognition is an advanced optical character recognition or — rather more specific — handwriting recognition system that allows fonts and different styles of handwriting to be learned by a computer during processing to improve accuracy and recognition...
support - InfraredInfraredInfrared light is electromagnetic radiation with a wavelength longer than that of visible light, measured from the nominal edge of visible red light at 0.74 micrometres , and extending conventionally to 300 µm...
(IR) File beaming capability
Pocket PC 2002
Pocket PC 2002, originally codenamed "Merlin", was released in October 2001. Like Pocket PC 2000, it was powered by Windows CEWindows CE
Microsoft Windows CE is an operating system developed by Microsoft for embedded systems. Windows CE is a distinct operating system and kernel, rather than a trimmed-down version of desktop Windows...
3.0. Although targeted mainly for 240 × 320 (QVGA) Pocket PC
Pocket PC
A Pocket PC is also known by Microsoft as a 'Windows Mobile Classic device'. It is a hardware specification for a handheld-sized computer, personal digital assistant , that runs the Microsoft 'Windows Mobile Classic' operating system...
devices, Pocket PC 2002 was also used for Pocket PC phones, and for the first time, Smartphone
Smartphone
A smartphone is a high-end mobile phone built on a mobile computing platform, with more advanced computing ability and connectivity than a contemporary feature phone. The first smartphones were devices that mainly combined the functions of a personal digital assistant and a mobile phone or camera...
s. These Pocket PC 2002 Smartphones were mainly GSM devices. With future releases, the Pocket PC and Smartphone lines would increasingly collide as the licensing terms were relaxed allowing OEMs to take advantage of more innovative, individual design ideas. Aesthetically, Pocket PC 2002 was meant to be similar in design to the then newly released Windows XP
Windows XP
Windows XP is an operating system produced by Microsoft for use on personal computers, including home and business desktops, laptops and media centers. First released to computer manufacturers on August 24, 2001, it is the second most popular version of Windows, based on installed user base...
.
New features and built-in applications included the following:
- Enhanced UIUser interfaceThe user interface, in the industrial design field of human–machine interaction, is the space where interaction between humans and machines occurs. The goal of interaction between a human and a machine at the user interface is effective operation and control of the machine, and feedback from the...
with theme support - Spell checkerSpell checkerIn computing, a spell checker is an application program that flags words in a document that may not be spelled correctly. Spell checkers may be stand-alone capable of operating on a block of text, or as part of a larger application, such as a word processor, email client, electronic dictionary,...
and Word countWord countThe word count is the number of words in a document or passage of text. Word counting may be needed when a text is required to stay within certain numbers of words. This may particularly be the case in academia, legal proceedings, journalism and advertising. Word count is commonly used by...
tool in Pocket WordMicrosoft Office MobileMicrosoft Office Mobile is an office suite by Microsoft for Windows Phone 7 and Windows Mobile Professional, Classic, and Standard editions. It consists of Word Mobile, Excel Mobile, PowerPoint Mobile, OneNote Mobile, and Outlook Mobile. It is meant to be compatible with desktop versions of the... - Savable downloads and WAPWireless Application ProtocolWireless Application Protocol is a technical standard for accessing information over a mobile wireless network.A WAP browser is a web browser for mobile devices such as mobile phones that uses the protocol.Before the introduction of WAP, mobile service providers had limited opportunities to offer...
in Pocket Internet Explorer - Virtual Private NetworkingVirtual private networkA virtual private network is a network that uses primarily public telecommunication infrastructure, such as the Internet, to provide remote offices or traveling users access to a central organizational network....
support - Synchronization of folders
- MSN MessengerWindows Live Messenger MobileWindows Live Messenger Mobile is the version of Windows Live Messenger that is aimed to be used in mobile devices over a cellular data plan or Wi-Fi...
- Terminal ServicesTerminal ServicesRemote Desktop Services in Windows Server 2008 R2, formerly known as Terminal Services in Windows Server 2008 and previous versions, is one of the components of Microsoft Windows that allows a user to access applications and data on a remote computer over a network, using the Remote Desktop...
- Windows Media PlayerWindows Media PlayerWindows Media Player is a media player and media library application developed by Microsoft that is used for playing audio, video and viewing images on personal computers running the Microsoft Windows operating system, as well as on Pocket PC and Windows Mobile-based devices...
8 with streamingStreaming mediaStreaming media is multimedia that is constantly received by and presented to an end-user while being delivered by a streaming provider.The term "presented" is used in this article in a general sense that includes audio or video playback. The name refers to the delivery method of the medium rather...
capability - Microsoft ReaderMicrosoft ReaderMicrosoft Reader is a Microsoft program for the reading of e-books, originally released in August 2000.Microsoft Reader is available for download from Microsoft as a free program for computers running Windows. It can also be used on a Pocket PC, where it has been built into the ROM since Windows CE...
2 - Palm OSPalm OSPalm OS is a mobile operating system initially developed by Palm, Inc., for personal digital assistants in 1996. Palm OS is designed for ease of use with a touchscreen-based graphical user interface. It is provided with a suite of basic applications for personal information management...
support for file beaming - Improved Pocket OutlookMicrosoft Office MobileMicrosoft Office Mobile is an office suite by Microsoft for Windows Phone 7 and Windows Mobile Professional, Classic, and Standard editions. It consists of Word Mobile, Excel Mobile, PowerPoint Mobile, OneNote Mobile, and Outlook Mobile. It is meant to be compatible with desktop versions of the...
- Digital rights managementDigital rights managementDigital rights management is a class of access control technologies that are used by hardware manufacturers, publishers, copyright holders and individuals with the intent to limit the use of digital content and devices after sale. DRM is any technology that inhibits uses of digital content that...
(DRM) support in Microsoft ReaderMicrosoft ReaderMicrosoft Reader is a Microsoft program for the reading of e-books, originally released in August 2000.Microsoft Reader is available for download from Microsoft as a free program for computers running Windows. It can also be used on a Pocket PC, where it has been built into the ROM since Windows CE...
Windows Mobile 2003
Windows Mobile 2003 (aka wm2003 and WM2003), originally codenamed "Ozone", was released on June 23, 2003, and was the first release under the Windows Mobile banner. It came in four editions: "Windows Mobile 2003 for Pocket PCPocket PC
A Pocket PC is also known by Microsoft as a 'Windows Mobile Classic device'. It is a hardware specification for a handheld-sized computer, personal digital assistant , that runs the Microsoft 'Windows Mobile Classic' operating system...
Premium Edition", "Windows Mobile 2003 for Pocket PC Professional Edition", "Windows Mobile 2003 for Smartphone
Smartphone
A smartphone is a high-end mobile phone built on a mobile computing platform, with more advanced computing ability and connectivity than a contemporary feature phone. The first smartphones were devices that mainly combined the functions of a personal digital assistant and a mobile phone or camera...
" and "Windows Mobile 2003 for Pocket PC Phone Edition". The last was designed especially for Pocket PCs which include phone functionalities. The Professional Edition was used in Pocket PC budget models. It lacked a number of features that were in the Premium Edition, such as a client for L2TP/IPsec VPNs. Windows Mobile 2003 was powered by Windows CE 4.20.
New features/built-in applications included the following:
- Support for add-on keyboards
- Enhanced communications interface with BluetoothBluetoothBluetooth is a proprietary open wireless technology standard for exchanging data over short distances from fixed and mobile devices, creating personal area networks with high levels of security...
device management - Bluetooth file beaming support
- Bluetooth headset support
- Pictures application with viewing, cropping, e-mail, and beaming support
- Jawbreaker game
- Enhanced Pocket OutlookMicrosoft Office MobileMicrosoft Office Mobile is an office suite by Microsoft for Windows Phone 7 and Windows Mobile Professional, Classic, and Standard editions. It consists of Word Mobile, Excel Mobile, PowerPoint Mobile, OneNote Mobile, and Outlook Mobile. It is meant to be compatible with desktop versions of the...
with vCardVCardvCard is a file format standard for electronic business cards. vCards are often attached to e-mail messages, but can be exchanged in other ways, such as on the World Wide Web or Instant Messaging...
and vCalVCalvCal is an open source calendar standard for Vision PIM. VCal can export itself to an RSS/RDF/WDP feed or publish itself to the internet using WebDAV and PHP. It can be exported to the iCalendar or vCalendar formats as well...
support - Improved Pocket Internet Explorer
- Windows Media PlayerWindows Media PlayerWindows Media Player is a media player and media library application developed by Microsoft that is used for playing audio, video and viewing images on personal computers running the Microsoft Windows operating system, as well as on Pocket PC and Windows Mobile-based devices...
9.0 with streaming optimization - SMSShort message serviceShort Message Service is a text messaging service component of phone, web, or mobile communication systems, using standardized communications protocols that allow the exchange of short text messages between fixed line or mobile phone devices...
reply options for Phone Edition - MIDIMusical Instrument Digital InterfaceMIDI is an industry-standard protocol, first defined in 1982 by Gordon Hall, that enables electronic musical instruments , computers and other electronic equipment to communicate and synchronize with each other...
file support as ringtones in Phone Edition
Windows Mobile 2003 SE
Windows Mobile 2003 Second Edition, also known as "Windows Mobile 2003 SE", was released on March 24, 2004 and first offered on the Dell Axim x30Dell Axim
The Dell Axim family of personal digital assistants was Dell's line of Windows Mobile-powered Pocket PC Devices. The first model, the Axim X5, was introduced in 2002, while the final model, the Axim X51, was discontinued on April 9, 2007....
.
This was the last version which allowed users to back up and restore an entire device through ActiveSync
ActiveSync
ActiveSync is a mobile data synchronization technology and protocol developed by Microsoft, originally released in 1996. There are two implementations of the technology: one which synchronizes data and information with handheld devices with a specific desktop computer , and another technology,...
.
New features/built-in applications included the following:
- PortraitPortraitthumb|250px|right|Portrait of [[Thomas Jefferson]] by [[Rembrandt Peale]], 1805. [[New-York Historical Society]].A portrait is a painting, photograph, sculpture, or other artistic representation of a person, in which the face and its expression is predominant. The intent is to display the likeness,...
and LandscapeLandscapeLandscape comprises the visible features of an area of land, including the physical elements of landforms such as mountains, hills, water bodies such as rivers, lakes, ponds and the sea, living elements of land cover including indigenous vegetation, human elements including different forms of...
switching for Pocket PCs - Single-Column layout in Pocket Internet Explorer
- VGA (640×480), 176х220, 240x240, 480x480 Screen resolution
- Wi-Fi Protected AccessWi-Fi Protected AccessWi-Fi Protected Access and Wi-Fi Protected Access II are two security protocols and security certification programs developed by the Wi-Fi Alliance to secure wireless computer networks...
(WPA) support
Windows Mobile 5
Windows Mobile 5.0, originally codenamed "Magneto", was released at Microsoft's Mobile and Embedded Developers Conference 2005 in Las Vegas, May 9–12, 2005. Microsoft offered mainstream support for Windows Mobile 5 through October 12, 2010, and extended support through October 13, 2015. It was first offered on the Dell AximDell Axim
The Dell Axim family of personal digital assistants was Dell's line of Windows Mobile-powered Pocket PC Devices. The first model, the Axim X5, was introduced in 2002, while the final model, the Axim X51, was discontinued on April 9, 2007....
x51. It used the .NET Compact Framework
.NET Compact Framework
The Microsoft .NET Compact Framework is a version of the .NET Framework that is designed to run on resource constrained mobile/embedded devices such as personal digital assistants , mobile phones, factory controllers, set-top boxes, etc...
1.0 SP3, an environment for programs based on .NET.
- Windows Mobile 5.0 included Microsoft Exchange ServerMicrosoft Exchange ServerMicrosoft Exchange Server is the server side of a client–server, collaborative application product developed by Microsoft. It is part of the Microsoft Servers line of server products and is used by enterprises using Microsoft infrastructure products...
"push" functionality improvements that worked with Exchange 2003 SP2. The "push" functionality also required vendor/device support With AKU2 software upgrades all WM 5.0 devices supported DirectPushDirectPushDirectPush is Microsoft's technology for receiving e-mail instantly on Windows Mobile 5.0, 6.0 and 6.1 enabled devices, from Microsoft Exchange Servers, Kerio Connect and Zarafa....
. - WM 5.0 featured increased battery life due to Persistent storage capability. Previously up to 50% (enough for 72 hours of storage) of battery power was reserved just to maintain data in volatile RAM. This continued the trend of Windows-based devices moving from using RAM as their primary storage medium to the use of a combination of RAM and flash memory (in use, no distinction between the two is obvious to users). Programs and frequently accessed data run in RAM, while most storage is in the flash memory. The OS seamlessly moves data between the two as needed. Everything is backed up in the flash memory, so unlike prior devices, WM5 devices lose no data if power is lost.
- With Windows Mobile 5.0, OS updates were released as Adaptation kit upgradeAdaptation kit upgradeAn Adaptation kit upgrade is a way of updating Microsoft's Windows Mobile.It is a collection of updates, fixes and enhancements to the tools delivered to hardware device manufacturers to create or update devices based on a specific platform.This term is used by Microsoft to designate the current...
s. AKU 3.5 is the most recent release for WM 5.0.
Further new features and built-in applications included:
- New version of Office called "Office Mobile"
- PowerPoint Mobile
- Graphing capability in Excel Mobile
- Tables and graphics insertion in Word Mobile
- Windows Media PlayerWindows Media PlayerWindows Media Player is a media player and media library application developed by Microsoft that is used for playing audio, video and viewing images on personal computers running the Microsoft Windows operating system, as well as on Pocket PC and Windows Mobile-based devices...
10 Mobile - Photo Caller IDCaller IDCaller ID , also called calling line identification or calling number identification or Calling Line Identification Presentation , is a telephone service, available in analog and digital phone systems and most Voice over Internet Protocol applications, that transmits a caller's number to...
- DirectShowDirectShowDirectShow , codename Quartz, is a multimedia framework and API produced by Microsoft for software developers to perform various operations with media files or streams. It is the replacement for Microsoft's earlier Video for Windows technology...
support - Picture and Video package, which converged the management of videos and pictures
- Enhanced BluetoothBluetoothBluetooth is a proprietary open wireless technology standard for exchanging data over short distances from fixed and mobile devices, creating personal area networks with high levels of security...
support - Global Positioning SystemGlobal Positioning SystemThe Global Positioning System is a space-based global navigation satellite system that provides location and time information in all weather, anywhere on or near the Earth, where there is an unobstructed line of sight to four or more GPS satellites...
(GPS) management interface - Default QWERTYQWERTYQWERTY is the most common modern-day keyboard layout. The name comes from the first six letters appearing in the topleft letter row of the keyboard, read left to right: Q-W-E-R-T-Y. The QWERTY design is based on a layout created for the Sholes and Glidden typewriter and sold to Remington in the...
keyboard-support - Error reporting facility similar to that present in desktop and server WindowsMicrosoft WindowsMicrosoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
systems - ActiveSyncActiveSyncActiveSync is a mobile data synchronization technology and protocol developed by Microsoft, originally released in 1996. There are two implementations of the technology: one which synchronizes data and information with handheld devices with a specific desktop computer , and another technology,...
4.2 with 15% increased synchronization speed
Windows Mobile 6
Windows Mobile 6, formerly codenamed "Crossbow", was released on February 12, 2007 at the 3GSM World Congress 2007Mobile World Congress
The GSMA Mobile World Congress is the combination of the world's largest exhibition for the mobile industry and a conference featuring prominent Chief Executives representing mobile operators, device manufacturers, technology providers, vendors and content owners from across the world...
. It comes in three different versions: "Windows Mobile 6 Standard" for Smartphones (phones without touchscreens), "Windows Mobile 6 Professional" for Pocket PCs with phone functionality, and "Windows Mobile 6 Classic" for Pocket PCs without cellular radios.
Windows Mobile 6 is powered by Windows CE 5.0
Windows CE 5.0
Windows CE 5.0 is a successor to Windows CE 4.2, the third release in the Windows CE .NET family.It was first released on July 09, 2004. Like its predecessors, Windows CE 5.0 is marketed towards the embedded device market and independent device vendors...
(version 5.2) and is strongly linked to Windows Live
Windows Live
Windows Live is the collective brand name for a set of services and software products from Microsoft, part of their software plus services platform. A majority of these services are Web applications, accessible from a browser, but there are also client-side binary applications that require...
and Exchange 2007 products.
Windows Mobile 6 Standard was first offered on the Orange's SPV E650, while Windows Mobile 6 Professional was first offered on the O2's Xda Terra.
Aesthetically, Windows Mobile 6 was meant to be similar in design to the then newly released Windows Vista
Windows Vista
Windows Vista is an operating system released in several variations developed by Microsoft for use on personal computers, including home and business desktops, laptops, tablet PCs, and media center PCs...
. Functionally, it works much like Windows Mobile 5, but with much better stability.
New features/built-in applications include the following:
- 320x320 and 800x480 (WVGA) screen resolution support (The S01SH or "Em One" by Sharp was the first and only device to have a 800x480 screen on WM5)
- Office Mobile support for Smartphones
- Operating System Live Update
- Improved Remote DesktopTerminal ServicesRemote Desktop Services in Windows Server 2008 R2, formerly known as Terminal Services in Windows Server 2008 and previous versions, is one of the components of Microsoft Windows that allows a user to access applications and data on a remote computer over a network, using the Remote Desktop...
access (Available for only certain Pocket PCs) - VoIP (Internet calling) support with AEC (Acoustic Echo Cancelling) and MSRTRTAudioRTAudio is a Microsoft produced adaptive wide-band speech codec. It is used by Microsoft Office Communications Server and the related OCS clients ....
Audio Codec - Windows LiveWindows LiveWindows Live is the collective brand name for a set of services and software products from Microsoft, part of their software plus services platform. A majority of these services are Web applications, accessible from a browser, but there are also client-side binary applications that require...
for Windows Mobile - Customer Feedback option
- Enhanced Microsoft BluetoothBluetoothBluetooth is a proprietary open wireless technology standard for exchanging data over short distances from fixed and mobile devices, creating personal area networks with high levels of security...
Stack - Storage Card Encryption (encryption keys are lost if device is cold-booted).
- Smartfilter for searching within programs
- Improved Internet Sharing
- HTML email support in OutlookMicrosoft OutlookMicrosoft Outlook is a personal information manager from Microsoft, available both as a separate application as well as a part of the Microsoft Office suite...
Mobile - Search ability for contacts in an Exchange ServerMicrosoft Exchange ServerMicrosoft Exchange Server is the server side of a client–server, collaborative application product developed by Microsoft. It is part of the Microsoft Servers line of server products and is used by enterprises using Microsoft infrastructure products...
Address Book - AJAXAjax- Mythology :* Ajax , son of Telamon, ruler of Salamis and a hero in the Trojan War, also known as "Ajax the Great"* Ajax the Lesser, son of Oileus, ruler of Locris and the leader of the Locrian contingent during the Trojan War.- People :...
, JavaScriptJavaScriptJavaScript is a prototype-based scripting language that is dynamic, weakly typed and has first-class functions. It is a multi-paradigm language, supporting object-oriented, imperative, and functional programming styles....
, and XMLDOM support on Internet Explorer Mobile - Out of Office Replies with Microsoft Exchange 2007
- Unlicensed Mobile AccessGeneric Access NetworkGeneric Access Network or GAN is a telecommunication system that extends mobile voice, data and IP Multimedia Subsystem/Session Initiation Protocol applications over IP networks...
(UMA) support for select operators - Server Search on Microsoft Exchange 2007
- .NET Compact Framework.NET Compact FrameworkThe Microsoft .NET Compact Framework is a version of the .NET Framework that is designed to run on resource constrained mobile/embedded devices such as personal digital assistants , mobile phones, factory controllers, set-top boxes, etc...
v2 SP2 Preinstalled in ROM - Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Compact EditionSQL Server CompactMicrosoft SQL Server Compact is a compact relational database produced by Microsoft for applications that run on mobile devices and desktops. Prior to the introduction of the desktop platform, it was known as SQL Server for Windows CE and SQL Server Mobile Edition...
Preinstalled in ROM - OneNote Mobile as a companion to Microsoft Office OneNoteMicrosoft Office OneNoteMicrosoft OneNote is a computer program for free-form information gathering and multi-user collaboration. It can gather users' notes , drawings, screen clippings, and audio commentaries and share them with other users of Microsoft OneNote over the Internet...
- Office MobileMicrosoft Office MobileMicrosoft Office Mobile is an office suite by Microsoft for Windows Phone 7 and Windows Mobile Professional, Classic, and Standard editions. It consists of Word Mobile, Excel Mobile, PowerPoint Mobile, OneNote Mobile, and Outlook Mobile. It is meant to be compatible with desktop versions of the...
6.1 announced with support for Office 2007 document formats (pptx, docx, xlsx).
Windows Mobile 6.1
Windows Mobile 6.1 was announced April 1, 2008. It is a minor upgrade to the Windows Mobile 6 platform with various performance enhancements and a redesigned Home screen featuring horizontal tiles that expand on clicking to display more information, although this new home screen is featured only on Windows Mobile Standard edition. This was not supported in the Professional edition. Several other changes such as threaded SMS, full page zooming in Internet Explorer and 'Domain Enroll' were also added, along with a "mobile" version of the Microsoft OneNote program and an interactive "Getting Started" wizard. Domain Enroll is functionality to connect the device to System Center Mobile Device ManagerSystem Center Mobile Device Manager
System Center Mobile Device Manager is a Mobile device management solution providing over-the-air management of Windows Mobile Smartphone security, applications and settings...
2008, a product to manage mobile devices. The most apparent of the other differences is that the Standard version (like prior versions) still creates automatic links for telephone numbers in Tasks and Appointments, which allows for the easier click and dial of stored telephone numbers within these Outlook items. This feature is not supported in the Professional version. Windows Mobile 6.1 also had improved bandwidth efficiency in its push-email protocol "Activesync" of "up to 40%"; this considerably improved battery life in many devices.
Aside from the visual and feature distinctions, the underlying CE versions can be used to differentiate WM6.0 from WM 6.1. The version of Windows CE in WM 6.0 is 5.2.*, with the final number being a 4 digit build ID (e.g. 5.2.1622 on HTC Wing). In WM 6.1, the CE version is 5.2.* with a 5 digit build number (e.g. 5.2.19216 on Palm Treo 800w).
Windows Mobile 6.5
Windows Mobile 6.5 was never part of Microsoft's mobile phone roadmap, and has been described by its chief executive, Steve BallmerSteve Ballmer
Steven Anthony "Steve" Ballmer is an American business magnate. He is the chief executive officer of Microsoft, having held that post since January 2000. , his personal wealth is estimated at US$13.9 billion, ranking number 19 on the Forbes 400.-Early life:Ballmer was born in Detroit, Michigan to...
, as "not the full release [Microsoft] wanted" until the multi-touch
Multi-touch
In computing, multi-touch refers to a touch sensing surface's ability to recognize the presence of two or more points of contact with the surface...
-enabled Windows Mobile 7 (now replaced by Windows Phone
Windows Phone
Windows Phone is a mobile operating system developed by Microsoft, and is the successor to its Windows Mobile platform, although incompatible with it. Unlike its predecessor, it is primarily aimed at the consumer market rather than the enterprise market...
) arrived in 2010.
Version 6.5 is an upgrade to Windows Mobile 6.1 that was released to manufacturers on May 11, 2009; the first devices running the operating system appeared in late October 2009. This minor incremental update includes some significant new added features, such as a revamped GUI, new Today screen with vertically scrollable labels (called 'Titanium'). WM6.5 also includes the new Internet Explorer Mobile 6 browser, with improved interface.
Microsoft unveiled this version at the 2009 Mobile World Congress
Mobile World Congress
The GSMA Mobile World Congress is the combination of the world's largest exhibition for the mobile industry and a conference featuring prominent Chief Executives representing mobile operators, device manufacturers, technology providers, vendors and content owners from across the world...
in February, and several devices were supplied with it; devices running Windows Mobile 6.5 and later are marketed as "Windows phones". Along with Windows Mobile 6.5, Microsoft announced several Cloud computing
Cloud computing
Cloud computing is the delivery of computing as a service rather than a product, whereby shared resources, software, and information are provided to computers and other devices as a utility over a network ....
services codenamed "SkyBox", "SkyLine", "SkyMarket". "SkyBox" has been confirmed as My Phone
My Phone
Microsoft My Phone is an online service with a companion mobile client application from Microsoft. The service, which launched on October 6, 2009, provides a free mobile phone back-up solution by wirelessly synchronizing contacts, calendar appointments, tasks, text messages, browser favorites,...
, while "SkyMarket" has been confirmed as Windows Marketplace for Mobile
Windows Marketplace for Mobile
Windows Marketplace for Mobile is a service by Microsoft for its Windows Mobile platform that allows users to browse and download applications that have been developed by third parties. The service was available for use directly on Windows Mobile 6.x devices and on personal computers...
. Some aspects of the user interface were redesigned, with the home screen resembling that of Microsoft's Zune
Zune
Zune is a digital media brand owned by Microsoft which includes a line of portable media players, a digital media player software for Windows machines, a music subscription service known as a 'Zune Music Pass', music and video streaming for the Xbox 360 via the Zune Software, music, TV and movie...
player and the sliding panel interface of Windows Mobile 6.1 Standard. This version was designed mainly for easier finger usage. Whilst this version of Windows Mobile does not natively support capacitive screens, mobile manufacturers have been able to use them on their devices
Several phones running Windows Mobile 6.1 can be updated to Windows Mobile 6.5.
Windows Mobile 6.5.1
Builds of Windows Mobile 6.5.1 have been unofficially ported to several Windows Mobile phones. Windows Mobile 6.5.1 brings a more finger-friendly user interface, including icon based soft buttons (rather than text based), an updated contacts app, Microsoft (rather than the mobile carrier) support for A-GPSAssisted GPS
Assisted GPS, generally abbreviated as A-GPS or aGPS, is a system which can, under certain conditions, improve the startup performance, or time-to-first-fix of a GPS satellite-based positioning system. It is used extensively with GPS-capable cellular phones as its development was accelerated by...
, improved threaded text messaging, and performance improvements.
Windows Mobile 6.5.3
On February 2, 2010, the Sony EricssonSony Ericsson
Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications AB is a joint venture established on October 1, 2001 by the Japanese consumer electronics company Sony Corporation and the Swedish telecommunications company Ericsson to manufacture mobile phones....
Aspen with Windows Mobile 6.5.3 was officially announced, making it the first Windows Phone 6.5.3 smartphone. Since November 2009, several 6.5.3 builds had leaked (28nnn) and had been unofficially ported to some Windows Phones.
Windows Mobile 6.5.3 brings a more finger-friendly user interface with several new usability features such as support for multitouch, complete touch control i.e. no need for a stylus, and drag-and-drop start menu icons. Touchable tiles replaced soft keys." Internet Explorer Mobile 6 has also received some major updates including decreased page load time, improved memory management and gesture smoothing.
Additional features of newer Windows Mobile 6.5.3 builds include threaded email and Office Mobile 2010.
Windows Mobile 6.5.5
Several builds of Windows Mobile 6.5.x leaked since January 2010, and were unofficially ported to some Windows Mobile phones. The name Windows Mobile 6.5.5 has been applied to these newer builds, although this name remains unconfirmed by Microsoft.Windows Embedded Handheld 6.5
On 10 January 2011, Microsoft announced Windows Embedded Handheld 6.5. The operating system has compatibility with Windows Mobile 6.5 and is presented as an enterprise handheld device, targeting retailers, delivery companies, and other companies that rely on handheld computing.Windows Phone
Windows Phone was launched in Europe, Singapore, and Australia on October 21, 2010, and in the US and Canada on November 8, 2010, with the rest of the world to follow in 2011. Microsoft had originally planned to continue the Windows Mobile line to Windows Mobile 7, based on an upgrade to the Windows Mobile platform, codenamed Photon. The original Photon and Windows Mobile 7 have since been scrapped; however, Microsoft decided to create a new mobile OS platform and officially announced Windows Phone 7 Series in its place. Microsoft has since renamed the operating system from Windows Phone 7 Series to Windows Phone 7.Windows Phone was initially intended to be released during 2009, but several delays, likely due to the move away from Photon and to building an entirely different and new platform, prompted Microsoft to develop Windows Mobile 6.5 as an interim release. During the Mobile World Congress 2010 in Barcelona, Microsoft revealed details of Windows Phone, which features a new operating system and integration with Xbox Live
Xbox Live
Xbox Live is an online multiplayer gaming and digital media delivery service created and operated by Microsoft Corporation. It is currently the only online gaming service on consoles that charges users a fee to play multiplayer gaming. It was first made available to the Xbox system in 2002...
and Zune
Zune
Zune is a digital media brand owned by Microsoft which includes a line of portable media players, a digital media player software for Windows machines, a music subscription service known as a 'Zune Music Pass', music and video streaming for the Xbox 360 via the Zune Software, music, TV and movie...
services.
Most phones currently running Windows Mobile 6.x are not upgradeable to Windows Phone, although hacked firmwares with Phone 7 are becoming increasingly popular.
Microsoft Kin
Microsoft Kin was a family of mobile telephones which started with Microsoft's purchase of Danger HiptopDanger Hiptop
The Danger Hiptop, also re-branded as the T-Mobile Sidekick, Mobiflip and Sharp Jump is a GPRS/EDGE/UMTS smartphone produced by Danger Incorporated from 2002 to 2010....
in 2008. Microsoft Kin was developed inside Microsoft's Premium Mobile Experiences (PMX) division. Microsoft brought in employees from Danger Inc.
Danger (company)
Danger, Inc. was a company specializing in platforms, software, design, and services for mobile computing devices. Its most notable product was the T-Mobile Sidekick ....
, with the intention of infusing industry talent and mobile experience into the project. The goal was said to be to create a mobile platform far superior to that of the Danger Sidekick
Danger Hiptop
The Danger Hiptop, also re-branded as the T-Mobile Sidekick, Mobiflip and Sharp Jump is a GPRS/EDGE/UMTS smartphone produced by Danger Incorporated from 2002 to 2010....
. Reports say that Microsoft Kin was originally going to be based on Windows Phone
Windows Phone
Windows Phone is a mobile operating system developed by Microsoft, and is the successor to its Windows Mobile platform, although incompatible with it. Unlike its predecessor, it is primarily aimed at the consumer market rather than the enterprise market...
. However, due to delays with the latter, it was built directly upon Windows CE
Windows CE
Microsoft Windows CE is an operating system developed by Microsoft for embedded systems. Windows CE is a distinct operating system and kernel, rather than a trimmed-down version of desktop Windows...
. It featured the Zune
Zune
Zune is a digital media brand owned by Microsoft which includes a line of portable media players, a digital media player software for Windows machines, a music subscription service known as a 'Zune Music Pass', music and video streaming for the Xbox 360 via the Zune Software, music, TV and movie...
marketplace, and used XNA
Microsoft XNA
Microsoft XNA is a set of tools with a managed runtime environment provided by Microsoft that facilitates video game development and management. XNA attempts to free game developers from writing "repetitive boilerplate code" and to bring different aspects of game production into a single system...
as a game platform.
The platform was aimed at producing phones designed for users who are heavily into social networking and instant messaging. The technology acquired from Danger Hiptop has been described as a family of mobile devices running a bespoke
Custom software
Custom software is software that is specially developed for some specific organization or other user. As such, it can be contrasted with the use of software packages developed for the mass market, such as commercial off-the-shelf software, or existing free software.Custom software can be...
operating system as part of a client–server system that is then licenced to mobile carriers.
Microsoft introduced two new handsets based on Microsoft Kin, codenamed Turtle and Pure, possibly to debut at the Consumer Electronics Show
Consumer Electronics Show
The International Consumer Electronics Show is a major technology-related trade show held each January in the Las Vegas Convention Center, Las Vegas, Nevada, United States. Not open to the public, the Consumer Electronics Association-sponsored show typically hosts previews of products and new...
. The Microsoft designed phones were manufactured by Sharp
Sharp Corporation
is a Japanese multinational corporation that designs and manufactures electronic products. Headquartered in Abeno-ku, Osaka, Japan, Sharp employs more than 55,580 people worldwide as of June 2011. The company was founded in September 1912 and takes its name from one of its founder's first...
and co-branded.
The devices received very critical reviews and Microsoft announced the discontinuation of the KIN line on June 30, 2010, only six weeks after it was launched.
Naming conventions
| Pocket PC 2000 | Pocket PC 2002 | Windows Mobile 2003 | Windows Mobile 2003 SE | Windows Mobile 5.0 | Windows Mobile 6 | Windows Mobile 6.1 | Windows Mobile 6.5 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pocket PC (without Mobile Phone) | Pocket PC 2000 | Pocket PC 2002 | Windows Mobile 2003 for Pocket PC | Windows Mobile 2003 for Pocket PC SE | Windows Mobile 5.0 for Pocket PC | Windows Mobile 6 Classic | Windows Mobile 6.1 Classic | N/A |
| Pocket PC (with Mobile Phone) | Pocket PC 2000 Phone Edition | Pocket PC 2002 Phone Edition | Windows Mobile 2003 for Pocket PC Phone Edition | Windows Mobile 2003 SE for Pocket PC Phone Edition | Windows Mobile 5.0 for Pocket PC Phone Edition | Windows Mobile 6 Professional | Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional | Windows Mobile 6.5 Professional |
| Smartphone (without touch screen) | N/A | Smartphone 2002 | Windows Mobile 2003 for Smartphone | Windows Mobile 2003 SE for Smartphone | Windows Mobile 5.0 for Smartphone | Windows Mobile 6 Standard | Windows Mobile 6.1 Standard | Windows Mobile 6.5 Standard |
Other: Windows Mobile for Automotive 1.0, Windows Mobile software for Portable Media Centers
History
Windows Mobile's share of the smartphoneSmartphone
A smartphone is a high-end mobile phone built on a mobile computing platform, with more advanced computing ability and connectivity than a contemporary feature phone. The first smartphones were devices that mainly combined the functions of a personal digital assistant and a mobile phone or camera...
market has been in decline year-on-year. Gartner
Gartner
Gartner, Inc. is an information technology research and advisory firm headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut, United States. It was known as GartnerGroup until 2001....
research data showed that while the total smartphone industry grew 27% between 2008 and 2009, Windows Mobile's share of the smartphone market fell 2.7% in that same period.
In 2004, Windows Mobile accounted for 23% of worldwide smartphone sales. Windows Mobile was projected to overtake Symbian to become the leading mobile OS by 2010. But by 2008, its share had dropped to 14%. Microsoft licensed Windows Mobile to four out of the world's five largest mobile phone manufacturers, with Nokia being the exception.
Although Microsoft apparently has 50 handset partners, 80% of the 50 million Windows Mobile devices made have been built by one contract manufacturing group, HTC, which makes handsets for several major companies under their brands, and under its own brand.
In February 2009 Microsoft signed a deal with the third largest mobile phone maker, LG Electronics
LG Electronics
LG Electronics is a global electronics and telecommunications company headquartered in Yeouido, Seoul, South Korea. The company operates its business through five divisions: mobile communications, home entertainment, home appliance, air conditioning and business solution...
, to license Windows Mobile OS on 50 upcoming LG smartphone models. But in September, 2009, Palm, Inc.
Palm, Inc.
Palm, Inc., was a smartphone manufacturer headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, that was responsible for products such as the Pre and Pixi as well as the Treo and Centro smartphones. Previous product lines include the PalmPilot, Palm III, Palm V, Palm VII, Zire and Tungsten. While their older...
announced it would drop Windows Mobile from its smartphone line-up. An October 2009 report in DigiTimes
DigiTimes
DigiTimes is a daily newspaper for semiconductor, electronics, computer and communications industries in Taiwan and the Greater China region. It was established in 1998...
said that Acer will shift its focus from Windows Mobile to Google Android.
At one time Windows Mobile was the most popular handset for business use, but by 2009 this was no longer the case; 24% of planned business deployments of mobile application were for Windows Mobile, putting it in 3rd place, behind Blackberry (61%) and iPhone (27%); Gartner estimated that by the third quarter of 2009 Windows Mobile's share of worldwide smartphone sales was 7.9%. By August 2010, it was the fifth most popular smartphone operating system, with a 5% share of the worldwide smartphone market (after Symbian, BlackBerry OS
BlackBerry OS
BlackBerry OS is a proprietary mobile operating system, developed by Research In Motion for its BlackBerry line of smartphone handheld devices...
, Android and iOS).
Samsung
Samsung Electronics
Samsung Electronics is a South Korean multinational electronics and information technology company headquartered in Samsung Town, Seoul...
announced in November 2009 that it would phase out the Windows Mobile platform, to concentrate on its own Bada
Bada (operating system)
Bada is an operating system for mobile devices such as smartphones and tablet computers. It is developed by the Samsung Electronics. Its name is derived from " ", meaning "ocean" or "sea" in Korean...
operating system, Google's Android, and Microsoft's Windows Phone.
Possible trends
From late 2009 many industry analysts and media reports began to express concerns about the future viability of the Windows Mobile platform, and whether Microsoft would keep supporting it into the future.Gartner
Gartner
Gartner, Inc. is an information technology research and advisory firm headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut, United States. It was known as GartnerGroup until 2001....
analysts questioned whether Windows Mobile had a future beyond version 7, due to its poor performance and falling market share. However, Gartner said that while Windows Mobile may be discontinued for consumer-focused smartphones, it still had a future in specialized industrial applications, such as for ruggedized devices used in warehousing and delivery trucks. Gartner said that Windows Mobile 7
Windows Phone
Windows Phone is a mobile operating system developed by Microsoft, and is the successor to its Windows Mobile platform, although incompatible with it. Unlike its predecessor, it is primarily aimed at the consumer market rather than the enterprise market...
could be "the last throw of the dice."
In August 2009, analysts J.Gold Associates predicted in BusinessWeek that Microsoft would probably exit the mobile operating system market sometime between 2010 and 2011.
The New York Times reported in 2009 that Windows Mobile "is foundering", as cellphone makers desert it in favor of Google's Android phone platform. It cited the difficulties in Microsoft's business model, which involves charging handset manufacturers up to $25 for each copy of Windows Mobile, while rival Google gives away Android for free.
The Washington Post said Windows Mobile is "bleeding market share in the space, and the future looks grim." It said that Google is using Android to "kill" Windows Mobile.
In February 2010, Microsoft announced a new mobile operating system, Windows Phone
Windows Phone
Windows Phone is a mobile operating system developed by Microsoft, and is the successor to its Windows Mobile platform, although incompatible with it. Unlike its predecessor, it is primarily aimed at the consumer market rather than the enterprise market...
. It has been built from scratch and bears no resemblance to its predecessors. It was released on October 21, 2010 in Europe and on November 8, 2010 in the United States.
Software development
Software may be developedSoftware development
Software development is the development of a software product...
by third parties for the Windows Mobile operating system
Operating system
An operating system is a set of programs that manage computer hardware resources and provide common services for application software. The operating system is the most important type of system software in a computer system...
. Developers have several options for deploying mobile applications. These include writing native code with Visual C++
Visual C++
Microsoft Visual C++ is a commercial , integrated development environment product from Microsoft for the C, C++, and C++/CLI programming languages...
, writing managed code
Managed code
Managed code is a term coined by Microsoft to identify computer program code that requires and will only execute under the "management" of a Common Language Runtime virtual machine ....
that works with the .NET Compact Framework
.NET Compact Framework
The Microsoft .NET Compact Framework is a version of the .NET Framework that is designed to run on resource constrained mobile/embedded devices such as personal digital assistants , mobile phones, factory controllers, set-top boxes, etc...
, or server-side code
Server-side scripting
Server-side scripting is a web server technology in which a user's request is verified by running a script directly on the web server to generate dynamic web pages. It is usually used to provide interactive web sites that interface to databases or other data stores. This is different from...
that can be deployed using Internet Explorer Mobile or a mobile client on a user's device. The .NET Compact Framework is a subset of the .NET Framework
.NET Framework
The .NET Framework is a software framework that runs primarily on Microsoft Windows. It includes a large library and supports several programming languages which allows language interoperability...
and hence shares many components with software development on desktop clients, application servers, and web servers which have the .NET Framework installed, thus integrating networked computing space (a.k.a. "The Cloud").
Microsoft typically releases Windows Phone software development kit
Software development kit
A software development kit is typically a set of software development tools that allows for the creation of applications for a certain software package, software framework, hardware platform, computer system, video game console, operating system, or similar platform.It may be something as simple...
s (SDKs) that work in conjunction with their Visual Studio
Microsoft Visual Studio
Microsoft Visual Studio is an integrated development environment from Microsoft. It is used to develop console and graphical user interface applications along with Windows Forms applications, web sites, web applications, and web services in both native code together with managed code for all...
development environment. These SDKs include emulator
Emulator
In computing, an emulator is hardware or software or both that duplicates the functions of a first computer system in a different second computer system, so that the behavior of the second system closely resembles the behavior of the first system...
images for developers to test and debug
Debugging
Debugging is a methodical process of finding and reducing the number of bugs, or defects, in a computer program or a piece of electronic hardware, thus making it behave as expected. Debugging tends to be harder when various subsystems are tightly coupled, as changes in one may cause bugs to emerge...
their applications while writing them. Microsoft also distributes Visual Studio 2008 / 2005 Professional Editions, and server / database counterparts to students as downloads free of charge via its DreamSpark
DreamSpark
DreamSpark is a program set up by Microsoft to provide students with software design and development tools at no charge. The program was originally available for university/college students in Belarus, Belgium, China, Finland, France, Germany, India, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Tunisia, the U.K....
program.
Developer communities have used the SDK to port later versions of Windows Mobile OS to older devices and making the OS images available for free, thus providing the devices with the current feature set. Microsoft has tolerated this procedure for some time but decided in February 2007 to ask developers to take their OS images off the net, which in turn raised discussions. At the same time Microsoft offered upgrades to Windows Mobile 6 versions to manufacturers for free.
Lazarus
Lazarus (software)
Lazarus is a free cross-platform IDE which provides a Delphi-like development experience for Pascal and Object Pascal developers. It is developed for, and supported by, the Free Pascal compiler. Since early 2008, Lazarus has been available for Microsoft Windows, several Linux distributions,...
, Lexico, NS Basic
NS Basic
NS Basic is a family of development tools for the BASIC programming language developed and commercially marketed by NS BASIC Corporation in Toronto, Canada for iOS, Android, BlackBerry OS, Newton OS, Palm OS, Windows CE, Windows Mobile and Microsoft Windows....
and Basic4ppc
Basic4ppc
Basic4ppc is a programming language for Smartphones and Pocket PC handheld computers running Windows Mobile operating system, by Anywhere software...
provide alternative development environments. They allow development on a separate computer, which is then downloaded to the target device. NS Basic and Basic4ppc allow development on the target device.
Some 3rd party development tools such as Basic4ppc use the .NET Compact Framework
.NET Compact Framework
The Microsoft .NET Compact Framework is a version of the .NET Framework that is designed to run on resource constrained mobile/embedded devices such as personal digital assistants , mobile phones, factory controllers, set-top boxes, etc...
. This has been possible only for the last couple years. Prior to the release of Windows Mobile 2003, third-party software was developed using Microsoft's eMbedded Visual Tools, eMbedded Visual Basic (eVB) and eMbedded Visual C (eVC). eVB programs can usually be converted fairly easily to NS Basic/CE. or to Basic4ppc.
Windows Mobile applications need to be optimized for touch screen user interfaces. The developer also needs to take into the account the lower CPU performance of older devices. .NET Compact Framework
.NET Compact Framework
The Microsoft .NET Compact Framework is a version of the .NET Framework that is designed to run on resource constrained mobile/embedded devices such as personal digital assistants , mobile phones, factory controllers, set-top boxes, etc...
thus offers only a very basic and narrowed functionality of .NET Framework
.NET Framework
The .NET Framework is a software framework that runs primarily on Microsoft Windows. It includes a large library and supports several programming languages which allows language interoperability...
. Some 3rd party tools such as Resco
Resco
Resco spol. s r.o. is an IT company with headquarters in Bratislava, Slovakia that was founded in 1999 by Radomir Vozar, Eduard Kirchner and Marcel Saffa. Resco operates in the mobile IT industry with its main focus on mobile application development tools, applications and games...
MobileForms Toolkit, which is built into Microsoft Visual Studio, add various controls, components and libraries for Windows Mobile developers.
There is also a GCC port called CeGCC. For scripting languages, there is a Python
Python (programming language)
Python is a general-purpose, high-level programming language whose design philosophy emphasizes code readability. Python claims to "[combine] remarkable power with very clear syntax", and its standard library is large and comprehensive...
port named PythonCE, and a Tcl
Tcl
Tcl is a scripting language created by John Ousterhout. Originally "born out of frustration", according to the author, with programmers devising their own languages intended to be embedded into applications, Tcl gained acceptance on its own...
-Tk port called eTcl. It can be used to develop applications on Windows Mobile phone.
Satellite Forms is a rapid application development
Rapid application development
Rapid application development is a software development methodology that uses minimal planning in favor of rapid prototyping. The "planning" of software developed using RAD is interleaved with writing the software itself...
(RAD) tool that can produce Windows Phone compatible applications that use an RDK runtime engine. Extension libraries extend the functionality for various hardware.
On 5 July 2009, Microsoft opened a third-party application distribution service called Windows Marketplace for Mobile
Windows Marketplace for Mobile
Windows Marketplace for Mobile is a service by Microsoft for its Windows Mobile platform that allows users to browse and download applications that have been developed by third parties. The service was available for use directly on Windows Mobile 6.x devices and on personal computers...
.
Criticism
- Versions of Windows Mobile prior to 6.5.3 did not recognize multi-touchMulti-touchIn computing, multi-touch refers to a touch sensing surface's ability to recognize the presence of two or more points of contact with the surface...
screens. Device maker HTC Corporation created some work-arounds to allow multi-touch to work on some applications it installed on its HD2 handset. However, Microsoft applications on this handset, such as the Internet Explorer web browser, do not support multi-touch. - The interface of Windows Mobile 6.5 shows inconsistencies, with some applications requiring users to hold a stylusStylusA stylus is a writing utensil, or a small tool for some other form of marking or shaping, for example in pottery. The word is also used for a computer accessory . It usually refers to a narrow elongated staff, similar to a modern ballpoint pen. Many styli are heavily curved to be held more easily...
to operate them. - Many Windows Mobile business applications were designed for a stylus-pen input, and are difficult or impossible to use on a capacitative multi-touch screen.
- Unlike Windows for desktop computers, the Windows Mobile operating system cannot be upgraded by normal users. Upgrades can only be supplied by telephone service providerTelecommunications Service ProviderA telecommunications service provider or TSP is a type of communications service provider that has traditionally provided telephone and similar services...
s or hardware providers. Development and implementation of a custom free-of-charge upgrade for each device requires considerable resource from the manufacturer, generates no income, and extends the life of older equipment instead of encouraging purchase of new. Windows Mobile upgrades are rarely released. - Several analysts from both GartnerGartnerGartner, Inc. is an information technology research and advisory firm headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut, United States. It was known as GartnerGroup until 2001....
and J.Gold Associates have expressed concern about the long-term future of Windows Mobile. MotorolaMotorolaMotorola, Inc. was an American multinational telecommunications company based in Schaumburg, Illinois, which was eventually divided into two independent public companies, Motorola Mobility and Motorola Solutions on January 4, 2011, after losing $4.3 billion from 2007 to 2009...
and FedexFedExFedEx Corporation , originally known as FDX Corporation, is a logistics services company, based in the United States with headquarters in Memphis, Tennessee...
said that Microsoft had given a commitment to continue supporting Windows Mobile, at least for use in rugged industrial devices. - On 25 September 2009, MicrosoftMicrosoftMicrosoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
CEO Steve BallmerSteve BallmerSteven Anthony "Steve" Ballmer is an American business magnate. He is the chief executive officer of Microsoft, having held that post since January 2000. , his personal wealth is estimated at US$13.9 billion, ranking number 19 on the Forbes 400.-Early life:Ballmer was born in Detroit, Michigan to...
indicated that the company "screwed up with Windows Mobile". He lamented that Windows Mobile version 7 was not yet available. He said he had recently changed the Windows Mobile team to try to recoup losses. - Windows Mobile 6.5.x was based on the Windows CEWindows CEMicrosoft Windows CE is an operating system developed by Microsoft for embedded systems. Windows CE is a distinct operating system and kernel, rather than a trimmed-down version of desktop Windows...
5.2 kernel, the same kernel that was running in Windows Mobile 5.0 in 2004. Windows Mobile 6.5.x has not been optimized for more modern processors, such as the SnapdragonSnapdragon (processor)Snapdragon is a family of mobile system on chips by Qualcomm. Qualcomm considers Snapdragon a "platform" for use in smartphones, tablets, and smartbook devices.The Snapdragon application processor core, dubbed Scorpion, is Qualcomm's own design...
processors. Its successor, Windows PhoneWindows PhoneWindows Phone is a mobile operating system developed by Microsoft, and is the successor to its Windows Mobile platform, although incompatible with it. Unlike its predecessor, it is primarily aimed at the consumer market rather than the enterprise market...
, runs an updated kernel based on Windows CE 6 R3 and Windows CE 7. - Many popular third party applications have withdrawn support and compatibility for the operating system. For example, Skype for Windows Mobile is no longer available or supported officially. No currently available version of Flash Lite will run on Windows Mobile, cutting owners off from most streamed audio content.
- A 2009 survey by CFI Group showed that Windows Mobile users had a low level of customer satisfaction when compared to users of other smartphoneSmartphoneA smartphone is a high-end mobile phone built on a mobile computing platform, with more advanced computing ability and connectivity than a contemporary feature phone. The first smartphones were devices that mainly combined the functions of a personal digital assistant and a mobile phone or camera...
s. Out of a possible 100 points, Windows Mobile rated only 66, compared with BlackBerryBlackBerryBlackBerry is a line of mobile email and smartphone devices developed and designed by Canadian company Research In Motion since 1999.BlackBerry devices are smartphones, designed to function as personal digital assistants, portable media players, internet browsers, gaming devices, and much more...
(73), Palm PrePalm PreThe Palm Pre is a multimedia smartphone designed and marketed by Palm with a multi-touch screen and a sliding keyboard. The smartphone was the first to use Palm's Linux based mobile operating system, webOS...
(77), Google Android (77), and iPhoneIPhoneThe iPhone is a line of Internet and multimedia-enabled smartphones marketed by Apple Inc. The first iPhone was unveiled by Steve Jobs, then CEO of Apple, on January 9, 2007, and released on June 29, 2007...
(83).
See also
- ActiveSyncActiveSyncActiveSync is a mobile data synchronization technology and protocol developed by Microsoft, originally released in 1996. There are two implementations of the technology: one which synchronizes data and information with handheld devices with a specific desktop computer , and another technology,...
- Adaptation kit upgradeAdaptation kit upgradeAn Adaptation kit upgrade is a way of updating Microsoft's Windows Mobile.It is a collection of updates, fixes and enhancements to the tools delivered to hardware device manufacturers to create or update devices based on a specific platform.This term is used by Microsoft to designate the current...
- Handheld PCHandheld PCA Handheld PC, or H/PC for short, is a term for a computer built around a form factor which is smaller than any standard laptop computer. It is sometimes referred to as a Palmtop. The first handheld device compatible with desktop IBM personal computers of the time was the Atari Portfolio of 1989...
- List of Windows Mobile devices
- Windows PhoneWindows PhoneWindows Phone is a mobile operating system developed by Microsoft, and is the successor to its Windows Mobile platform, although incompatible with it. Unlike its predecessor, it is primarily aimed at the consumer market rather than the enterprise market...
- Microsoft data loss 2009
- Microsoft Office MobileMicrosoft Office MobileMicrosoft Office Mobile is an office suite by Microsoft for Windows Phone 7 and Windows Mobile Professional, Classic, and Standard editions. It consists of Word Mobile, Excel Mobile, PowerPoint Mobile, OneNote Mobile, and Outlook Mobile. It is meant to be compatible with desktop versions of the...
- Windows Mobile Device CenterWindows Mobile Device CenterWindows Mobile Device Center is a synchronization software program developed by Microsoft, and the successor to ActiveSync. It is designed to synchronize various content including music, video, contacts, calendar events, web browser favorites, and other files between Windows Mobile devices and the...
- Radio Interface LayerRadio Interface LayerA Radio Interface Layer is a layer in an operating system which provides an interfaceto the hardware's radio and modem on e.g. a mobile phone.-Android RIL:The Android Open Source Project provides a Radio Interface Layer between...
- HTC HD2HTC HD2The HTC HD2 , is a smartphone belonging to the HTC Touch family, manufactured by HTC and running the Windows Mobile 6.5 operating system. The phone was designed and manufactured by HTC, and was released in Europe in November 2009, and in December 2009 in Hong Kong...
- Other mobile platforms: Android version historyAndroid version historyThe version history of the Android operating system began with the release of Android 1.0 in September 2008. Android is a mobile operating system developed by Google and the Open Handset Alliance, and has seen a number of updates since its original release. These updates to the base operating...
- iOS version history - webOS version history - Windows Phone version history
External links
- Official UK site of Windows Phone
- MSDN UK Windows Phone developer resource
- Official site of Windows Phone
- Windows Mobile Team Blog
- Windows Mobile Developer portal
- List of Windows Mobile Communities
- xda-developers Forum
- .Net CF Controls for Windows Mobile at http://beemobile4.net/
- Windows Phone 7 for Government