Thread: Windows Mobile 6.1

WINDOWS MOBILE 6.1, THE latest upgrade to Micro¬soft's main operating system for handhelds, has a few important invisible patches and a bunch of minor interface tweaks. It leaves all of Windows Mobile 6's core strengths and weaknesses intact. On the positive side, Windows Mobile is still a flexible as with unparalleled Windows and Exchange support, and the greatest number of handset choices by far. No matter which carrier, manufacturer, or form factor you choose, you'll find a Windows Mobile device to suit your taste.

No mobile as integrates more tightly with Windows PCs, Windows Media Player, Micro¬soft Outlook, and Microsoft Exchange. Syncing ability with Windows Mobile is built into every copy of Windows on the desktop, every copy of Windows Media Player, every Exchange server later than version 2003, and every WMA-format compatible music store. That makes Windows Mobile an unusually easy solution for connecting your Microsoft universe.

Windows Mobile is still too slow on devices with anything lower than 312-MHz processors, with an irksome user interface that requires too much searching for tiny buttons to select. Windows Mobile 6.1 doesn't change any of that, though it should crash less often than 6.0. And yet we still recommend Windows Mobile products highly. Why?
To some extent, Windows Mobile continues to reign supreme among mobile operating sys¬tems, because nobody else is really trying. It's the only handheld as that appears on every carrier, in a range of form factors, with a variety of third¬party applications that take full advantage of smartphone hardware. That should be the starting point for mobile ass, but alas, no one else even makes it to the game.
The number one smartphone as in terms of market share, the BlackBerry as, is still missing key features like video streaming, a decent Web browser, and a good way to edit Microsoft Office documents.



Some of that will change soon, but we haven't seen the new BlackBerry as 4.5 in action yet, so we can't judge its quality. The once well¬loved Palm as is dying; even Palm says it's giving up on the system. Ultimately, Windows Mobile keeps our Editors' Choice because, right now, it's the only truly open as that embraces the entire marketplace. With Windows Mobile, if you don't like your browser, you can download a different one. If you don't like your carrier, you can switch. If you have a dream for an application, you can program it. That openness, flexibility, and range of choices is what keeps Windows Mobile 6.1 our top candidate for mobile operating systems-for now.