So here are some screenshots of Windows Mobile 6.5 Build 23409.5.4.0, snagged by Da_G over at XDA Developers and posted up at Redmond Pie. Here we see WM6.5 continue to progress to a more finger-friendly operating system.
What interests us more, however, is the following statement from Redmond Pie, which would confirm what we've been suspecting all along:
It must be noted here that the Builds in the 23XXX branch have nothing to do with the first Windows Mobile 6.5 powered phones set to launch in October. The version that will be launched on those phones are from 21XXX branch which were compiled last month. The Builds in 23XXX branch are perhaps more looking like a part of Windows Mobile 6.5.1 release.
That's right in line with what we've been suspecting. While that's no big deal for anyone who knows their way around XDA, it doesn't bode well for the more, shall we say, "normal" users, and those waiting for the Oct. 6 Super Duper Windows Mobile 6.5 launch day. Guess we'll just have to hope the carriers and manufacturers put out updates on their own. :-/
Reader comments
Windows Mobile 6.5 Build 23409
Can anybody who as played with this say whether or not that bottom bar drops away? I like finger-friendly, but that's just huge. I don't mind if it curtains up and down, but if it's there full time that's a lot of screen-estate, don't ya think?
you're not really missing out on any real estate. look at the screen shots of the notification area and compare it to your phone and look at how much thinner it is. the tops been trimmed, then basically moved down to the bottom.
I've run a ROM based on one of the later builds, and it was reall ynice having the buttons at the bottom. Note that the start menu at the top is skinnier, so in the end the real estate for the screen is about the same (between the soft keys and the start menu of old). I ditched the rom because of some small performance issues, but I'm following the thread so if a new one comes out with better performance, I will probably try it again. And it is on my old AT&T Tilt, and newer phones have more muscle so I wouldn't let my experience be indicative of performance to come.
Ditto.
waiting for the rom to have more memory and battery life.
Would the upgrade from 6.5 to 6.5.1 be over the air, or would it require a wipe? I know OTA updates are coming to WM, but it might not be until WM7.
Also, assuming you have an HTC and don't disable TouchFlo 3D, the incremental changes to 6.5 are mostly irrelevant, right?
That thick bottom bar just looks hideous still to me, like the thickness of Windows 7, I just do not like it, even if it's just a few pixels. The biggest thing I do not like about it is how awful the buttons look. They look like they resized the bar, and pasted some plastic buttons on it. Maybe if they kept it to text only like in earlier builds, stick a nice windows logo without the button art along with the ok/close button, it might look a ton better. I tried a rom with it, and it just seemed to make the screen so much smaller on a small screen. On Windows 7 that's fine you have laptop screen sizes desktop screens, but on a phone, it's tiny already, and increasing the size of that bar that is almost always there just makes it even smaller. That is pretty much my only gripe with 6.5.
The top bar is smaller so it actually remains the same.
I've installed it yesterday on my HTC FUZE(Raphael), had some time to play around with it. Overall a huge improvement over the earlier builds. The new start menu bar is great, compared to the old one this bar is more finger friendly. In fact the whole OS is finger friendly, big, bright, colorful icon make it much easier to navigate. Also they did a face lift on all the settings menus, they made it simpler, and more finger friendly by making a bigger touch area. There are lots of things I would like to see in the future builds. Customization needs to be worked on. Al tho the new themes are slick and beautiful there's not much else you can do. For example the start menu is cluttered with a lot of icons, it would much easier if you can organize those icon is your custom folders and sub-folders. The new Titanium home page should be more flexible also, where your allowed to arrange, add, or remove different panels. In conclusion I'm hoping this is an early build and we'll see alot more improvements until the release.
Coming to soon to a Treo Pro near you.
Hi friends
I need this ROM but to flash it in my Palm Treo Pro GSM Unlocked
Do you can help me please?