Effective today, Office Mobile 2010 will be available for free via Windows® Phone Marketplace for all Windows Mobile 6.5 phones with a previous version of Office Mobile. People using Office Mobile 2010 can perform lightweight editing of Office documents and take notes on the go. With Office Mobile, people can work with Office documents stored on their phone, attached to an e-mail, and can browse, edit, and update documents stored on a Microsoft SharePoint 2010 site.
If you have a Windows Mobile 6.5 device with Office Mobile already running, simply launch Windows MarketPlace on your mobile device to download the new release.
Matthew Miller is one of the most objective writers around in the world of mobiles. He is one of the few people who understands the mobile space and is not bitten by fanboyism for any platform. In other words, he is like me. He is kindred spirit. When I need to get away from all the hype and noise, I read Matthew Miller’s blog, Smartphones and Cellphones.
Mr. Miller has owned and used devices from vitually every platform and clearly understands their strengths and weaknesses. One of his owned devices is the new HTC HD2, a Windows Phone. You know, the one with a monster 4.3 inch display and monster specs. But his expertience with this flagship Windows Phone device has resulted in his giving up on Windows Phone. The user experience simply has him frustrated.
Matthew writes:
I have spent the last 10 days or so in near constant frustration every time I tried using the HD2 and I am just tired of the lock screen freezes, scattered operating system menus and pieces, inconsistent media experiences, limited 3rd party application availability, and more.
While Matthew is only one person, it is a sad day for Windows Phone when someone as level-headed as he is gives up on their platform. It speaks volumes.
Of recent, I was shopping for a smartphone for long-term use. By long-term, I mean at least 365 days. My options included three Windows Phones – Sony Ericsson X2, Samsung B7610, and an HTC Touch Pro2. Honestly, I couldn’t get over the vanilla interface of the Windows Phone OS, yet every available interface modification by individual manufacturers presented issues that I found difficult to overlook.
Either the modifications introduced inconsistencies in the user interface (one of the reasons I loathe using Symbian S60 5th Edition at the moment), or they consumed resources that hampered usability in some way e.g. the B7610 – having two media players, two calendars, two contacts apps, et al. For every stale-looking app in Windows Phone, Samsung created a pleasant-looking alternative co-existing with the vanilla version on the device. How intuitive is that?
I eventually chose something apart from Windows Phone.
Like several others, Matthew has walked. Too many people have walked away from Windows Phone over the last few years, such that its marketshare has diminished to critically low levels. Windows Phone is an endangered species. Can Windows Phone 7 reverse the trend?
In a tweet today, Microsoft announced that they are dropping the “series” in the name of the new version of their mobile OS. Now, its just Windows Phone 7.
Yes; what were they thinking before? Anyway, all’s well that “ends” well. Windows Phone 7 is good enough. We can abbreviate it to WP7 too whenever our mouths are full (or fingers aching for typing so much. Cool.
It is good to appreciate Microsoft and the windows phone 7 seeming anomalous marketing. It’s no one’s secret that windows mobile phones have been doing badly in sales as of recent. With the advent of the iphone and android in the mobile phone world, the fortunes of the windows mobile have been dwindling even further.
To understand Microsoft’s policy of appraising itself competitively against these behemoth “foes” you need to appreciate the diametrically opposing world of the Google Android Smartphone and the Apple iphone. One is closed and the other is open source. One has defined offering and quality assured products throughout the retail units of their mobile devices while the other have a powerful OS but ubiquitous mobile products.
Apple feels that users should have the same user interface on their device. This OS can be thus used across similar devices as part of a large ecosystem of Apple products. On the other hand, Android provides a solid open-source approach to their powerful Smartphone line-up, and many manufacturers are allowed to alter them and use them at their will.
You see in some instance, Samsung, HTC and even Acer, adding their own UI on top of the Android OS. So, when you buy an android product, you cannot predict to 100% accuracy what you get in terms of functionality or user interface. A Samsung Android phone may be different in operability from a Samsung or Motorola’s Android device. Even an android application that runs well in a HTC phone for instance may fail to launch on a Motorola Android phone. Perhaps Microsoft wants to avoid this!
Now, Microsoft wants to regulate and strictly enforce a minimum standard for their windows phone 7. They want to use the model depicted above for the Apple iphone into their Windows Phone 7 series. They want to have a closed ecosystem complete with even an apps store known as the windows phone 7 market place, where you can buy monitored apps, analogous to the Apple apps store format.
They want a situation in which if you buy a windows phone from Samsung in Lagos, Nigeria and buy another windows phone from HTC in the UK, You will have the same user experience and you can predict the UI, functionality and similar apps would run in both phones impeccably.
Merit
One of the problems facing the windows mobile is the same that may lurk out at the Android platform later on. This is an inherent problem in open source OS, which is a lack of standardization. And possibly, universality. With this new approach by Microsoft, they intend to bring about uniformity in their products and perhaps they will ensure a quality assurance too.
When you buy a windows mobile phone you are sure of the minimum RAM (256 MB), in built Memory (of at least 8GB), No removeable memory card, One of the three hard ware requirements and possibly upgradeable OS via later firmwares. There is also a quality regulated application store, where apps from third party manufacturers are scrutinized and approved ala Apple apps store format. Microsoft even promises a more open approach to its apps store.
This system also serves their enterprise partners well. There is nothing better than consistency in their Business enterprise users. Their core business enterprise users will have a choice of different manufacturers and third party applications with the assurance that they will get a single OS, the same UI, and apps interoperability, no matter the source of the Windows Phone 7 series.
Shortcomings
This attempt by Microsoft to revamp its OS is not without criticism albeit forthrightly. For one, it is not all about updating and repositioning, but taking into account the preferences of their users and customers.
This new policy has its controversies because Microsoft in their zeal to bring about their new OS, have dived headlong into it, and have ignored some of the mistakes of their arch rival, Apple. For the sake of simplicity this will be enumerated below:
1. No multi-tasking at launch. Microsoft does not want to include multi tasking ab initio in the WMP 7 so as to emulate this function of the iphone and for simplicity. Whether it is to improve battery life or just for a simple interface, no official reasons were given in the MIX event. Not long ago, the Apple iphone was criticized for lack of multi-tasking and from the intensity of this it was clear that users love this feature. Why Microsoft should ignore such as an astounding feature seems difficult to appreciate.
2. No removeable memory card. This is self explanatory.
3. No copy and paste; even the iphone corrected this shortcoming in their OS 3.0. update.
4. No flash in browser; The lack of flash baffles me. In fact they were able to put silverlight (Microsoft version of Flash) in the OS and UI but exclude it in the most important area that mattered which was the mobile internet browser.
5. Tightly regulated Apps store; this may serve as a strength as well as weakness. The Apple apps store has been criticized for its lack of openness. Let us see if that would not be the case with WMP 7 marketplace.
6. The closed environment or ecosystem; There are many people who love the Apple closed system. Others prefer openness and carrier/ manufacturers configurability of an existing OS. That is why the likes of IG (with due respect) will prefer to jailbreak their iphone to get an increased user-configurability. But whatever model you choose, the most important thing a user may prefer may be quality assurance and similar User interface and ease of use in all the Operating systems of one product.
You do not have to start learning again and mastering the User interface of an android phone or a windows mobile phone each time you change a Manufacturer. I, myself prefer a closed but quality assured user interface. Like the PC Windows 7 for instance. It is closed for instance, yet accepts so many third party software/applications.
Whether you buy windows 7 from Dell or Acer or HP, you know what you’ve bought. It has a single OS and UI in all and similar software will run similarly in all three manufacturers. Perhaps that is what Microsoft is after. But then, they should not starve the OS of features!
Conclusion
New devices running WMP 7 would not be out until the “Holidays”. Perhaps it is too early to tell if Microsoft has a winner in its hands. But suffice to say that their policy has merits and demerits. Microsoft has created an easy to use platform, and also removed the lackluster UI of windows mobile. They want to attempt to create a successful mobile model in line with their PC OS model.
The WMP OS is simple enough and allows developers to make good thirdparty applications. The iPhone was criticized before but they have gradually improved their features and are still improving and selling in droves. Perhaps Microsoft will tow the same line if it has a compelling and fluid UI like the iphone.
The taste of the pudding is in the eating, and perhaps we should just wait and see how all this turn out. What will surely help Microsoft will be further improvement of features with subsequent firmware or OS update. If their policy is well thought out, and if they offer accompanying compatible customer support, we just might have a winner in our hands.
BARCELONA, Spain — Feb. 15, 2010 — Today at Mobile World Congress 2010, Microsoft Corp. CEO Steve Ballmer unveiled the next generation of Windows® Phones, Windows Phone 7 Series. With this new platform, Microsoft offers a fresh approach to phone software, distinguished by smart design and truly integrated experiences that bring to the surface the content people care about from the Web and applications. For the first time ever, Microsoft will bring together Xbox LIVE games and the Zune music and video experience on a mobile phone, exclusively on Windows Phone 7 Series. Partners have already started building phones; customers will be able to purchase the first phones in stores by holiday 2010.
“Today, I’m proud to introduce Windows Phone 7 Series, the next generation of Windows Phones,” said Steve Ballmer, chief executive officer at Microsoft. “In a crowded market filled with phones that look the same and do the same things, I challenged the team to deliver a different kind of mobile experience. Windows Phone 7 Series marks a turning point toward phones that truly reflect the speed of people’s lives and their need to connect to other people and all kinds of seamless experiences.”
Designed for Life in Motion
With Windows Phone 7 Series, Microsoft takes a fundamentally different approach to phone software. Smart design begins with a new, holistic design system that informs every aspect of the phone, from its visually appealing layout and motion to its function and hardware integration. On the Start screen, dynamically updated “live tiles” show users real-time content directly, breaking the mold of static icons that serve as an intermediate step on the way to an application. Create a tile of a friend, and the user gains a readable, up-to-date view of a friend’s latest pictures and posts, just by glancing at Start.
Every Windows Phone 7 Series phone will come with a dedicated hardware button for Bing, providing one-click access to search from anywhere on the phone, while a special implementation of Bing search provides intent-specific results, delivering the most relevant Web or local results, depending on the type of query.
Windows Phone 7 Series creates an unrivaled set of integrated experiences on a phone through Windows Phone hubs. Hubs bring together related content from the Web, applications and services into a single view to simplify common tasks. Windows Phone 7 Series includes six hubs built on specific themes reflecting activities that matter most to people:
• People. This hub delivers an engaging social experience by bringing together relevant content based on the person, including his or her live feeds from social networks and photos. It also provides a central place from which to post updates to Facebook and Windows Live in one step.
• Pictures. This hub makes it easy to share pictures and video to a social network in one step. Windows Phone 7 Series also brings together a user’s photos by integrating with the Web and PC, making the phone the ideal place to view a person’s entire picture and video collection.
• Games. This hub delivers the first and only official Xbox LIVE experience on a phone, including Xbox LIVE games, Spotlight feed and the ability to see a gamer’s avatar, Achievements and gamer profile. With more than 23 million active members around the world, Xbox LIVE unlocks a world of friends, games and entertainment on Xbox 360, and now also on Windows Phone 7 Series.
• Music + Video. This hub creates an incredible media experience that brings the best of Zune, including content from a user’s PC, online music services and even a built-in FM radio into one simple place that is all about music and video. Users can turn their media experience into a social one with Zune Social on a PC and share their media recommendations with like-minded music lovers. The playback experience is rich and easy to navigate, and immerses the listener in the content.
• Marketplace. This hub allows the user to easily discover and load the phone with certified applications and games.
• Office. This hub brings the familiar experience of the world’s leading productivity software to the Windows Phone. With access to Office, OneNote and SharePoint Workspace all in one place, users can easily read, edit and share documents. With the additional power of Outlook Mobile, users stay productive and up to date while on the go.
Availability
Partners from around the world have committed to include Windows Phone 7 Series in their portfolio plans. They include mobile operators AT&T, Deutsche Telekom AG, Orange, SFR, Sprint, Telecom Italia, Telefónica, Telstra, T-Mobile USA, Verizon Wireless and Vodafone, and manufacturers Dell, Garmin-Asus, HTC Corp., HP, LG, Samsung, Sony Ericsson, Toshiba and Qualcomm Inc. The first phones will be available by holiday 2010. Customers who would like to receive additional information about Windows Phone 7 Series and be notified when it is available can register at http://www.windowsphone7series.com.
To watch the full replay of Steve Ballmer’s press conference at Mobile World Congress, and to experience Windows Phone 7 Series through an online product demo, readers can visit http://www.microsoft.com/news/windowsphone.
The image at the top of the page is a shot of the new WP7 home screen. Here is a video demo of features of Windowsphone 7 series.
Our Thoughts:
The adoption and enhancement of the zune interface for WP7 is a good move.
We like the concept of hubs. It sounds intuitive, and we hope that it is well implemented. Instead of having to scroll between applications, you simply go to a hub for related apps and services. For example, instead of having to look for the FM radio application, simply go to the Music + Video hub. Any other source of video and music is integrated in there. Smart.
Microsoft seems to be heading in the right direction with WP7. Now, we only have to wait till the end of the year for the first devices.
I have played with an official build of WM 6.5 for about a day now, and while it does not feature the sleekiest user interface on the block, I have found it enjoyable. My thoughts had been that after using TouchFlo 3D, there was no way I would like or enjoy using the 6.5 interface.
Surprise! I like it.
Unfortunately, this v6.5 ROM isw plagued by the same problem of poor quality video recording that I have encountered on every other v6.5 ROM I have played with on the X1. Unless I find a v6.5 ROM with excellent quality video recording, I will have to switch back to a v6.1 ROM – and TouchFlo 3D. Or perhaps I might just go get another phone for my video recording needs
Anyway, enjoy the following screenshots:
WM 6.5 home screen with some extra plugins installed. Sweet
WM 6.5 start menu
Viewing a contact
Editing a contact
Browsing through the collection of applications on the MarketPlace
In all, I found the menus and icons finger friendly. The home screen works well and can be extended with a growing number of plugins.
In addition, Microsoft’s integration of its different services such that once the user’s Live ID details are entered in any one of the applications e.g. My Phone, those details are automatically inserted into the login fields for all of the other services e.g. Windows Live, MarketPlace. Saves users a lot of repeated typing of user login details.
While not an earth-shattering upgrade, Windows Mobile 6.5 is a significant improvement on the now dated 6.1. If your v6.1 phone is upgradeable, go for it!! If not, go flash a 6.5 ROM on it
According to Microsoft, Windows phones are the new phones that include the Windows Mobile 6.5 operating system. It is an interesting re-branding strategy by the guys at Redmond.
A handful of phones have been announced as pencilled down for an update to the WinMo 6.5 OS. Notable among them are the Omnia 2, Touch Diamond 2 and Touch Pro 2. No formal statement on the Xperia X1 yet.
But why should Sony Ericsson’s silence or reluctance to provide an update keep me from switching to the Windows Phone club? What I have done is hunt out an official Windows Mobile 6.5 ROM, which I have now downloaded. I will test it out over the next few days, and if it does not pop up serious issues, I’ll probably keep it.
Yes; just so I can say that I have a Windows Phone. At least I can for now. How about you? Do you have a Windows Mobile device or a Windows Phone?
Of the new features released with Windows Mobile 6.5, the My Phone service is one that serves a really useful purpose for me. My Phone lets you synchronize your contacts, appointments, text messages, photos, videos, songs, favorites, and documents between your phone and their servers.
Here are a few other things that My Phone brings to the table:
Find your missing phone
The My Phone service can show you the last known location of your phone on a map (based on where it last synced or shared photos using My Phone). User activation required.
Lock your lost phone
If your phone is lost or stolen, My Phone can help protect your information by remotely locking your phone or erasing its contents. This feature is not available in all markets and a fee may apply.
Share photos to leading social networking sites
Now you can quickly and easily post photos to Facebook, Flickr, MySpace and Windows Live from your My Phone web account or phone.
Save space on your phone
When you delete content from your phone, you can still access this content from your web account (until deleted from your archive folder).
Better still is the fact that My Phone is not restricted to just version 6.5 devices but 6.0 and 6.1 as well. That means that my X1 (running 6.1), for example, can run My Phone. Well, I decided to give it a spin. I downloaded and installed the My Phone application via the official website.
The use of My Phone requires a Windows Live ID, and your My Phone account can be used with more than one phone, so you can sync your data across as many WinMo devices as you have.
The Lock your Lost Phone / Find My Phone security feature is a premium service (meaning that you have to pay to use it). I checked it out, but Nigeria is not currently on the list of countries that the service is provided for. Surprised?
Sharing photos to social networking sites is free and works fin. I added my Facebook account. There are also options for Windows Live, My Space and Flickr.
After logging in to My Phone on the X1, I took out time to configure it. I chose what type of files I want to synchronise and scheduled the application to run a daily sync schedule. Thereafter, I ran my first sync, and in a matter of minutes, I had my contacts, calendar, SMS, and notes all backed up. Nifty.
I also logged in to the My Phone website to check things out. My files all showed up, my phone was accurately presented, and there was my usage statistics in graphical format.
As far as I can see, Microsoft has a winner with My Phone. It works well, and I havent noticed any hitches so far. And for someone like myself who replaces smartphones quite often, this can turn out to be a Godsend – if I purchase only Windows Mobile devices, that is.
msmobiles.com is a website dedicated to featuring Windows Mobile devices, applications and services. In an item in which a “fatal flaw” of the new Windows Mobile MarketPlace is examined, msmobiles.com says that Microsoft has committed an unpardonable sin.
Here are Microsoft’s transgressions:
Microsoft’s app store for Windows Mobile is detecting, by the way of SIM card, in which country given phone is located and is showing only apps destined for given country, not all apps
Developers are brutally (they have no choice) forced:
1. to pay 10 US dollars for each additional country where they would like to sell their apps; this per-country-fee must be paid each year on top of 99 US dollars, that also must be paid each year or apps will be removed from the store
2. to provide localized version of an app and localized (i.e. translated) descriptions
As such, users in Germany,for example, have much fewer apps available in the MarketPlace than users in the USA. One wonders how many applications will be available for Nigerian users – or if at all Nigeria will be supported in the app
Anyway, msmobiles.com concludes as follows:
Conclusion: in this situation, due to the fact that Microsoft has screwed up so badly their Windows Mobile app store (called officially “Windows Marketplace for Mobile”) we have no choice but to advice users clearly: DO NOT BUY WINDOWS MOBILE PHONE. Instead we recommend iPhone or phones powered by Google Android.
Tomorrow is the day when Windows Mobile 6.5 is expected to hit the ground running officially. It is expected that upgradeable devices will receive free upgrades from the older version 6.1 of the OS.
At this time, I am not sure whether or not the Sony Ericsson Xperia X1 will receive an official upgrade. However, I have had the proviledge of running WinMo 6.5 on my X1 via custom ROMs made available by various developers. Besides finger-friendly icons, it does not offer much more than what currently obtains on WinMo 6.1.
Other new features that 6.5 offers include My Phone (data synchronisation) and the Windows Marketplace (an application that lets you purchase compatible apps for your device).
Do you own a Windows Mobile smartphone? Is it eligible for an upgrade? Do you have any expectations for Windows Mobile 6.5?
I enjoy the Android OS and interface, its shortcomings notwithstanding. One of those shortcomings, as mentioned in my 10 gripes about the G1, is the lack of a documents viewer/editing suite onboard.
Initially, that was not a problem, as I was sure that I would be able to get a 3rd party application to fill this gap. Sadly, till date, I do not yet have a documents viewer and/or editor on my G1, and it does not look like I will get one soon.
No; it isn’t because there are no such apps for the Android platform. DataViz have Documents To Go for Android, and there’s also Quickoffice for Android. But the only way to purchase them (or even download a trial) is from the Android Market. “Great then“, you might say, “So go ahead and get ‘em!”
Ahem, the problem is that paid apps on the Android Market are not available for our region yet. Yes; at the moment, no-one using an Android device in Nigeria can purchase anything from the Market yet. I’m not sure if any African country is currently serviced by the market either. Free apps are available for download though – and I have benefited tremendously from those.
Both DataViz and Quickoffice say that their applications are available only via the Android Market. I am not sure how it will hurt them to make the applications available for download or purchase on their respective websites. It just sounds odd that their prospective users are denied an alternative acquisition platform.
Meanwhile, both DataViz and Quickoffice offer downloads of trial apps and purchased apps for other mobile OS platforms directly on their websites. Why this strange approach to the Android versions?
Anyway, here I am stuck with a superb device but cannot do something as simple as view my MS Word documents, muchless edit them.
Is this a deal-breaker for me? You bet; it is.
I haven’t had a smartphone in donkey years on which I couldn’t read my Office documents, so this is very limiting for me.
Checking the specifications of the upcoming Android devices, I do not see Documents viewer or editor listed for those either. Google, what’s going on here? This is a show-stopper, unless of course Android is being marketed as a consumer-targeted OS.
In which case, I’m out, seeing that I belong on the business end. I’ve certainly found one more reason why I will opt for a Symbian device – and this is a very strong reason.
I love Android, but I’m a fanboy of no platform or manufacturer. I use devices that meet my needs, especially those highest on my list of priorities.
Honestly, I am stumped at the moment. After using Android, it feels painful even considering using older mobile platforms like Symbian and WinMo.
But what alternatives do I have? I so need to be able to read and edit documents without having to boot up my PC. In the meantime, my heart will go on and on for Android… the lover I may not be able to continue with for now, unfortunately
Windows Mobile has been long acknowledged as a powerful mobile operating system. Unfortunately, it does not seem that the guys at Microsoft realized early enough that raw power is not all there is to a mobileOS. Apple’s Mac OSx, Google’s Android, and more recently Palm’s Web OS, with the acclaim that they have consistently received, show that beyond just power, the end-user wants a sleek and user-friendly interface.
Fact: WinMo as it has been for years is far from user-friendly. Microsoft have made a lame attempt at improving the WinMo UI with version 6.5. But it does not seem to cut the mustard. And it isn’t available on any devices yet. So, WinMo followers have no choice but to hope (and probably pray too) that WinMo 7 will be really different.
However, there seems to be an easy and logical path for transforming WinMo into the delight of users.
HTC’s home-grown solution to making their WinMo products user-friendly has been a toast of WinMo users and reviewers alike. Dubbed TouchFlo 3D, it is sleek, touch-optimised, and gets the job done.
Left: standard WinMo standby; Right: standard TouchFlo 3D standby
Would Microsoft consider the option of paying HTC to completely integrate TouchFlo 3D into the WinMo OS? That shouldn’t be difficult, seeing how far HTC have gone in implementing this icing on the WinMo cake.
For many current WinMo users, TouchFlo 3D is one of the key reasons why their mobile experience is much easier. And fun.
Whether or not Microsoft takes the path I have recommended, one thing is certain, whatever interface it is that Microsoft implements for WinMo will always be judged by how well it performs against TouchFlo 3D.
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