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

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).

Source: the My Phone website

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.

WinMo smartphone users can now synchronise their phone contacts and back them up to the web via Microsoft’s My Phone service.

• Back up and restore your phone’s information to a password-protected web site
• Access and update your contacts and appointments through your web account
• Share photos on your phone with family and friends

Signing up for your Microsoft My Phone account gives you access to 200 MB of free storage on the Microsoft My Phone web site. Not bad.

Head over to the My Phone website for more information about the service.