According to the guys at GSMArena.com, Sony Ericsson has confirmed that the XPERIA X1 will not receive any official upgrade to Windows Mobile 6.5. Bad news.

The X1 is a device with great potentials, and fans have been hoopeful of an official upgrade. If you really do want WinMo 6.5 on your X1 so bad, please take a look at some of our existing articles on the Xperia X1 and Windows Mobile 6.5 ROMs, some of which are listed below.

Related Articles:

• Sony Ericsson X1 Review – Part 1 (User Interface)
• HTC’s Sense UI on the Xperia X1?
• Best Custom ROM for Xperia X1
• Do You Have a Windows Phone or a Windows Mobile Device?

News Item via GSMArena

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?

Get more details from the official Windows Mobile 6.5 FAQ page.

Consider this a sequel to Brymay’s earlier article on flashing ROMs, and you wouldn’t be off-the mark.

In the following discussion, Brymay correctly predicted that I would soon get bored and attempt a flash. Yes; he was correct. It took me only about two (2) weeks to arrive at that perfect state of boredom that geeks know too well.

Anyway, I rolled up my shirt sleeves today and gave it a go, transforming my X1 into an HTC clone running TouchFlo 3D. The flashing process was smooth and easy (thankfully).

Also, although I was shy of WM6.5 ROMs, Touch-IT v13.2, the ROM I downloaded turned out to be based on v6.5 – and I had no clue until it was purring smoothly on my device! Oh, well.

Touch-IT Xperience v13.2: My Thoughts

So far, this ROM has been impressive. While I have used installer/CAB versions of TouchFlo 3D (TF3D), this ROM update delivers a faster, smoother and sleeker experience. The difference is clear.

In addition, most of the issues on the TF3D CAB/panel installations don’t exist here. Landscape functionality is better, though there are a few glitches here and there.

It is a good job, but I’m still experimenting and will be sure to try out one or two others before settling down.

One thing I will be observing is battery life. Touch-IT v13.2 seems to have been optimised for performance and speed. How much impact that will make on battery life is yet to be seen.

Screenshots

Today Tab

Today tab in landscape mode

Contacts list

The Contacts menu integrates and synchronizes the list on your device with your Facebook contacts. Beautiful. It also presents Facebook updates.

SMS tab

Threaded SMS view

Replying an SMS

Music tab

Weather tab. The weather status can be set to update automatically

WM6.5 Start Menu - much finger-friendly, better optimized than WM6.1 version

About page

That’s it, folks. Now, who’s going to welcome me officially into the Windows Mobile ROM Flashers’ Club?

Mobile enthusiasts are awaiting the release of Window Mobile 6.5 later this year. As we have heard, it is an upgrade designed to improve the WinMo user interface prior to release of the much awaited Windows Mobile 7 in 2010.

To get Windows Mobile 6.5 when released, you have to buy a new WinMo device or upgrade if you have a compatible device released in 2009. But if you are desperate and impatient like me, you can get the various leaked WM6.5 ROMs floating in the WinMo community and flash them to your device.

One good reason for trying out WM6.5 ROM is the improved user interface which comes with finger friendly menus. Another reason is the new pocket internet explorer, referred to as IE6. It sports a revamped web browser built on the same code that runs the desktop version of Internet Explorer 6.

I flashed my HTC wizard with a ROM named “CR96 Touch HD”, a cooked job by Cracing of XDA Developers site.

Here are screen shots:

Lock Screen

Today Screen on WM 6.5

Start Menu Screen on WM6.5

Connections Screen on WM6.5

Internet Explorer homescreen on WM6.5

Internet Explorer menu on WM6.5

WM6.5 About Screen

My successful experience in hacking and installing Mods on my UIQ device sometime last year inspired me and gave me the boldness to try out Windows Mobile hacking. I have been on the WinMo platform twice in the past but never dared tweaking, modding or flashing ROMS on my devices.

The big fear of hacking and installing (flashing) ROMs on your device is the possibility of bricking it and rendering it completely useless. In our climes, this fear is bigger because WinMo devices are very expensive and there are no WinMo service centres to fix a bricked device. In my case, I chose to use an old HTC Wizard running Windows Mobile 5 (which I got for free) as my guinea pig.

Following a series of steps carefully outlined on the XDA Developers site (the haven of WinMO ROM flashing), I was able to prepare my device for flashing ROMs by CID unlocking it.

What is CID? CID stands for Carrier ID and devices come with either a carrier or manufacturer’s ROM. To enable flashing of ROMs other than your carrier’s ROMs you have to CID unlock your device with a software.

Thereafter, you can flash your device with several compatible ROMs. There are so many of them to choose from. The beauty of these “cooked” ROMs is that several irrelevant customised programs are removed while better programs are inserted to optimise performance and user experience on your device.

I installed a WM6.1 ROM successfully but when I tried another WM6.1 ROM, I bricked my device. Did I panic? Yes, big time!

For 2 hours, I desperately looked for a cure on the XDA site and eventually got one that asked me to reflash my device with my default ROM since it was already unlocked. I did just that and I got my device working again.

One good advantage of flashing my old device with WM6 ROMs is that it is now possible to install WM6 applications like Facebook on it.

Below are some screenshots of my HTC Wizard powered by Hornet’s WM6.1 ROM.

Homescreen on Hornet ROM

Start Menu on the Hornet ROM

Facebook application running on Hornet

About Page on the Hornet ROM