Differences between WM 6.1 Professional and WM 6.0 Professional

The new version of Windows Mobile for PDAs is no revolution, the real changes are expected in the 7th revision which is developed with the ambition to bring Microsoft’s brainchild closer to iPhone. For the time being, the changelog for the 6.1 update is quite modest. We don’t think that a lot of people will get to download it just because it doesn’t affect any critical aspects of functionality. Probably that’s why there was no announcement made at MWC’08 which took place in Barcelona, unlike the pompously celebrated release of 6.0. Here’s a short list of changes:

- SMS-chatting
- Web browser improvements
- Getting Started Center – the newbie’s tutorial
- Improved task manager
- Improved security
- Better interface performance
- Battery life increased by 20%

Note that the Professional version of the firmware (previously known as the Phone Edition) now received much less attention from Microsoft than the Standard issue (previously known as Smartphone). For instance, the Today screen was changed in the latter version while PDAs had nothing changed in this department.

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As for Professional, here comes a full history of changes from 5.0 to 6.1, the key moments given a detailed description:

Let's have a more precise idea of all the new things introduced in WM 6.1:

Threaded SMS.The end user’s biggest surprise will be caused by this thing for sure. Now you can chat with other people via SMS messages just as if it were a regular web chat – Nokia’s reply to Apple’s iPhone? Now you can view full SMS history for a person which is much handier than viewing separate SMS messages one after another. The only serious concern here is privacy – anyone who’s peeked into your screen will have a chance to learn the whole story in detail.

One Note Mobile. This application was added to the habitual stock components of the Office Mobile package (Word Mobile, Excel Mobile and PowerPoint Mobile). It serves to create voice, text and graphical (handwritten) notes. It will be missing from certain PDA models, for instance G810 doesn’t have it preinstalled, though it’s yet unclear if this won’t be fixed in the future firmware updates.

Extras. In addition to a variety of software fixes, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth functionality has also been optimized, for example the Bluetooth protocol was updated to version 2.1. Phone-to-PC synchronization algorithms have been reworked which allowed to add support for MS Exchange 2007. The CPU now wastes less battery charge which (according to Microsoft’s claims) increases the battery life by 21%. The interface now responses to the user’s actions quite a bit quicker, though the core component remains the same – Windows CE 5.2. The final addition is the support for software installation from a remote (network) source – which is meant to ease up the lives of corporate clients users.

Base functionality

Call service. The Phone application serves for making calls and can be launched in two ways: by pressing the Dial button or going to the Start menu and activating the corresponding item. The application’s main screen features three tabs: Calls, Quick Dial and Phone Settings.

The Contacts application stores saved contact records. SIM-stored phone numbers are shown on the same list. It’s possible to save SIM-stored contacts into the phone memory and vice versa. There are three types of contact records that can be created on the PDA:

Each contact record stored in the memory of a USIM/SIM card can only store a name and one phone number. If a contact record storing several phone numbers is copied to USIM/SIM, the SIM card manager application splits it into several records with different names: all of them start with the original record’s name, but are given postfixes: “/M”, “/W” or “/H” – mobile, work or home.

In order to make a call, you can use one of the following menus: Phone, Contacts, Quick Dial, Calls and SIM Manager. The Smart Dialing functionality is traditionally supported and enables for faster and easier dialing. Once you supply the initial numbers of a person’s phone, the PDA sorts out all the contacts that would fit the mask from which you are prompted to choose.

By default, the call log comprises records of all types of calls, but at user’s will the log can be filtered to show only missed, outgoing or incoming calls, sorting by the person’s name is also possible. Besides the name and the number, the log lists time, date and length of all calls.

The only limitation to the capacity of the contact book is the remaining amount of free memory. Up to 12 phone numbers of different type can be associated with a person’s name, as well as 3 e-mail addresses, a work and a home address, a web page address and lots of other fields including even the assistant’s phone number. A contact record can be given a unique ringtone and call picture. Contact records can be organized into user groups.

Messaging system.The traditional Messages application is used for handling text (SMS) and multimedia (MMS) messages as well as e-mail messages. A new message icon appears in the Today screen when unread messages appear in the inbox. Incoming messages can be sorted and filtered by topic.

E-mail can be set for automatical delivery (a time interval is specified, at which the messages are automatically send and received), two-way mail delivery (new incoming messages are acquired automatically every time you send an outgoing message), scheduled delivery (in case you risk bearing large expenses because of specific roaming pricing imposing large tolls for internet traffic during certain hours), limited delivery (headers only or a specified number of symbols).

If you are using Microsoft Exchange 2007, the message will be downloaded instantly and not on the next synchronization, HTML is supported. If the message contains attachments, all are downloaded at once, however delayed attachment acquisition is available as an option. It’s possible to use hotkeys for quick access to functions like Reply, Forward and so on.

A fair security system is included. For instance, it’s possible to go to the ActiveSync menu and activate auto digital signing and encryption for all outgoing messages, access to messages can be limited with the help of IRM (Information Rights Management).

PIM.The Calendar application is used for scheduling meetings and other types of events. Current day’s tasklist can be set for constant display in the Today screen. If you use a PC version of Outlook, you can synchronize the schedule between the phone and the PC. Visual or sound signal reminders can be associated with any type of event.

The Calendar application also helps you to synchronize planned events with other users of Outlook or Outlook Mobile via e-mail. If a user accepts the invitation, the meeting is automatically added into their schedule. Once an invitation has been accepted, you receive a confirmation notice and the meeting information in your calendar gets updated. Here’s a strong side of Windows Mobile, that’s why the platform is steadily popular in the corporate segment.

The vCalendar file format is supported, saved schedules can be freely exported to the PC version of Outlook.

The Tasks application helps you to keep an eye on your schedule, two types of events are supported: one-time and recurring. Tasks can be sorted and categorized. In the comprehensive tasklist, expired tasks are shown in red. An option allows for reminders assigned automatically to newly added events.

The Notes application creates and store quick notes. The text can be typed from the keyboard, written with the hand or acquired through voice recognition; it’s possible to convert handwritten notes into typed ones, and send them to other people. If a letter is larger than three tiles, it’s handled as a picture and not as a text symbol. To select an embedded image (in order to copy or delete it) you have to point it with your stylus and keep it pressed for a few moments.

Office Mobile contains the three following applications serving for editing and viewing Microsoft documents: Word Mobile (views and edits *.doc, *.rtf, *.txt and *.dot files), Excel Mobile (handles *.xls files in the same way), PowerPoint Mobile (for *.ppt and *.pps files).

Explorer is a basic file manager also sporting Search and Calculator features.

Multimedia.Multimedia-oriented PDAs running WM bear a native compatibility with the following graphics formats: *.bmp, *.jpg, *.gif, *.png. The starter’s kit includes a preinstalled “Photo and video” media manager which allows for a few basic media content management functions, including a limited editing capability like Rotate or Trim.

Windows Media Video	.wmv, .asf	Windows Media Audio	.wma
MPEG4 Standard Profile	.mp4	MP3	.mp3
H.263	.3gp, .3g2	MIDI	.mid
H.264	.mp4, .3gp, .3g2, .m4v	AMR, narrowband	.amr
Motion JPEG	.avi	AMR, broadband	.awb
		AAC	.m4a, .aac

A selected media file can be sent over e-mail (using an existing mail account), uploaded to another device, played as a slide show, mailed to a fellow Windows Live MySpace contact, etc.

“Streaming multimedia” allows for playback of 3GP and MPEG-4 files. The feature is also responsible for opening SDP (Session description protocol) files. Moreover, with its help Internet Explorer can handle web pages containing RTSP (Real Time Streaming Protocol) links to streaming multimedia content. The main purpose of this feature is to support youtubesque web services on the mobile device.

The voice recorder enables to make records for immediate further transition over MMS, e-mail or a wireless connection. Also you can instantly set an acquired voice record as a ringtone. The records are stored in the AMR-NB format (Adaptive Multi-Rate Narrowband).

Conclusion

Microsoft are openly admitting the evolutionary (i.e. uncritical) character of the update, so all the cardinal changes are expected to be introduced in the 7th revision. The fact is largely attested by the major mobile manufacturers as well. The estimated progress from 6.0 isn’t as big as one might guess and mainly touches a number of miscellaneous elements. What is more important, the new version naming system now makes much more sense than the internal AKU indices used to.

The new version naming system adopted by Microsoft gives a more obvious picture of version history, previously AKU indices were largely ignored even by the experts. The new way of version labeling will enable even the least experienced users to navigate through Microsoft’s product portfolio with more understanding. As for the actual benefits brought to you by the new update, those are rather ghostly: a newer version brings neither problems nor any serious fixes or improvements.

How necessary the latest update WM actually is? Should we rush to download it as quickly as possible? In our opinion, it would prove a waste of time rather than a practical move: no critical points are touched by the update, so it isn’t worth the trouble (unless you’re an enthusiast in a constant chase after the edge of technology). The rest of our readers will surely find more satisfaction in looking for cool third-party software so abundant in the WM field, which should make a much better way of spending free time. It is noteworthy that WM 6.1 gives full support to applications originally designed to work with 6.0

Author: Dmitry Ryabinin, dm@smape.com

SMAPE.com

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