Hands On: Windows Mobile 6.5 and the TI OMAP 34x-II Platform

Microsoft may not accept gobs of Windows Mobile six.5 demo units out at MWC09, but that doesn't hateful your intrepid friends at WMExperts weren't scouring the floor trying to find ane. Find i we did, at Texas Instruments' booth. Information technology's running on a evolution platform (the OMAP34x-II) they've created to help manufacturers use their new OMAP3430 processor. We'll embrace both our thoughts from our brief fourth dimension with Windows Mobile 6.v every bit well as some tidbits near this processor that ought to accept Qualcomm and Broadcom a trivial nervous.

Continue and click the link for more. Or else y'all could click the thumbnail above for the full size image of that cute, creepy, crawly Greyness Crowned Crane. It's mesmerizing, innit?

Oh, while you're staring: call up almost this. That's a capacitive touchscreen yous're staring at. We know, nosotros know, WM6.5 doesn't support it and you'll probable never run into such a thing actually sold to consumers and frankly, at that place were times nosotros couldn't hit the button nosotros were aiming for (the fact that it was a huge 4" screen helped). But it'southward there: Windows Mobile half-dozen.5 on a capacitive touchscreen.

But yous should read on now and pay attention, we're going to bring up HDMI.

Windows Mobile 6.5

Well, first off -- there's non much to say about Windows Mobile 6.5's featureset that nosotros didn't already comprehend in our Full Feature List of 6.5. What you lot're looking at here is substantially a couple of things in addition to your tried-and-true Windows Mobile half-dozen.1:

A Skin that replaces the Today Screen and Get-go Menu with more than finger-friendly options
A new version of Internet Explorer.

Internet wasn't quite up to snuff on this unit (thank you conference WiFi), so nosotros don't have much to say on its performance. The new buttons, though, are very dainty, and zooming works like a champ -- at least it does on this powerful car.

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Every bit for the pare, finger scrolling, and embiggened menus, they're all here. One notable affair is that you'll get that hexagon listing on the Start Menu, subfolders, and settings. Information technology's definitely nice to see that there'due south no longer double-listings of apps both in the Offset Card and the Programs Listing (they're ane and the same at present), and not having to try to hit tiny tabs in the settings is as well much appreciated.

thumb_250_Picture%203.png Even in Windows Mobile six.five and even on this bulky OMAP reference platform, you're going to get some wait fourth dimension. This leads the states to some other nice tidbit: Microsoft has updated their await indicator with existent transparency. Woo.. hoo?

Oh, nosotros managed to see that expect indicator considering we tried to open up the Market place app, which is about definitely non working yet.

Moving right along, we have bad (very bad) news: Windows Media Player is 100% unchanged. The improvements that hit the unabridged Bone like flick scrolling and bigger menus are of form here, but the actor itself is still the staid, boring, hard-to-use, and semi-functional histrion we've had since essentially WM5. PocketTunes and Kinoma: your business model is safe for the foreseeable futurity.

That'southward nigh it, folks. Nosotros're fans of the new domicile screen, we're fond of the slightly updated wait, and we are fairly happy with the hexagons but not so much that nosotros're shouting it from the rooftops.

TI OMAP 3430

Of course, TI wasn't intending to bear witness off Windows Mobile 6.5 as they were the reference platform it's running on. It's designed for manufacturers and maybe even software developers to being to get a handle on how to make software -- from Windows Mobile to LiMo Linux to Android to the all-new webOS -- run on TI'south OMAP processors. The device itself is evidently not something you'd want to behave around, but dang if it doesn't button out the pixels with ataraxy. There were a few lags and drags here, but we're chalking that up to WM6.5 yet being in Alpha(!) and perhaps not fully optimized for this platform.

Specs on the animate being:

TI OMAP 3430 Proc with stacked 256MB low power DDR SDRAM and 512 NAND Flash Memory
Capacitive Touchscreen (yeah really)
four.i" 800x480 WVGA Display
QWERTY keypad
3G Modem Module (optional)
WiFi, Bluetooth, FM, Accelerometers
Video Out port - HDMI
6-in-1 SD/MMC Card Slot
USB On-The-Go Port
Debug Board
Stereo Speakers and dual microphones

See the bullet point cached in there? An honest-to-god HDMI Port. Hither it is, Windows Mobile 6.v putting out 720p video on the large screen over HDMI and no magic about it -- nosotros watched him plug the cable and switch the TV's video ourselves.

Nosotros're still not going to recommend anybody option up the OMAP34x-II equally an actual device to utilize mean solar day-to-day, merely with all those features, we'll admit it'due south tempting.