Announced slightly earlier than expected, Microsoft took the wraps off its new mobile operating system, Windows Mobile 6. We have pictures of some of the new features, so take a peek at what could be on your next smart phone or PDA.
So, what's the big deal? Aside from the green, it looks like the same old Today screen of Windows Mobile 5 devices, right? Keep on clicking; there's more, we promise.
A new feature called the Calendar Ribbon allows you to check your calendar by day view or week view, giving you a quick and easy glance at your schedule.
Another look at the week view. At the bottom of the screen, you can see what event you have scheduled at a particular time as well as other information, such as meeting location.
Microsoft says WM6 offers "the most genuine Microsoft Office experience," and includes a new mobile version of Outlook. From your in-box, you can see which messages are flagged, marked as high or low importance, and so forth.
With WM6, you can now view e-mail in its original HTML format and click on live links. There's also an option to dial a number if one is listed within a message. More good news: all WM6 devices will have Direct Push technology for real-time e-mail delivery.
One of the complaints about the Windows Mobile OS has been the number of steps it takes to complete a simple task. So, Microsoft has added nine new e-mail shortcuts so you can easily reply, delete, move messages, and more.
With Windows Live for Mobile, you can access Windows Live services, such as mail, messenger, and search. There is now the ability to send pictures, voice clips, and have multiperson chats with Messenger as well.
With WM6, call history for a contact is now placed on that person's contact page. Of course, you still have the ability to store various numbers, e-mail, Web, and street addresses, assign a photo, and more.
Microsoft will again offer two versions of the operating system for mobile phones. However, instead of Smartphone Edition and Pocket PC Edition, they've been renamed to Standard and Professional, respectively. Here is the dial page from WM6 Professional Edition. (There also will be a Pocket PC Edition, called Classic, for standalone PDAs.)
The new mobile versions of Word (pictured here), Excel, and PowerPoint allow you to view and edit documents with original formatting, including tables, images, and text. The Standard Edition (formerly Smartphone Edition) will even allow for editing.
