Windows Mobile 7 may sport new input methods

Filed under: OS Updates, Windows Mobile, Microsoft, Mobile Minute

Windows Mobile 7 may sport new input methods

by Brad Linder Jan 6th 2008

Nathan Weinberg at InsideMicrosoft has either got a great big scoop on some of the features Microsoft plans to put into Windows Mobile 7, or way too much time on his hands. For the duration of this post, we'll give him the benefit of the doubt and assume he got his hands on a leaked Microsoft document from sometime this summer explaining the new features to be packed into Windows Mobile 7.

The biggest news is that Microsoft plans to react to the iPhone's multi-touch screen in a big way. Windows Mobile 7 will reportedly support multi-touch, gesture controls, and will even react to motion thanks to interaction with your Smartphone's camera. Of course, there's a good chance not every device running Windows Mobile 7 will actually have a camera or a multi-touch screen, but the goal is to eliminate the scroll bar and let users flick from screen to screen a la the iPhone. Overall, the OS will supposedly be more finger-friendly than Windows Mobile 6 and earlier devices which really depend on a stylus or hardware keypad.

Weinberg also reports Windows Mobile 7 will get a major graphics overhaul, looking a bit more like Windows Vista than the iPhone. And he's also got screenshots of an improved on-screen keyboard and media player. While all signs point to Windows Mobile 8 being way cooler than Windows Mobile 7, if Weinberg's source is accurate, then we still can't wait to get our hands on a device running the next version of Microsoft's mobile operating system.

Tags: gestures, iphone, multi-touch, windows-mobile, windows-mobile-7

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

mgthantzin said 9:49PM on 1-06-2008

Oh good! it's really good to hear that they have 'planned' it! Hope it's not too late!! =']

The_Steven said 12:43AM on 1-07-2008

Oh great, now my Tilt is so yesterday.

michael said 12:56AM on 1-07-2008

Oh boy, cue the iPhone fanboys.

These screenshots really do look nice. But they don't all look consistent. Some have a nice shiny big button in the center, while some don't. And it's strange how some programs just look different from others, unless they're really meant to be that way, adapting to what's best.

And it is strange, how WinMo 7 is suppose to just be sort of a minor update with a few new features like WinMo 6, and WinMo 8 is suppose to be something amazing. Unless, these are really screenshots of WinMo 8, and Microsoft is jumping ahead (for some reason), with the possibility that WinMo 7 development might have already finished.

Of course, this is all speculation under 'leaked' photos, but they look pretty convincing and it doesn't hurt to have some hope.

And yeah, there are some crappy phones running WinMo, but there are also great phones that run WinMo, and like the Windows desktop OS, bad experiences with WinMo have some correlation to using a crappy phone.

I'm hoping that Microsoft has more stronger requirements as to what WinMo 7 phones include, to provide a more cohesive experience, instead of hoping it might have a camera, or this amount of memory, etc. Forming a stronger bond with the hardware that goes with WinMo is pretty important.

All said, I hope WinMo 7 goes along with what these screenshots show.

john said 7:55PM on 1-07-2008

Yeah, this is great and all but PointUI (http://www.pointui.com) provides a lot of this now...seriously, what the F is up with MS? A company with that many resources continues to spew out shit like WM6?

Pull it together lads....

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