Mobile Phone Blog:

Ah, here we go, onto the operating system I’m now a firm convert to, after the joys of owning a Sony Ericsson X1. Yup, it’s Windows Mobile, and this year, Microsoft had a nice ol’ batch of new stuff to show us.

Windows Mobile 6.5

First up, the big news from them is Windows Mobile 6.5, a new release of the operating system that’s gone thoroughly touch-crazy. As in touch with your finger, not a dibber (oh, alright, sorry, a stylus). The homescreen’s been completely replaced with a new, prettified layout; the main menu’s changed from the traditional grid to a honeycomb affair, which may or may not be easier to use with a finger, but which certainly looks a lot funkier; contacts, messages and menu are now bigger and more finger-friendly; oh, and most importantly, for big web users like me, Internet Explorer’s gone through a complete overhaul, with a new touch-zoom slider, and ‘frequently used’ buttons.

Ok, granted, WinMo 6.5 isn’t quite the absolute total overhaul many were expecting, but we’ve got version 7 next year (allegedly), and this version ably proves there’s life in the old dog, yet!

And anyway, as I said, I’m now a firm Windows Mobile convert, so I am prepared to argue with anyone who says differently…

MyPhone

Possibly as important as the newest version of WinMo is this little gem of an app (and one which I’ve been waiting for them to release for a while, now) called MyPhone. It’s a new online service from Microsoft that lets you sync up your phone’s contents, things like messages, contacts, photos and music, with their MyPhone online service, giving you an online backup, wherever you are, rather than having to wait till you’re at your PC to sync it up.

And yes, I already have pre-registered, so I can sync my phone up. Then I can do the firmware upgrade, from Sony Ericsson, which would wipe my data, otherwise.

Rest assured, there will be a full report on MyPhone when I get my account set up and do the whole sync-y thing!

SIMessenger

Now here’s a weird but cool little thingie! Many people’ll know that one of the cooler features of Windows Mobile phones is having MSN Messenger straight out of the box. I’ve got it on my X1, Matt’s got it on his HTC Touch HD, and since it makes the operators money, I can’t see it ever NOT being included in WinMo phones. But what about other phones? What about non-smartphones? What about tiny little budget phones, that you can’t even install extra software on? They’re stuck without it, right?

Well, not any more, because Microsoft have teamed up with a company called Gemalto, to make an application called SIMessenger. And from the name, you can probably guess where it’s installed…

Yup, SIMessenger is the Windows Live service, installed on a sim card, so that any phone can use Live! Messages you send and receive are done in the form of text messages, and it means that even people with the dumbest of dumb phones can still use Windows Live on their phone. And it’s more than just a pipe dream, because 3 South American networks have already picked it up and started punting them out to customers.

Whether it’ll wend its way over here, I have no idea, but hey, we all know how much networks like making money…

Next up: Samsung! And Sony Ericsson! Again! And be sure to subscribe now to get all the latest action from the Mobile World Congress 2009!