istartedsomething

Sneak peek at Windows Mobile 6.5 themes

April 6th, 2009 AEST by Long Zheng
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For what it’s worth, Windows Mobile 6.5 is shaping up to be quite a modern-looking mobile operating system, even if its new looks are only skin deep.

In one of the latest builds to have leaked (among the many that has), build 21202 for those of you playing at home, are the much talked about bundled designer themes, including but not limited to the pink and white Gingham by Isaac Misrahi. It is now revealed some of the other designers are Ron Arad, Vera Wang, Rock and Republic and Diane von Fürstenberg. Simply said, they look great.

Without a further ado, the themes. Screenshots courtesy of Patrick from OSNN.net.

wm65themes
From top left to bottom right: Default; Ron Arad (Orange); Vera Wang (Red); Rock and Republic (Black);
Classic (Blue); DVF (Green); Isaac Misrahi (Purple)

Whilst the wallpaper is essentially the most visible element of the theme, a good wallpaper can be all the difference between a great looking interface and a stunning interface, especially if the UI exposes it as much as it does here with all of its alpha-blending goodness. And I’m sure Microsoft is not going to go easy on the number or variety of themes available in the final release. My current favorite is the default one.

32 Comments

  1. Kristan Kenney

    Apr 6th, 2009 at 3:28 am

    These look great! :D

  2. pureelite

    Apr 6th, 2009 at 3:29 am

    Nice, Still not going to buy it though.

  3. Sterling

    Apr 6th, 2009 at 3:30 am

    I like all except for “Red”, “Blue” and “Purple”. “Purple” is nice but what I don’t like about is that is has too much pink and purple.

  4. Clifton Griffin

    Apr 6th, 2009 at 3:31 am

    This is definitely an improvement over the screenshots from earlier builds.

    I still feel like Microsoft was very conservative with this release. This was the time to go all the way…to really reinvent how Windows Mobile fits into a world filled with iPhones. 6.5 barely keeps up with what others have been doing to make 6.1 work (TouchFLO for example).

    I’m hopeful that 7 will really turn heads.

  5. Long Zheng

    Apr 6th, 2009 at 3:35 am

    @Clifton: In my opinion, I think this new “Today screen” is very intuitive compared to most other mobile’s “main screen” solutions. Coupled with the even better WM6.5 “lock screen” I think WM6.5 is more innovative than people give it credit for.

    Of course, the experience is not equal across the OS, and quickly deteriorates to WinCE-standards among some low-level apps and system settings.

  6. Taimur Asad

    Apr 6th, 2009 at 4:41 am

    Awesome!

  7. Michael

    Apr 6th, 2009 at 4:42 am

    I really like the Classic Blue. I still hope that the HTC Touch HD will be able to upgrade.

  8. Andre F.

    Apr 6th, 2009 at 5:41 am

    I like the menu system. Will definitely upgrade my X1 when this is out. :D

  9. Imran Hussain

    Apr 6th, 2009 at 5:41 am

    Nice themes. Default theme is the first one, right?

  10. Alsiladka

    Apr 6th, 2009 at 5:58 am

    Correct me if i am wrong, but according to these screenshots, the only changes are the wallpapers. The Bars are mostly transparent, they are just displaying the wallpaper, but in a slight translucent view.
    On what basis are these called themes? Will the icons be different or what?

  11. Imran Hussain

    Apr 6th, 2009 at 6:10 am

    Alsiladka: If you see the last image, the color used for the ‘glass’ effect is purple. That seems one of the basis on which these are called themes. From the Microsoft website:
    “The Theme Generator, available at http://www.windowsmobile.com later this year, will enable Windows® phone users to select pictures from their PC to set as background images, as well as choose colors to personalize their navigation bar, scroll bar and highlighted text.”

  12. Clifton Griffin

    Apr 6th, 2009 at 7:34 am

    @Long: It’s definitely a step in the right direction, I’ll give you that!

  13. Glen

    Apr 6th, 2009 at 9:08 am

    @Clifton – Yes they should have done far more with 6.5… but thats what 7.0 is meant to be all about. Unfortunately, current alpha pics of WM7.0 look very disappointing.

    @Michael – the XDA link Long refers to is for the Touch HD (aka Blackstone, from memory) so although it’ll probably not be officially released, the wizards at XDA will continue to make it available – and it will run faster than the core Microsoft / HTC release!

    There are a lot of nice little touches to the UI but they should have used either CHome or Titanium “right across” the UI in my view.

  14. Nicholas

    Apr 6th, 2009 at 9:28 am

    I have Ron Arad (Orange) theme on my XPERIA and it is looking great :)

  15. Bob

    Apr 6th, 2009 at 2:42 pm

    @Long: See? If you look, you will find. :)

  16. anonymous

    Apr 6th, 2009 at 4:55 pm

    What you are trying to become Windows Mobile MVP? :P

  17. Fred

    Apr 6th, 2009 at 7:11 pm

    Nice, I like orange and blue. Purple is cool because it’s so different from the usual black, blue and white mobile UI’s.

  18. Stefan Constantinescu

    Apr 6th, 2009 at 9:17 pm

    Hmmm, no internet bar or icon on the home screen. One would think going online would be a key component of Windows Mobile devices.

  19. Uridotchi

    Apr 7th, 2009 at 12:08 am

    Hmmm.. having a skin deep change to the primary screen that is so-so modern looking is NOT innovative! For someone that have used WinMobile since the Windows CE days up until recently switching over to an iPhone – it’s about UI consistency and a “it just works” that really works. After years of unexplainable lockups, networking inconsistencies and just plain clunky UI – if Windows Mobile 7 isn’t a completely radical overhaul, then with the Palm Pre raring to go – MS should just forget about smartphones.

  20. Fake Al Gore

    Apr 7th, 2009 at 3:28 am

    I started using Windows-powered handhelds with Windows CE 3.0 PocketPC Edition (Casio Cassiopeia E-125), and I have continued using them through Windows Mobile 2003, 5.0, 6.0, and now 6.1.

    And I’m no longer impressed. Microsoft has really dropped the ball here. The web browser is based off of Internet Explorer 4.0. The operating system is still using Windows CE 5.2. Getting an AKU from your vendor is nearly impossible. Why can’t Microsoft provide these updates? They’re late to the game with an application store.

    Microsoft was never a big player in this industry. Palm reigned supreme in the early days. Once phone functionality was added, RIM’s Blackberry won the day. Now with Internet browsing being a huge factor, Apple’s iPhone is the new king. When will Microsoft learn from its mistakes and either step up their game or drop out of the race?

  21. David

    Apr 7th, 2009 at 5:44 am

    @Stefan Constantinescu: Internet Explorer can be launched directly from the “Favorites” panel on the Today screen, like this: http://www.jcxp.net/david/images/winmo/internet.png

  22. Cyber

    Apr 7th, 2009 at 7:39 am

    @Fake Al Gore

    Same situation for me. I totally agree with your comment.
    My opinion is that Microsoft recently realized the importance of this segment and how neglecting they have been with a very (at the time) innovating platform. Windows Mobile, from the consumer standpoint, is laughable when compared with the competition (mostly Apple and Palm).
    Windows Mobile 6.5 seems to be driven by a small team with limited artistic resources and innovative skills. You just have to look at the horrible scroll bars, the IE zoom bar and the basic controls to understand that the much required UX refactoring won’t happen with 6.5.
    Meanwhile, there is probably some hope. I really think that the real work force is already at work on a complete Windows Mobile revamping that version 7 will be. And I expect Silverlight to be a key player in this refactoring at the UX level. Time will tell.

  23. Cyber

    Apr 7th, 2009 at 7:43 am

    And I forgot…
    If this is not the case, then they should clearly forget the mobile platform. They are already late and without a major splash very soon, it is “game over”. Apple and Palm won’t stop anytime soon.

    And since Mobile 6.5 is not going to splash very hard, that leaves only version 7.

  24. Faisal

    Apr 8th, 2009 at 4:40 am

    i really like the 1st one (Black) & last one. :)

  25. Javier

    Apr 8th, 2009 at 5:03 am

    Im wondering, when this is going to be release? Like what phones are going to have this os ? sorry for the noob Q’s

  26. Daniello223

    Apr 10th, 2009 at 7:23 pm

    I have to admit I do not see what is so great about these themes. It’s just different wallpapers and minimal other changes (a differend colourded glass bar – big whoop?). Even the Symbian themes (!) are way more sophisticated. You might argue that the wallpapers look nice – they do, but, seeing as there are hundreds of -better- wallpapers used in other (non-microsoft) mobile ‘themes’ (real themes, actually, not just changed wallpapers), I do not share the exaggerated excitement expressed above (I like the alliteration).

  27. ozziegal2009

    Apr 15th, 2009 at 7:10 am

    Here’s a link to an entertaining video on Windows Mobile created by Microsoft. http://www.microsoft.com/video/en/us/details/2e08e6c5-73b2-403f-a9b1-f 41fce6a08bd. Enjoy!

  28. Ffd

    Apr 19th, 2009 at 2:33 pm

    They’re pretty much based on the Zune interface…Which i find very good. It looks much more clear and easy-to-use than WM 6.0. Makes me wonder if Microsoft has learned something with the iPhone

  29. Patrick

    Apr 26th, 2009 at 10:30 am

    Nice Blog ! ;-)
    More Themes under http://www.All4phones.de

  30. GrassGuy

    Jun 24th, 2009 at 2:15 pm

    http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3332/3654808612_30dec29dbf.jpg

  31. Yong Hwee

    Jul 20th, 2009 at 8:49 pm

    Any chance of someone uploading the wallpapers?

  32. Boom

    Jul 23rd, 2009 at 1:22 am

    so, i recently flashed my htc kaiser over to 6.5, and i will say they’ve done a good job. there are a few things i’m not too keen on. like internet explorer, but then again you can always download opera mobile (which is pretty boss if i do say so myself). the UI is great. cud use some improvements, but i say it’s pretty good, and cnt wait for windows mobile 7. btw, apple is totally communist (they basically control everything you can and cant do on ur computer. that’s kind of a suck experience to have on any os… jus sayin)

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