Windows Mobile phones get a facelift - but roll on version 7

The new Windows Mobile 6.5 is here, along with a handful of the latest phones designed to use this latest version of Microsoft’s smartphone OS. It comes in two flavours, the Standard version, and the Pro version for touchscreen phones.

Online store Expansys is offering unlocked SIM-free handsets such as the HTC HD2 for £550, the HTC Touch2 for £290 and the Acer Neo Touch (F1) at £350, so the gadget-conscious can get the latest kit immediately without having to wait for their current phone contract to end. They certainly compare very favourably with the handset-only prices advertised for iPhones – how about £955 for a 32GB iPhone 3G S!

Now branded simply “Windows phone” the new OS claims to give you “what you love about your PC, made for your phone”. All the familiar applications come pre-loaded – Internet Explorer, Bing (!), Outlook and Hotmail, Office suite (Excel, Word and Powerpoint) and Windows Live – complete with MSN Widgets. The emphasis seems to be on the ease of use of consumer applications, such as the built-in Facebook functionality and easy photo and video uploading.

The Windows ‘Marketplace for Mobile’ is the tongue-twister of a name given to Microsoft’s equivalent of Apple’s App Store in iTunes. I tried to browse it, but it seems you can only do this from a Windows Mobile 6.5 phone, so I have no idea what if anything is available to download. I think it’s a safe bet to assume that the shelves are a little more sparse than at the Apple store.

Microsoft is offering a free online backup service (up to 200MB of data) so you can protect your phone content from loss, using the ‘Microsoft My Phone’ service. Once set up you can sync your contacts, calendars, text messages, photos and more to a password-protected web site using My Phone. Text messages and contacts can then be searched easily from the My Phone site, even if you have lost your phone.

General useability has been improved. As someone who struggles with locking and unlocking phones, I particularly like the updated lock screen function in 6.5 Pro, which displays new messages and diary appointments without needing you to unlock the phone first. The new home screen design looks good, but scratch beneath the surface and a lot of the applications look rather like old-fashioned PDA apps – which they no doubt are – so it’s hardly going to endear the new OS to the iPhone generation.

There’s even less to get excited about if you’re looking for strictly business use. Office Mobile is now fully compatible with Office 2007, and Office Outlook Mobile looks just like its big screen counterpart, so mobile users will feel at home away from the office.

Is 6.5 enough to attract iPhone and Google Android customers? Probably not, but it shows that Microsoft is still in the game and pushing hard. 6.5 is a holding version in advance of Windows Mobile 7 which was due to launch this year, but is now promised for 2010, and that’s when Microsoft is promising the big changes to its mobile OS. Let’s hope it’s worth waiting for.