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Chris Jacob
Hmmm... much delayed Microsoft OS update turns out to be underwhelming at best and an irritating step backwards at worst. Why does that sound familiar?
You do realize this a .4 update to 6.1 right? It was not supposed to be a gigantic upgrade, 7 is going to be the major overhaul your wanting...
I agree though, its not really worth it to buy a new phone. But if you can snag a decent custom 6.5 Rom off xda-developers for your current phone, then there really is no reason to not update.
Not to mention the 6.5 found on handsets now is indeed a beta build rushed to new handsets and there are newer beta builds out with much better layouts not found on earlier 6.5 builds.
I know it is not the Microsoft style, but tossing away Windows Mobile and starting completely over would have been a better option. They said it themselves - they are supporting an operating system that started before a wireless connection was even an option, let alone a phone. Admittedly, WinMo 7 is mostly a re-write. Mostly. But, they must have known years ago that they were in trouble. The fact that WinMo phones from years ago had to be rebooted daily was not a good sign.
"V CAST TV is technologically interesting, but it's expensive and I'm not really sure how people will use it"
uh, try watching EPL games while at the Bed Bath & Beyond with the lady. Try watching Ohio vs. USC while on the way to the bar. Try watching ESPN while taking that morning breather on the toilet. ETC.!!!
dont down the service because YOU find no use for it. and just because YOU dont doesnt mean others can. Maybe someones trash can be someones treasure, and in my case I do treasure it and has become a lifesaver when it comes to games, and entertainment/news updater when it comes to espn and msnbc. check yo' self.
screw you, john herrman, with your inexplicable and tragic love of the letter "r". just "pretty good"? PRETTY GOOD? taco bell owns your face, loser eyeball man.
the gadget:
taco, chalupa, grilled stuft burrito, nacho, awesomeness, etc.
the price:
as cheap as discarded/diseased meat
the hardware:
crunchy tacos and nachos are freaking delicious
the software:
burritos and soft tacos and napkins are freaking delicious
the verdict:
taco bell and babies are freaking delicious
+freaking delicious
+cheap
+freaking delicious
+patriotic (eating taco bell can creat some pretty amazing fireworks)
+freaking delicious
-there is not a taco bell in my kitchen
@Anonymoose: You realize that John wants you to focus on that superfluous second 'r', yes? Your pointing it out only brings him the kind of particular glee that is enjoyed by people who love to screw with the minds of the OCD, like messing the tassels on a rug, or making irregular folds in the corners of paper. I do believe anyone that finds Taco Bell particularly "delicious" probably has some kind of terminal illness that alters the chemistry in your tastebuds, that may even have a positive effect on the taste of that black fungus-ridden oxidized jelly that drips from the rusted corner of a forgotten, trash-filled dumpster behind a low-rent Chinese restaurant.
I can't verify the flavor of babies, but I'm told that a mixture of hard boiled eggs and veal is the closest you'll ever find.
@Kaiser-Machead: screw you kaiser-machead and your love of hyphens. may an uncouth wildebeest steal your hyphen and your heart and never text you again after your torrid one-night stand of which you updated your facebook status to "kaiser-machead is totally in love with a caring and nurturing and sensitive and giving lover of a wildebeest, p.s. hannah montant concert last night totally rocked my liver"
taco bell is better than you and all of your follicles combined into a tasty bechamel sauce with fish eyes.
and actually, the thing that most resembles the taste of baby is not hard boiled eggs and veal (a myth perpetuated by the serbs, i believe). no, in fact it is a toddler. todddlers and babies taste strikingly similar.
@Kaiser-Machead: i know right? how could they text when text messaging rates are so high? just dial the number and call since you have the minutes included in your plan. those stupid, stupid, sexy wildebeest. i'm with you there, kaiser. they're just morally bankrupt.
He's not an idiot. The review is extremely biased. Anything good that the reviewer must admit about 6.5 is quickly followed by some rude phrase about how much he still hates it. Some of his complaints are actually about features that no other OS even has. The reviewer, despite supposedly having experience in this field, has overlooked an important point, that this is a mild upgrade to 6.1, hence the name. Many of his complaints focus on items that cannot be changed in such a small upgrade as this. I'm not a fan of WinMo, but I felt like I was reading a review written by a bratty child at times. I do have experience with 6.1 devices, Blackberrys, and the iPhone and I can say that 6.1 does provide a similar experience to all those when it comes to common user needs. I can send and receive email perfectly, edit Office documents, browse the web (with 3rd party browser), listen to music (via any one of a thousand media apps), get directions, get news, etc, etc. Microsoft just made it easierto do those things with a more touch friendly interface and capactive screen support. If pretty menus are really that important to you then buy a phone with TouchFlo or any of the other UI's available for WinMo.
Somewhere along the line Microsoft decided to evolve Windows CE into Windows Mobile and assume that mobile phone functionality could just be built-in.
Here's the flat truth: The desire for backwards compatibility and penchant for code re-factoring & supplementing (without *replacing*) has lead Microsoft down a long line of bloated, slow-to-evolve, bug-ridden and code-heavy operating systems.
Windows Mobile suffers the same fate. Why, could they not, since I first purchased my Casio Cassiopeia E115 in 1998, completely scrap their code-base and develop an entirely new architecture? It's not like I could even upgrade my Samsung SCH-i730 from just a few years ago without flashing the ROM (that's assuming the manufacturer custom-coded the upgrade) to even take advantage of a compatible upgrade. Windows Mobile has forced essentially non-backwards compatible upgrades on us for years without ever actually being rearchitected to compete with its quickly evolving and improving competitors. For years ago, the big news was something like "New MS Mobile OS out soon - Who will get the ROM upgrade?" Only a precious few!
How can MS be so ridden with compromises and paradoxes? It's a victim of it's perception that all software development at every level is engineering instead of recognizing it is also a craft which requires truly motivated and inspired programmers to drive innovation. They hit it with the 360, and maybe the ZuneHD and possibly Windows 7, but they have definitely missed on Windows Mobile so far.
I'm very disappointed with giz's and engadget's reviews. Make it seem like they don't know what Windows Mobile is really about.
Of course we are waiting for 7, but 6.5 isn't that bad. The end of the reiew should read typed on an iphone.
@br4nd0n: To start off, you're an idiot for typing such a ridiculous thing, i just thought you should know that.
Second, do you somehow think you have used a larger variety of phones than any of those people? Do you really think they dont understand what windows mobile is about (whatever the hell cryptic bs that means) i assume you mean, like making a phone call or failing to surf the internet?
To have such hubris that you think you have more experience than guys who probably interact with 10-15 different smart phones a day, is not only ridiculous, but it screams of an uneducated fanboy just needing to put in his jab cause someone didnt like his poor lil smartphone os made by the biggest software company on the planet who can do nothing but band-aid their old failures and sell it to you.
11/16/09
11/16/09
11/16/09
10/06/09
10/06/09
I agree though, its not really worth it to buy a new phone. But if you can snag a decent custom 6.5 Rom off xda-developers for your current phone, then there really is no reason to not update.
Not to mention the 6.5 found on handsets now is indeed a beta build rushed to new handsets and there are newer beta builds out with much better layouts not found on earlier 6.5 builds.
10/06/09
10/06/09
sooo, you're telling me WinMo is gonna try to be more like this guy?
10/06/09
10/06/09
Give the past a slip..
10/06/09
uh, try watching EPL games while at the Bed Bath & Beyond with the lady. Try watching Ohio vs. USC while on the way to the bar. Try watching ESPN while taking that morning breather on the toilet. ETC.!!!
dont down the service because YOU find no use for it. and just because YOU dont doesnt mean others can. Maybe someones trash can be someones treasure, and in my case I do treasure it and has become a lifesaver when it comes to games, and entertainment/news updater when it comes to espn and msnbc. check yo' self.
10/06/09
[fashionablygeek.com]
10/06/09
Ho-HO! That sounds like a throw-down to me.
10/06/09
It's honestly just filler since WinMo 7 is taking longer than they anticipate.d Hopefully it'll be worth the wait.
10/06/09
the gadget:
taco, chalupa, grilled stuft burrito, nacho, awesomeness, etc.
the price:
as cheap as discarded/diseased meat
the hardware:
crunchy tacos and nachos are freaking delicious
the software:
burritos and soft tacos and napkins are freaking delicious
the verdict:
taco bell and babies are freaking delicious
+freaking delicious
+cheap
+freaking delicious
+patriotic (eating taco bell can creat some pretty amazing fireworks)
+freaking delicious
-there is not a taco bell in my kitchen
10/06/09
I can't verify the flavor of babies, but I'm told that a mixture of hard boiled eggs and veal is the closest you'll ever find.
10/06/09
taco bell is better than you and all of your follicles combined into a tasty bechamel sauce with fish eyes.
and actually, the thing that most resembles the taste of baby is not hard boiled eggs and veal (a myth perpetuated by the serbs, i believe). no, in fact it is a toddler. todddlers and babies taste strikingly similar.
10/06/09
10/06/09
10/06/09
10/06/09
You're like the grown-up Peter Pan at the Neverland party.
Go balance your checkbook or something.
10/06/09
10/06/09
Here's the flat truth: The desire for backwards compatibility and penchant for code re-factoring & supplementing (without *replacing*) has lead Microsoft down a long line of bloated, slow-to-evolve, bug-ridden and code-heavy operating systems.
Windows Mobile suffers the same fate. Why, could they not, since I first purchased my Casio Cassiopeia E115 in 1998, completely scrap their code-base and develop an entirely new architecture? It's not like I could even upgrade my Samsung SCH-i730 from just a few years ago without flashing the ROM (that's assuming the manufacturer custom-coded the upgrade) to even take advantage of a compatible upgrade. Windows Mobile has forced essentially non-backwards compatible upgrades on us for years without ever actually being rearchitected to compete with its quickly evolving and improving competitors. For years ago, the big news was something like "New MS Mobile OS out soon - Who will get the ROM upgrade?" Only a precious few!
How can MS be so ridden with compromises and paradoxes? It's a victim of it's perception that all software development at every level is engineering instead of recognizing it is also a craft which requires truly motivated and inspired programmers to drive innovation. They hit it with the 360, and maybe the ZuneHD and possibly Windows 7, but they have definitely missed on Windows Mobile so far.
10/06/09
10/06/09
Of course we are waiting for 7, but 6.5 isn't that bad. The end of the reiew should read typed on an iphone.
10/06/09
Second, do you somehow think you have used a larger variety of phones than any of those people? Do you really think they dont understand what windows mobile is about (whatever the hell cryptic bs that means) i assume you mean, like making a phone call or failing to surf the internet?
To have such hubris that you think you have more experience than guys who probably interact with 10-15 different smart phones a day, is not only ridiculous, but it screams of an uneducated fanboy just needing to put in his jab cause someone didnt like his poor lil smartphone os made by the biggest software company on the planet who can do nothing but band-aid their old failures and sell it to you.