CTIA Video: Hands On With Windows Mobile 6.1

Today I had the chance to spend a few moments with the newest version of Windows Mobile. Version 6.1 offers some nice usability enhancements, but the guts of the OS are essentially the same. Over The Air shot some video so you can see it for yourselves.The basic upgrades are, refreshed home screen, threaded SMS, easier configuration, and full HTML version of Internet Explorer Mobile.

The refreshed home screen really is nice. You can quickly scroll through most of your messages, including e-mails and voice mails, as well as other content such as your calendar or notes, without leaving the home screen. This reduces the time it takes to access the information you most want.

The threaded SMS capability is long overdue. Many other smartphone platforms offer this capability. It is simply how civilized smartphones should organize text messages. WinMo 6.1 does a decent job of it.

The biggest improvement will likely be the revised Internet Explorer Mobile. It brings in Adobe Flash and Silverlight, so users will get a richer, full HTML experience complete with embedded media.

Here is the video so you can see for yourselves: