When it comes to the mobile operating systems, Microsoft does not have any glorious tales to tell, but the company intends to change it with the latest version of Windows Phone 7.5, also known as Mango. Microsoft has also tied up, amongst other leading phone manufacturers, with Nokia - the struggling Finnish mobile phone giant that is banking its future on Microsoft software.
Windows Phone Mango has released to rave reviews, but the mobile operating system journey for the software behemoth has been long and goes back a decade-and-a-half to 1996:
Windows CE: Microsoft announced the operating system Microsoft Windows CE for handheld PCs in 1996. Handheld PC manufacturers Casio Computer Co., Compaq Computer Corp., Hewlett-Packard Co., Hitachi Ltd., LG Electronics Inc., NEC Corp. and Philips Electronics joined hands with the Microsoft in demonstrating handheld PCs. The company later announced the Palm PC engineered with the Windows CE operating system in 1998.
Pocket PC 2000: Pocket PC 2000, originally codenamed 'Rapier', was released in 2000 and was based on Windows CE 3.0. Pocket PC 2000 was intended mainly for Pocket PC devices like handheld-sized computer, personal digital assistant. The only resolution supported by this OS was 240 x 320 (QVGA). It is said that the this Pocket PC operating system had similar appearance to Windows 98, Windows Me, and Windows 2000 operating systems. Built-in applications for Pocket PC 2000 included Pocket Word, Pocket Excel, Pocket Outlook, Pocket Internet Explorer, Windows Media Player and many others.
Pocket PC 2002: In 2002, Microsoft introduced another new version of its Windows CE 3.0 named Pocket PC 2002, originally codenamed 'Merlin'. Apart from all Pocket PC 2000 features, other features included were spell checker, word count, MSN messenger, Windows Media Player 8 with streaming capability, improved Pocket Outlook and more.
Windows Mobile 2003: In 2003, a new version of the Windows Operating system - Windows Mobile 2003 - was released. Originally codenamed 'Ozone', it was the first release under the Windows Mobile banner. Windows Mobile is a mobile operating system developed by Microsoft that was used in smartphones and mobile devices. Third parties can develop software for Windows Mobile with no restrictions imposed by Microsoft. It was launched in four editions - 'Windows Mobile 2003 for Pocket PC Premium Edition', 'Windows Mobile 2003 for Pocket PC Professional Edition', 'Windows Mobile 2003 for Smartphone' and 'Windows Mobile 2003 for Pocket PC Phone Edition'. New features included Bluetooth, picture applications with viewing, cropping, and e-mail support, support for add-on keyboards, Windows Media Player 9.0 with streaming optimisation, SMS reply options for Phone Edition and a host of other items.
In 2004, Windows Mobile 2003 Second Edition, named 'Windows Mobile 2003 SE', was released. New features included were Portrait and Landscape switching for Pocket PCs, Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) support. It also allowed users to backup and restore their devices through ActiveSync.
Windows Mobile 5: Windows Mobile 5.0, codenamed 'Magneto' was released in 2005. It had push functionality, photo caller ID, GPS interface, the QWERTY keyboard and Windows Media Player 10 Mobile.
Windows Mobile 6: In 2007, Microsoft introduced Windows Mobile 6, formerly codenamed 'Crossbow'. It comes in three different versions - 'Windows Mobile 6 Standard' for Smartphones (phones without touchscreens), 'Windows Mobile 6 Professional' for Pocket PCs with phone functionality, and 'Windows Mobile 6 Classic' for Pocket PCs without cellular radios. Windows Mobile 6 was based on Windows CE 5.0 (version 5.2). New features included VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) calling, improved Internet sharing, 320x320 and 800x480 (WVGA) screen resolution support and much more. The company came up with upgraded versions of this OS, with with various performance enhancements.
Windows Phone: Windows Phone is Microsoft's latest operating system for mobile devices, and is the successor to the 'Windows Mobile' platform. Microsoft unveiled Windows Phone on February 15, 2010, at the Mobile World Congress 2010 in Barcelona. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, at the February 2011 Mobile World Congress, announced a major update to Windows Phone 7 and titled it as 'Windows Phone 7.5'. However, the company launched its new Windows Phone operating system (OS) 'Windows Phone 7.5' - codenamed 'Mango' - in India on October 14, 2011.
The new OS has the rich and dynamic user interface - 'Metro' - of Live Tiles and Hubs that enables users to quickly find, connect and consume the content that they care about the most. In this OS, the conventional application icons have been replaced by Live Tiles on the Windows Phone start screen, thus boldly displaying important information at a glance. The 'People Hub' allows users to collate and keep their contact details in one place - ranging from SIM card to Outlook, LinkedIn to Facebook to Twitter. Besides, the 'What's New' feature in the 'People Hub' lets users see what others are posting, and also lets them comment in real-time. Moreover, the company has integrated the mobile version of its latest Web browser Internet Explorer i.e. IE9, into the new Windows Phone OS to offer users the same browsing experience they have on a PC. It also offers multitasking, thereby enabling users to easily switch between different apps in use. The new OS also lets users access to Windows Live SkyDrive through their smartphones, allowing them to store data on the cloud. However, the company has set the data storage limit for every user at a generous 25GB. Other interesting features include voice to text, pictures hub, vision search, threads and one button access to Bing search engine.
There are a number of devices available on Windows Phone OS such as HTC Radar, HTC Titan, Samsung Omnia W, Acer Allegro, Nokia Lumnia 800 and Nokia Lumnia 710.
While reviewers have praised the product, consumers have been a little slow to catch up. The recent entry of Nokia into the Windows Phone market does have the potential to tilt the scales a bit in Microsoft's favour.
Comments
0 comment