Microsoft Releases Windows Mobile 5.0

[Stevie]

Windows Mobile 5.0 has familiar features that will help you manage e-mail and Office attachments when out of the office.

The next version of Windows Mobile Software includes Windows Media Player 10 Mobile, a great multimedia experience that will make it easy to transfer songs, videos, and pictures from your PC to your device.

Plus, the new platform offers more ways for developers, mobile operators, and OEMs to innovate.


Customization Options

Enhancements in Windows Mobile 5.0 will provide device-makers and mobile operators with more options to differentiate themselves from competitors and ultimately provide end users with a wider range of converged devices. Partners can take advantage of the following features:

• New technologies. Increased platform flexibility, the top customization request, enables partners to plug in differentiated technologies such as "push-to-talk" or video calling and conferencing.

• Network support. Support for higher-bandwidth 3G networks, Wi-Fi for the Smartphone platform and improvements to existing Bluetooth® support enable more flexibility to integrate mobile phone services across a variety of networks.

• One-handed operation. Across the Windows Mobile platform, soft-key integration, landscape display orientation and QWERTY keyboard support will enable hardware partners to develop compelling devices with improved one-handed keyboard navigation that empowers customers to access their information without a stylus.


Building on the more than 18,000 commercial Windows Mobile-based applications available today, developers can utilize tools available in the Beta 2 of Visual Studio® 2005 and new application programming interfaces (APIs) to quickly and easily develop a variety of rich mobile applications such as location-based services, 3-D gaming and video that bring to life compelling entertainment and productivity scenarios. Further, integration with Microsoft SQL Server (TM) 2005 Community Technology Preview in Windows Mobile 5.0, along with integration with the Beta 2 of Visual Studio 2005, allows businesses to extend critical business information and applications to mobile devices in the field.

Increased Productivity

With its updated and enhanced look, Windows Mobile 5.0 enables industry partners to create devices and solutions that provide mobile information workers with more efficient and secure access to information. These refinements include the following:

• Persistent memory storage. The most requested productivity feature from partners and customers alike, persistent memory storage retains information even when the device's battery is depleted.

• Microsoft Office software for Windows Mobile. Users will be able to view and create charts in Excel Mobile, and edit documents with graphics using Word Mobile while maintaining document formatting with files created on a PC. A new PowerPoint® Mobile application has been included for Pocket PC, giving road warriors the ability to view and rehe**** presentations.

• Security. Complementing a number of security features already included in the Windows Mobile platform, such as Bluetooth authorization and end-to-end encryption over a virtual private network, Windows Mobile 5.0 has gone through extensive threat-modeling testing and completed the rigorous Microsoft Trustworthy Computing full security review. The platform is also FIPS-140-2-certified, meaning it meets the stringent U.S. government security requirements for IT products.


Integrated Multimedia

With the more than 25 Windows Mobile content partners, the ability to play multimedia files has long been a hallmark of the platform. Windows Mobile 5.0 offers enhancements that enable industry partners to provide a more powerful and personalized multimedia experience through the following features:

• Windows Media Player 10 Mobile. Customers can enjoy a larger number of protected digital music, video and recorded television files that can be synchronized easily from a PC or downloaded from many Internet-based services and mobile operators' music stores with Windows Media Player 10 Mobile. The updated player also enables synchronization of users' playlists, album art and song ratings. Partners can plug in additional digital rights management (DRM) technologies to help advance their specific media business models.Pictures and video. A new pictures and video application will add advanced features such as burst mode and timer function previously found only on high-end digital cameras.

• Extended storage. Additional support for hard drives and Universal Serial Bus (USB) 2.0 will enable people to easily and quickly store large amounts of information -- such as entire digital picture and music libraries -- on a mobile device and synchronize this content with a PC.

Sources

http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/p...Mobile5PR.mspx