Keeping Up with the Joneses: Windows Mobile 6.1's New Upgrades

icrosoft has recently updated its latest Windows Mobile 6 platform with a point one release–Windows Mobile 6.1. With so many new devices from handsets giants such as LG, Samsung, and of course, Apple, Microsoft is under intense pressure to improve its Windows Mobile platform's usability (as is evident with this new release).

The new Windows Mobile 6.1 affects both Windows Mobile Professional devices as well as Windows Mobile Standard devices (more commonly known as Smartphones). However, the most noticeable improvements are on Standard devices, which do not have touch screens. Hence, this article will focus on some of the new features available on Windows Mobile 6.1 Standard. Note that most of the changes are UI-related and are incremental improvements over Windows Mobile 6. Radical changes won't happen until the next major version of Windows Mobile arrives.

New Windows Mobile 6.1 Form Factors
In this updated release, Windows Mobile 6.1 supports some new form factors. For Windows Mobile 6.1 Standard devices, the following are the new form factors:

• DPI: 131—Resolution: 320 x 320 pixels
• DPI: 131—Resolution: 400 x 240 pixels
• DPI: 131—Resolution: 440 x 240 pixels

For Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional devices, the following are the new form factors:

• DPI: 96—Resolution: 240 x 400 pixels
• DPI: 192—Resolution: 480 x 800 pixels