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Well Microsoft have finally announced Windows Mobile 6.5 at the Mobile World Conference. They also announced several other services including:

MyPhone - MyPhone is a free online service that lets Windows Mobile 6.5 users sync their data to the cloud. The data it will synch includes SMS, media files, contacts etc. However it will not work with MS Exchange and will not be a full backup of the phone. The communication between the device and the cloud goes both ways: users can add files from a web interface to their phone.

Windows Marketplace - Windows Marketplace is an app store where users can find and download applications directly from the phone. Previously, it was possible to find apps and download them as .cab files, but the process was painful, especially when the search was done on the handset itself.

Windows Mobile 6.5 with have a variety of enhancements including new lock screen that provides dynamic notification to the honeycomb start menu, a finger-friendly Today screen and a new version of Internet Explorer Mobile that offers Adobe Flash lite support.

There is no specific date of release but the Touch Pro 2 and Touch Diamond 2 will use WM 6.5

Posted by user xaoc747 at the hyperactive XDA Developers' Forum are what appear to be the first official screenshots of Windows Mobile 6.5

While it looks nice there is nothing that compares to the likes of the iPhone.

Neowin (via Wmpoweruser) are reporting that the first Windows Mobile 6.5 ROM has leaked and is available for Blue Angel (O2 XDA IIs, Qtek 9090, T-Mobile MDA III) devices. Apparently the ROM is only beta so it is likely to be missing a few features.

The rom appears to be publicly available via XDA-developers:

Windows Mobile 6.5 features include:

• MSTOUCH(UPDATE)
• TouchRecognizer
• Touch LockScreen
• IE6[IE Mobile8.12Pro]2009 Only for 6.5
• CMHome For WM6.5PRO
• Live For WM6.5

Microsoft are set to unveil WM 6.5 next month at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

Microsoft are also developing Windows Mobile 7 and this is expected for  release in the second half of this year. However it has already been delayed and was planned for release the first quarter of this year. I am sure we will see a few more delays between now and the planned release date.

I have previously mentioned (several times) that I was disappointed with Windows Mobile 5 and version 6 as I found them both very buggy with frequent crashes requiring software or worse hardware resets. I have not tried 6.1 but I do hope the new versions improve a lot. I like to see a bit of competition between manufactures and this year does look good for smartphones.

A video of Windows Mobile 6.5 running on BA is after the jump.

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