Just yesterday we were mentioning the latest leaked build of WM6.5, build 28004, which is branched off as WM6.5.3.

This is the latest in a series of builds by Microsoft that continues to make things more finger-friendly, that much is obvious. What is not obvious is where exactly this fits in with Microsoft's plan in regards to WM6.5 and WM7, and whether this ever see the light of day in an official capacity. (Even the much-heralded HTC HD2 is running older builds.)

Looks like the folks at MoPocket have, off the record, spoken to a Microsoft representative at a trade show, and they asked directly about what all of these builds were about.

In short, it is about the coming wave of capacitive devices. According to the rep, capacitive screens are much more responsive but far less accurate than resistive. (But you already knew that.) In turn, things need to be bigger to touch (and this is also why the iPhone does not have handwriting recognition). 

As a result ...

"Windows Mobile ... is a UI designed to be able to tap with nearly pixel accuracy. As it stands, the top bar and bottom bar of WM6.5 aren’t tall enough to be able to have clickable buttons without a resistive display."

And what about the HD2, you may ask? After all, it has a capacitive display.  Indeed and HTC had to do a lot of in-house work to make that happen, because it's not actually enabled by Microsoft in the OS. That's something we've asked about before on the podcast, and Microsoft is working to make it easier for the OEMs by building it into the OS.

So there you have it. WM6.5.x is real, but looks to be designed for next-generation capacitive displays and might well not be an upgrade for current WM6.5 devices. (Though it could well point to the availability of  more capacitive-display phones before the launch of Windows Mobile 7.) It also probably won't be called WM6.5.1 either, just another special variant for specific devices.

Read more mopocket 

Our pals at Android Central seem a little stoked that the Swype keyboard is coming to Android. And they should be. They have capacitive screens. (Yeah, we're going there again.) That said, we're still not convinced this is going to revolutionize on-screen keyboards, and we're not too crazy about the side-by-side test you see above. But what we do love are options, and Swype certainly presents that. Look for it next week on the Samsung Omnia II. [Techcrunch]

Just realized we'd made you guys go more than 24 hours without some drool-worthy HTC HD2 footage. Sorry about that. Hope the shakes weren't too bad. To make up for it, here's some video goodness from TechBlog.gr of the HD2 in all its 4.3-inch, capacitive touchscreen, slap-your-momma-Snapdragon-is-so-fast goodness. Oh, yeah, and that is multitouch you see in action.

Bring it, HTC. Bring. It.

Via Mobile Tech World and wmpoweruser

Can't get enough of the HTC HD2? Yeah, us, either. Pocketnow got a tip that includes a few more details.

• The HD2 name is good. (So long, Leo codename.)
• The phone will launch in Holland by November, for about $800 U.S.
• As you can see in the picture above, it indeed has a capacitive screen, but multitouch doesn't work in Internet Explorer. That means no pinch-and-zoom.

Presumably that's a current version of PIE running on Windows Mobile 6.5 and not a newer version of the mobile browser — pinch-and-zoom works fine on the Zune HD's flavor of PIE. And we're still pretty doubtful that we'll ever see the HD2 in the U.S. Sorry, folks.

Well will ya look at that. While the phone itself remains in the shadows, what you're looking at obviously is the pinch-and-zoom we're used to from multitouch capacitive-screened phones -- and here it is on the HTC Leo.

Things are moving a little fast so it's tough to tell exactly what's running. To my weary eyes it looks like the photo viewer within TouchFLO 3D. That right to you guys?

Either way, take that, you nattering nabobs of negativism. Multitouch on Windows Mobile. Ka-chow!

PocketPT via wmpoweruser

Well, you found us out. Deep down in our heart of hearts, we don't like resistive touchscreens. And we don't like you if you do. Yep. That's our big secret. (For those keeping score at home, we also don't like broccoli, counties that don't follow Daylight Savings Time, and drivers who use the parking brake on level roads.)

Folks, let's everybody take a deep breath here. Buried within an announcement of a new phone was a brief parenthetical stating that the device (unfortunately) had a resistive touchscreen. Why is this "unfortunate?" Because as the rest of the smartphone world supports capacitive screens, Windows Mobile still does not. iPhone? Yep. Android? Got it. Palm's webOS? Sure thing. (As to whatever evil creature was sacrificed to create BlackBerry's touchscreen, well ...)

If there's one thing we Windows Mobile fans are particularly proud of, it's that our operating system of choice covers just about every permutation of phone out there. Keyboard/no keyboard. Umpteen different screen resolutions at a number of DPIs. D-pad/no D-pad. 3.5mm headphone jack/stupid proprietary adapte -- well, certainly we're all on the same page on that one, right?

Point is, it doesn't matter whether you think capacitive touchscreens are better than resistive. Different strokes for different folks. We're really not advocating one way or another. It's your phone. Hell, my daily driver doesn't even have a touchscreen, so there. It's unfortunate that current Windows phones (and upcoming phones, at least for a while longer) don't have the option of using either capacitive or resistive touchscreens. That deprives you, the user, or the choice. And if you want to put up with that, well, you know where to go.

Now that we all have our knickers untwisted, sound off in the poll below, and then yell at us some more in the comments.

Your body isn't good enough for HTC. That is, according to a patent filed last year by the smartphone manufacturer. The patent covers a magnetic stylus for capacitive touchscreens that "is controlled by the stylus through magnetism of the head."

Interestingly, the patent references HTC's biggest competitor, the iPhone, to describe a capacitive screen. Anyhoo, the patent goes on to discuss that the UI must be designed with the finger in mind, and our fat little digits can get in the way.

In order to cater to the user's operation mode of using a finger, icons displayed on a screen must be configured in an appropriate size to prevent the user from miss touching the icons. Furthermore, a part of the screen is often shielded by finger of the user when the capacitive touch panel is used. Moreover, a conventional stylus has a small head, so that a user can click small icons conveniently, but the conventional stylus is only applicable to resistive touch panels, but not applicable to capacitive touch panels.

So how's it work?

The head of the stylus of the present application is magnetic. Therefore, when a relative speed exists between the head and the capacitive touch panel, an inducting current is generated on the capacitive touch panel. Then, the capacitive touch panel calculates a position where the inducting current is generated according to the inducting current. Thus, the stylus can control the capacitive touch panel.

Cool stuff. Maybe we'll get to see it when Windows Mobile, ya know, supports capacitive touchscreens. Check out the full patent here. [via wmpoweruser]

Last month Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer raised a bit of a ruckus (OK, when does he not) when discussing capacitive touchscreens and how he doesn't believe the iPhone uses them in a way that keeps the phone price economical.

Needless to say, many of you scoffed – nay, you were outraged – over the idea that Windows Mobile still doesn't support capacitive touchscreens simply because it costs too much. (And more than a few of you could care less, and that's OK, too.)

But fear not, loyal reader. We're here today to tell you that we believe capacitive touch is coming to Windows Mobile. We don't expect to see it with Windows Mobile 6.5, but it's probably coming thereafter. Our reasoning, after the break.

Read the rest of this entry »

The Toshiba TG01 still hasn't gotten into the hands of the consumer (though we're growing more impressed with it every day), and already we're getting wind of its follow-ups, along with a couple other Windows Mobile devices with some exciting features. The shakedown, after the break, from Greek site Techblog: [via]

Read the rest of this entry »

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer just had a chat with BusinessWeek, and All Things Digital's Peter Kafka was a fly on the wall for the event. He paraphrased the chat, which we'll boil down even further here.

On smartphones: Expects the market to grow to 70 or 80 percent the next few years. "So what will people want? Good experience built in, without downloading stuff. [Eds note: You're allowed to chuckle here] You want good price range." Sweet spot is $150 to $200, but they want to "make Windows phones up and down the price scale."

On "touch" and the iPhone: "Windows Mobile 6.5 has touch on it. The way Apple does touch drives cost. The way they do it on the iPhone is not an inexpensive component. We’ll do it in a way that you can afford to do it on most phones."

[That could very well be the best reason why we haven't seen capacitive-touch Windows phones yet. It just costs too darn much. And by "best" we mean huh?]

On the upcoming retail stores: "It is a challenge today for our partners, who do the most innovative designs, to get them to market. Because it’s too high risk for the Best Buys of the world. So we need an outlet to champion that innovation. Showcase devices that are hard to get stocked in traditional electronics retailer."

Hit up the full Q&A for more on Microsoft and cloud services, whether the Ballmer family indulges in any Apple gadgets, and what life's like without Bill Gates at work every day.