Any owners left? Lets talk old school Windows mobile 6.5 and below.

LightenSkies

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Hey guys I know this sounds completely silly to bring a subject up like this. Though I know there many of you out there that still have a Windows Mobile 6.5 and below OS handset. I happen to have myself a HTC HD2 though I downgrade it to WM6.1 I just didn't like WM6.5 though im curious. What apps or games do you still use or play on it? Care to say why you still love the old platform?

Currently well I don't have much apps been looking on a site that has freeware apps for old WM 6.1 there a few as for games doesn't look so amazing in that aspect ok sure there uno oh goody lol. Though hey lets hear some good stuff for once there enough negative conversations on these forums and im tired of it.. Be nice to chat about something old that was in my opinion awesome at a time.
 

LightenSkies

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Anyone know of a good place to get pocket pc apps for old time sake and I mean legit ones not pirated ones? Only place I found was http://www.freewarepocketpc.net. Man days like this makes me iwsh handago was around they had huge selection. I remember tweak2k2 as an app for WM that was awesome which is gone.
 

MSFTisMIA

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I sadly deleted a ton of my apps last year. There was a UNO card game app that was so funny and brutal to play...long live the "****ter" card.
 

Kevin Rush

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Windows 6.5! Oh what great memories. I spent so much time reading that small screen and filled with amazing wonder thinking that Microsoft was really on to something great. The rest is a great and then a sad sad Satya story. Let's not forget all the great Microsoft supporters! (Sadly, I also remember the loser Windows Mobile Phone defectors, especially those that stuck around, dedicated to promote the fruit and the horrible goggle.)
.
So many lost opportunities.

Found memories.
Best Wishes
 

LightenSkies

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Still amazing though how WM6.1/6.5 feels fast. Ok many of the old apps no longer function but the few games I was able to install on the hd2 ran great.
 

LightenSkies

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I sadly deleted a ton of my apps last year. There was a UNO card game app that was so funny and brutal to play...long live the "****ter" card.

Hey just wanted to let you know I found this place Free Windows Mobile Pocket PC, Symbian, Android, iPhone, iPad, Blackberry, Java, Maemo, PSP Download Software, Apps, Games, Themes that has a bunch of Windows mobile apps also for 5.0 and 6.1 and 6.5 :) There many free ones and some trail ones that may not be able to be bought since some of the developers site are gone.
 

AaizaNoor

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Windows 6.5! Oh come again? great recollections. I tired so much moment in time understanding so as to small computer computer screen and overflowing with wonderful wonder thinking that Microsoft was really on to great great. The rest is a great and then a sad sad Satya story.
 

michael rau

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I used 5-6.5 and loved it. Skipped 7(blackberry storm days), went to 8 loved it. Now 10 deal with it. I miss the inspiring times on win mobile. I enjoyed the slider with physical keys and a stylus. Free office apps... Looking at you office 365. Multicolor Led notifications support.
 

garak0410

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This is a great subject. I started with the Dell Axim when public wi-fi was a treat to have. Loved being able to go camping at KOA and "surf" on my Axim. I used the Axim until I moved to a Cingular 8125 (HTC) Windows Mobile phone. This phone was great and I remember playing Age of Empires on this thing endlessly, even wore out a part of the screen.

The bulk of my time was spent on the tiny but exciting HTC Fuze because this was when I discovered XDA Developers and flashing ROMS. I was able to stay ahead of the new Windows Mobile 6.5 by flashing the Raphael ROMS with HTC Sense. I even remember getting a "App Store" for Windows Mobile before they moved to "Series 7." I truly liked 6.5 even if was a mess to some.
 

TechFreak1

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I still have my HTC Touch Pro 2... It was an awesome phone. The amount of work I got done on that phone... just recalling it was actually insane.

Back then Windows Mobile 6.5 came with Microsoft office, so office was the biggest advantage for me as it meant I could work on documents on the go.

The camera was decent for it's time.

The other advantage was the stylus as it meant I could use the Touch Pro 2 to draw floorplans.

I also have a samsung omnia pro b7610... but that is nothing compared to the Touch Pro 2 and the stylus was really hit and miss.

What I loved by Windows Mobile 6.5 was that I could create a back up on device and have it save to msd card. I used PIMbackup and SPBbackup. The former to back up all my contacts, text messages to the msd card. SPB backup to back up my entire phone - think about that we were able to back up the entire phone using an app installed on the msd card to back up to the same very msd card.

Thanks to advanced WiFi configuration settings in WM6.5, I was able to run a mesh WiFi network using a ethernet back bone and WDS. So that meant whereever I was in the house I had WiFi at full bars.

Now, I have had to resort to the most backwards fixes ever conceiveable. I have to add my L930 to the each of my Wifi Routers - access point control registry and then delete it!

To get WiFi working seamlessly... :grincry::grincry::grincry: If I don't delete it I get the obscure WiFi address allocated 169.xxx.xxx.xxx . So I had to simplify my entire network, now If I'm lucky I'll get 1 bar of WiFi in the kitchen... and not to mention I have instances where i am connected to WiFi but I have "no internet connection", despite the fact I do but I have to toggle WiFi off and on again.

But it's not just WM10 devices now, Android and ios have the same issues now... I reckon the people who are actually writing WiFi chipset drivers don't actually understand how a WiFi network operates beyond the bits level (physical level).

That's what happens if you don't retain the most experienced engineers who actually had to code their own games just to make characters move. These days we just deal with simplified language and sprites....

But yeah I still have my HTC TP 2, although the screen is pretty much functional as a powered mirror. I managed to get everything working but the screen is proving difficult to fix as I have a verizon import. The reason it's an 10th+ hand import is that the global model doesn't have a headphone jack... the only other phone I used that didn't have headphone jack was the google g1 and it annoyed the heck out of me.

I would say it was due the Touch Pro 2 that I was able to make the transition from a physical keyboard user to phones without any physical keyboards. As my past daily drivers included blackberry bold 8700, curve 8900, the Nokia E61 - that was a solid phone.

I really wanted to get the HTC Touch Pro 7 but the lack of place to put the stylus along with the fact it pretty much used a your own msd card as part of the o/s.

The UX looked phenomenal, it had so much potential... but it lacked every single enterprise feature and advanced feature that made WM6.5 great. The landscape support was lacking as when you opened the keyboard the start screen was still in portrait mode. on the HTC TP2 the start screen changed orientation and in effect you now had another customisable start screen.

Good days, good days.

If Microsoft:

  • enabled custom roms
  • incorporated all the enterprise and advanced features
  • used the NT kernal, enabled users to their msd cards without it being swallowed by the os
  • allowed on device backups to msd cards
  • used secure element on device for tap to pay, the action centre (they had the gall to say the tiles were all that were required... lol (tiles that only displayed a number upto 99, went to zero when the app was opened - so you could still have unread emails but the tile will show no new e mail LOL)
  • Not to mention they didn't want to give us a file explorer
  • Did not have copy and paste - (Apple imo got away with it because no one is hyper critical of Apple when it comes to actual detailed analysis)
(Some of the reasons why I never bought a Wp7 phone)

Then they would have been onto a winner.... and we wouldn't be here recalling the good days of Wm6.5.

But as the saying goes everyone has hindsight but not many have foresight.
 

davebwi

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I still have my SAMSUNG Flip Phone that ran Windows Mobile 2002 and I upgraded to windows 2003!!
It was an awesome Smartphone! When I got on a plane , they didn't know what Airplane mode was!
The Model Was the SCH-I600
 
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csd_images

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I'm a long time Windows user, I was using various HTC phones from around 2002-2003 for a mobile office when travelling. Took me a long time to move to a phone minus a keyboard as I could, and still can, type faster on those than a non-tactile display. I use my Lumia 950XL today in a similar way as a mobile office and sat nav. I've never managed to get iOS or Android to work seamlessly in the same fashion without a lot of headaches and self-support.

Still have most of the phones from the years, apart from the one or two that was stolen.
 

robinVerdegaal

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Ex user here, started with an HTC SDA and had seven different devices until it ended with an HTC HD2 (meeemorieeees). That was an awesome device. Turned it into an Android handset briefly but jumped straight in to Windows Phone when that ROM came available.

"Windows Phone 7 was a step back in many regards, missing many features, functions and configurable options that Windows Mobile fanatics had come to know and love. Instead, Windows Phone 7 focused on the user-interface, making a beautiful, fluid Start Screen and Metro design language."

The main reason Microsoft went for a new system was not a design choice but the entrance of capacitive touch technology. Microsoft had to react with a fitting interface that did not need a stylus to operate, and did it so brilliantly that it still is the best operating system UI around. Running on mobile, tablet, desktop and VR. The same form factor on all those platforms, it's hard to overstate just how solid and verstatile Metro UI really is. And it looked so good too.

I'm very sad that I'm forced to switch to Android, just when Windows is becoming as mature as 6.5 was. I would have liked to hold out for the first 'Courier' phone. As much as I'm optimistic about full Windows on a mobile device, it's going to be on the back foot without many of the mobile apps available on Android and iOS.

Such a sad story. It's Video 2000 all over again!
 

anon(5571020)

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Oh man! After my Palm Pilot I had an HP Journada, then Compaq iPAQ with slide on battery extender back. I had a GPS card plugged into that and used to use it as satnav and tracking on motorbike trips round Europe. Then on to the HTC HD2 and XDA-developers ROMs (what a phone). Stuck with MS thru 7,8,8.5 and abandoned tat WP10, just as they abandoned mobile. Shame really - they had the market and let it slip away.
 

Bogdan Gheorghe

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Oh the memories.
I started with a HTC Diamond Touch (actually I had a WM5 PPC before but I forgot the brand and model. Besides, I wasn't much into tech back then). It was also the first mobile OS I ever wrote an app for. Unfortunately I don't have it anymore but honestly I would buy a WM6.5 device again if given the chance.
 

jmreuter

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Wow, lots of memories. I had Windows Mobile 5 and 6 phones. None with a stylus. I think an HTC S710 with the slide out keyboard, and Samsung Blackjack and Jack phones. Some of the earliest phones that allowed me to connect to my work Exchange email account, which was great. Very finicky to set up corporate access, but worked very well once that was done.

Then I moved to Windows Phone 7 with one of the very first Nokia models. I also had Zune hardware and a Zune subscription, so I loved the UI, the hub model, the subscription music, and the overall experience. But I hated that Microsoft copied the single worst aspect of iPhones of the time, namely the need to tether to a desktop app to get anything on and off of the phone.

Windows Phone 8 fixed the stupid tethering model, but started the decline of the hub model, and completely wrecked the music subscription models with something that was utter garbage, when they had the wonderful Zune model as a starting point!

Windows Phone 10 eventually brought back halfway decent music and improved some of the holes caused by losing the hub model. But Microsoft backing away from mobile seems to have also caused their good software talent to move on, so the fast ring betas and latest releases of 10 are the buggiest of any of the versions I have ever used, to the point of breaking normal use. Unless they pull off some kind of miracle, that and the continuing exodus of apps will be the last straw for most people still sticking with it.
 

fatclue_98

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Ah yes, WinMo 6.5. The last mobile OS that had remote desktop and network file sharing built in right out of the box. I also loved using the stylus with letter recognizer. A note taker's dream.

The bygone era of when smartphones were smart.

Sent from my Lumia 950XL on mTalk
 

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