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Windows Mobile 6.5 Honeycomb Menu – Usability?

Posted by Chris Leckness on March 2, 2009 – 11:19 am  Share
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winmo65honeycomb

Long Zheng, over at istartedsomething tells us about the honeycomb menu system in Windows Mobile 6.5. He points out why this menu system isn’t just a glorified grid…

Several weeks ago, some pundits were quick to dismiss Windows Mobile 6.5’s honeycomb menu as a “glorified grid”, an Engadget editorial put it – “a sign that Microsoft has gone out of its way to avoid a grid”, but that’s what happens when misinformed “journalists” try to appear smart. The truth is, the honeycomb from a usability perspective is superior than traditional square grids for a touch interface. Here’s why….

Read on to Long’s post to here what he’s got to say about it. I think that many, not all, share their disappointment on what we see in 6.5 with the fact that it seem Microsoft is not moving towards the same area as the iPhone. I would be disappointed if the were moving towards being like the iPhone to be honest.

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Chris Leckness is the Owner/Administrator of Mobilitysite. He is a Microsoft MVP, Mobile Devices and a member of the exclusive focus group, Mobius. Chris runs a Mobilitysite, GotZune, and a few other smaller sites and blogs. His personal blog is chris.leckness.com.


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  • @Chris:

    I think that many, not all, share their disappointment on what we see in 6.5 with the fact that it seem Microsoft is not moving towards the same area as the iPhone. I would be disappointed if the were moving towards being like the iPhone to be honest.

    I agree. It would be stupid for Microsoft to try to be just like the iPhone. I doubt Microsoft can out-Apple Apple. Plus, if you want to have about 75% of the function of Windows Mobile while requiring twice the memory, go with OS X. :D

    Of course, Microsoft shouldn't ignore the iPhone's many strengths, either. They should figure out ways to replicate the good points in Windows Mobile while keep WM functionally superior to the iPhone.

    If Microsoft was very smart, they have patent sharing agreements with Apple (maybe as payment for developing Office for the Mac) and won't have to worry about patent claims.

    Steve
  • breley
    An interesting article from Long Zheng. Though, as one of the commentators pointed out, there are deficiencies in the whole concept. If the idea is to make the OS finger-friendly, then the relatively tiny Start icon and menu bar items such as volume, network access, close and notification must also be improved or abandoned, and the OS designed in favor of capacitive touch screens. While I feel WinMo is more robust in many ways than the iPhone, the end user experience of the touch screen itself I feel is superior in terms of speed and effort. But this latter aspect has already been debated extensively in the blogsphere so I'm not going to beat a dead horse.

    Just my $0.02...
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