These screenshots were taken with what appears to be a Windows Mobile 7 emulator from a long time ago, possibly even before the days of Windows Mobile 6 (that brings us back to around around 2006). It’s no secret that Microsoft has been working on Windows Mobile 7 for a long time and that they’ve gone back to the drawing board at least once to start from scratch. These screenshots offer a glimpse of what Windows Mobile 7 could have been if it were released many years ago. It’s possible that this version of the operating system was the precursor to the other possible Windows Mobile 7 screenshots we presented you with many months ago.

Obviously we don’t expect that what we’re going to see next week with Windows Mobile 7 at MWC to bear any resemblance to what you see here. This is just for fun. =D

The first screenshot, above, shows what the program launcher could have looked like. It uses a sliding-panel interface that was introduced (in a different form) in Windows Mobile 6.1 Standard and Windows Mobile 6.5 Professional.

Also notice that system status indicators for volume and cell reception have been moved to the bottom, and it looks like there is a menu launcher between these items.

Many people complained that in Windows Mobile 5.0, the picture caller ID was far too small. Perhaps this was an attempt to remedy that concern.

Remember this screenshot? This seems to be a more evolved view of the call screen mentioned in the previous image. See more of these screenshots.

Something that the native Windows Mobile keyboard doesn’t do is change form based on the type of data you’re entering. If you’re in a number field, for example, you still get the QWERTY keypad. It looks like Microsoft was going to address this.

This would have made a nice finger-friendly keyboard. Even to this day, Windows Mobile 6.5 doesn’t natively have a nice keyboard.