Last week, Engadget’s Joshua Topolsky wrote an editorial article listing 10 reasons why Windows Mobile 6.5 misses the mark. ZDNet’s Andrew Nusca wrote a similar article a little while later. It is unclear as to whether either of these bloggers have actually used Windows Mobile 6.5, but let’s take a look at their arguments… Read on…

1. The underlying code is still based on Windows CE 5 just as Windows Mobile 5 was. How exactly is this a bad thing? This means all of the thousands of applications available for Windows Mobile will still work with minimal alteration. This is very important for government agencies and businesses that rely on custom applications.

2. The honeycomb grid is not better than a square grid and the larger menus still require multiple levels of interaction. The reason Microsoft went to a different type of icon layout was to accommodate rounder stubby fingers. Our fingers are not square-shaped. Furthermore, the pattern gives you visual cues for extended content where as a square grid layout is less successful with that. Regarding multiple levels of interaction, yes of course you do. It’s the same with anything that has more than one function. You have to dig through the interface on the iPhone, Android, and Blackberry in order to find functions not on the home screen just as you would anything else. If Windows Mobile feels more complicated, it’s probably because there are more functions.

3. The UI tweaks are mostly just skin deep. Well, that’s what a user interface is. It’s the layer between the user and the computer. All user interfaces are only skin deep. Joshua points out Spb Mobile Shell and HTC’s Touch FLO interfaces as being much better. That’s fine because those are running on Windows Mobile. One of the advantages of Windows Mobile is that 3rd parties CAN replace the interface without building their own operating system.

4. Capacitive touch screens are more accurate and Windows Mobile doesn’t support them. Joshua actually contradicts himself a bit here pointing out that there was a Windows Mobile device from TI at MWC with a capacitive screen, but still… more accurate? It may be more accurate in detecting the surface of a finger, but have you ever tried the Sony Ericsson XPERIA X1′s touch screen? I think that’s far more accurate than my T-Mobile G1. I’m always fumbling with trying to activate website hyperlinks in Android on a capacitive screen. If anyone with an iPhone, T-Mobile G1, or Blackberry Storm can edit Photoshop files like this on their phone, then I might take the capacitive screen accuracy issue more seriously.

5. It’s not due out until “later this year.” Well, it’s not even out of its Alpha stage right now, so yes you’ll have to be a bit patient.

6. You probably can’t upgrade your phone. The XDA-Developers community might have something to say about this, but if you were going to get a Windows Phone with Windows Mobile 6.5 you’d probably want something with hardware that can support it properly, wouldn’t you?

7. No Zune integration. Not even a new Windows Media Player. This one is certainly a disappointment. Although there is still time for Microsoft to upgrade the media player a bit before release.

8. The tiny on-screen qwerty keyboard is still there. Yes, that’s the one for stylus input. Microsoft hasn’t implemented a finger-friendly keyboard in Windows Mobile 6.5, but guess what… there are TONS of options available. Anyone can install Cootek’s TouchPal on this and have the best finger-friendly input method on any device. The key here is that there are many many options for touch-screen input methods on Windows Mobile. Microsoft doesn’t need to interfere with them.

9. The browser is still weak. Okay, but you know it’s still in Alpha, right? Have you seen its built-in Flash support? Did you know that Internet Explorer Mobile will support more website functionality than any other mobile browser?

10. It doesn’t innovate in any way. Well, I don’t believe we’ve seen the honeycomb grid pattern layout on anything else before. That’s something new. The lock screen that lets you unlock directly to the application associated with notification you select on the unlock screen is pretty nice, too. That’s a very innovative solution that lets you avoid having to unlock and then navigate manually to the application holding more information about the notification you chose. Beyond that, Windows Mobile is designed primarily as a platform to enable innovation via applications. Take a look at the new My Phone Beta which allows backup and restore of smartphone content across multiple Windows Phones. It also enables the synchronization of text messages between any Windows Phone that you choose to carry. That’s one thing that has never been done before. Now take a look at the new “Recite” program. Voice searching using audio pattern matching on voice recordings? That’s another thing that has never been done before on a mobile device. What about Microsoft’s Live Search? Now that it automatically calculates your general location as soon as you launch the program, you can search for locations in far fewer steps than any other software, with voice recognition no less! Which brings me to Microsoft Voice Command. While it has not been updated in a while, it’s still far more powerful than anything else, including many in-car computers.