According to Mobile-review, Crossbow is likely to be designated Windows Mobile 6.0 when it is officially released, although it "could be called 'Windows Mobile 5.0 Second Edition'" for its lack of substantial new features.
WindowsForDevices.com
reported last spring that Photon, the successor to Crossbow, would most likely be the release to get the 6.0 designation as it would be built on the Windows CE 6.0 kernel, whereas Crossbow would be based on CE 5.0 and likely designated a "Second Edition" of Windows Mobile 5.0. The following Windows Mobile roadmap, presented in by Microsoft in the June MEDC Keynote, lends credibility to this theory in that it shows a Windows Mobile +1 (i.e. 6.0) release coming in the 2008 timeframe.
Windows Mobile Roadmap
(Click to enlarge)Mobile-review, meanwhile, characterizes Crossbow as a gap-filler that temporarily addresses interoperability issues with upcoming Microsoft releases such as Vista, Office 2007, and Exchange 2007 -- a description that we find suggestive of a "Second Edition" designation, and consistent with the Windows Mobile roadmap we've previously published.
In any case, some of the major new features identified by Mobile-review include:
- Bundled IP-telephony using the SIP standard
- Support for HTML in messages
- Revamped outlook, refined icons
- Numerous MS Exchange 2007-tailored changes
- Integration with Windows Live online services
- Marketplace purchase, download, and install directly from the device
Read Mobile-review's extensive review of Crossbow,
here.
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