2. Looks Like a Zune, Feels Like a Compromise

Gone is the complicated Today screen of Windows Mobile Professional, replaced by a slick, Zune-like menu that combines top features like email, music, and browsing capabilities, with alerts for new messages and shortcuts to Websites and photos. This is where the "new" touch features of Windows Mobile 6.5 start–swipe your finger up and down to scroll through the list, then from side to side to see upcoming meetings, missed phone calls, photos, favorite Websites that you’ve added, voice mails, and so on.

This is a fast way of getting to most tools but it’s not always consistent: you can create a new appointment by swiping left on the Calendar item and can create a new text message by pressing the Compose soft key at the bottom of the screen. However, you can’t create a new email without selecting the email inbox and then pressing Menu and New Message. The Phone entry would be more useful if you could see recent incoming and outgoing calls by swiping instead of having to open the dialer. If you have one unread email you can see the title and sender, but if you have lots of messages, you can’t swipe through them. If you want a specific track, you have to choose All Music and then you can scroll to pick between tracks. And although you can add plug-ins and widgets that work with the new menu, you lose the new menu entirely if you add any old-style links, including the Device Lock and other options on the Items tab of the Today screen settings. You have to select Windows Default to get it back, even though this item doesn’t stay ticked when you switch back. This is far too confusing, making it feel like the new interface–which is still a big improvement–is bolted on top of the same old messy setup.

The new Lock screen is very useful–you can see what calls, voicemails, text message, and emails you've missed since you last looked at your phone and you can make and answer calls without unlocking the phone. You can also go straight from the Lock screen to your email.