Windows Mobile 6 has been released by software pirates before it has made its way onto any commercially released handsets. Adding further insult to injury, the hackers are boasting their tweaked version is better than Microsoft's own.
A modified version of the code for Windows Mobile 6, which Microsoft launched less than two weeks ago at the 3GSM mobile phone conference, has hit the Net.
It's the handiwork of ‘Kyphur', a moderator at the discussion forums on XDA Developers site, who has released a hacked version of the code for Windows Mobile 6, aka ‘Crossbow'.
Because the foundation Windows Mobile codebase has to be accompanied by drivers for each specific model of PDA or smartphone (unlike its desktop sibling, which includes a broad set of drivers with others are offered by hardware manufacturers), the pirated version of Windows Mobile 6 is tuned to run only on one Windows Mobile device.
Fortunately that device is the ‘Hermes', one of the most popular smartphones produced by Taiwanese company HTC (an OEM/ODM responsible for an estimated 80 percent of the world's Windows Mobile devices).
The Hermes is sold under a wide variety of brands and badges including the O2 Xda Trion, Cingular 8525, i-mate JASJAM, Dopod 838Pro, T-Mobile MDA Vario IIm, Vodafone v1605, Orange SPV M3100, NTT DoCoMo hTc Z and SoftBank X01HT.
The code, Kyphur says is based on a plain ‘vanilla' edition of Windows Mobile 6 for Hermes, has been cheekily dubbed Windows Mobile XDA Live.
In a posting on the forum, Kyphur happily shares the credit for this feat with fellow members of the XDA Developers community, saying "my head is in the clouds on this one only because I'm standing on the shoulders of giants. This project owes its very existence to many other contributors here and they deserve as much if not more of the kudos than I do."
A better Windows Mobile than Windows Mobile?
While poking around the Crossbow codebase, Kyphur decided to add a few enhancements to his bespoke OS.
The revised ROM image includes a handful of extra applications including a registry editor, tweaking tool, SMS backup, dictionary editor for the Word Mobile spell-checker and Microsoft's own Hearts card game.
The Remote Desktop Mobile utility has also been embedded into the ROM, along with two ‘classic' ring tones and some streamlining of the default display and the actions associated with hardware buttons.
Missing from the Windows Mobile XDA Live mix are "all carrier customisations", boasts Kyphur -- "no need to soft reset to avoid customisation!", along with some features such as push-to-talk, the Live! Mobile instant messenger and Windows Mobile Update client.
Have you installed Windows Mobile XDA Live on your Hermes device? We want to hear about your experiences -- leave a comment below!