For me, backwards compatabilty will an interesting feature.

AFAIK, all apps written for PocketPC 2000 still work with WM6.1. But will this continue with WM7?

When we moved from Pocket PC 2003 (SE) to WM5 there were no compatabilty issues with the addition of softkeys and many apps simply came out with new versions to optimise this new feature.

When we move from WM6.1 to WM7 will see the backwards compatabilty remain? I certainly hope that it does.

I also hope that we see backwards compatability....Even tho software makers will want "new" versions of their software to brand the new WM7 version...to market and make more sales. But I also cannot see them not being able to run their last release also. If not this will send every software dev. company scrambling to "fix" there versions.

I'll vote for backwards compatibility too. I still use 2003SE apps from time to time and strangely when a new OS is released I see that as a bonus, rather than an expectation. I think this all stems from me basically being a mainly Windows OS user on the desktop and I still very much WM as a cut down PC. Going back to the change between 2003 and WM5 I recall there were a lot of incompatibilities between the two.

Let me just add my 2 cents 

memory management issue.
I think the fact that MS made programs remain in memory when the X button was clicked was due to the performance of the FLASH memory available back then. The effort taken to load a program from storage to execution was probably too much and thus it was decided it was best to leave them running so that when user's need to get back to the program it can respond quicker (remember, the PPC has always been a multi tasking OS, unlike a PALM which runs only one app at a time so users can switch around more).

The idea was that when any program started it can request that it needs X amount of application RAM to run, the OS will then kill the previous apps to free the memory which the program asked for. But I don't know why a lot of programs don't implement such a function call on startup, it's a simple method call SHCloseApps(n) where n is the amount of memory to ask the OS to free. It's easy and works for all the programs that I've made for my clients.

Of course with 6.1 this problem seems to be moot now since the user can now choose what the X button does.

Gesture Input
While gesture input is nice and cool, it should be used as an alternative input instead of the primary input unless it can be very accurately detected. For example, a simple swipe gesture can easily be misinterpreted as a tap if your finger just happens to slip while swipping. And it's not something you want to happen when all you wanted to do was to scroll the page but ended up hitting a link on a web page. I think this happening to me alot on my Touch Diamond.

One thing that I want to see fixed in WM7 is

THE DARN PPC ALARM APPLET!!!

I can't believe it's still having the same little caveats after all this time.

• Doesn't support WMA,MP3 or MID files (Smart phone one does)
• Doesn't repeat sounds properly (Smart phone one does)

I've used both PPCs and SPs so it really iritates me that even until now the Alarm app still has these problems. I do not feel like buying a program just to use it as an alarm! :P

In terms of what to expect from WM7, it looks as though we may be expecting the release date to be around end of this year.

We have already seen MWg's 2008 Q4 prediction and now we have had word from Kevin Chen the General Manager of HTC for MEA and CIS that HTC 'will' be releasing a WM7 device in 2009 Q1.

Aparrently HTC are now tight lipped about this release date, but it certainly ties in with MWg's projected time frame.

 

Still no word yet as whether there will be a single WM7 version which covers both WM Standard and Pro.

Biomehanika:

We have already seen MWg's 2008 Q4 prediction and now we have had word from Kevin Chen the General Manager of HTC for MEA and CIS that HTC 'will' be releasing a WM7 device in 2009 Q1.

I have read and heard a lot of these rumors all around the web and it got me wondering if I should hold off on buying a new WinMo phone soon or wait till after WinMo 7 is released.

What surprises me is the way Microsoft is keeping silent on this project. Usually we get heads up on future releases, screenshots, previews, and detailed press news. I hope it's all worth the wait.

I think we'll get all that a bit closer to the date, as with 6.1. It probably goes to show that WM7 is still a little way off yet.

Ahmed Eltawil:

What surprises me is the way Microsoft is keeping silent on this project. Usually we get heads up on future releases, screenshots, previews, and detailed press news. I hope it's all worth the wait.

I think the Touch Diamond is your heads up about Windows Mobile 7 in the same way the T-Mobile Shadow was a preview of Windows Mobile 6.1 Standard.

Adam Z Lein:

I think the Touch Diamond is your heads up about Windows Mobile 7

Could be..although I expect WinMo 7 to force an increase in device specs, which is something I would totally vote for. 128MB of ram and ~400Mhz processor just isn't gonna give a smooth and seemless UI.

I think we'll undoutably see a flagship WM7 device in the same way the HTC Hermes was for 5 and the Athena/Kaiser were for 6. It's unlikely to be the Diamond though. My bet is that for a Q1 release we're hearing rumours of I think we should be hearing device rumours about something special from HTC in a couple of months time. There's usually a 6 month lead time on hardware rumours.