It is not just blur, any phone that is not a "Google Experience" phone is currently sitting back on 1.5 and none of them have even hinted as to when they might get to 1.6

Motorola and HTC have all but said (well Motorola did say it), that they considering themselves "software companies" now, and that it is all about their interfaces that they want to differentiate themselves with over the competition. So in other words, they don't give a rats butt about gettting the phone up to the latest version unless there is something that will make their skins look or act better. Otherwise, they look to be content leaving these phones on older versions of Android.

@aztek That really does sum it up quite well... though I suspect it will actually be more like WinMo 8 before we can actually consider Microsoft a real player again. The peeks and leaks on WinMo 7 that have been around show just how far behind they are.

I would like WinMo to make a comeback. I don't hate the product, I used it for many years. It just became too painful, and this review shows why.

The funny thing is that most of the reviews complain about the Droid not having enough buttons (specifically the call and disconnect buttons).

The only people that consider a Droid confusing are people that expect it to act like an iPhone. It doesn't. It is a different phone, not a clone. Get past the pre-convieved notions of what it is "supposed" to do and how it does it vs the Droid.

Lets see a power button on that (marked with the power symbol) that... turns the phone off an on. Not a tough one.

The one brass button which is the camera button. Period.

and the up/down volume rocker... which... makes the volume go up and down.

Now if you add in the touch buttons on the face...

the back arrow... goes back.

The menu button brings up a menu

the Home button {{gasp}} take you to the home screen

and the real confusing one

the search button allows you to search.

If that is confusing... then yeah... maybe you are better off with a single tasking phone with one button.

This looks like the bastard offspring of a Blackberry and Motorola Q9c

@andreab I have Exchange support on my Droid, and I don't have to live with a 2005 interface and an underpowered phone to do it,

It is not that it is "fashionable" to hate on WinMo, it is simply the sad state that the OS finds itself in. Much like Garnet for Palm, the heyday was well past before anybody bothered to do anything about it.

I want my Smart Phone to do something other than e-mail (hell if that was all I was going to do, I would just get a Blackberry), and unfortunately WinMo isn't up to doing much else right now. Maybe when WinMo 7 comes along, thing will change, but right now these WinMo phones are the new "Centros" of the WinMo line.

WinMo 6.5 is nothing more than a slightly more finger friendly version of WinMo 6.1. WinMo six was not much more than a cosmetic upgrade to WinMo 5 which was released in 2005, and with that release came DirectPush, the last bit of innovation that was added to WinMo. So the interface design and style was 4-1/2, almost 5 years ago. That is what is meant by dated.

Even Microsoft has admitted that the OS is "behind the curve" and released 6.5 after WinMo 7 hit some delays.

So, no I guess they don't explain it in every discussion about WinMo because... it is sort of common knowledge at this point.

@saayedalam Maybe it will come to the iPhone when it is able to run the navigation app and take a phone call at the same time?

@Xavior Spoken like a true Apple Fanboy (or maybe a TomTom rep?) ... one that knows not what he is talking about. You do need a connection when you enter your route, but the Google Maps Navigation caches the route, so even if you lose your connection totally during use, the app will continue to work.

@JXCGunrunna I guess as the saying goes, "different strokes..." I understand why WinMo was skinned, but I don't see the point (from a user perspective... I understand why HTC would want to "differentiate" their phones). You can get the same "look" of Sense with a different theme and a few widgets and not be bogged down by a full skin that takes up resources and slows down your experience.

Caller: Want to go to the movies

On Phone: Sure... at.. ti.. is it... aying?

Caller: I'm sorry... what???

On Phone: I said Sure... what time... aying?

Caller: Hold on, let me walk down the block a little. OK, now what did you say?

On Phone: WHAT TIME... PLAYING?

Caller: Oh, What time is it playing?

Oh Phone: YES!

Caller: let me see... uh... hold on while I bring up my movie guide app... flipping... flipping... flipping... geez, wish I could customize these screens to find my apps... flipping... ah here it is... hold on...

((minutes later))

On Phone: Dude... your eating all my minutes and killing my battery. Just call me back.

Caller: It's still redrawing... just hold on one more minute... ok?

(( silence))

Caller: Hello? Hello? Damn it!

Voice Over: Can you phone and network do that? iPhone... exclusively on the at&t network.

*3G not available in all areas, for everybody else, it will be even slower.