What's New in Windows Mobile 6

Jim Wilson has posted an article "What's New for Developers in Windows Mobile 6" on msdn (link). Note that the difference between WM 5 and WM 6 is much less substantial than the difference between WM 2003 (WM4) and WM5. This is, in part, more due to the transition between .NET CF 1 and .NET CF 2 imo. Nonetheless, Here is a quick summary of the new WM 6 features I'm most interested in:

• The .NET Compact Framework 2.0 Service Pack 1 (SP1) and Microsoft SQL Server™ 2005 Compact Edition are in the ROM of all Windows Mobile 6 devices, which allows your application to use .NET Compact Framework 2.0 and SQL Server 2005 Compact Edition without needing to distribute or install either product on the user's device. This reduces the time and cost of application deployment resulting in direct monetary savings.
  
  This is absolutely fantastic. Most of the work I do currently utilizes both .NET CF 2 SP1 and SQL Server 2005 Compact Edition (used to be called SQL Server 2005 Mobile Edition). By shipping with these binaries in the ROM, this greatly simplifies deployment/installation.


• An improved Device Emulator with many new features that allows you to test your applications across a wider range of device form factors without needing to purchase the device. This includes a cellular emulator and a GPS emulator
  
  
• A newly added lightweight version of the Tablet PC's inking API, Wireless Internet Service Provider (WISP), allows you to incorporate ink-based features into your applications running on Windows Mobile 6 Professional and Windows Mobile 6 Classic devices.
  
  
• In addition to the more than 100 State and Notification Broker state values supported by Windows Mobile 5.0, Windows Mobile 6 adds several more. Windows Mobile 6 provides call state information for Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) phone calls including the phone number, operator name, and more. Windows Mobile 6 also adds state information for device locking. State information is now available for changes in the keypad lock state, device lock state, and SIM lock state.

Update 02-15-2007: According to this post on the Windows Mobile Team Blog, the Windows Mobile 6 SDK won't be out until March 1st with a "refreshed" version on May 1st.