Apparently the feedback was rather negative about the presentation of the ‘honeycomb’ layout of the start menu for Windows Mobile. With the release of version 6.5, it is gone!

Windows Mobile 6.5 was recently unveiled and there was not an abundance of new features. Through the presentation of the Mobile World Congress recently, feedback was just not positive in relation to the honeycomb layout. While the overall layout remains more or less the same, with the icons are in the exact same place, they have for one, been enlarged. The actual honeycomb outline (hexagons around each icon) is gone. Scrolling up or down no longer means going all the way to the top or all the way to the bottom. As soon as the second the finger leaves the screen, scrolling will stop.

It is not the first time Microsoft has altered a key UI element during the beta development phase. While the tweaks are notable, the fact that the honeycomb layout remains demonstrates that the changes are an evolution, not a revolution. Loke Uei Tan, Senior Technical Product Manager of the Mobile and Embedded Devices Group in Microsoft, has been presented the changes through 129 sessions at MIX09 to “you what the new one looks like.”

[via ArsTechnica]