O2 Zinc joins the WM6 league

John Chan | Jul 03, 2007

Without fanfare, O2 has released a Windows Mobile 6 (WM6) upgrade for its Zinc PDA-phone. This handheld is one of the company's latest, and is its only 3G device with a QWERTY keyboard.

Users can download a file from the O2 Web site, or go to one of its services centers with their Zinc to perform the upgrade. Either way, all data will be erased from the handheld, so a backup should be done before the process.

The update is available in both English and Chinese. It adds capabilities like the ability to view and edit HTML emails as well as a storage card encryption feature. This upgrade from Windows Mobile 5.0 (WM5) to WM6 is free. Future Zinc handhelds to be shipped will come with the updated OS installed.

The Atom Life was the first handheld from O2 to receive the WM6 treatment. Meanwhile, its latest model, the Flame, still runs WM5 and O2 says that it is "currently working closely with Microsoft in order to roll out the Xda Flame upgrading program soon". That means that it is in the pipeline, which is good news for current Flame users even though no specific time frame for release was given.