Windows Mobile

Windows Mobile is a series of mobile operating systems released by Microsoft during 2000 to 2009. It is based on Windows CE's kernel. It was succeeded by Windows Phone 7 in 2010, which is also CE-based but features a completely different interface.

Pocket PC 2000
Pocket PC 2002 was released in 2000. At this point, it does not use wallpapers on its Today screen, instead featuring a graphic at the top consisting of a horizontal green-blue gradient with a smaller blue-orange gradient underneath.

Pocket PC 2002 and Smartphone 2002
Pocket PC 2002 was released in 2001. Its default wallpaper (stwater.gif) is a branding wallpaper, which has a light blue appearance and features trails of light (which may have been taken from a stock image), along with the text "Microsoft mobile" aligned to the right. It also includes an additional theme named Fire, which comprises two files: stwater.gif, used for the start menu, and tdywater.gif, used as the wallpaper on the Today screen. The latter was licensed from PhotoDisc, although it has an altered appearance from the original image.

The following year, Microsoft released Smartphone 2002, intended for phones that do not feature touchscreens. It features a different set of wallpapers, although similar in style to the two featured in Pocket PC 2002. Its default wallpaper is named luna, while two additional abstract wallpapers titled mint and red are also included. These two also came from PhotoDisc CD Wow and Flutter, but were heavily altered to the point of being hard to recognize, by changing the colors and adding other effects.

Windows Mobile 2003
Windows Mobile 2003 was released in 2003, and is the first to bear the Windows Mobile branding. A version for smartphones was also released. Its default wallpaper is an edited version of Bliss featuring a different sky with less opaque clouds, with a Windows logo present in the bottom right corner. It also includes an additional theme named Spiral; like with Fire this consists of two files for the start menu and Today screen respectively.

The smartphone version features a different default wallpaper consisting of bent blue lines over a blurry blue background, along with a lower res version of Spiral's Today screen wallpaper.

Windows Mobile 2003 Second Edition
Windows Mobile 2003 Second Edition (SE for short) was released in 2004. It is the first version to support devices with VGA resolutions. Its default wallpaper is very similar to the one featured in the smartphone version of 2003, although this version has a more square-ish resolution and features two Windows logos; this wallpaper is intended for both portrait and landscape orientations, so only one logo is actually displayed on-screen. There is also a version intended for devices with square screens, featuring only one Windows logo. It also includes an additional theme named Bliss, which features the Bliss wallpaper with a small Windows logo around the centre.

The smartphone version features lower resolution versions of both the default and Bliss wallpapers.

Windows Mobile 5.0
Windows Mobile 5.0 was released in 2005. Its default wallpaper consists of abstract bent blue lines. It also includes an additional theme named Guava Bubbles.

The smartphone version's default wallpaper is very similar, albeit with an added white gradient at the top. A lower res version of the Guava Bubbles theme wallpaper is also included.

It is also the first version of Windows Mobile to include two sample pictures, Flower and Waterfall; like the default wallpaper, these were included at different resolutions depending on the resolution of the device. These are included in both the Pocket PC and Smartphone versions, and were carried over to Mobile 6.0

Windows Mobile 6.0
Windows Mobile 6.0 was released in 2007. The default wallpaper is a radial teal gradient. It also includes two additional themes, Windows Mobile Green and a newer version of Guava Bubbles, featuring a red aurora wallpaper instead. According to Benjamin Bethurum who created the sounds and ringtones for Mobile 6.0 and related products, the wallpapers were created by Greg Melander, who served as the art director for Mobile 6.0.

The sample pictures introduced in 5.0 are also present here. While the default wallpaper appears in both VGA and QVGA, the wallpapers of the additional themes are QVGA-only.

While the wallpapers in the Standard version are very similar to the Professional version's (albeit the default one has an added gradient at the top), the square versions of these wallpapers look different compared to other versions, featuring duller colors. It is likely these were handled by a different employee, as judging by the dates they were modified, they were produced 8 months later (September 2006 -> May 2007). There is also a wallpaper for the Windows Live home screen, although not in the square version.

Windows Mobile 6.1
Windows Mobile 6.1 was released in 2008. It does not add any new themes and retains all of the themes previously found in Mobile 6.0, although it features a new default wallpaper which is very similar to Windows Mobile Green except with less gradients present and has a darker shade of green underneath. This is square in all versions of the Professional version, although the Standard version features both portrait and landscape versions, which are used in the Sliding Panel home screen layout depending on the screen orientation.

While the Professional version retains the 5.0 sample pictures, the Standard version (which appears to have a more developed UX overall in comparison) replaces the previous sample pictures with four new ones: Grass, Leaf, Spring and Water. It is unknown who took any of these nor where they originate, but they were most likely taken by Microsoft employees, as no stock photo origins have been found.

Windows Mobile 6.5
Windows Mobile 6.5 was released in 2009. The default wallpaper is a blue-orange background featuring an aurora somewhat reminiscent of those in Windows Vista's branding elements. It also contains a selection of themes with wallpapers created by prestige fashion designers. The Professional version replaces the 5.0 sample pictures with the set introduced in 6.1 Standard, which are also retained in the Standard version of 6.5. The Standard version does not include the new themes, except Classic Blue's wallpaper (which has an added black gradient towards the bottom), instead opting to retain the previous themes.