[MDA III, XDA III, PDA2k, 9090 Software Upgrading] Chef_Tony:
first of all, the sim unlocking stays. that is no problem at all.

for the differences:

i can't really tell factual differences between wm6 and wm6.1, but i suppose that would be too hard to google that. i upgraded from wm6 to wm6.1 because sun_dream made a great build, that was very fingerfriendly.

and fingerfriendlyness is great and important for me personally. in general, after installing a rom or performing a hard reset, wm2003, wm5, wm6 and wm6.1 look all the same, the same today screen, the same start menu, and so on, wm6.5 is the only real different one from that, because it is the only one with the (invisible) honeycomb start menu and the titanium home as today screen.

by the way, you are always referring to the beta status of wm6.5 roms, but in the threads i gave you, you will find many different versions of wm6.5 the beta status sometimes refers to the rom state, sometimes to the os state, you have to look for yourself there.

and you are putting way to much weight on the versions. they all start with 6.X and it is all basicly the same os, there are not that huge differences like installing windows mobile, linux, android or pandorra to the device. it is just slightly different versions of the same operating system, and what you do with it, is up to you. they are all extremely fast, right after installing, but then you install more and more custom programs and they get slower, so you have control over the speed.

but back to fingerfriendlyness and add ons.

you might have seen that many people here extend their today screen with widgets, like the weather, or fave people or music players or whatever. when you install wm6.5 you have the full potential, you can make the today screen look and feel like wm6 or wm6.1 with the classic today and today plugins, or you can install widgets, an option you don't have with lower versions. wm6.5 has a new internet explorer, that offers full flash support and a "desktop pc like surfing experience" so the sites you go to, don't look crummy anymore, they look exactly the same as on the pc at home.

and if you like your phone to be fingerfriendly (it is 2009, we are not 90s palm pilot geeks with a stylus) you should definetlely pick wm6.5 because for the normal wm6 you would have to install a lot of plugins and programs and apps... to enable fingerscrolling, bigger icons, bigger menus...

and that alone will make the device way slower that any wm6.5 one would ever be.

i would definetely say, that in the example you gave with the 3 devices:

if you had tose three devices and you'd start a third party program, whatever it might be, let's say spb online, it would start on the wm6.5 first, then the wm6.1, then the wm6. you see the higher versions and higher build numbers mean, that people were sitting and sweatiing for months to improve the system, it's not getting worse.

you should pick one of the newest releases, e.g. 23004 in the rom threads there are a lot of experiences and opinions shared, you can find out what's best for you. and again as a reminder, flashing one rom is not terminal, it is addictive. you see new roms coming out, you flash them, you see something you like, you flash it. it is a process of 10min. net and with all settings, customizations and installation of external programs it might take you 30 minutes, there was a time, when the roms popped up every day, and i would flash my device at least once a week trying out new builds and new versions liking the new one better than the old one, it is a hobby.

try any wm6.5 rom, if you don't like it, take another one, i really don't see, why exactly you need me to tell you, what to like.

i have no problem telling you, exactly how to do it, in every little step, with full and long explanations, but since i don't know you and what you like and what you need, choosing the right rom for you is impossible for me, sorry.

i know, sometimes i sound a little rude, but it is not meant offensive in any way. i hope for you, that you find the best rom for your device, but i doubt that that is possible without trying them. you can look at 50 screenshots and read 100 posts, you have to see for yourself, what a rom feels like and whether you like it or not, so don't be shy, try one out.

greetz

Chef_Tony