Windows Phone Thoughts: Mike Calligaro: Batteries or Clocks?

"Upgrades from WM5 to MSFP (AKU2) have started to hit the streets. One of the major features (direct push) has been a big hit. But one of the smaller features (a battery icon) has been met with ... less enthusiasm. On Pocket PC, AKU2 replaced the clock display on the Title Bar with a battery indicator. The clock was moved farther down into the today page. We've gotten a lot of feedback on the relative usefulness of clocks and battery indicators, and we've gotten a lot of feedback on the usefulness of this particular battery indicator. We're taking both pieces of feedback to heart and ... we need to give users a way to switch back to the previous behavior. The bad news is that there's no way to get the clock back in AKU2. The good news is that there will be a way in the next minor release (AKU2.2). But the other bad news is that I don't know which hardware devices will use AKU2.2. So I can't tell you when or even if you'll be able to make use of this change."

Mike Calligaro has written up a lengthy post at the Windows Mobile Team Blog discussing the new battery and clock displays in AKU 2. It's a widely-known fact that some of you dislike these new changes, so a newer revision of the update, AKU 2.2, will offer you the chance to place the clock back on the title bar by adding a new DWORD value to the registry. However, as Mike hints, the dependency on OEMs to roll out AKUs means that not all current devices will support this back-door method, so unfortunately, some of you will be left hanging out to dry. :(