Slashdot Mirror
Microsoft Pits Pocket PC Against Palm
DeepDarkSky writes "Microsoft unveiled the Pocket
PC today. Products being available by its partners include: HP Jornada, Compaq iPaq H3600,
Casio Cassiopeia E-105
and Symbol
PPT 2700.
Microsoft's touting it as being better than Palm.
Here's a list of features,
significant among them: Microsoft Reader
(for reading e-books), Windows Media Player
(for playing music), Pocket Streets
(a map program), Pocket
Internet Explorer, and "Pocket" versions of office productivity tools like Outlook, Word, and
Excel.
" Check out the preview on C|Net as well.
Two lies in MS's comparison; Palms do have IRDA, it used it for hotsyncing and mobile internet connect (Nokia 8810) without any additional software. I didn't use the cabled cradle until almost a month after I got my TRGpro. Second lie, "Animated Games". Of course the Palm platform has games.
Quick observation; The 3 Palm owners use our devices very heavily. News, spreadsheets, e-mail, appointments, etc. The WinCE owner hasn't worked out how do use his device properly yet. He's had it longer than me, but you just can't work out how the WinCE system works without reading the manual, if you're not particularly computer literate. On the other hand, the two PalmV owners have read just as little of their manuals, but have no problems using their devices.
This isn't a troll, I'm not making any judgements, this is just the truth...
I'm surprised no one cited the Wired artice: Strike 3 for MS Handhelds article.
-- Don't Tase me, bro!
Just a note that the Symbol PPT 2700 has their Spectrum24 Wireless Networking as an option on the unit (PPT 2740). Spectrum24 is an IEEE 802.11 certified system for wireless communication over short distances using the 2.4 Ghz ISM band.
The Symbol units also have an integral barcode reader which aims the device at data collection. This is quite understandable given that Symbol have been working with barcoding technology for many, many years. (You can also use the barcode reader as a laser pointer.)
However, Symbol also have another unit that runs PalmOS (SPT 1500 and SPT 1700) and also has a Spectrum24 Wireless Networking option (SPT 1540 and SPT 1740), and also ships with a radio capable version of the HotSync product. The SPT 1700 series is a ruggedised version of the SPT 1500 series product, and more resembles the shape of the PPT 2700.
Kind of like a paper book, isn't it?
Only Microsoft could silence 50 years of innovation with one fell swoop.
--
+&x
Battery Life is supposed to be 8 hours (on the HP device).
Put the phone on the coffee table, and sit back on the sofa with the palm. The palm talks to the phone by infrared. The phone talks to the rest of the world via whatever cellular protocol Fidonet uses. I've seen him call up MapQuest with it. Took a lot of scrolling.
The phone is cordless "at both ends". It pressed my future shock buttons. That was at least a year ago.
Much like Internet Explorer, there is no way to remove Microsoft Reader from these devices, since it's burned in ROM. As you may remember from a previous article, Microsoft Reader prevents the free exchange of information by preventing the sharing of e-books, the same type of sharing you might do with a paper book that you own.
Sent from my iPhone
On the Microsoft site they have a comparison (note that it's an ASP so they can add more as they think 'em up!) table listing features of the PocketPC and comparing them to a Pilot. I thought I'd list some of the more amusing ones (I left out the description of the benefit figuring everyone would already know with most of the items:
-------
Feature: Synchronization
PPC: Fast, continuous and automatic with ActveSync.
Palm: HotSync - must push button.
Feature: Mapping Software
PPC: Pocket Streets included - with COLOR maps. (Create new maps from MapPoint or Streets & Trips.)
Palm: Yes, however clarity of maps confined to low resolutions screens.
Feature: USB Connection
PPC: Yes.
Palm: USB access via serial port adapter. No Windows 2000 support as of this writing.
Feature: Integrated AvantGo
PPC: Integrated AvantGo client
Palm: User must load from CD or Internet.
------
All typos are Microsoft, I just copied in the text. Some of the funnier things here include the perceived difficulty of hotsync (I have to press the button AGAIN?), and also the seeming horror of having to load software from a CD. Also, I find it funny how they point out there is no Windows 2000 support - is the current Palm hotsync broken in Win2K? That seems pretty suspicious considering they are releasing a PalmPC of thier own...
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
If you want all of this now in a reliable package
Psion have it. Full compatibility with Word, Excel etc. A full Java 1.1.4 runtime so a Full Web browser. Never crashes, boots in milliseconds.
All of that is here now it runs using EPOC. And as with the rest of the mobile revolution the major players are in Europe and using it right now, not in some fluffy time in the future.
An Eye for an Eye will make the whole world blind - Gandhi
A choice of masters is not freedom
Greydmiyu, for the record I own a Handspring Visor and neither want nor can afford a Pocket PC. However, your post (which by now certainly has reached Score:5) dips pretty deeply into the realm of self deception.
Just listen to yourself:
PocketPC has better email than Palm, but that doesn't count because you don't think retrieving email on the go is important.
PocketPC has better color than Palm, but since you spend all your time outside, you don't care.
PocketPC has more memory than Palm, but "something tells you" that it doesn't matter.
PocketPC is about 10x faster than Palm, but you have a feeling that this is irrelevant. Anyway, 20MHz is enough for anyone.
PocketPC doesn't require extra attention to sync, but that doesn't count because the buzzname they're using resembles a technology you don't like.
PocketPC has more sophisticated handwriting recognition than Palm, but that doesn't count because it's completely reasonable for people to learn how to write twice simply in order to use a PDA.
PocketPC allows voicerecording at no extra charge, but that doesn't count because you can't imagine anyone will ever want to record sound in a meeting.
PocketPC has superior and more intuitive mapping technology, but that doesn't count because real men use astrolabes.
PocketPC has better music support, but that doesn't count because everyone should have at least two wallet-sized silicon devices on them at all times.
PocketPC incorporates ClearType to a better eBook experience, but that doesn't count because, hell, it's all just text.
PocketPC supports more sophisticated games (I've seen a cutesy little DOOM) but that doesn't count because you've got pong when you need it.
-konstant
Yes! We are all individuals! I'm not!
-konstant
Yes! We are all individuals! I'm not!
In the Wired article somebody cites below, I found this quote that I feel is fairly similar to the opinions being voiced on slashdot:
:), etc. all in one slim form factor?
"I think it's going to be more of the same," said Michael Mace, Palm's vice president of product strategy. "They are trying to cram a whole PC in your pocket and that's not the way to do it. It makes for a limited PC and an overstuffed handheld. If you want to make a successful handheld you have to figure out what matters most and only put that in."
That certainly is one way of looking at things - what you might call the developer's outlook on software. Keep it simple, flush out the flaws, and eschew unneeded complexity. If that means forsaking some flashy end-user features, so be it.
I couldn't disagree more. Come on people, what is the ultimate goal for handhelds in your world? In 10 years, do you want us al to be using Palm MCXXIII's with 24-bit color and wireless internet but still running minimalist PIM software?
Or, do you want a device that is a gameboy, cellphone, MP3 player, memo pad, PDA, camcorder, phaser
The problem with Microsoft's offering in the handheld market is emphatically *not* that they give the consumer too much. The problem is that they aren't delivering stable lean software. Microsoft incorporates into the Pocket PC's many of the things that ultimately I dream of using in my PDA. They are *far* ahead of the game technologically speaking. But their implementation sucks (at least it did in WinCE, and the C|Net review suggests it still suffers from those problems).
Palm by contrast, is, yes indeed, very stable. And also is not likely to enrich our lives with fantastic new consumer technologies. Contacts are contacts. Appointments are appointments. They are useful, but are they really what you crave when you think about embedded palm-held technologies? If the sluggish rate of Palm's software innovation is any judge, this form of competition from Microsoft is precisely what the industry needs.
-konstant
Yes! We are all individuals! I'm not!
-konstant
Yes! We are all individuals! I'm not!
>unlike the Palm, which offers limited Internet
>accessibility with "Web Clippings," the Pocket
>PC, along with a modem, allows you unlimited Web
>access
They fail to mention that the Palm, along with a modem, also allows unlimited web access. Web clipping only applies to the Palm VII, a wireless capability that the PocketPC doesn't even have.
It's a non-statement, and deceptive.