Hands-On Review of PocketPC

GrouchoMarx writes: "I was lucky enough to be at Comdex in Chicago the day Microsoft released the new PocketPC, aka WinCE 3.0. I spent about an hour playing with the new HP Jornada and Casio Cassiopeia. It's an improvement, but not a Palm killer by any means . " Good review if you're into small machines.

Comments

Palm Users Retaliate

[Anonymous Coward]

I saw this posted to one of the Palm news sites.

http://www.mikew.org/html/PalmSimple.html

Palm could learn about hardware

[kzinti]

Although I despise the software running on the WinCE devices (or whatever they're being called this month), I think the hardware has some extremely cool aspects to it. For starters, there's the larger 16-bit color displays; yes, Palm now makes a color device, but it's 8-bit color and it's still the old 160x160 pixel screen. Second, I like the audio-in/audio-out capabilities of (some of) the CE devices. Being able to record audio notes, or to play MP3s would be something I would like to be able to do on my Palm. On the other hand, the CE devices require faster CPUs, resulting in dismal battery life. They require more memory, which jacks up the cost. And they're still clunky compared to the sleek slim design of the Palm V (I haven't played with the latest generation of the CE devices. though).

So I'd like to see Palm stuff a spiffy new display and some audio capabilities into their devices while still retaining the slim form factor and decent battery life, and of course keeping their software and UI relatively unchanged. Do that and they'd bury Microsoft. As it is, the fancier hardware on the CE toys is going to entice some people over to the Dark Side.

I know two engineers who once carried Palms but ditched them for the better hardware available on CE devices. However, after six months of carrying their CE devices, these guys both said they regretted the decision and like their old Palms better. But if Microsoft really fixes their software, then Palm could have a problem. Spiff up their hardware, though, and it becomes a non-issue.

--Jim

Palm great if you want it as Daytimer replacement

[RayChuang]

Having tried the Palm Vx, all I can say is that if you're looking for a complete replacement for that DayTimer book with direct access to contact manager programs, look no further. In fact, that's what most people use Palm devices for.

But try to do things like surfing the Internet and it gets a bit awkward. The Palm VII is an interesting idea but it forces you to read web pages in a form that is extremely reduced and a bit difficult to navigate.

My only big concern about the new PocketPC devices is that they are still somewhat expensive (about US$500). They should release a backlit monochrome LCD version for around $299--and that will become a viable competitor for Palm devices.

Actually, the Handspring Visor's expandability is great, but finding one is a bit difficult. :-(

Yeah, that's the ticket

[FascDot Killed My Pr]

Palm Prez: Hey, Sales, how are we doing?
Palm Sales: Through the roof boss. Our sales outstrip all other PDA's put together.
Palm Prez: That's great news. Hey Marketing, how can we keep this trend going?
Palm Mark: I have a great idea! What we're doing now is working so well, it obviously needs to be changed! Let's do what our weakest competitor is doing and slow down our software while making the batteries wear out faster! It's working for Microsoft!
--

Wrong ideas...

[pen]

I don't see why people see these things as Palm competition... They are exactly what they say they are - pocket PC's. Exactly what Palms are not.

A Palm is a small device which was designed to fit into your pocket and always be with you. It was designed so that you rarely have to worry about batteries or the OS crashing. OTOH, the WinCE devices were designed to play MP3's, MPEG's, and generally to be impress-the-chicks devices. They're bigger, they will not last for more than a day or two on the batteries, and (even CNet agrees) the OS will often crash.

(While there are reports of WinCE being stable, it seems to be the same as NT - depends on luck. At work, the NT box I use has a 5-week up time. At home, the NT box will always freeze after a week. (As you can see, I'm not a 100% *nix guy.)) The article linked in the Slashdot post will tell you the rest... :)

--

More thoughts from a Palm user

[DGregory]

I own a Palm IIIx and I have a close friend of mine who owns a Casseopeia (which model I can't remember). I couldn't talk him into getting a Palm, he's into flash and "cool" factor.

He likes it because he can watch the Star Wars trailer on it (even though 1. he's seen the trailer a billion times and 2. it is EXTREMELY slow to transfer from his computer and his Casseopeia). He loves the fact that he can listen to mp3s on it, and he doesn't mind sticking it on the charger every night.

So, of course I got to play around with it. I found the device really heavy to hold. He's got a little belt holder to stick it in. It's quite a bit thicker than my Palm IIIx, and probably twice as heavy. I just don't find it to be the kind of thing that's easy to carry around. I keep my Palm in my purse and replace the batteries every couple months. I also have a REALLY hard time keeping my cell phone charged, I know that if I had a Casseopeia or even a Palm V, It'd be constantly running out of battery power.

I did find the interface on the Casseopeia to be clunky, and Jot wasn't terribly easy to use (about as easy as Graffiti was to learn... easy enough if you sit down and learn how, but just picking up the stylus with no training on Jot, there was really no way.) Of course his was running WinCE, and I don't think he's had it crash on him.

My one concern about the fact that the Win devices constantly sync with the computer is, what if I want to replace the info on the computer with the stuff from the device? With the Palm, you stick it in the cradle (without fear of anything happening cause you haven't pressed the button yet), and set how you want the sync to go, then press the button. I haven't tried syncing a Win device, but that's the impression that I got.

Good things about Casseopeia/WinCE:
1) Multimedia
2) NICE full color!!
3) more screen space

Bad things (IMHO) about Casseopeia/WinCE:
1) HEAVY
2) Clunky interface - slow to find things
3) Battery life
4) Multimedia has only cool factor, no real utility factor, not practical
5) Not very easy to tote around (thickness, large size)

I guess it depends on what's most important to you. Some people like flash and glitz even though there aren't too many practical uses for the flash and glitz (kind of like being the only person on the internet. :) I use the Palm for addresses and phone numbers, directions to places, and notes like the flight number & time of when my flight is. And games for when I'm stuck in traffic or sitting on a bus. My friend uses his Casseopeia for those same things plus showing people the multimedia so they can go OOOOHHHH. I don't think there's enough positives about the devices to merit junking the Palm IIIx just so I can show off something cool to people.

Oh yeah.... whatever happened to the whole "Windows Powered" idea?? Did they scrap it for Pocket PC or is the "Windows Powered" going to be something else?

Response from Palm

[BigTed]

Here's a copy of Palm's response to the PocketPC sent out to the Palm Delevepers Group. Basically they're not worried. They've had the Palm is dead line before .

Dear Palm Solution Providers:

We've received some questions from the Palm economy regarding what we think about the new version of Windows CE, which Microsoft calls Pocket PC. We expect that Microsoft will make a very big launch event and advertising campaign starting April 19, just as they did with the last version of Windows CE.

Just like last time, some industry analysts will announce that Palm is dead, because Microsoft's handheld has more PC features than Palm handhelds. And just like last time, when the smoke clears we think Palm will still be on top.

We don't ever underestimate a competitor, though. The market is too competitive and changes too fast. Besides, there's no question that Windows CE is less unpleasant than it used to be. So we'll continue to work hard to tell Palm's story, including the amazing array of great software and hardware products that you bring to the Palm platform.

Now that we're a public company, we have very aggressive plans to drive the long-term growth of the Palm platform. We'll be revealing more about those plans in the next several months. And in the meantime, we think we have a great story to tell about Palm and our partners today. Here's some of the information we'll be distributing. You'll see this reflected in new and more aggressive marketing campaigns this summer. If you get questions about Palm's competitiveness, we encourage you to pass this information along. And we'd like to hear from you if you have comments on this memo, or ideas on things that we could do better.

Please email your comments and suggestions to devinfo@palm.com with "Pocket PC feedback" in the subject title.

Thanks very much for your support of the Palm family.

Michael Mace
VP, Product Strategy
Palm, Inc.