PocketPC 2003 Reviewed

Sander Sassen writes "Prior to the official launch of the Microsoft PocketPC 2003 platform next Monday, Hardware Analysis puts an Asus MyPal a620 PocketPC to the test and details what new features PocketPC 2003 brings to the table and whether it is worth it to upgrade from 2002."

Comments

Small and Big

[Ken@WearableTech]

The changes for the end user are going to be rather small. The changes for the developers who are going to move to .NET tools for PocketPC programming rather than the hacked versions of VS6 we are using now is going to be a larger change.

because harddrives suck.

[Thinkit3]

Check out mram and other technologies that will replace flash, RAM, and even CPU cache. Harddrives are noisy and power intensive. Far from an elegant solution.

Not really a review of Pocket PC 2003

[cloudless.net]

In fact it is more like a review of the Asus MyPal a620 Pocket PC. I was expecting to see the detail of new features in the new OS, but it only tells me about the new media player and not much else. I am more interested about the performance of the new OS, as it is supposed to be optimized for the Xscale CPU. By the way, the MyPal Pocket PC has a terrible name and is very ugly, don't you think? I think the Taiwanese manufacturers should hire some better designers.

Re:it is never worth upgrading a microsoft product

[cd_Csc]

I still use my orginal PocketPC, and am quite content with it. I am guessing about 80% of the people never actually had a REAL NEED to upgrade from PocketPC

Most people never actually had a real need to upgrade from paper and pencil. But we did it anyways. Why? Technological innovation makes certain tasks easier and certain situations more enjoyable. Pocket PC 2003 will be no different. There are many things (for both developers and end users) that it will make easier and more enjoyable. Whether it's suitable for you is simply a question of whether these things are important to you. I'd hold off until full reviews of the changes surface before making that decision.

Re:Is PocketPC 2k3 Xscale optimized?

[Talez]

No I think the million dollar question for this place is whether the f#@&*ing IE for PocketPC 2K3 supports PNGs with alpha channels properly yet.

Palm to iPaq (student view)

[1000101]

I'm a CS major and recently switched from a Palm to an iPaq. Microsoft's PDA OS is so much better than Palm's, it's hard to imagine using anything else. At first I thought the $500 price tag was outrageous, but it has helped with my studies and organization tremendously. Bash MS all you want, but their PDA OS is by far the most versitile on the market today.

Re:Palm to iPaq (student view)

[Trelane]

Sounds like my story. I switched from a Palm IIIe to a Sharp Zaurus 5500. All of a sudden, I could do all kinds of crazy stuff, like browse the web with my 802.11 card, use SSH, mount shares, stream music (via shoutcast as well as via ESD or whatever), etc. all combined with the PDA features that make my life as a physics grad student much easier on top of making my life as a geek much easier. It additionally rocks, because of all the community support of Linux on the platform.

Only problem is, Palm IIIe is ancient, and the recent Palm stuff is actually equivalent to the PocketPC and TrollTech stuff, from what I've seen of it.

What version of Palm were you using? The handspring and Palm phone stuff I've seen rock.

Re:Palm to iPaq (student view)

[_fuzz_]

I'm a CS major and recently switched from a Palm to an iPaq. Microsoft's PDA OS is so much better than Palm's, it's hard to imagine using anything else. At first I thought the $500 price tag was outrageous, but it has helped with my studies and organization tremendously. Bash MS all you want, but their PDA OS is by far the most versitile on the market today.

Would you care to elaborate? Basically all you said is that it is better. How is it better?

Re:Palm to iPaq (student view)

[IronChef]

I have an iPAQ and I love it, but let's not sugar-coat things. PocketPCs have real issues. Cruise Brighthand and you'll see a lot of people who can't get their alarms to fire reliably without buying 3rd party utilities, for example. And there are lots of other classic Microsoft oversights, like how task alarms are FIXED at 8AM, and the travesty that is Pocket Word/Excel.

The PocketPC named perfectly, for it is a Microsoft PC that fits in your pocket. We all know what that means. Some good stuff, some not so good stuff...

When I counsel people on buying PDAs, my advice is simple... If you just want a reliable organizer, get a Palm. If you want a tiny computer that can be very powerful (but you are prepared for it to also be very aggravating at times), you should get a PocketPC.

I have a PPC and I will never go back to Palm, but I can sure see why people buy them.

Office compatibility?

[Boltronics]

Previously on Slashdot it was mentioned that Palm DocumentsToGo did MS Office compatibility better than PocketPC software. If this hasn't improved, other features may not matter.

Microsoft should know better by now that Office is top priority.

PCMCIA Harddrive

[cloudless.net]

You can add the PCMCIA jacket to an ipaq and insert a PCMCIA harddrive into it. Alternatively, there is a Pocket PC from UR There with a PCMCIA slot built-in. Either way the device would be too big to be Pocketable.

The big question is:

[iCEBaLM]

Will I be able to upgrade my iPAQ H3870 or is HP/Compaq going to be retards and make me buy a new handheld if I want it?

Re:Familiar

[*xpenguin*]

Why? Pocket PC will cause you a lot less pain setting things up, and since it's already included in the device, you don't save any money by installing an inferior alpha-quality OS on it.

Re:it is never worth upgrading a microsoft product

[sjofi]

Most people never actually had a real need to upgrade from paper and pencil.

And indeed most people never have upgraded from paper and pencil to PDAs.

I live out of mine with pocketTN

[Archfeld]

and the Terminal Services Client. My hardware DB(access, so its just barely a DB) is resident on the card. With that I have everything I need to support servers in 7 national and 4 international data centers, serving some 8 to 9 million email recipients. Now if someone could make WebSphere and a terminal server play nice I'd be golden :)

I agree with you in theory on apps though....Most of our clients could in reality still be on the mainframe with 3270 connectivity and text email, but human nature being what it is...ooooo loook NEW PRETTY LIGHTS and BUZZERS....Droooool