Registered: Jul 2000
Location: New York
Posts: 14

...with market share of Palm eroding and Compaq's iPaq picking up steam, what are the chances of seeing a PocketPC Handspring device soon?

Perhaps Handspring can modify the PocketPC OS to accept all the current Springboard modules with their Palm OS apps.

Do-able?

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Rocky

Registered: Apr 2001
Location: Prison
Posts: 421

No...

While the PPC community may love this, it'd be a dumb-ass move for Handspring.

1) Most Springboard modules would become useless simply by the PPC design. The SoundsGood? Voice Recorders? This would not be a good thing in ANY way.

2) Handspring's sales would plummet. PocketPC's are for geeks who want to impress their friends OR people who have money to throw away. That's not the mainstream crowd, mind you, which Handspring appeals to. (While the iPaq may pick up some steam, it will soon fizzle out after every geek/rich guy has one)

3) Handspring HATES the PPC OS. Well, not hate, but they're not dumb enough to think that the more cheesecake you have, the better you have it.

4) Handspring MAY go to another OS if it offered something IMPORTANT that Palm didn't. Basically, now that the Palm OS has become more and more focused around the user community, I think the chances of seeing another "Pocket" OS in Handspring are rare. It would have to appeal to Handspring. Handspring & Palm, while competitors, are still good buddies. What I'd LOVE to see is something like the NewtonX module!

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<b><font size=1 color=teal>"Sorry about the whole thing about losing your life savings, but that Palmpilot is property of Enron, so please give it back"

Registered: May 2000
Location: St. Paul, MN
Posts: 1429

Big thing. Jeff wrote Palm OS. HE likes it. There is a 100% chance that by 2005, we will see a new os from HS, that they wrote. WITH backward compatibilty to palm software. I doubt we will ever see PPC.

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-miradu

Registered: Mar 2001
Location: San Diego, California
Posts: 441

I agree, it would take a WHOLE lot to make HS move from Palm OS to Pocket. As far as springboards go, they install software that is written for the palm os. So if HS were to do this it would be asking ALL of the module developers to go back and rewrite all of their programs for a different operating system, API, and possibly cpu OR we would see PPC modules and Palm OS modules, thus weakening the Springboard technology since it's not standardized. I agree that HS will probably end up with its own OS someday but until then I think we'll be seeing HS releasing added features to each of their new visors. Look at the VS/VDX/VPL, they all tout their datebook+ and advanced calculator features right there with the specs of the device. Not to mention the fast look up feature of the edge So until HS can figure out a Palm OS compatible OS of their own we'll see minor changes to the included software so that they can have more features.

Here's a quick thought i just had: Handspring owns blazer now right? And they mentioned wireless access builtin to the devices in the future. Could the next Visor basically have a minstrel S builtin to it with blazer stored in the ROM? And having a web browser built in would be the next enhancement to the Palm os? I dont' know.. just a thought.

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You know it's bad when your Calculus Professor uses the word "Unpossible"

"It's a long way from my thoughts to what I'll say, It's a long, long way from paradise to where I am today." -Switchfoot, Home

Registered: Nov 1999
Location: New York, New York
Posts: 560

If Handspring is smart, and I think they are, they shouldn't say no to the posibility.

I think, if they see a need they could meet, they would come out with a non palm OS device.

Hey, maybe the twist is a PPC.

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Felipe Garcia
Happy Treo 600 user, so far. Thanx Cingular for having an unlocked phone.

My Treo 600 is my phone, my PDA, my watch, and my MP3 player. Oh yeah, I take a picture once in a while with it. Convergence is such a great thing.

Registered: Aug 2000
Location:
Posts: 107

bblue what you stated isn't totally true.... I'm a geek and I have a Visor.. :P

Cheers,

Ark

Registered: Feb 2001
Location: Them Twin Cities
Posts: 1758

quote:

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Originally posted by ashmed
Here's a quick thought i just had: Handspring owns blazer now right? And they mentioned wireless access builtin to the devices in the future. Could the next Visor basically have a minstrel S builtin to it with blazer stored in the ROM? And having a web browser built in would be the next enhancement to the Palm os? I dont' know.. just a thought.

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Don't like somebody? Click "Profile" on a post and then click "Ignore "so and so's" posts". Voila!

Registered: Mar 2001
Location:
Posts: 32

quote:

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Originally posted by rockreid
...with market share of Palm eroding and Compaq's iPaq picking up steam, what are the chances of seeing a PocketPC Handspring device soon?

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__________________
The goal is to overcome the deliberate nature of the process.

Registered: Mar 2001
Location:
Posts: 347

Re: No...

quote:

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Originally posted by bblue
but they're not dumb enough to think that the more cheesecake you have, the better you have it.

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Registered: Jul 2000
Location:
Posts: 3034

Re: Re: No...

quote:

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Originally posted by creole
But if you have more Cheesecake, you ARE better off. That's just simple math.

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Registered: Feb 2000
Location: SW Virginia
Posts: 290

Re: Re: No...

quote:

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Originally posted by creole
But if you have more Cheesecake, you ARE better off. That's just simple math.

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Registered: Jul 2000
Location:
Posts: 3034

Re: Re: Re: No...

quote:

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Originally posted by potter
With the more cheesecake I have, I am not better off, as my waistline can attend.

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But you can't have your cake and eat it too, so unless you're strapping it to your waist, it shouldn't matter.

Registered: Oct 1999
Location: Metro Station, Hollywood and Highland
Posts: 1018

Doable?

Unless Handspring migrates to StrongARM, using the PPC's WinCE OS would only be a disadvantage. WinCE is only as good as the hardware it runs on, and there's no way a 33MHz Dragonball processor's going to float the OS. The iPAQ was the first PPC with acceptable speed, and it runs on a 207MHz ARM chip. MS would have to carve so much out of WinCE that lose all compatibility with existing CE software, and you'd only be left with CE's UI, which is the worst bug -- er, "feature" -- of the platform. And Springboards are bused directly to the Dragonball processor. You could re-architect Springboard technology to use ARM instead, but you couldn't run existing Dragonball-based modules.

In a word, no.