Registered: Jan 2000
Location:
Posts: 107

Win's Pocket PC is supposed to hit the streets on April 19th. I wonder if we'll be seeing some Springboards released around that time, too? And maybe the Visor will be in stores by then? I'm sure Handspring and friends have thought of ways in which they can rain on Pocket PC's April parade.

Just thinking out loud.

Registered: Nov 1999
Location: bright side of the moon.
Posts: 996

i'll be attending both the MS Extreme presentation (they'll be showing Extreme, Millenium (replaces Win98) and PocketPC) and MS PocketPC tour (april 8th and May 8th respectively) just to see the competition. I'll let you guys know what i find out!

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

Here are some screenshots:

Not bad. Pitty about the lack of Springboard capability.

[This message has been edited by Gameboy70 (edited 03-23-2000).]

Registered: Oct 1999
Location: I'm not sure, but I see lots of lights everywhere.
Posts: 1287

I was fortunate enough to see an early preview of the new HP unit (can't comment because of NDA), and I can honestly say that once you see the new Pocket PC devices...you won't want to use anything else! The Visor can't touch these new units, even with Springboards! These little guy's are better than any Palm OS device on the market. The new WinCE OS is Faster and more stable than the Palm OS by far! And it looks better too.

I hate to say it, but this is the beginning of the end of Palms dominance in the PDA market.

Registered: Jan 2000
Location:
Posts: 107

Foo Fighter! Such blasphemy! Are you serious? I can�t believe it�s THAT great.

Now I�m really curious.


Gameboy - where did you find those pictures?


[This message has been edited by Ken (edited 03-23-2000).]

Registered: Oct 1999
Location: I'm not sure, but I see lots of lights everywhere.
Posts: 1287

Ken

He got them from www.cewindows.net

You can see even more at:
http://www.wiredguy.com/reviews/sr/pocketpc/index.htm

Registered: Oct 1999
Location: I'm not sure, but I see lots of lights everywhere.
Posts: 1287

Here's some more good screenshots with a review from Byte.com
http://www.byte.com/column/BYT20000315S0009

Registered: Oct 1999
Location: I'm not sure, but I see lots of lights everywhere.
Posts: 1287

[img]=http://www.wiredguy.com/reviews/sr/pocketpc/images/1.gif[/img] [img=http://www.wiredguy.com/reviews/sr/pocketpc/images/6.gif[/img]




[This message has been edited by foo fighter (edited 03-23-2000).]

Registered: Jan 2000
Location:
Posts: 107

Impressive ... most impressive. ZioGolf looks a little bit better than the Tiger Woods module!

The next few months are going to be interesting. Should I buy stock in Microsoft or Palm?

Registered: Oct 1999
Location: I'm not sure, but I see lots of lights everywhere.
Posts: 1287

Sad to say this but the smart money is on Microsoft. I always said don't count them out. They always get it right the third time, and this is no different. I think this time Microsoft is going to walk away with the trophy!

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

Yep, that's where I got them.

Just read the WiredGuy's review. I have to admit I was impressed, but I'm always suspicious of paper specs. When Pen Computing did their first comprehensive article on the PalmPC (what CE units were called at the time), I was sure that Palm's days were numbered. Then I went out and tried a Cassiopea for myself and very extremely underwhelmed (except for the screen resolution). CE always looks good on paper and looks sexier (esp. the ClearType fonts), but there's something about the Zen of Palm that just feels right in your hand and just works exactly the way you expect it to.

I've seen conflicting reports on whether the Pocket PC is the Rosetta Stone of PDAs or just the emperor's new clothes. I'll suspend judgement until I get my hands on one.

Registered: Oct 1999
Location: I'm not sure, but I see lots of lights everywhere.
Posts: 1287

The demo Pocket PC units I've seen are incredible. They have built in stereo out, MP3 player (Windows Media Player), and they play MPEG movie clips (Pocket TV). My friend, who showed me the HP unit, was playing the Star Wars: Episode One movie trailer...very impressive. One interesting thing I thought was cool was that he could plug his computer speakers at work into his Pocket PC and play music through the speakers!!! And the sound was great!

And the sytems themself are about the size of a Visor or Palm III (maybe very slightly bigger)

Wow!

Registered: Jan 2000
Location:
Posts: 107

It�s the Rosetta Stone, baby!

Does anyone know what the price range is going to be? Also � I read in one of those articles that there are going to be four OEM partners. I can guess three of them � HP, Casio, and Compaq. Who�s the forth player?

Registered: Dec 1999
Location: Kuala Lumpur
Posts: 247

But what's new? Windows CE has been able to to do all the functions that this thread has suddenly gotten excited about for some time now. The only thing that Microsoft has done is to bundle some of the programs that you used to have to download.

Apart from the cosmetic changes, the basic core of Pocket PC is still the same as the old Windows CE core, which means that it is still very prone to crashing and hanging.

And there is another problem - since there are so many manufacturers and processors used, you will have to choose the right version of an app that fits the processor and form factor of your device. This usually means having to decide whether your processor is a MIPS or SH-3, whether you have a keyboard or not, etc.

I'm a gadget reviewer and I've tried a whole bunch of Windows CE devices (but as yet not a Pocket PC) and I've not been impressed so far.

Sure, the MP3 player works (they have one currently bundled with The HP Jornada 430se), but you can only store 3 songs before you run out of space and have to go looking for a CompactFlash card to store more. Also, running the MP3 player is pretty much all you can do - if you try to multitask, the music will start to skip or even worse, the device will hang.

I don't know about the new Windows CE3.0 on the Pocket PC devices, but the old version was SLOW. If you've been using a PalmOS device, switching to a Windows CE device is like going from a Ferrari to a Yugo!

Just my two cents...

------------------
Tan Kit Hoong,
Star Publications (M) Ltd

[This message has been edited by Tan Kit Hoong (edited 03-23-2000).]

Registered: Oct 1999
Location: I'm not sure, but I see lots of lights everywhere.
Posts: 1287

The fourth partner I believe is Symbian. The price range will be right inline with the Palm IIIc.

Tan- the Pocket PC is as stable (possibly more) than the Palm OS. It's also faster than the Palm OS...I know, I've seen it in action. And it's muti-tasking/multi-threading, which means it can run various applications simultaneously. Something you can't possibly do with a Palm. In other words you can listen to MP3 music while reading your email.

If you haven't seen the new OS in action, you should really give it a try. You'll more than pleasantly surprised. Maybe even shocked, I know I was



[This message has been edited by foo fighter (edited 03-23-2000).]

Registered: Jan 2000
Location:
Posts: 107

Symbian? Wha-chew-talkin-bout, Foo? I thought they were EPOC. That would be like putting Pat Smear & Backstreet Boys together.

Tan Kit Hoong - I'm going to be traveling to Kuala Lumpur in less than three weeks. Actually, I�ll only be in KL for two days, and then it�s on to Singapore. I�ve never been to this part of the world. Looking forward to it!

Registered: Oct 1999
Location: I'm not sure, but I see lots of lights everywhere.
Posts: 1287

Another interesting item to note is that, by this summer or early fall, there will be a wireless Compact Flash modem that will plug into any Pocket PC for wireless internet access. The modems are also supposed to have their own power supply to prevent battery drain on the handheld unit.

No word yet on pricing or service.

Registered: Nov 1999
Location: Chicago, IL
Posts: 148

One the pocketPC will never be able to do.. Sync with my mac... Therefore, I'll stick with Palm and Handspring (my choice) where I'm more productive. I think that this whole thing is just another chapter to the evolution of PDA's. All I know is that my visor suits me now, and well, 2 years from today, there will be something even MORE incredible.. not just by MS, but by Palm too. It only gets better from here! Good thing these things aren't as expensive as computers... Well, if companies keep making them more and more like desktops.. then that might change.. I like the $250 price tag on an excellent product called the Visor.. anyone else?

Mike

Registered: Oct 1999
Location: I'm not sure, but I see lots of lights everywhere.
Posts: 1287

Ken

according to ZDNET, Symbian has licensed the Pocket PC OS (Windows CE 3.0)

Registered: Jan 2000
Location:
Posts: 107

Foo - can you give me a link to that?