Whats the diff???

[2002F1Fan]

..Between PPC2002 and Windows CE??? I want to get a PDA really soon.

1) What is the newest version of CE?
2) Can I play videos or MP3's?? (Win CE)
3) WHAT IS THE DIFF???

[brntcrsp]

Think of Pocket PC 2002 as a subset of Windows CE, with a specific skin. It contains features that belong to CE, but not all of them. Currently, if you want to buy a PDA you have three basic options:

1) Handheld PC - the HP Jornada 700 series is a prime example.
2) Pocket PC - examples are the iPaq, Toshiba's e310 and others.
3) Etc - This category encompasses all other variations of companies who use CE but have built up their own parts of it that do not fall into the previous categories.

The newest version of CE is CE .Net which I believe is also known as CE 4.1, but don't hold me to it.

Pocket PC 2002 is built upon CE 3.0. We should start seeing Pocket PCs using CE.Net sometime next year. There are some devices that are using CE.Net but I don't believe they have reached the commercial market yet.

CE does have the ability to play multimedia, such as video or MP3. Now there difference lies in the manufacturer, and the type of device. Those using the Pocket PC OS have Windows Media Player built in, and can play most files. There is additional software available for most platforms to play additional media types like Divx.

You have two options depending on how soon you need/want to purchase. You won't be able to get a CE.Net Pocket PC for another year, so either you wait a year, or you purchase something top of the line today that MAY be upgradable. I say MAY because there is no guarantee that the OEMs will provide an upgrade. Going from Pocket PC to Pocket PC 2002 we saw only a few offer the upgrade. You'd be best off purchasing a device that the manufacturer will want to support for a while.

Good luck.

[2002F1Fan]

Thanks for the reply. Quick Question: What is the cheapest PDA to get for what i'm looking for?

[brntcrsp]

What are you looking for? Cheapest Pocket PC to date is either the Toshiba e310 or the Audiovox Maestro. Both can be found at a CompUSA. Amazon had a very good deal on the e310 recently too.

But the cheapest for the top of the line? No idea, I'm not in the market so I haven't been looking. Also keep in mind that November is the big month for releasing new Pocket PCs. You might want to wait until then to see what the manufactures are rolling out. Plus, the older devices will then correspondingly drop in price.