BargainPDA Gives Hitachi G1000 a Thumbs-Down

[Jason Dunn]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.bargainpda.com/default.asp?newsID=1411&showComments=true' target='_blank'>http://www.bargainpda.com/default.a...owComments=true</a><br /><br /></div>"For a brief while this afternoon, I had the pleasure of using the Hitachi G1000 and discussed the future of the Samsung i700 with a well placed Sprint employee. Bad news on both fronts. One, the G1000 is not very impressive, especially given its size. Two, the Samsung i700 has been delayed by three to six months on the Sprint network."<br /><br />The first look at the G1000 doesn't sound very promising. The down-side of the 320 x 240 screen resolution is that any device with a keyboard will have to be quite "tall" - the form factor just won't work any other way (unless they use a pop-out keyboard from the back). Still, I'm happy to see an OEM at least giving a built-in keyboard a try - someone has to start the process, and I applaud Hitachi for having the guts to give this a go. What the G1000 lacks in svelteness, I imagine it makes up for in sheer productivity - built-in keyboards are awesome for email!

[feo]

I wonder if it will actually have the phone edition os, or it will have the same kind of thing as my Frankenstein Toshiba. It is kind of a pain to have a unit that will do some things but not others.

[Charles Pickrell]

It will be a Pocket PC Phone Edition device. Microsoft has completed Pocket PC Phone Edition for CDMA telephones.

[HOLLYWOOD_]

Anyone know if future OEM's can make a Pocket PC with a shorter screen? :?: With the thumb keyboard, there will be no need for the virtual keyboard. A bunch of us BlackBerry users are eagerly awaiting Pocket PC Functionality in a BlackBerry-esque form. SIZE MATTERS !!!!

[Jason Dunn]

Anyone know if future OEM's can make a Pocket PC with a shorter screen?

Physically smaller, yes, but the aspect ratio has to stay the same or it would break all the applications on the market...

[Kevin Daly]

I think built-in or optional keypads of some description are really important for moving PDAs out of the organiser/overpriced pseudo-gameboy category.
I like the look of the new iPAQ keyboards (although I wouldn't disregard the clamshell approach either).
My only real concern is with key size and spacing: after looking at the keypads on Tungstens and Some-Clie-Can't-Remember-Which-Model in shops, I don't know how well I'd be able to use something like that, since I have quite broad fingertips.

Sorry for being a bit off topic.

[Kevin Daly]

Physically smaller, yes, but the aspect ratio has to stay the same or it would break all the applications on the market...

That of course raises interesting questions about the options for screen resolution - it would be nice (especially in view of recent actions by the competition, and no I'm not about to turn to the Dark Side) if a future Pocket PC OS supported higher resolutions, but obviously if they went to 320x320 (or 480x320), there goes the aspect ratio, whereas 640x480 would be too much to expect (and in any case probably not desirable).
I wonder if it is physically possible for a PPC display to support multiple resolutions with different aspect ratios? (leaving a "compatibility mode" so to speak, as a default).

[Jason Dunn]

I wonder if it is physically possible for a PPC display to support multiple resolutions with different aspect ratios? (leaving a "compatibility mode" so to speak, as a default).

Nope. Aspect ratios are a function of physical dimensions: height and width. If you wanted to change the aspect ratio of the screen, you either need to have a physically smaller screen with the same aspect ratio, or the virtual screen is smaller (with a different aspect ratio) and you have dead space. The aspect ratio of the Pocket PC screen will always be 1:1.33.

I think we'll see 640 x 480 sooner than some people think, because it's the next logical step in the chain...although not soon enough IMO. :|

[Skoobouy]

If I were to build a Pocket PC with a thumb keyboard, I would make the screen a bit smaller, like 3.2", turn it sideways, and tweak the OS to run in landscape. Yeah.