The Future Of Windows Mobile Pocket PCs?

[Janak Parekh]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.cewindows.net/commentary/future-wm.htm' target='_blank'>http://www.cewindows.net/commentary/future-wm.htm</a><br /><br /></div>"So you want to know about the future of the Pocket PC? Well there have been some recent hints that things are changing in Microsoft’s Mobile Devices Division’s ideas about what a Pocket PC is. So before I get ahead of myself let’s spend a minute recapping the current unofficial definition of a Pocket PC."<br /><br />Chris De Herrera has a short article that makes some good points about the future of Pocket PCs. While we can't speculate about the next version in detail, I think he makes some reasonable conjectures as to what we might be able to expect.

[quidproquo]

I think you will see more blending of the PPC with the mobile phones, instead of a convergence of PPC and the Tablet PC.

People using mobile devices like the PPC will always want that quick on/load speed like we have with PPC. Who wants to wait for boot up time just to beam someone a business card or show them a video of your kid! :wink:

[SandersP]

Lesse if those PPC team in Redmond is listening, instead of just mumbling 'we are looking at it'.

1. Pocket PC smartphone: 2" wide is the boundry between high tech chick and geeky gadget. Squeeze the current XDA into 2" wide device and it will sell like hot cake. You can count on it. Nobody wants to put a huge slab of plastic next to their cheek in crowded place. It looks goofy.

2. PPC: Everything has the same look : fake silver plastic. Whats up with that? Is there some sort of design guidance that all PPC has to be made from cheap silver pain job on plastic? Isn't it time to go pass the original iPAQ color scheme folks? whatever happen to being imaginatie?

3. Nice screen matters. Screen is how the world sees the PDA. ugly/bad screen == no sale. Different size, different resolution, different shapes.

4. PPC has done reasonably well in size department, it is now time to keep the size, but make it attractive and interesting, while adding more features such as camera/GPS etc. Cheap plastic plus fake paint job == a device that looks cheap. That is why nobody buys viewsonic, or why Toshiba E3xx fails despite attractive price and reasonable spec. This is also why h19xx sells despite low end spec: attractive chasis, nice screen helps. ugly plastic == no sale.

5. There should be alternate design: iPOD PPC sleeve, PPC with gaming buttons, rugged GPS PPC for outdoor use. educational PPC, medical PPC. Enough of that stupid "enterprise handheld mantra". Apple can sell more single purpose iPOD than any PPC models at more premium price than any PPC model that can do more.

enterprise doesn't buy handhelds, regular folks do. Apple sells a million of those iPod to the hip and chick people. How many PPC does the 'enterprise' buy in the same period of time?

WHY? (if microsoft can't answer this, microsoft should quit hiring smart people and start hiring brilliant people)

6. experiment with new form of UI.
-Anybody at that PPC team ever considers how silly it is keeping the browser slider so thin rendering it unusable except for stylus? (why can't I gesture with my thumb? instead of keep using UI desinged for desktop screen and mouse?)
-Pull down menu is OVER guys. It's nice in desktop with mouse, but incredibelly silly with limited screen real estate and touch screen. Anybody ever consider how incredibally silly the UI control scheme is in PPC media player? pull down menu, dialog boxes, secondary windows... This is the place experimental UI can begin. scrollign song title, virtual job dials, virtual slider, tumb gestures, animation feedback etc. make it fun and interesting... who cares it's just a stupid players.

handheld isn't desktop guys. if there is a need to revolutionize computing UI, this is it. desktop GUI is NOT always practical for hanheld thumb operation.

7. Tablet computer/flat laptop/fancy organizer is DEAD! THINK modular computing/communicator. There should be a cradle in my car, my office, my living room where i can plop down my handheld and the communicator start interacting with devices according to my preferance. The device should wirelessly pull data everywhere that I need ccess. I don't want more computer to carry around, I don't want more gadgets. I want more functionality and convinience.

8. Single purpose device will soon be dead, multi function handheld/communicator is what we want. And it better does basic functions well, no crashing, no battery shortage, no incompatibility, no ugly hardware.

9. tablet computer is DEAD. (have I told you that?) It's just an expensive flat dumb laptop with silly pen. who cares. I want wireless smart notepad.

[tsb_hcy]

A long article that basically said nothing. :|

I've never seen an 8" tablet before. That sounds about perfect as long as it's a powerhouse. Maybe instead of buying a PPC to replace my e805 I'll get a tablet. Well, maybe not, 8" is still a little too big for a belt clip case. How about a 6" PPC or tablet? Yeah, that would be perfect. 0X

[Jonathon Watkins]

Give me a 60 Gig laptop HD in a PPC form factor and I'm set - forget the iPod! Trouble is, I don't want 3 devices - phone, PPC and HD MP3 player. I would be prepared to have a larger PPC if a laptop HD could be squeezed in. Heck - with the 640x480 screen it would have :wink: it would be perfect to view photos, videos as well.

[shawnc]

Oh, the heck with it. I agree with EVERY point made here, ESPECIALLY #1. Holding a 2-by-4 to your face to make a call will never catch on.

My oldest told me the other day he was thinking of buying an Ipod. I said why not get a PPC, this way you have the music player AND organizer functionality. His response was that he has organizer functionality in his Vision phone. I said "what about Word/Excel sync functionality"? He politely laughed and said"c'mon dad".

I've said it before and I'll say it again. MS blew it by INTENTIONALITY misleading on Word/Excel capability. They had a chance to take this medium mainstream and the dropped the ball. I love my new 4150, but I see this as likely my last PPC purchase.

[arnage2]

i want a ppc with a 5" vga screen with a 40-60gb laptop hdd and an mmx processor with directx and 16-32 mb of video ram, and wireless g. That is what mobile computing is supposed to be.

[WyattEarp]

According to what some people want it is just not possible with the current crop of PPCs. A 3.5" display with icons and menu system big enough to use with your fingers just doesn't mix. Larger displays are needed for that but it won't happen as long as people want lillipution size devices.

We will be stuck with the small screens for a while with a few companies going beyond with larger screens like HP and Toshiba who also sell to businesses who require a bigger display. Companies spend alot on PPCs, Palms, etc. and that's one reason how we "the consumer" benefit. We all help each other get better hardware and software by wanting, and using more.

Convergered devices are nice but in the end I think the cell phone will ultimately stay separate from the PDA except in the bussiness arena and for people who require constant communications. Especially since there are only a few vendors making PPCPEs and then they are tied down to cell phone companies offering the device (that sucks) :bad-words: . Why should I have to search for an unlocked PPCPE or get software to make it so because my carrier doesn't sell it :?:

Table PCs are in the same place now as they were when they first came out more than 5 years ago.
1. too expensive
2. under powered
3. below average hardware
4. inadequate amount of available software

They will not catch up to the laptop or PPC until they become an instant on device. Nor will they evolve into a truely useful device until communications like Wi-Fi, BT, are standard (not an option) and offer hardware equivalent to current laptops and much more software becomes available on the consumer level.

[sub_tex]

Larger displays are needed for that but it won't happen as long as people want lillipution size devices.

"Today I learned a new word. . .'lilliputian'"

:mrgreen:

Had to look that one up.

[yawanag]

[2. PPC: Everything has the same look : fake silver plastic. Whats up with that? Is there some sort of design guidance that all PPC has to be made from cheap silver pain job on plastic? Isn't it time to go pass the original iPAQ color scheme folks? whatever happen to being imaginatie?quote]

I am so with you on this. The first T-Mobile that was shipped to me got scratched by the magnetic clips in the cover. It scratched off the paint. I sent it back because no way did I feel I had to accept something like that after paying $549 for it. I read on some sites that others kept theirs because it was as they put it "not so bad."

I also dislike the T-Mobile XDA II that has black on the unit making it look like the IPAQ. I know, HTC makes the IPAQ, but can't they get more original?

I like the XDA II or the mm02 far better.

[trapper]

. Tablet computer/flat laptop/fancy organizer is DEAD

So laptop's will be obsolete? Tablets allow a much more natural way of interacting with the device. They will eventually overtake laptops in sales when the current deficiencies are eliminated. Your modular computing approach is fine but the car, office and home aren't the only places you'll need a computer. The tablet can obviously be the centerpiece for the modular computing environment you propose.

Table PCs are in the same place now as they were when they first came out more than 5 years ago.


The real Tablet is really only 1 year old. There are still problems but they will be overcome. The Electrovaya already has 8-9 hour battery life and is fairly powerful.

[saljamex]

I have a Compaq TC1000 TabletPC (as my second computer, my main computer is an Alienware Area 51m notebook computer with P4 @3.2 HT, 60GB HD @7,200 rpm, NVIDIA 128MB Video Card, 1GB Memory, 1600x1200 UXGA Display, the problem is that weights 7.5lbs!!), which I think it´s great, It needs more power to be like a "real machine", new models are coming better, I think the future will be TabletPC machines as Powerfull as desktops with integrated DVD+RW.

[Paragon]

Well with the talk of relaxed hardware requirements as Chris has mentioned combined with new screen technologies within the horizon, perhaps we are primed to see some real inovation in Pocket PCs.....Imagine a device about 2 1/4"x4 3/4"x5/8" on the front is a T9 pad and a one or two line screen. It opens like a book. This shouldn't be much of a dream with flexible screens now in the works. Once open you now have a screen about 4" square and a full qwerty keyboard across the bottom, an SD slot in each half running on the latest PPC PE, with WiFi and Bluetooth :drool: To visualize, that is about the size of the SPV Smartphone. so you end up with a Smartphone form factor in a Pocket PC with a much bigger screen then we have now and a keyboard thrown in.

Any bets whether we will see a device like this in the future?

Dave

[mobilejohn]

I got a PDA smartphone from Audiovox but I returned it! The Battery life was only 1.5 to 3 hours long..? It sucked, so I am now going to get a regular phone! If you cant have it on all day at work, then what good is it! I will wait until the technology is better!

I support the iPAQ's at, work and they are nice I like them, if they could just make one with a phone, life will be good! :roll:

[Janak Parekh]

I got a PDA smartphone from Audiovox but I returned it! The Battery life was only 1.5 to 3 hours long..? It sucked, so I am now going to get a regular phone! If you cant have it on all day at work, then what good is it! I will wait until the technology is better!
The Audiovox is not representative of most Pocket PC Phones, or smartphones of any shape or size. It has severe battery life issues -- but it's pretty much the only one. My Samsung i700 can last several days on one charge.

--janak

[mobilejohn]

Yes I know that now, the only reason that I tried is because my wife wanted to get me a phone, but I did not want just a phone.. It was $100.00 and I could return it in 15 days if I did not like it.. I did not want to spend allot of money on a handheld so I tried it; The Samsung is a nice looking PocketPC. I can’t believe that they are still trying to sale those Audiovox , I would retire all of them!

[Janak Parekh]

I can’t believe that they are still trying to sale those Audiovox , I would retire all of them!
I suspect they're selling it for $99 precisely to get rid of them... and I bet they keep on coming back. ;) I'm sure they'll eventually delist it.

--janak

[mobilejohn]

I will get a regular phone now and wait; in two years there should be something out there for me? If the Samsung can be left "ON" all day long then thats a great! Can you play games on it too?

[Janak Parekh]

I will get a regular phone now and wait; in two years there should be something out there for me? If the Samsung can be left "ON" all day long then thats a great!
Yep, idling eats up very, very little battery on the i700.

Can you play games on it too?
Well, it's a Pocket PC... so Pocket PC-compatible games can be played. The i700 doesn't have the full set of buttons (it has 2 application buttons apart from the phone button, not 4), so some games may not be practical. But overall, it's pretty good. :) You can get the full details from my review (http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/articles.php?action=expand,20748&start=0).

--janak