Pocket PC OS looking dated?

[Stephen Beesley]

Just over the last few months I have been looking around at a replacement for my trusty Jornada. My search net has been cast far and wide and I have found quite a lot to like in the Pocket PC camp as well is in the Palm/Sony and Sharp Zaurus lines. While I am now reasonably sure that I will probably stick with the Pocket PC (hopefully in the guise of an ASUS MyPal 730 :D) one of the things that I have been thinking is that the Pocket PC GUI is looking more than a little dated to me. From the beginning it has had more than a touch of the Windows 95/98 about it. This is not just in the dialog boxs and default colour scheme but also the icons and overall look of applications like pocket outlook etc. Even WM2003SE and VGA does not seem to alter this that much.

By comparison both the newest incarnations of Palm and the Zaurus have some really excellent and fresh looking icons and GUI elements. This is especially true of the HiRes Palm units from PalmOne and Sony. Both outfits have also done some really nice tweaking of the look and feel (as well as functionality) of the various PIM application.

Now as I have already said this is all probably not enough to make me want to jump ship, but I really would like to see a more modern looking GUI on my Pocket PC.

What do others think?

[Ryan Joseph]

I like it myself. I think it looks and functions pretty well. I know most people don't think this, but I find WM2003 much better than 2002. I just find it easy to use and I like the Interface.

The only downside is that the Start button is at the top. If Microsoft wanted it to be more like the traditional Windows interface, they should have put it at the bottom.

But I've been using PPCs for a few years and I'm used to that. :roll:

I can't wait for Second Edition, however. The ability to turn the screen is very appealing.

But I find the interface itself to be pretty good. :mrgreen:

[Steven Cedrone]

The only downside is that the Start button is at the top. If Microsoft wanted it to be more like the traditional Windows interface, they should have put it at the bottom.

Before Pocket PC, the Start Button was on the bottom!

Steve

[Stephen Beesley]

The only downside is that the Start button is at the top. If Microsoft wanted it to be more like the traditional Windows interface, they should have put it at the bottom.

Before Pocket PC, the Start Button was on the bottom!

Steve

I will just chime in to add that this is one feature of the PPC GUI that I actually prefer. The Zaurus has the start button feature on the bottom and I definately prefef the PPC approach on this one at least!

[Ryan Joseph]

I'm not saying that I dislike the Start button on the top. I've been using it for so long that I prefer it now. I even tried moving my Windows Task Bar to the top of my monitor at home, but that didn't last too long. :D

My point was that if Microsoft was trying to make it like Windows, putting it on the top was not the way to do it. It also makes it dificult to explain the OS to someone who's never used a PPC before. They say things like, "But shouldn't it be on the bottom?" or, "I could never get used to having it on the top." :roll:

The one improvement I would like to see would be an actual Task Bar on PPCs. I know screen size makes this hard, but I wish there was a feature built into the OS that showed running programs and allowed the user to close one at a time. Right now, we have to rely on third party apps to do this or go through Settings, Memory, Running Programs, Stop.

That, in my opinion, would be a great change!

[Kowalski]

i find this gui very functional but the bottom bar could be more effective.
i never use new button. this could be replaced by a custom menu

[dh]

i find this gui very functional but the bottom bar could be more effective.
i never use new button. this could be replaced by a custom menu
That's a good point, I don't think I ever used the "new" button. I would prefer the "start" button to be located there to save reaching over the screen.

[Kacey Green]

I hated the start button at the bottom that my nino had, it was always getting pressed even when you didn't want it to

[Kowalski]

there is a utility in phm powertoys which adds program shortcuts to the system tray. this is a great way of improving user interface

[WyattEarp]

While I find the GUI functional I do think it is time for a new look and added features that MS knows are missing but seem to refuse to include. As other OSes get facelifts and improvements this one is starting to become stale by just including minor improvements and under the hood makeovers that took way to long.