Best VGA devices

[IceCaveman]

Now there is time to get a new PDA as I broke the monitor of my h2210 so I need your help to decide. I just want the best.

If anyone can help me to find some new ones you know are really good then here are my requirements.

#1 It must have a VGA screen
#2 It must support WindowsMobile2003 SE
#3 I would like a CF card support as I already have a 512MB CF card but I'm still ready to drop that support if there really are some good devices without it.
#4 128MB of RAM will make me happy.
#5 Possibility to get a "foldable" keyboards or a bluetooth keyboard to work with it.
#6 The d-pad can not be similar to h2210, it must be possible to press into one direction at a time as I hate it when it goes into 2 directions when I want it to go into 1.

I need it for PIM functions as well as I need to be enable to play games on it. Don't tell me to get a Gameboy because I already got GBA SP! I don't want to carry gameboy, my PDA and my phone at the same time with my wallet.

[IceCaveman]

And ofcourse possibility to connect to USB portable hard disk drives would be nice as I already got one. No I'm not interested in buying a laptop.

[Chucky]

Well you have very similar requirements to me, perhaps the Loox 720 (http://www.firstloox.org/specs.htm).

I'm hoping it will be a lot cheaper than the iPaq 4700. As for gaming, can't comment as I don't have the device :) But gaming will also be important for me. It's also smaller and lighter than the iPaq, not as light as I would like - but with SD and CF from my knowledge there isn't going to be much better in the near future.

[Kevin C. Tofel]

I believe there are only 2 devices that meet the first requirement: VGA.

Right now, the Toshiba e800 / e805, and the Asus A730 have VGA capabilities. The Pocket Loox 700 series is due out in August and would meet your needs as well. I don't know much about the Asus, but a good Google search would tell you the specs. There were some news articles just yesterday on the Loox specs.

I can tell you that I own the Tosh and it will meet all of the requirements you have PROVIDED that you are willing to flash your OS to the WM 2003 SE. There are some excellent reviews of the Tosh on this site as well as others...

Good luck! :)

KCT

[IceCaveman]

I guess I'll wait for the Loox then, it looks so damn sexy and comfortable. When in August do you expect it to be relased? If it's late in August then it will be to late it's driving me crazy writing old fashioned notes :cry: and with my constantly changing work hours appointments have been difficult to schedule

Can you tell me what this means?
USB 2.0 (slave), 1.1 (host), RS232

[Chucky]

Who knows when it will be released, hopefully early August :D Don't worry mate I am anxious as you!

USB 2.0 host means that you can synchronise at USB2.0 speeds (theoretically up 480mbs, but in practice as fast as your PDA can handle!).

USB 1.1 client means that the you can connect USB devices to your PDA (ie. keyboards, mice, USB memory, printers etc) but only at 1.1 speeds, but don't let that bother you because really a Pocket PC doesn't have the power (or use) for speeds much faster than USB 1.1 which is 11mbs.

[epdm]

Who knows when it will be released, hopefully early August :D Don't worry mate I am anxious as you!

USB 2.0 host means that you can synchronise at USB2.0 speeds (theoretically up 480mbs, but in practice as fast as your PDA can handle!).

USB 1.1 client means that the you can connect USB devices to your PDA (ie. keyboards, mice, USB memory, printers etc) but only at 1.1 speeds, but don't let that bother you because really a Pocket PC doesn't have the power (or use) for speeds much faster than USB 1.1 which is 11mbs.

Technically USB 1.1 is 12MB ;-)

[IceCaveman]

Thank you guys but I can't see if the loox has a graphical accelerator or not like Thosiba has.

[Chucky]

Well as far as I know it is based on very similar hardware to the A730, with has Intels new graphics accelerator. There has not been (as far as I know) any in depth analysis into its exact features or performance, however from simply the perspective that it is over a year newer than the ATI chip in the Toshiba I would expect it to be much much superior to the ATI chip.

Just my opinion, I'll have a poke around the intel site and see what else I can find.

Edit:
Had a bit of a look at the Intel website, it seems that the chip doesn't actually have a graphics accelerator. Rather it has extended MMX instructions, which in practice add major speed to graphics programming. The idea behind this is Intel does not make high performace graphics processors, where as ATI does, so ATI has made a mobile version of their graphics processor, where as Intel has directly integrated into the core of the CPU units to speed up operations commonly found in multimedia applications. Ideally this would make a perfect partner with ATI's chip, however as far as we know this isn't going to happen in any PDA expected out anytime soon.

But this isn't a total write off, those around with experience making MMX enhanced programs in the days before 3D accelerators were wide spread will testify to the boost in performance that can be achieved.

Lets remember a couple of things, PDA's will have a VGA screen, ie. 640*480. I started running games in 800*600 when I got my Pentium 100 (no graphics accelerator). Now what we have is an MMX enhanced 500mhz processor, running at a maximum of 640*480 - I seriously think for the type of games likely to be made for a PDA (remember the memory limit people!) the Intel chip will be sufficient. As I said I would like the Intel chip AND the ATI chip, but I am happy for now :)