PALM OS is STABLE while Pocket PC's CRASH AND BURN

[rave]

Apologies in advance for the flame bait title. Now that I have your attention, I have a serious question:

I've been planning to get a Pocket PC as a replacement for my old Palm IIIc, but those reviews and articles mentioning hard resets and crashes scare me. Will I be experiencing a lot of the same when I get my own PPC? Or are they just hype and isolated cases?

Thanks.

[rave]

Apologies in advance for the flame bait title. Now that I have your attention, I have a serious question:

I've been planning to get a Pocket PC as a replacement for my old Palm IIIc, but those reviews and articles mentioning hard resets and crashes scare me. Will I be experiencing a lot of the same when I get my own PPC? Or are they just hype and isolated cases?

Thanks.

[Jonathon Watkins]

Welcome Rave.

Nice of you to join us - though that kind of title can indeed get you into trouble around here. :wink:

I too have a IIIc and I have to tell you - I only reset the PPC slightly more than I used to with the Palm - i.e. hardly ever. I would not worry about it too much. Just make sure you backup/sync regularly - but then again you would do that anyway. :wink:

What kind of price/size had you in mind? The Viewsonic V35 or Dell Axim X5 seem like good choises at the moment. Of course we need to see what new machines Toshiba will bring out. It's all go in the PPC area at the moment.

[rave]

Hi, I actually decided to get a PPC quite a while back, but internet research and common sense told me to wait until the announcement of Dell's PPC and the new iPAQ's. I guess the wait is gonna pay off; I'm specifically eyeing the 64MB Dell. I don't care about the physical size... for sure it's not going to be any bigger than a IIIc. :wink:

I guess it's expected to see a bit more soft resets in PPC's since from what I've read, more software titles require it after installation, much like desktops. What scares me are the hard resets and data loss scenarios.

I know that those user reviews should be taken with a grain of salt, and it's not uncommon to read comments from Palm fanboys and users who never read manuals. But of course, the paranoid in me is urging me to get further confirmations. Thanks for your comments... and keep 'em coming.

[Steven Cedrone]

I have only hard reset a Pocket PC twice:

1) When MS released the password powertoy(my HP548 broke the powertoy - later MS issued a warning not to use the powertoy with the HP's)...

2) When trying to find a way to replace the contact database without doing a full restore(a pet project)...

That's it (and that's 2+ years)...

Steve

Both incidents were caused by me doing something above and beyond, same as the times I had to Hard reset my Palms (I broke them the same way)...

[Janak Parekh]

Originally Posted by rave

I guess it's expected to see a bit more soft resets in PPC's since from what I've read, more software titles require it after installation, much like desktops. What scares me are the hard resets and data loss scenarios.

There's a large misperception here IMHO. With most traditional Palm devices, people would do rather straightforward tasks. PPC's, being full "computers", enabled you to do much more dramatic stuff. If you take a stock PPC and use it, it should be rock-stable. However, if you load 15 different apps down of dubious quality, expect trouble. I do have to soft-reset my device a bit, but that's because I push it to the limit sometimes. I've gone months without a soft-reset even with many apps installed (all of good quality though - I tend to be very conservative), and I can't remember the last time I did a hard-reset (except when I had to send a defective unit to HP... that's a story for another time).

PalmOS, actually, happens to be a rather unforgiving OS... if you've ever tried an unstable app, you'd know what I mean (the dreaded infinite Soft Reset loop when using a buggy hack, for example).

--bdj

[Pony99CA]

I've had an iPAQ 3650 and 3870 for the last 18 months or so. I've only had to hard reset once, and that was because Pocket PC 2002 EUU2 required a hard reset. I haven't had to do it for any unforeseen reason.

Of course, now I will. :roll:

Steve

[Pony99CA]

Originally Posted by Steven Cedrone

2) When trying to find a way to replace the contact database without doing a full restore(a pet project)...

Was there any specific reason you wanted to do this?

Depending on what you expected synchronizing to do, I'd think this would be fairly simple. Something like this should work:

1. Copy the Contacts database from the Pocket PC you want to your host using ActiveSync.

2. Delete the Contacts database from the Pocket PC containing the database you want to replace. (Warning -- this might cause any contacts on your host PC to be lost if you're connected as a partner, but that may be what you want.)

3. Copy the Contacts database from your PC to the Pocket PC.

I don't know what effect that would have on synchronization, though. With luck, synchronizing after this would populate Outlook with the new contacts.

Try the above at your own risk. :-)

Steve

[Coralie]

Originally Posted by rave

I've been planning to get a Pocket PC as a replacement for my old Palm IIIc, but those reviews and articles mentioning hard resets and crashes scare me.

keep i mind that what you read here & in articles is not necessarily the majority of user experiences, especially in the case where problems are mentioned.

the people with problems, simply because they're having problems at the time, are the loud minority. i don't mean this in an offensive way at all, i know that if i'm having problems of a ppc nature i do whatever i can to find solutions .. of course.

i have an ipaq 3630 & even though i have had to make one hard reset & a fair few soft resets, since i've made myself a good backup plan, it's really not an issue. most of my problems are simply because my 3630 only has 32mb of ram & it lives its life with less than 5mb free at any given time. i'm sure it's pushing the boundaries.

i'm very happy with my ppc & am just hanging out for another six months or so to buy the second latest model. sticking with the second latest model (of anything) not only saves you lots of money, but means that others can work out the bugs before you get there .. :wink:

sorry, got kind of off topic there, but i hope i've made sense anyway.

[rave]

Thanks for all the replies.

BigDaddyJ: I know what you mean by "dubious apps". In the Palm OS, most come in the form of hacks. Luckily my hacks haven't reached critical level yet. In any case, it's comforting to know that a "stock" PPC has rock-solid stability.

ferrous: I guess we have the same "second latest" philosophy. I consider a good portion of any new product's price as the cost of owning the "bleeding edge". Besides, the price would usually be so high I won't be able to afford it. (though the Dell *could* be an exception... )

[spursdude]

In my opinion, both types of resets are overdramatized.

I've only performed a hard reset once, and that was when I was being a moron and didn't realize that i could've easily fixed my own problem without a hard reset. Anyways, it wasn't that bad, considering I just did a restore process which, though it took a while, was perfectly fine and everything was back to normal.

As for soft resets, those are EXTREMELY overhyped.
1. I hardly ever soft reset. Every once in a while Windows Media Player will freeze up on me, and I have to do a soft reset. You're right - a Palm won't do that...oh wait because a Palm can't play MP3's. (sorry i just had to put that in there)

2. A soft reset is nothing dramatic or scary. I pop out my stylus, hit the reset button, and in about 5 or 10 seconds, everything is back to normal. I've never lost data on a soft reset, either.

So bottom line - backup your Pocket PC every few days or weeks (and I do'nt even do that), treat it well, and you have pretty much nothing to worry about, in my opinion.