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View Full Version : A Phone Running Windows XP and Smartphone


Jerry Raia
12-19-2005, 10:00 PM
<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.pocketnow.com/index.php?a=portal_detail&t=news&id=3417' target='_blank'>http://www.pocketnow.com/index.php?a=portal_detail&t=news&id=3417</a><br /><br /></div><i>"As posted at CNET, a company called DualCor will be at CES this year showing off a device with a 1.5GHz Via processor, along with an Intel PXA processor and 40GB hard drive, that will supposedly run Windows Mobile for Smartphone AND Windows XP. With such a configuration, the device will run for three hours running XP, and 8-12 hours running as a Smartphone (no charge-free “long weekends” here). Apparently, you’ll be able to decide whether to run a given application in x86 or Smartphone mode, and can set this function to occur automatically."</i><br /><br />No mention of size here. So far things like this (OQO) haven't done very well. Battery life being mentioned as one of the reasons. It couldn't be bigger than a PDA and still be a usable phone though. Now would this be like a dual boot device? Not very convenient when you have to switch between the two.

Mike Temporale
12-20-2005, 02:12 AM
I can't think of any other way to toggle the OS, so most likely it would mean reboot. What happens if there was an incoming call while your device is in the WinXP mode? Can it even access the radio part of the phone while it's in WinXP? Sounds like there could be too many issues for something like this. It's starting to look like another OQO in the making. :lol:

Kirkaiya
12-20-2005, 12:56 PM
Well, I can think of one other way to run Windows Mobile - the same way that I can run it on my laptop now, using the Emulator that connects to Visual Studio 2005. That would be a performance slug, of course...

BUT - if you read the post, it says there will be 2 CPUs, one an x86 (the Via, which has an integrated chipset) as well as an ARM architecture chip, which means that both OSs could run at the same time - and Windows XP could be left in "suspend" mode, which uses very little power, except when you need it to run a particular x86 application.

They could even go further, and use Windows XP embedded, which is what powers Wyxe's newest thin-client devices, and which boots up almost instantly, although I think that would limit which applications could run on it.

Finally, with Flash Ram being so cheap, they could even put a lean version of Windows XP home (or Pro) into 512 MB or 1 GB of fast flash memory and boot it from there, then leave it in "suspend" mode, like a laptop.

But like somebody said, I think the market for this is niche. If it was small enough, I'd be interested, just because I could take it rather than a laptop when travelling, and use a folding Stowaway-type keyboard, and plug into somebody's HD TV or a monitor or whatever, to do work. Not ideal really.

Stinger
12-20-2005, 02:43 PM
It doesn't look like it from the pictures, but it could be like Nokia's communicator devices. They run Nokia's proprietary OS on the outside display and Symbian on the inside display. Never owninging one myself, I have no idea how the two OSs interact though.