Jason Dunn
11-21-2006, 04:00 AM
<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.mobileviews.com/blog/2006/11/16/happy-10th-anniversary-microsoft-windows-mobile/' target='_blank'>http://www.mobileviews.com/blog/2006/11/16/happy-10th-anniversary-microsoft-windows-mobile/</a><br /><br /></div><i>"I don’t know the actual introduction date for the first Windows CE devices. But, I always considered their launch at Fall Comdex 1996 to be their public introduction. The original devices were pretty spartan by even my 1996 standards. So, I waited until early 1997 to buy my first Windows CE device: An HP 320LX Handheld PC. It was a step up from HP’x 300LX. The 320LX had 4MB RAM (compared to the 300LX’s 2MB), a backlit screen, and a CompactFlash slot as well as a PC Card slot. Unlike other Handheld PC, it also had a 640×240 grayscale (greenscale) screen. It was a great device and as you can see from the photos here, it still works! HP engineers really built stuff to last back then (I have a few choice words about the iPAQ line HP inherited from their Compaq merger in some other blog entry). I just stuck in a fresh pair of AA batteries and the HP 320LX fired up. Even the backlight still works fine."</i><br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/mobileyear10-01.jpg" alt="User submitted image" title="User submitted image"/><br /><br />Todd Ogasawara's article is a great blast from the past - it's amazing that Windows Mobile (Windows CE) is 10 years old now. I have vivid memories of reading reviews of the first generation handheld PCs in a magazine called <b>boot</b> (now <a href="http://www.maximumpc.com/">Maximum PC</a>, and still the only computer magazine worth reading), and selecting the Philips Velo 1 as the device for me (it received the only "A" rating of the round-up if memory serves). I ordered it from the USA, and by the time it came with all taxes, shipping, and dollar conversions, it cost me about $1500 Canadian ($1350 USD). It was worth it though, I loved the device - until the hinge broke...again and again. Speaking of blasts from the Windows CE past, look <a href="http://www.jasondunn.com/archive/velo/index2.htm">how</a> <a href="http://www.jasondunn.com/archive/wallpaper/index2.htm">time</a> <a href="http://www.jasondunn.com/archive/windowsce/index2.html">flies</a>. I also find it darkly amusing that no Windows Mobile device can <a href="http://www.jasondunn.com/archive/windowsce/uichange.htm">do what I need yet with appointment reminders</a>, even after all these years. I'm still hunting for a Velo 1 on eBay to reclaim some of the original glory...