Thinking about the ideal Windows CE device...

[Skoobouy]

Do you know what I miss? I miss my Jornada 720. So, anyway, I was thinking of the sorts of things I would want in a new clamshell PDA. I know that these "PDA fantasy" posts aren't really very exciting, but seeing as how clamshells are more or less "dead" and therefore exotic and mysterious, I thought maybe I could get some input on this.

If I made a PDA, I would call it the Jeff; that's the name of the very small artillery boats used (alebit unsuccessfully) during the War of 1812, bearing the name of Thomas Jefferson; also known as "Mosquito Boats". Of course, the concept of mosquito boats was used more successfully in subsequent wars.

Jeff is also my name. :wink:

The Jeff series would have two processor/memory configurations:

Jeff 1.1's: 300MHZ PXA255 + "iPaq 1910" memory configuration

Jeff 1.2's: 400MHz PXA255 + "Toshiba e750" memory configuration

Followed by four sets of wireless options:

N: None
B: Bluetooth
W: Wifi
BW: Bluetooth and Wifi.

So, depending on how much you want to spend, you have eight choices.

The Jeff is a clamshell about the same size as, or less than the Cassiopeia E-1xx series. The screen is a 4" VGA Transflective and the keyboard is comparable to the Psion Revo, but just small enough to fit. It has CF and SDIO. It runs Windows CE.net, including all the necessary DLLs and hacks to run some Pocket PC apps. The IR port is in the front of the keyboard to facilitate the use of the Pocketop if desired.

The included cradle is primarily for use in synching. An optional cradle, however, has a detachable synch cable, VGA-out, and a USB host (just like the Toshiba add-on).

Too bad nothing like this will even happen, even though I really don't think anything mentioned here is off-the-wall. :|

[spursdude]

This all sounds pretty good, and I would love most of these features, but I have a few thoughts:

1. Size. I just don't think it's possible to pack all of this into a device the size of a Casio E-1xx. The 4 inch screen is possible (as the e550G proves), but integrating a clamshell design, CF and SDIO, built-in wireless components, and keyboard would make this very large. Maybe even "Sony large."

2. Why not put 128MB of combined ROM/RAM into each one? Considering the 1910 had to skimp on a few features because of too little ROM space. I don't see why we can't have more RAM/ROM...

[Mike Temporale]

My ideal device....

400Mhz, Bluetooth, Wifi, SDio, and 256 meg ram (64 for the OS, and the rest for fun). All this in an iPaq 1910 footprint. :ppclove:

And I would love to have a SD GPRS adapter.

If I had to give 1 thing up, it would be the Bluetooth.

And the device name would be: Pantheon. :clap:

[PapaSmurfDan]

Hrm, this is tough. I have two ideal devices.

First, take the basic case layout of a Newton 2100. 600mhz PXA255 (auto adjust between 200/400/600), a good video chip (maybe the ATI Imageon 3200, if that is really comming out), 6" 800x480 screen, pressure sensitive touch screen (if possible), dual CF slots and dual SDIO slots, 128mb of ram (user upgradabe) and 96mb of NOR Rom, built in WiFi, USB Host, USB connector on the device, vga out (sync port doubles for the vga out cable), both headset and headphone jacks,6hr battery life (real life time), casio style button layout for gaming, and a built in flip cover. On the software side, much better HWR is needed as that would be the main input mode. I am still saddened that a Newton MP100 (16mhz ARM) is more accurate out of the box than a 400mhz PPC. Hey, this may be a 'brick' by PPC terms, but it will be a fast and powerful brick. Idealy this would be a notepad type device instead of PDA.

The other is a slightly larger Ipaq 1900. Give it a 3.8" screen, rubber sides, 32mb of NOR rom, SDIO, and built in WiFi.

[shawnc]

A device that allows me to synchronize my Word and Excel files :evil: !!

[Stephen Beesley]

As much as it saddens me to say it I do not think that I could go back to carrying around something as big as my MP2k - no matter how much I loved it. For me the ideal next generation PPC would be something like the rumoured new HP with a folding keyboard doubling as a screen cover that was discussed in one of these forums some time ago (cannot remember where).

As for the HWR I realy wish Transcriber and/or caligrapher was as good as the HWR on my Newton - it should be! I find it particularly annoying the way that it waits until you pause before doing the translation.

The other thing I would like is a higher resolutions screen that (like the Newt) can be rotated at will without need for a soft reset.

oh well I guess we will get what we get....

Goldtee

[Skoobouy]

This all sounds pretty good, and I would love most of these features, but I have a few thoughts:

1. Size. I just don't think it's possible to pack all of this into a device the size of a Casio E-1xx. The 4 inch screen is possible (as the e550G proves), but integrating a clamshell design, CF and SDIO, built-in wireless components, and keyboard would make this very large. Maybe even "Sony large."

2. Why not put 128MB of combined ROM/RAM into each one? Considering the 1910 had to skimp on a few features because of too little ROM space. I don't see why we can't have more RAM/ROM...

1. I don't know about that. My concept isn't radically different in size and specs from the Axim. Maybe the keyboard would make it a little thick, but let's recall that the Psion keyboard was very, very thin and quite serviceable. With nimble enough fingers, you could touch-type.

2. The most important answer to your question would be price. Quite frankly, 32MB works, and 64MB is excellent. To my knowledge, nobody has released a Pocket PC app that has required that much internal RAM; in terms of storage, it is always cheaper to buy a card than to have more internal RAM. 128MB internal memory machines will be less affordable and less popular, since the extra memory does not actually -do- anything really useful.