VGA Poll

[Jonathon Watkins]

OK, Poll time again. This time it's another double poll with the second part tomorrow and the theme is VGA. The new age of Pocket PC screen resolutions will soon be upon us. Of course, some folks are already living in the future. :wink: So, the question today is "Do you currently own a VGA Pocket PC?" Short and sweet. Fire away.

[arnage2]

I used to own a tosh e805

[Tom W.M.]

I have a MobilePro 780—640x240—so I'm half there. :wink:

Seriously, though, I'm really jealous of all you VGA folks—DivX fullscreen at VGA—wow!. 8O

[dh]

I use PPC and VGA everyday, just not on the same device. Having been using VGA on my Zaurus for a while, I must say it's great. If the new WM2003SE is as good as the Z, PPC is making a big step forward.

Of course when FlipStarts and OQOs are around, it won't matter anymore.

[SeanH]

There is only one VGA PPC shipping today, the e805. I think a better poll would be to ask how many people will upgrade there existing PPC because of VGA in the next few months. I would have bought the e805 if it had Bluetooth and WiFi. The HP 4700 and ASUS 730 look great but neither are shipping yet.

Sean

[OSUKid7]

I think a better poll would be to ask how many people will upgrade there existing PPC because of VGA in the next few months.
I'm guessing tomorrow's poll will be something like that. ;)

Yeah, the iPaq 4700 is definitely on my short list of PDAs I'm considering in the next 3-5 months.

[arnage2]

didnt asus promise the a730 in may?

[cyj]

Sorry, I haven't been following PPC screen issues recently.

I was wondering if VGA screens will be better outdoors than present screens?

I use an ipaq 5555 and don't get me wrong, the screen is great inside. But I notice it suffers in the sun. I seem to remember my old compaq aero is being really incredible in the direct sunlight, although poor everywhere else except dark conditions.

[Mark Johnson]

Isn't this poll a bit early, considering that HP hasn't bellied up to the bar yet?
:?:

Not really... Consider that there have been a bunch of rumors/releases of PPC2003SE devices in the last few weeks and what we're seeing is a (to me VERY surprising) prevelance of the old QVGA screens. My personal attitude is that my 1910 is THE LAST unit I'll EVER own with QVGA. I'm going to VGA next and never coming back. It seems, however, that the manufacturers are betting that they can schlep at least one more generation of QVGA. This community's reaction to the issue is likely to be quite interesting.

Personally, I think this is a lot like when we saw the first generation of color PPC's. You guys might remember that well after a bunch of color units were out, Compaq pushed an updated Aero that was mono. It WAS cheaper, but it still flopped (as I recall it...) Sort of a "once they've been to the city, you can't keep them down on the farm anymore" situation.

My concern is that the manufacturers have bet (wrong) that most people are not aware enough/demanding enough to want VGA, so they are pushing a bunch of these QVQA units, they will have poor sales, the clueless managers will start wringing their hands and then (aided by some tech-industry reporters) reach bizarre conclusions like: "People just don't want PDA's anymore, they want smartphones, no wait, they want tabletpc's, no wait, they want TiVo wristwatches and contact managers embedded in their iPods..."

[alex_kac]

My concern is that the manufacturers have bet (wrong) that most people are not aware enough/demanding enough to want VGA, so they are pushing a bunch of these QVQA units...

Bingo.

[nosmohtac]

I did own a Toshiba e805, but traded it for an iPAQ 5550. Why? Because it didn't have bluetooth and I already had a bunch of iPAQ accessories.
The VGA was awesome, I liked the looks of it, but I'm not crazy about Toshiba.

My next PDA will likely be the 4700, provided the iPAQ smart slot on the bottom gives it some sort of USB host capability.
It's amazing to me that this is the only VGA device coming from HP.
I may just hold off on VGA until the 2nd generation of them. Then maybe we'll get built in Hard Disk Drives. I'm quite satisfied with my 5550, now that I've got the storage brick working on it.

[wocket]

I'm quite happy with my iPAQ 2210 at the mo. A few people have reported a few issues with wm2003se and the E800 already. And question wether it's worth the upgrade. It will be intresting to see what HP deliver in the next couple of months but for a change I feel quite restrained.

[Jonathon Watkins]

There is only one VGA PPC shipping today, the e805. I think a better poll would be to ask how many people will upgrade there existing PPC because of VGA in the next few months.

Patience grasshopper. :wink: Asked has the right idea. I did say it was a two part poll.....

I'm surprised by how many folks here have a Toshiba 80x - many more than I though. Perhaps I should have not been surprised due to all the early adaptors here.
8)

[NunoUFO]

Well I dont own a VGA Pocket PC but over the last past days I've tested a Toshiba E800 with the new Windows Mobile Second Edition and I cant tell you that if this is not a breaktrhough for the Pocket PC platform, at least its a great enhancement that I realy realy loved.

The screen of this E800 was about 10 times more readable than the average QVGA Pocket PC screen and it had better graphics quality not to mention whole new icons desgined just for the VGA version, and you could very well see that older programs and icons will loose quality if used in a VGA Pocket PC...

I will leave you with a screenshot and a link to several other very interesting and new VGA WM SE screens..

http://www.enev.pt/ppcforum/uploads/post-41-1084960556.gif

http://www.enev.pt/ppcforum/index.php?act=ST&f=36&t=1543

[Fabulas]

I will when the new ipaq 4700 comes out.........Just hope it's after my wedding :lol:

[Kevin C. Tofel]

Tosh e805 for me since February and LOVIN' IT! 8)

Chose not to upgrade to SE just due to cost\benefit....not cost in price of upgrade (which is free), but cost in terms of issues folks have reported. I've used MyVGA since I got the device and it works just fine for me. SE wouldn't give me that much more functionality....I don't use Solitaire or Calculator enough to need them in VGA mode....QVGA is fine for now.

For folks who haven't seen VGA, you're missing out....see if you can find someone to show you (not a screen shot). Not saying that the Tosh is the best device out there......one of the other upcoming VGA devices might be better suited for your needs.

KCT

[Calculon]

Been using the e805 since November and I have to say that I am NEVER going back to QVGA. I've decided to steer clear of the SE upgrade and stick with MyVGA (and true VGA). I can't believe manufacturers are still releasing QVGA units!!!

[Craig Horlacher]

Another interesting poll would be to see how many people are using software to simulate higher resolutions like nvidiot (sp?) and js landscape (which I use). I don't know if there are other programs.

This may give some idea of the level of interest there really is for vga on pocket pc's. It's probably a safe assumption that most who bought programs to do that would like a screen that can really do that. It's true for me!

[Ed Hansberry]

If you want to criticize the poll - do it at http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=28441 where all of the other junk is at. Keep this on topic. Further drifts will just be deleted.

[Jonathon Watkins]

I can't believe manufacturers are still releasing QVGA units!!!

I can believe it, but have been surprised at just how many QVGA units are being announced. Hence the reason for these polls. :wink:

My concern is that the manufacturers have bet (wrong) that most people are not aware enough/demanding enough to want VGA, so they are pushing a bunch of these QVQA units...

I very much agree with Mark here, though I don't understand why the manufactures are unaware/unconcerned with the demand for VGA units.

Even given that the PPCT demographic is slanted toward 'power users', you would have expected more VGA units surely?

[sracer]

Maybe they are "unaware" because outside of a few hardcore PPC users, VGA isn't a big deal. I've had Pocket PC devices for longer than I care to remember and take full advantage of my current device, iPAQ 2215. I don't see anything about a VGA device that warrants the additional cost of the device.

Not to mention that VGA carries along with it, heftier requirements. Applications that are skinnable now require larger graphic images for the skins. videos now must be larger with higher bitrates to look good on these devices.... whereas my 40MB/hour of video wmv files are acceptable on a QVGA device, they are a polka-dotted blur on a tosh e805.

Bigger is not necessarily better, nor is more pixels.