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View Full Version : Square Screen Pocket PCs Coming Soon?


Jason Dunn
12-15-2004, 05:50 PM
<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.burling.co.nz/Default.aspx?tabid=1&mid=336&ctl=ViewEntry&EntryID=106' target='_blank'>http://www.burling.co.nz/Default.as...try&EntryID=106</a><br /><br /></div>Pocket PC Developer Darryl Burling received an interesting email from Handango recently that stated the following:<br /><br /><i>"Handango is preparing a special marketing program for applications that support the new square screen Pocket PC. Are your Pocket PC applications screen orientation aware? If so, please send a quick email to [deleted] with your company name and a list of your screen orientation aware Pocket PC applications."</i><br /><br />If Handango is looking for developers to make sure their apps are square-screen aware, that much mean we'll soon be seeing square-screen Pocket PCs. We've heard rumours about them since 2003 SE allowed for multiple resolutions to be supported, but details on the hardware has been virtually non-existent. The thought of a clamshell Pocket PC phone edition with a keyboard gets me pretty excited! :mrgreen: If the iPAQ 4350 had a square screen, it wouldn't been so painfully tall, and likely would have been my preferred device over the 4150 I used for many months.

Jonathan1
12-15-2004, 05:53 PM
A gameboy advanced sized Pocket PC with a keyboard? Yah I could see that.

gorkon280
12-15-2004, 05:54 PM
I don't like square screens. I also have a 4355 and feel that size wise, it's just fine. In fact it's shorter then my 5555. All square screens do is make life easier for the developer. All they have to do is turn the screen. when the orientation changes. Snce the dimensions don't get all flim flammed, the app does not have to be rearranged for landscape mode. The dimensions are always the same...it's just the orientation that changes.

sub_tex
12-15-2004, 06:16 PM
square screens mean a PPC in a treo form factor. :mrgreen:

Kati Compton
12-15-2004, 06:30 PM
As long as it's at least 320x320.

That way, software that was designed for 320x240 has a chance of working...

Jason Dunn
12-15-2004, 06:32 PM
square screens mean a PPC in a treo form factor. :mrgreen:

Bing!

silver99
12-15-2004, 06:49 PM
I'm in the camp for the long screens (or widescreen). Better for movies, spreadsheets and general viewing. Going to a square screen seems like going back to a 4:3 television. I WANT 16:9 everything.

The reason for wider screens is because it's natural to our eyes.

G

robert_biggs
12-15-2004, 06:58 PM
This may add a little fuel to the rumored Dell Trio running Windows Mobile. That would be the ultimate converged device! 8)

jonathanchoo
12-15-2004, 07:00 PM
I'm in the camp for the long screens (or widescreen). Better for movies, spreadsheets and general viewing. Going to a square screen seems like going back to a 4:3 television. I WANT 16:9 everything.

The reason for wider screens is because it's natural to our eyes.

G

All PPCs are 4:3. Even HVGA Palms are more widescreen than PPC's QVGA and VGA.

Janak Parekh
12-15-2004, 07:32 PM
Bing!
Jason, you're such a tease... that could mean so many things. :P

--janak

TMann
12-15-2004, 08:08 PM
LOL...you guys are killing me!

As a former Palm user, I want to point out that Palm users have been complaining for a long time about the "SSS" (Small Square Screen) that was standard fare for all devices in the Palm world. Many of us were very jealous of the larger size of the standard rectangular PPC screen. It was a big step forward in the Palm universe when Sony came out with the first extended HVGA screen on some of their clamshell-style Clie's.

And now here I find myself, holding my "state-of-the-art-VGA-equipped" Dell Axim x50v, reading about how excited some PPC users are about a square screen. The irony is just too much for my little brain!
:D :D :D

In all seriousness, though, a square screen would only be useful on a thumboard equipped PDA, (like the 4355.) Palm devices, like the Tungsten E and Zire 72, have a separate input area that doesn't take up any screen space. If you had a "pop-up" text input area on your square-screened-PPC, it obviously wouldn't leave much room for the screen information.

Similarly, landscape orientation devices also work best with a built-in thumboard. Sony's UX line of clamshell PDA's is a good example have of how useful a landscape orientation device can be.

A little diversity of design would be a good thing for the PPC world.

Just my 2 cents...

TMann

Wiggster
12-15-2004, 08:24 PM
As long as it's at least 320x320.

That way, software that was designed for 320x240 has a chance of working...

Well, the square display resolutions in WM2003SE are 240x240 and 480x480. So the squared-off VGA resolution will sorta work, theoretically, even though it might take a program like SE_VGA to do it :?

Paragon
12-15-2004, 08:25 PM
In all seriousness, though, a square screen would only be useful on a thumboard equipped PDA, (like the 4355.) Palm devices, like the Tungsten E and Zire 72, have a separate input area that doesn't take up any screen space. If you had a "pop-up" text input area on your square-screened-PPC, it obviously wouldn't leave much room for the screen information.

TMann

That's the idea behind the square screen. I played with a prototype, months ago.....clamshell....square screen in half, keyboard in the other half. It would make a very good device for messages....IM, email, and so on.

Dave

rmasinag
12-15-2004, 09:04 PM
to me... a square PPC screen is the WM2003SE version of the Treo 650..that would not be bad at all......
after the disappointment that the BT headphones do not work on the HP6300, :D

amnon
12-15-2004, 09:29 PM
Just like Palm OS detatched itself from the original 160x160 resolution, went to 320x320 and then to 320x480, and as it seems will become detached from screen resolution by becoming a Linux variant, so is Windows Mobile. The epic 240x320 was broken by the new VGA devices, and now square.

The one thing that enforced a lot on the proportions and in many ways size of PPCs, the screen, is soon to be gone. I can imagine we'll see many more PPC sizes and versions, though it may end up just forcing us customers making more compromises than now, as we may never see a 3 inch VGA screen PPC (for example) which would be great for someone like me (a monitor resolution freak), just like I can't find a 19" 1600x1200 LCD monitor, when there is absolutely no technical reason not to manufacture it (my laptop 15" monitor is 1400x1050).

May be the new 2.8" QVGA devices mean that the form factor diversity is only beginning, and the convergence with smart phones will mean that we may see less models altogether between smart phones and PDAs but more diversity at that.

I just hope Palm will stick around, competition is good :-)

IpaqMan2
12-15-2004, 10:03 PM
If the iPAQ 4350 had a square screen, it wouldn't been so painfully tall, and likely would have been my preferred device over the 4150 I used for many months.

I personally don't like square screens but can see how in certain devices it could be useful.. such as a smartphone or even the Treo...

But over all...Screen realestate is more important at least to me than having a perfect form factor. In as much as I could prevent it, I would never trade the current resolution of a Pocket PC for a square screen. If the 4350/4355 had a square screen I would not of purchased one. Personally I think the 4350/4355 is the perfect size for a thumboard Pocket PC or even a Pocket Pc phone, ( But still think the PPC 6601 is the perfect device of both worlds, with the thumboard able to slide out than back in).

amnon
12-15-2004, 10:15 PM
To all the square dislikers:
Would your answer change if the squaring will be up to 320x320 instead of down to 240x240? How about 480x480?

Then you would have MORE real estate than QVGA, not less.

whydidnt
12-15-2004, 10:50 PM
As long as it's at least 320x320.

That way, software that was designed for 320x240 has a chance of working...

That's a great point, I hadn't thought of that. I think the square screen makes perfect sense in terms of size vs. functionality trade off. Yes, give me a TREO with WM on it, but PLEASE don't skimp on the memory!!

Typhoon
12-15-2004, 10:51 PM
640x640

Underwater Mike
12-15-2004, 11:39 PM
800x600 in a 5" or 6" screen. No square stuff. :|

FrozenIpaq
12-15-2004, 11:44 PM
LOL...you guys are killing me!

As a former Palm user, I want to point out that Palm users have been complaining for a long time about the "SSS" (Small Square Screen) that was standard fare for all devices in the Palm world. Many of us were very jealous of the larger size of the standard rectangular PPC screen. It was a big step forward in the Palm universe when Sony came out with the first extended HVGA screen on some of their clamshell-style Clie's.

And now here I find myself, holding my "state-of-the-art-VGA-equipped" Dell Axim x50v, reading about how excited some PPC users are about a square screen. The irony is just too much for my little brain!
:D :D :D

In all seriousness, though, a square screen would only be useful on a thumboard equipped PDA, (like the 4355.) Palm devices, like the Tungsten E and Zire 72, have a separate input area that doesn't take up any screen space. If you had a "pop-up" text input area on your square-screened-PPC, it obviously wouldn't leave much room for the screen information.

Similarly, landscape orientation devices also work best with a built-in thumboard. Sony's UX line of clamshell PDA's is a good example have of how useful a landscape orientation device can be.

A little diversity of design would be a good thing for the PPC world.

Just my 2 cents...

TMann

Lol, yea many PPC users have not seen a sqaure screen and how small it must be in order to fit in your pocket, and i prefer rectangular of square

TMann
12-16-2004, 02:03 AM
To all the square dislikers:
Would your answer change if the squaring will be up to 320x320 instead of down to 240x240? How about 480x480?

Then you would have MORE real estate than QVGA, not less.

Again, speaking as an ex-Palm user, I think that the important thing is the physical size of the screen. A small square screen is just not going to be able to display as much information as a larger screen, even if the resolution is higher. Palm's have had 320 x 320 screens for a while now, but because the physical dimensions were smaller than the PPC's 240 x 320 screen, the PPC's screen was better utilized, IMO. Even if a screen has a high resolution like my x50v, there is a limit to how small things can be before they get unreadable.

TMann

mangochutneyman
12-16-2004, 02:10 AM
So the question is: How to preserve the form factor of Treo-like device but also maitian rectangular aspect ratio of the screen?....

Solution: Use a slider mechanism similar to the T3! :wink:

http://www.jakeehrlich.com/Review/BulletTrain/gfunk2.jpg


Walla! 8)

Darius Wey
12-16-2004, 03:56 AM
I have my doubts. A positive point about square screens is that it will ultimately reduce the size of the device, therefore increase portability. A negative point is that you will subject yourself to more vertical scrolling. From what I've seen in VGA screens now, I'd settle for 480x480 and no less. 240x240 would be an eye-strain IMO.

Kati Compton
12-16-2004, 06:03 AM
Really, the suitability of the screen depends on the target use for the device. For a "pda", I'm not sure it'd be a good idea, as we're not used to square-shaped cases either, and I think it'd be difficult to hold. However, for a Pocket PC Phone, I could see a square screen being useful. I don't think anyone is saying "Yay! Let's make all PPC's have square screens!", so I wouldn't worry. ;)

Darius Wey
12-16-2004, 07:47 AM
I'm not sure it'd be a good idea, as we're not used to square-shaped cases either, and I think it'd be difficult to hold.

It would mimic a leather wallet - nothing great, but nothing to lament over either. :)