Newbie Question: PPC and Java Scripts?

[Chris B]

I looked at PDA's a few years back, but they seemed to be glorified datebooks then. Now I see 802.11x Web access, VGA displays, and multimedia applications. Two co-workers, with minimal PDA experiences have bought HP's HX4705. They have been having trouble with CGI scripts, and JAVA heavy webpages. This surprises me, and puts me pff a little. I don't see why a 624 Mhz processor should choke on a seemingly simple webpage. Enough rambling... on to my question:

Are the JAVA troubles they are having common? I had hoped these newer PPCs would not require specialized PDA webpages. I guess I am looking for PC performance in these devices. Is that too much to expect at this time? Is the software still playing catch-up with this newer hardware, or is it a memory issue?

I would appreciate your input before I make this investment, thanks.

[Menneisyys]

I looked at PDA's a few years back, but they seemed to be glorified datebooks then. Now I see 802.11x Web access, VGA displays, and multimedia applications. Two co-workers, with minimal PDA experiences have bought HP's HX4705. They have been having trouble with CGI scripts, and JAVA heavy webpages. This surprises me, and puts me pff a little. I don't see why a 624 Mhz processor should choke on a seemingly simple webpage. Enough rambling... on to my question:

Are the JAVA troubles they are having common? I had hoped these newer PPCs would not require specialized PDA webpages. I guess I am looking for PC performance in these devices. Is that too much to expect at this time? Is the software still playing catch-up with this newer hardware, or is it a memory issue?

I would appreciate your input before I make this investment, thanks.

Welcome to the board :)

First and foremost: are you referring to Java (for example, applets) or JavaScript? The two have nothing to do with each other (except for the name).

As JavaScript-rich pages heavily, by orders of magnitude outnumber pages that have embedded Java plug-ins, I answer the first question first: PIE, not even its latest (WM2003SE) reincarnation, doesn't support full JavaScript. I've thoroughly tested the JavaScript-compliance of several PIE versions (posted the results to some Hungarian pages - no English version, sorry) and found out that PIE only implemented some 30-40% of the standard functions. NetFront, even with the two-year-old version 3.0, excels at JavaScript-compliance.

If you, therefore, want excellent JS-compliance, go for NetFront.

As for Java: NetFront is also capable of that too. I wouldn't say, however, that it excels at that. I'm currently testing some PPC JVM's (even their 'hackability' to support the latest Java versions - for example, JDK 1.5) and found out that it doesn't run a lot of applets that Insignia/Jeode and/or Creme do (and vice versa). Still, the built-in, out-of-the-box Java compliance of the Java-enabled version of NetFront may be quite handy in cases, especially if you don't want to install other JVM's on your PDA's (they take far more internal memory than NetFront + its Java library).

[Chris B]

I appolozie, JavaScript has been thier problem. Thanks for the NetFront idea. It appears to be for geared toward Mobile Phones. Will it run on WM2003 SE? I do not have a PDA yet, so I can not test it.

[yankeejeep]

NetFront works superbly on the PPC platform. Make sure that you work with the version of 3.1 that has JSLite support. It works very well with WM2003 but has the typical display issues that a non-VGA app has with SE running on a VGA device and will require a hack so that it displays better on the higher resolution screen. On a QVGA device, you should not need to do any tweaking. The rumor is that 3.2 is in the offing and that it will, among other things, fix the issues with VGA displays. Of course, it may not emerge until WM2005 is released later this year.

[Menneisyys]

I appolozie, JavaScript has been thier problem. Thanks for the NetFront idea. It appears to be for geared toward Mobile Phones. Will it run on WM2003 SE?

It will.

[Menneisyys]

Of course, it may not emerge until WM2005 is released later this year.

It [NF 3.2] has already emerged; with Japanese only menus, though. However, some of the menus have already been trasnlated into English by some PPC enthusiasts. See http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=38971 for more info.