Channel 9: "Ford Davidson - The Latest in Cell Phones"

[Darius Wey]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://channel9.msdn.com/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=95972' target='_blank'>http://channel9.msdn.com/ShowPost.a...px?PostID=95972</a><br /><br /></div><i>"Cell phones are starting to become really powerful computing devices. They are getting high res cameras, GPS's, better screens, more APIs, and even hard drives. To find out what's the latest we visited the Windows Mobile group and found Ford Davidson (he's a product manager on the Windows Mobile team) and he gives you a tour of the team and talks about the latest in cell phones (you meet Eric Engineer and Peter Bernard)."</i><br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/wey-20050804-WMV.jpg" /><br /><br />The video (hosted at Channel 9) runs for around 45 minutes and is a must-watch if you're interested in seeing a few demos of some of the upcoming Windows Mobile devices. If you get around to it, tell us what you liked from the video. :)

[serpico]

It's going to be awhile before I can view it, download speeds are pretty slow and the file size is 178mb. Guess everyone is downloading it or trying to stream it...

Thanks for the link. Can't wait to watch it.

[Delta737]

I think it's rather funny that the Microsoft guy has a Nokia 3650 (symbian) lying on his desk... :wink:

[Sven Johannsen]

I think it's rather funny that the Microsoft guy has a Nokia 3650 (symbian) lying on his desk... :wink:
Keep your friends close, keep your enemies closer.

[Duncan]

My goodness though - those couple of minutes where he plays with the Universal were droolworthy. I am going to be so tempted - buy the Universal or wait for the upcoming 3G Pocket Loox (or indeed see if Dell or HP are going to be offering anything in that area)?

[txcas]

My goodness though - those couple of minutes where he plays with the Universal were droolworthy. I am going to be so tempted - buy the Universal or wait for the upcoming 3G Pocket Loox (or indeed see if Dell or HP are going to be offering anything in that area)?
If you think the HTC Universal is cool, wait until you see the HTC Wizard. I saw both of them this week and the Universal is huge. On the other hand the Wizard is so small and cool.

[serpico]

I just finished watching it, took all day to download. 8O
It was nice to watch, it got me excited to see what Windows Mobile 5 will do and the new hardware that will take advantage of this. I may even sell my HP 4155. :D

[OSUKid7]

Alright, that settles it. My next cell phone will definitely be a smartphone. :D Think I'll wait for a WM5 smartphone though, and I'll probably switch from T-Mo to Cingular next spring.

[serpico]

I was looking at the new Sony Ericsson phones that have 2.0 megapixel cameras and mp3 players included, but I think I'll wait and see now if a new smartphone will do everything for me. The less devices I need to carry, the better. Hopefully I can find something great that I can sell all my old items on eBay and just carry this one smartphone. The day is coming soon...

[galt]

My goodness though - those couple of minutes where he plays with the Universal were droolworthy.Agreed! Also, it was nice to hear more about the features of the new OS. Very interesting video overall, I hope they do more of these. BTW, he said that WM5 had been released to the manufacturers and that we'd see it in new?) devices by the end of summer or early fall.... Hope that's true!

[stevelam]

Keep your friends close, keep your enemies closer.

Sun Tzu???

[G M Fude]

Sun Tzu???
..from The Art of War. Download a free eReader copy at http://tinyurl.com/bxvj5 -- I would say the copyright has expired after 2,400 years!

[dMores]

i too got all hyped up when i watched this video.
man, the black universal is really, really, REALLY beautiful.
i don't think i like the hinge, though.

man, wm5 will be awesome. i love the fact that they'll be using softkeys. a lot of functions will be available stylus-free for the first time ever.
definately an improvement.

with all that connectivity they're mentioning, i wonder when there'll be GPRS or UMTS flatrates.
not the "676Mb traffic included" scams, but true "fair use" flatrates.

will the htc wizard be available in matte black as well?

[Duncan]

My goodness though - those couple of minutes where he plays with the Universal were droolworthy. I am going to be so tempted - buy the Universal or wait for the upcoming 3G Pocket Loox (or indeed see if Dell or HP are going to be offering anything in that area)?
If you think the HTC Universal is cool, wait until you see the HTC Wizard. I saw both of them this week and the Universal is huge. On the other hand the Wizard is so small and cool.

It's also QVGA - so no interest...

[Sven Johannsen]

It's also QVGA - so no interest...

Let me risk substantial backlash here. I think VGA in a PPC is overrated.

Let me explain, and you tell me how I've screwed up. I have a 17" (15" viewable) monitor on my desk which measures 12.5" x 9.5" on the screen. I have it set for 2048 x 1024. I don't think that is too unusual, and lots of folks here ask how I can read it that small. So, there are ~102 pixels/in horizontally (2048/12.5) and ~107 pixels/in vertically (1024/9.5). That gives me ~10,914 pixels/sq in on my desktop.

Lets assume my PPC is 320 x 240 on a 3 x 2.25 in screen (that's my X50v dimensions). That's ~106 pixels/in horizontally (240/2.25) and ~106 pixels/in vertically (320/3) for ~11,236 pixels/sq in. That's pretty comparable to the pixel density that is on my desktop monitor, on a QVGA screen. Yes I know the x50V is VGA, I was just using the physical screen size for reference. If I use VGA numbers I'd get 4 times the pixel density that I just got.

I certainly don't dispute that my X50v is sharper than my 4155 or 3715, or my friends X30, but by golly it should be. The question is if I really get a whole lot out of that. You can argue that you can put more info on the VGA screen, which is true. You can put 4 times as much info on it with the same sharpness...but it is also 1/4 the size, which I can't read. It's like sitting twice as far from my desktop monitor than usual. Those of you that have no problem reading a PPC set at true VGA, I expect are somewhat younger than I. ;) I'm also not a gamer, and tend to listen to music way more than watch video, so that figures into the use profile.

So what do I lose, if anything? Certainly more pixels means more memory to hold the screen image, more processor power to develop the image and move it around. I expect that translates into more power use, added to the power used by 4 times as many pixels to light up. Is it worth it? I'm not so sure.

So there. From my viewpoint, not having VGA is not a tremendous detriment, especially if other features are there, WiFi, BT, GPRS (EDGE), GPS a plus, good battery life and reasonable performance.

[Duncan]

It's also QVGA - so no interest...

Let me risk substantial backlash here. I think VGA in a PPC is overrated....

You can argue that you can put more info on the VGA screen, which is true. You can put 4 times as much info on it with the same sharpness...but it is also 1/4 the size, which I can't read. It's like sitting twice as far from my desktop monitor than usual. Those of you that have no problem reading a PPC set at true VGA, I expect are somewhat younger than I. ;)

It's horses for courses though - VGA is not for you - and I can understand why. For me though it is very worthwhile. I don't use 'real VGA' any more so I don't get 4 times as much info on screen - but I am able to shrink text a fair bit etc. and get at least twice as much info at a very readable level (and bear in mind my Pocket PC is at most half the distance away from my eyes as my monitor).

So if it isn't VGA, I'm just not prepared to take that step backwards.

My next Pocket PC will be VGA and 3G - that much I know. So far that is a field of two - but I look forward to seeing what else comes along.