Pocket PC & Palm Users: Big Changes Ahead

[Jon Westfall]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.brighthand.com/default.asp?newsID=12388' target='_blank'>http://www.brighthand.com/default.asp?newsID=12388</a><br /><br /></div><i>"If you're a long-time handheld or smartphone user, you might be in for a shock: both Microsoft and PalmSource are in the process of significantly changing the way their mobile operating systems look and act. Thew reason for this is simple: the way people are using their mobile devices is changing and the operating systems need to keep up."</i><br /><br />Ed Hardy at Brighthand talks about some of the changes he sees in the future of both the Pocket PC OS and Palm OS. He seems to speak from what he's seen privately not from opinion, so it may be worth a read.

[x51vuser]

So much buzz ...
Get for example Sony Clie TH55 with Jog Dial control, one hand control developed over 10 years ago.

[Joseph Moon]

"...The reason for this is simple: the way people are using their mobile devices is changing and the operating systems need to keep up."

This is what I envision to be of a Palm and Microsoft executive meeting...

[Palm]...We seem to be having alot of complaints concerning our 700w phones... Ironically, it is the only one with your operating system on it. Can you explain why we should continue to work together on future products?

[Microsoft] Because 600 billion people are familiar with MS Windows and not something that looks like a skateboard logo... And when you have that many people who trust our logo, you're going to sell more units - thusly, more tech support calls... It's all in the numbers... Have you ever used Excel?

[Palm] People are claiming that the phone locks up and they have to reset it several times a day- that is an operating system issue - bad code - your code!

[Microsoft] Well, what have you experienced... Personally, are any of you using the phone?

[Palm] Absolutely not! We are Palm... We would never be seen using an inferior OS device. What about you, surely your proud enough of our merger and use this phone... What is your expierence?

[Microsoft] We are not allowed to use phones - Bill has us all using this watch thing to communicate...

Seriously, after this experience with my 700w - I doubt any of these people know what the hell is going on with everyday users. I would suspect that some research team collects a ton of input from people like us - brings it back to a brain storming session and they begin to compose a feature list. They then hand the feature list off to a development team and say, "Make This!"... Meanwhile Marketing goes back to their little cubicles and crunches a few numbers and says to Development - keep it under $299. Development responds with, "IMPOSSIBLE!" Marketing responds with, "well, leave some of those items off the list - you choose!"

And here we have it, a DILBERT device - that we have to struggle with while these fat cats get high on our hard earned cash.

Maybe I sound like a skeptic. Maybe I should read the article first. Maybe I should just go buy a notebook and some pencils and do things the way I was taught in elementry school. At least I can tell when my pencil is getting low on lead...

Joseph...

[Gerard]

So long as the thumb-based UI doesn't get in the way of stylus use or otherwise interfere with viewing space, program access, or anything else, I don't mind at all. There are certainly times, like walking down a street while carrying an umbrella, when one-handed operation is essential.

If this is yet another nail in the coffin of big screened VGA devices without thumboards.... then no, I don't like it. What's up with that anyway? The Toshiba e800 I write this on is gorgeous, a near-perfect combination of feaures, with the most important thing, the screen, as the very large focus. Suddenly I'm supposed to want to revert to QVGA and 3"? Why? Especially not, when the OS has done such an odd turn for slowerr performance and what still seems doomed device lifespan - 100,000 writes per sector is nowhere nearly enough for heavy use, IMO. Another subject, I know. It's just been seeming for a while now that MIcrosoft's developers fell down a rabbit hole and can't find their way out.

[daS]

I have a completely different perspective than Ed does...

Like most people, I have the ability to use both my hands, and by using both hands, I'm able to perform tasks on my Pocket PC much faster than with any type of Smartphone "one hand" design.

This is not to say that there is no advantage to a one hand optimised interface. For example the phone application itself.

However, for scheduling appointments, entering contacts, etc. the added function of the stylus (or other pointing device) is faster.

But getting back to the uses where a one-handed interface is preferable, I would suggest that a voice interface is the proper direction. I use Voice Command on the Pocket PC for making phone calls, looking up contacts, etc. All the things that can be done quickly with a single handed interface can also be done by a reasonable voice interface.

So while Ed may think I'm stuck in the past, I will continue to advocate efficient interface designs. Keep in mind that I never abandoned the idea that a keyboard was a useful interface on a handheld device, even when Microsoft followed Palm's "lead" to keyboardless devices for many years. All along, the Palm advocates were telling us the keyboards on our Handheld PCs were too small and useless. Yet now the keyboards are back - and are much smaller than they ever were before. (That's because after abandoning their own Handheld PC designs to follow Palm away from keyboards, Microsoft is following RIM with "thumb-board" designs. :roll: )

[Paragon]

I would much prefer to see them fix all their bugs, and put back functions they have removed before they spend much more time designing for all the one handed people in the world. ;)

MS, please put out a stable, bug free OS with things like syncing via wifi, Activesync that works the first time every time, Bluetooth with all the necessary profiles, and have them work as well. Fix the alarms and so on. Then worry about using only one hand.....AAArrrrgggg.....Given a choice between using something with two hands that works, and something I can use one handed, that doesn't, I'll gladly use both my hands.

Dave

[Gerard]

Yeah, I guess with all the hacks and third-party fixes I've grown so use.to, it's easy to forget just how messed up WM is still. Without SuperAlert I'd be lost, without reliable Calendar reminders my business and personal lives a disaster. Reminders were the #1 reason I bought a PPC in 2000. They worked better then. Why? It'd be sweet if Mike Calligaro would blog on this, explaining not why the reminders are such a joke, but WHEN it'll be FIXED!

[The Silverdude]

I guess I'm just glad that my new toy's OS won't be obsolete for at least another year! Somehow I doubt that I'll be able to upgrade to the new OS, just like my 2215 couldn't even go to 2003 SE.

[MitchellO]

My new Sony Ericsson M600i manages to roll stylus input and one-handedness into one interface. The reason behind it is the devices compact size. I can quite easily touch the whole screen with the thumb on the same hand that is holding the device. I rarely tap the wrong control in this manner. I can then move my thumb to the thumboard and type out an SMS, email or whatever still onehanded.

You can't do this on larger devices simply because they are too big!!

http://img224.imageshack.us/img224/7355/CIMG6858Small.jpg

http://img224.imageshack.us/img224/9849/CIMG6859Small.jpg

http://img224.imageshack.us/img224/450/CIMG6860Small.jpg

[x51vuser]

My new Sony Ericsson M600i manages to roll stylus input and one-handedness into one interface. The reason behind it is the devices compact size. I can quite easily touch the whole screen with the thumb on the same hand that is holding the device. I rarely tap the wrong control in this manner. I can then move my thumb to the thumboard and type out an SMS, email or whatever still onehanded.
You can't do this on larger devices simply because they are too big!!


Yes you could if you had larger hands.
That is whole point !
Small devices for ones with smaller hands and larger (with VGA or better plus all extras ) for larger hands. Similarly in the area of cars six feet would not get Nissan Micra or Toyota Yaris despite what skilled marketing people persuade

[MitchellO]

But which Phone edition VGA devices are designed in a way that the thumboard and touchscreen can both be accessed with one hand?

[randyzon]

How about taking something like a HTC Wizard and getting rid of the keypad to make it like 1/2" thick.

Make the screen larger for touch screen control like the Garmin Nuvi. Full use of the face of the device would make a virtual keypad much more usable. We only need 1 mechanical button, to turn it on and off.

Make the wifi, bluetooth, and gprs antenna larger so it has better receive/send signal strength. Install a GPS so we don't have to haul around extra equipment and battery chargers.

Put in at least 1 gig of ram instead of "64mb" reduced to "40mb" usable. I mean, you can get a 2gig card that doesn't take up any more room than a 64 mb SD or miniSD card nowadays. The extra ram might stop a lot of the crashes and reboot routines that we all currently enjoy.

Design the phone software so all of the keys aren't activated in your pocket, purse, or belt holder when the telephone rings.

Design the unit so a memory card can't be popped out while you are fiddling around trying to answer a ringing phone.

Design the unit so there are no little buttons around the sides to activate the camera or other software. Who needs mechanical buttons these days?

Oh yea, how about thinking that we might use 3rd party programs instead of the basic OEM supplied cabs.

[MitchellO]

We only need 1 mechanical button, to turn it on and off.

That would take out the one-handed functionality that Microsoft are trying to achieve. I personally prefer to have some buttons for the d-pad, two softkeys and the Win/OK buttons.

Put in at least 1 gig of ram instead of "64mb" reduced to "40mb" usable. I mean, you can get a 2gig card that doesn't take up any more room than a 64 mb SD or miniSD card nowadays. The extra ram might stop a lot of the crashes and reboot routines that we all currently enjoy.

They could easily put in 1GB RAM, but the device would have about a minutes battery life.

Design the unit so a memory card can't be popped out while you are fiddling around trying to answer a ringing phone.

How on earth are you doing that? I never accidently popped the miniSD card out when I owned the KJAM.

Design the unit so there are no little buttons around the sides to activate the camera or other software. Who needs mechanical buttons these days?

I do. Makes things easier to access. Just disable key presses when the device is off.

[Nurhisham Hussein]

They could easily put in 1GB RAM, but the device would have about a minutes battery life.


I was going to comment the same thing, though a minute might be taking it a bit far :lol:

[MitchellO]

They could easily put in 1GB RAM, but the device would have about a minutes battery life.


I was going to comment the same thing, though a minute might be taking it a bit far :lol:

Yeah, well probably :D But battery life would be utterly abysmal, to the point that it wouldn't be worth carrying around.