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View Full Version : PPCThoughts feature request...


Skoobouy
11-25-2006, 06:18 PM
The last Pocket PC I bought was an Axim x50v early summer of 2005. I was really into it for a little while but my interest in things PPC sort of dropped off since then.

The lay of the land has changed so much in a year and a half...

So now I'm a little intimidated by things. Now phone PPCs are the norm, and as long as I've been a PPC fan, I had never had a mobile phone. I sort of need a basic overview of the current PPC landscape. I thought it might be a neat feature. In particular, my questions are...

Who are the big players, as in companies? Which ones are bigger than others? Is there optimism or pessimism about the future of Windows Mobile? What is the constellation of PPC/phone <--> Zune <--> XBox 360 <--> PC going to look like?

What are the major models out there now? Most popular? Most derided? Best values (feature/dollar), style, function? How do the different models reflect the companies' ideas about the market?

What about software? Are there progs that were once popular but have since become outmoded? What are the must-haves for your typical office-drone? Is there a clear winner in the PIM category yet? How is WM2k3 software development faring since WM5?

Of course, if people want to tackle some of my q's in this thread, that'd be neat. Of course I realise I could find the answers to all of these questions buried under mountains of old posts, but you know, I don't think I'm the only one who is lazy. :)

JesterMania
11-25-2006, 11:49 PM
That's a lot of questions 8O . Anyhow, in terms of hardware, my recommendation would be to check out the following manufacturers' websites:

- HTC / Dopod (arguably the biggest player currently)
- O2
- Palm (check their Treo 7xx line)
- E-TEN
- HP
- Gigabyte

I know there's more, a lot more but when I think of PPCs (particularly Pocket PC Phone Editions), I think of these guys. Most of their current lineups are very popular and you'll have no problems finding reviews for most of the devices manufactured by them.

Once you've narrowed down some PPCs you're interested in, hop on over to PDAdb.net (http://www.pdadb.net/) and it will give you all the data you ever wanted from a Pocket PC.

That's as far as hardware is concerned.

In terms of software, I'm aware that many newer programs are backwards compatible with WM2003SE, but that's not always the case. It's safer to get a WM5 device now, and all current models already have WM5 on them. I really can't give you a software list though, because there are too many software for too many needs. If you're interested in PIM specifically, the two most popular are Pocket Informant and Agenda Fusion.

Hope that helped a little.