Happy 10th Anniversary Pocket PC!

[Jason Dunn]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.theunwired.net/?item=anniversary-pocket-pc-aka-windows-mobile-aka-windows-phone-turns-10-happy-birthday&5448' target='_blank'>http://www.theunwired.net/?item=ann...y-birthday&5448</a><br /><br /></div><p><em>"Today, exactly 10 years ago, Microsoft announced at an event in New York's Grand Central Station the immediate availability of the Pocket PC - a brand new product which set the cornerstone for today's Windows Phones. Back in 2000, Microsoft President and CEO Steve Ballmer unveiled new Pocket PC designs from hardware partners like Casio, Compaq, Hewlett-Packard and Symbol. More than 60 companies showcased their Pocket PC solutions in the launch Partner Pavilion and executives from TD Waterhouse Investor Services Inc. and SAP AG joined Ballmer on stage to announce how they are using the new Pocket PCs in customer scenarios."</em></p><p><img src="http://images.thoughtsmedia.com/resizer/thumbs/size/600/wpt/auto/1271737081.usr1.jpg" style="border: 1px solid #d2d2bb;" /></p><p>I had a mega-disaster of a day/evening (nothing serious, just the time-suck of things going wrong), so I'm late getting to this, but in my timezone at least, I just made it! ;-) Today is the 10 year anniversary of the Pocket PC, the first version of the devices we have today. Palm-sized PCs had a radically different user interface, so while they count in the general evolution of things, they don't have much in common with the Windows phones as we know them today. My friend and fellow MVP Arne Hess has a <a href="http://www.theunwired.net/?item=anniversary-pocket-pc-aka-windows-mobile-aka-windows-phone-turns-10-happy-birthday&amp;5448" target="_blank">great write-up</a> about this historic day ten years ago.</p><p>Windows phone 7 isn't here yet, but when it arrives later this year, it will represent a radical departure from Windows Mobile 6.5 devices...truly, the end of an era. For better or worse, Windows phone 7 is the future - and perhaps there's something fitting that it's coming out an even 10 years after the first Pocket PCs were released. 10 years is an eternity for an operating system, especially a mobile operating system, and I'm one of those people that believes Windows Mobile's "Best Before" date was reached around 2008. It's time to move into the future.</p><p>To help celebrate the 10 year anniversary of the Pocket PC, and to celebrate the launch/re-launch of Windows Phone Thoughts (yes, I'm late...), later this week I'm going to be giving away a few things I've been making arrangements for over the past couple of months. Nothing earth-shattering, but a device or two are in the mix thanks to HTC and AT&amp;T. Watch for it!</p><p>And since this is a post about nostalgia...what was your first Pocket PC? And what did you think of it?</p>

[randalllewis]

I owned a Casio e105 but I guess that little brick doesn't count in this case. I had both the Jornada 564 (I think that was the model number) and the Compaq iPaq that came with the expansion packs (or paqs). I can't find either of these devices in my old technology drawer, but I still have the Casio (it doesn't work) and an even older and rarer device: the Atari Portfolio (it still works!).

[networkguy]

I still have my little Compaq Aero 1520 which dates back to 2000 and pre dates the iPaq

Running Windows CE and with a grey scale screen the one thing that stands out is how light it is compared to todays hardware.

[Darren Blade]

Well it's been a long time... and I still have the free Case and T-Shirts Microsoft gave out to Pocket PC Club members ;)

My first foray in to Pocket PC territory was the HP Jornada 430SE (if I go back into the 1990's it would be a Sharp Pi7000 ExpertPad / Apple Newton...but thats another story entirely), it was a very capable device and although chunky by todays standards (22mm thick!!!) it had a certain techno-gadget charm. And could defuse Nuclear bombs according to Dr. Christmas Jones (Bond Movie).

I followed this up with a Compaq iPaq 3630 and used this for the next few years with just about all the sleeves including the Navman GPS sleeve with the CF slot for memory card. It helped out alot with my business travels in Italy.

Here are a couple of pictures from back then;

Picasa Web Albums - DeepK (http://picasaweb.google.com/113507286520302505098)

I followed the iPaq with the imate Jam, then imate Jamin & currently have the Samsung Omnia II (GT-i8000).

I still have my imate Jam though, the cleanest Pocket PC PE IMHO and Iconic following after the iPaq.

As a power user who uses my devices fully, and that includes "Copy & Paste" and managing Files on my device, (both on a daily basis I might add!), I'm wondering if I will need to keep my Omnia II after I acquire a Windows Phone 7 device later this year. That will be up to Microsoft I guess.

[Lee Yuan Sheng]

Ooo, nostalgia!

My first PocketPC was the one PPC that put the platform on the map: The Compaq iPaq 3660. The 200mHz StrongARM CPU and the large 3.8" (back then, 3.5" to 3.8" screens were the norm, unlike today, where 3.5" is considered large) screen made for a very good user experience. The sled system which stayed for many years made expanding the iPaq easy. I owned the dual PCMCIA sled. Stuck a CF card via an adapter in one slot and a WiFi card in the other. Used it to take notes in university with a Stowaway. Never failed to attract attention every start of the term. :D

It's amazing though. 10 years later, and WinMo 6.5 has many screens that still look like my iPaq in 2001...

[neil.purves]

First WindowsCE device was a Philips NINO, soon replaced with a Caseopia device who's name I forget. The breakthrough device was the HP HX4700 which I still have. It is so versatile and still able to keep up with more modern equipment.
Come Mobile7 I will upgrade if there is a decent piece of hardware;) but I am sure the HP device will still find a home somewhere.
Can't beleive it is 10 years since PPC was launched, must be getting old :eek:.

Neil

[Lojik Supreme]

Wow, I was thinking about this the other day. Let's see... my first one was a Jornada 520 w/64 MB CF card, next was a Dell Axim X5 with a 256 MB CF card, then a Dell Axim X51v with a 4 GB SD & 4GB CF card. Now I run with a HTC Tilt 2 w/16 GB microSD card. It's funny though because my job was throwing away old equipment and my boss gave me a NEC MobilePro 750c Windows CE unit, lol.

[Russ Smith]

I've been an enthusiast for WinCE devices since they came into being. Over the years I've had several clamshell HPs, a Palm-sized PC (by HP), Compaq (HP) iPAQs 3500, 3700, 3800, 4700, and 210 and, after a brief flirt with Handtops (OQO and Sony UX), I came "back" to WM with the Xperia X1 and now the HD2.

I've seen the OS really mature over those years and I've stuck with it due to the quality of the applications that I use all the time, the ability to expand storage, and the ability to run multiple apps at the same time. I've been both amazed and annoyed that it never took off (and more annoyed when Apple fan-boys were talking about things that were being added to the iPhone that WM had done from inception).

I'd agree that WP7 is the future, but I'm not sure if it's the future for me. (Look at the feature list above and you'll see why.) I'll surely take a look at it, but I'll also take a good look at Android for my next phone. I've been with MS OS from the first "Pegasus" machines back in 1996 to todays WM6.5 Smartphones. It'll feel a bit strange to be carrying something else.

[cweeks]

Casio E200. I loved that thing... In some ways it is still my favorite.

[jgrnt1]

My first PPC was an iPAQ 3650, though I'd been using PDAs for a few years -- Sharp Wizard, Rolodex Rex and Palm IIIxe.

[felixdd]

First PsPC: Philips Nino 200
First HPC: NEC MobilePro 770

Then I moved to my first PPC -- a HP Jornada 568. Loved the CF slot, the integrated flip lid, and the d-pad.

Then I bought my second HPC: Intermec 6651 (rebranded Sharp Telios HC7000). Crazy battery life. Lasted me through my university education. I still think of it as the precursor to netbooks everywhere.

Near the end of university, I obtained a HP Ipaq 2210. To this day I still have it. Love the D-pad, dual slot, small form factor. Works beautifully even today.

I used the Toshiba G810 for a year....that was horrible. Slow, clunky, blah

Now, I have the HTC HD2. Hooray for PPCs!

[mmidgley]

Compaq iPAQ 3650

My last Apple purchase was a couple devices in the Newton line from 1997-2000. I weighed what I would gain (and lose) moving to PocketPC and took the plunge. It was worth it--the color screen, browser, storage/connectivity options. It was awesome! I enjoyed several pocketpcs: iPAQ 5555, i-mate JAMin (htc prophet), AT&T 8525 (htc tytn), i-mate 9502, and AT&T Fuze. Being the end of an "era" I find myself weighing what I'll gain/lose by switching again...

m.

[Lucy]

I had a Casio BE300 and learned to change OS and make things work on it with tweaks here and there and a few software hacks. Then the excitement of moving to the Dell Axim 400. We had a competition on a Dell forum as to who would get there's first and I admit, I was the first one to part with my $700 after shipping and tax to receive my package. Then came the HP6515, I still use for a contact manager and day to day organizer and music in my office. The changes we have seen. How did they grow up so fast.

[John London]

Started with iPAQ 3600. Moved to the 2210 and than the iPAQ hx2700. And, now today I have an iPAQ 210. Yes, still using it and loving it. Some where in that time my wife had an iPAQ 1910. I think it is still sitting around the house somewhere.:)
Although the HTC HD2 is very tempting now.

[Fritzly]

My absolute first electronic agenda was a Casio PF-8000, a gadget way ahead of its time in 1982/3 if I remember correctly; my first Pocket PC was a HP Journada, after that I moved to Dell because I hated the IPAQ. Then I moved to the Motorola MPX 200 and I kept going with WM till now with the HTC HD2 which will also be my last WM device, at least for a while. Hopefully when WP8 will be released things will have mproved and I will be able to switch back.

[Craig Horlacher]

Mine was the Phillips Nino 325. It had 8MB of RAM and a 19.2kbps modem that you could plug on the bottom. The display could do 16 shades of gray or something like that. It was a "Palm PC" and ran Pocket PC 2.0 operating system.

I loved it! There were tons of free software I could download. It had a CF slot for me to add storage. I could play mp3's on it using a free player. And at the time, a 240x320 resolution display was huge compared to all the palm's that most people were familiar with.

I actually used it with the modem to dial up and check my email. The web browser was terrible.

I'm not sure, I may still have it in my basement.

[The Yaz]

My first was the Casio E-125. My work then purchased the Compaq 3650. I replaced the Casio with an Auidovox (Toshiba) Maestro.

I still use the Maestro for the games and the ebook reader, but I need the Window 7 phones to convince me to finally take the plunge and get a smart phone...

Steve :cool:

[Gerard]

I bought a Casio E-115 in May of 2000. Got it on May 18th I think, through a corporate IT company who had a connection to Casio US somehow and could order things on demand. Took a couple of weeks to get here after my order. Paid about $800 for that lovely brick. A few weeks later I had them order me a CF dialup modem, then in the summer a CF camera. That suite and my first memory card (64 whopping Megabytes baby!) from a camera shop were my entry into the world of computing.

I followed up that summer with an Acer notebook to support the PPC with Activesync-based software installations, as CAB file distribution was still quite a long way off. Though the Acer cost over $3,000 (amazing isn't it, how cheaply we can get terrific netbooks these days, or even full-on notebooks), it was really just another accessory for my Casio, something to feed the pocket device with converted CDs or short videos. By August I was testing movies intended for distribution in CMF format, the Casio proprietary MPEG container, for a film guy in New York. Watched Keanu Reeves and Patrick Swayze in 'Point Break' with my wife, on that beautiful little screen and tinny speaker, and reported back that the Casio did an admirable job, not dropping any frames or buffering at all with a 330MB (by that time I had an external 6GB hard drive from Accurite) CMF. He never got that distribution deal off the ground thanks to movie industry paranoia. Has much changed there? For iPhone users, sure, but many WM users are still using illegally distributed DVD rips to watch movies on their phones and netbooks while travelling. That's one way of many in which the potential of the Pocket PC, there from the start, never really had much of a chance in the market.

I am, as I've already spelled out elsewhere in these forums, not a fan of the notion that any 'best before date' was reached a couple of years ago, nor even now. WM6.5.3, which I've been using for about 6 months, is a perfectly lovely OS version to use with finger and thumb tips, especially when enhanced with HTC's easily installed menu enhancement drivers. But Microsoft's not 'sharing' this OS with users at large, so there's another crippling blow to WM. The OS isn't dead, nor even stale. It's marketing. WP7 will sell more, end of story. So yeah, 10 years. Wow.

[badersk]

I had a Casio BE300 and started flashing it with the help of others. After figuring out what I couldn't do with it I bought a Ipaq 1945, broke it bought a Dell axim X50 mid and from there moved to a converged device.

Like some of the others here I think it is a shame that WM6.5.3 is getting written off so to speak. 0 Marketing, virtually dead to most of the tech media, and unknown to consumers except as a OS that can't but really does. Microsoft says they will continue development it but they show no signs of caring what happens to it or to those that love it for the powerful system it is.

Ten years. wow

[Bushrod]

I had a LG Phenom as my first. Used it to study for my MCSE.

Still have it but lost the AC Adapter in 9/11 in the Pentagon. Really.

[Gerard]

Yeah, right. And it's probably still plugged in behind a filing cabinet somewhere, quietly transmitting secret conversations to your hidden laboratory... ;-)

[Eriq Cook]

The Phillips Nino 300. A major step from my Motorola 2-way pager lol.

I think it's funny how the Start menu button moved from the bottom to the top, then back to bottom in "final" Windows Mobile version (6.5.3).

[asims]

My first Pocket PC was the Jornada 525. I really enjoyed that style and missed it when HP and Compaq merged and HP decided to keep the IPAQ style and drop the Jornada one. But I'm definitely enjoying my hx2495 and will really enjoy my hx2750 as soon as it gets here!

[Richard76]

My first PocketPC was a Uniden PC100A, which was a revolutionary improvement over my Sharp IQ8500. Then when I got tired of the monochrome screen, I moved on up to a Philips Nino 500. Come to think of it, I think my purchase of the Uniden was also my first "internet purchase".

[jhalsey205]

Oh the memories. I started off with a Casio e105, followed by a Compaq 3630, Samsung i600 (clamshell), Samsung i730, Motorola Q, Motorola Q9c, and Motorola Q9Napoleon. I migrated to the Android OS via the Motorola Droid but now anxiously awaiting the release of the WP7 devices.

[TKETZ196]

MY first pocket pc device is E-TEN G500, running Windows Mobile 5.0 AKU 2.2. Interestingly enough, it's the device i still use today. I had it for about 3 years now and i still take advantage of the functionality and of what the platform can do. My friend bought an iPhone and that was when i really got interested into the smartphone realm. My phone was used when i won it at auction but i still think it kicks ass. Lastly, it is beginning to show its age but i don't think it is obsolete.


I did a lot of research, reading about what was good and bad about each platform (Blackberry OS, Windows Mobile, iPhone OS, Palm/Web OS, Symbian). I opted to go with Microsoft and find a Pocket PC of my own. I found how flexible Windows Mobile is, and i believe still that it is the most powerful OS. I really like the integration that Windows Mobile has with the desktop OS, and i like that there are many apps available, across many sites. Best of all, I found free apps that really increased my productivity. I like how big the community is and how great the types of apps came from there. I think Windows Mobile 7 will be a huge win just like Windows 7 is. My only hope is that MS releases an update to have an emulation mode to run legacy apps.

[lt8x7]

My first Pocket sized PC was the Phillips Nano.
I thought it was awesome at the time.
From memory it cost something like US$500

[Perry Reed]

Wow, I've gone through so many devices over the years... Prior to the Pocket PCs, I started with the HP 100LX. I loved that thing and it went with me everywhere! I also picked up an Apple Newton which was way ahead of its time. I played briefly with a AST GridPad 2390 running Geos, but it just wasn't that good.

My first Windows CE device was an HP Jornada 320 and it was a good one, although I thought the screen didn't have enough contrast. I picked up an HP 430 (I think) Palm-sized PC, which she later gave to me when she got an Ipaq.

My first real Pocket PC was the HP 548, and it was another one that I carried everywhere in a nice leather flip case. I bought a WiFi CF card as well as a camera for it and a Stowaway keyboard. Later I replaced it with an HP 568 which was faster and sleeker. I still used the Stowaway with that one, but also bought the snap-on keyboard that fit over the lower half of the device.

Eventually I was able to combine my PDA and cellphone in the form of the HTC PPC-6700 on Sprint. The battery life sucked and I hated the antenna sticking out, but was happy to carry one less device everywhere. I moved on from that to the Sprint Touch (HTC Vogue), which I upgraded and hacked and carried until just a few months ago when I jumped ship to the Palm Pre. That Touch was probably the best PDA/phone form factor I've had yet. I loved it's small size; so thin! And the rounded edges made it a pleasure to hold and carry. I admit, though, I do also like the Pre a lot, especially its vertical slide-out keyboard.

I'm looking forward to the Windows Phone 7 devices and will likely switch over to one of them when they're released. Hopefully one with a keyboard similar to the one on the Pre.

[Flynn Arrowstarr]

My first PPC was the Dell Axim x3a, but the first CE device I ever bought was the Hitachi ePlate 600M. Since then, I've added a Toshiba e805, an Axim x5 and an Axim x50v. Never did own any of the phones.

I still have all of them and use the x50v occasionally (testing .NET CF stuff mostly), though my primary PDA right now is a 16 gb 2nd gen iPod Touch. Still don't own a smartphone of any type. :D

Flynn

[maxnix]

I would count my first pocket PC as the HP 25, then the 29, and especially the 41V. Not microsoft, but programable pocket calculators.

Seems PPC were available in the late 90's, no?

[aicon]

My first was a Toshiba e570. I can still see it peeking out at me from behind the stereo speakers on my Altar of Old Tech That Still Works (other inhabitants are an Xbox, a heavy and humongous Sansui amplifier from the '70s, a Sony Laser Disc player an Epson laptop running Windows 3.1...). Incidentally, no other PPC/WinMo device has been retained after I move on to the next though.

Since the e570 I've been through quite a few models of PPC (PE) from HTC, sometimes using 2 devices at the same time. O2 XDA, XDA II, XDA IIi; Orange SPV e100, e200, c500, c600, m3100; T-Mobile Dash; HTC TyTN, TyTN 2, Touch Pro, Touch Pro 2... and there's an HP Jornada 920 in there somewhere.

Been a great run and even though I'll grab a Phone 7 as soon as they start to ship I'm sure there'll be a WinMo device around for some time to come.

[Tim Williamson]

My first Pocket PC was the iPAQ 3600, I had previously used a Casio (proprietary OS) PDA, so the iPAQ was light-years beyond the Casio! The one thing I remember is Jimmy's overclock which would make the iPAQ just scream, or I could underclock it to save on battery. It was a pretty revolutionary PDA at the time. :)

[Gerard]

The one thing I remember is Jimmy's overclock which would make the iPAQ just scream, or I could underclock it to save on battery.

While I never used a 3600, I did use JimmyDoom4CE... and imagine that coupled with their overclock on the iPAQ that would have been kind of a mind-bending experience. As it was, playing Doom on my Casio at 133MHz and a mere 6fps at best was fascinating enough. Kind of terrifying really, with earbuds in. Made me realise right away that screen size wasn't much of an issue in media presentation, so long as it was big enough to see clearly, the screen quality was excellent, and the sound was a good match. Unfortunately a 2.8" screen doesn't really cut it by comparison. I yearn for devices with 4" plus screens again.

Oh yeah, and JimmySoftware also had the first working screen rotation hack. That improved use for some apps immensely, even it it meant a soft reset to switch orientations.