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Handhelds Hardware

Review: The New Casio Pocket PC E-200 110

Posted by timothy from the smaller-better dept.
msolnik writes: "PocketNow has done an in-depth review of the new Casio Pocket PC E-200. It has a built in compact flash and SD slot. It has a 206mhz strong arm, reflective screen and a replacable rechargeable battery. In my opionion it looks very cool and seems like it could do some damage to the IPAQ's sales. On a side note it should run linux no problem."
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Review: The New Casio Pocket PC E-200 More

Review: The New Casio Pocket PC E-200

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  • NetBSD? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by jmallett ( 189882 ) <jmallett@newgold.net> on Tuesday December 18, 2001 @11:13PM (#2724434)
    Has anyone gotten NetBSD up and running on it yet?

    Err, and really, who needs that much speed on a PDA? It's not like you're playing Quake on it (though, actually, that could be fun... playing Quake on a handheld computer in public could have interesting affects).

    • Re:NetBSD? (Score:2, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward
      actually people are playing quake on it...

      http://quake.pocketmatrix.com/quake/index.html
    • I want to watch the TV shows captured with my home-brew pvr (www.snapstream.com) wirelessly through a PocketPC. The new X-scale processors should have enough horsepower to do it.
    • I want a PDA with the capacity (memory, speed, hardware) for speech-generation and voice recognition. Yes, there are situations where voice-communication with your PDA is not appropriate or possible (e.g. in a meeting), but there are times when it would be very handy (when you're driving and want to "jot down" some thoughts).

      Dave Storrs
      • Most of the latest-gen PocketPC have voice control. They don't transcribe yet, but you can say "RIAA" at them to make the MP3 player start up, etc.
    • People like watching little movies on their pda's, with the complexity of a format like divx, 206mhz seems about right. When we have 2ghz, and 3ghz in dual desktops, 206mhz sound good for a pda.

  • THis is perfect! (Score:4, Funny)

    by mosch ( 204 ) on Tuesday December 18, 2001 @11:14PM (#2724442) Homepage
    This thing will be perfect for Embedded XP! The only question left is where can I buy one?

  • How 'bout one better? (Score:5, Informative)

    by fader ( 107759 ) <fader@[ ]pop.com ['hot' in gap]> on Tuesday December 18, 2001 @11:16PM (#2724446) Homepage
    For less than the $600 price the article mentions, you can get a Sharp Zaurus with the same specs. (CF slot, SD slot, 206MHz... the works.) Plus you get a keyboard(!) and there's no ugly windows logo emblazoned on it.

    Sorry, I think that Casio's a day late and $100 to expensive.

    • Re:How 'bout one better? (Score:3, Informative)

      by neema ( 170845 )
      The one you mention, with the 206mhz StrongArm, keyboard, FC slot, SD slot, all of that... Well, it's not out yet. As you can see here [sharp-usa.com]. So Casio isn't really late. Maybe just expensive.

    • Re:How 'bout one better? (Score:1)

      by Anonymous Coward


      Sure, the Zarus is cheaper and has the keyboard, but look at the built in Memory: E200=64MB RAM+ 32 Flash, Zarus=32MB RAM + 16MB Flash



      And how about the USB host functionality (at least hardware-wise, will require drivers to enable) for the E200.



      Screen quality is another biggie, though that will require actual reviews, can't go off datasheets. But the point is that for $100 more, you are getting better hardware. And just because a product runs linux out-of-the-box doesn't mean it is the greatest thing in the world.

      • Sure, the Zarus is cheaper and has the keyboard, but look at the built in Memory: E200=64MB RAM+ 32 Flash, Zarus=32MB RAM + 16MB Flash

        I was comparing the release version of the Zaurus, which will have 64MB of RAM and be $100 less than the Casio. If you want the Zaurus that's out now (like I got :) with only 32MB of RAM, it's about $200 cheaper. Quite a difference.

        I admit that I don't know how much flash the release version of the Zaurus will have, but it's something of a moot point anyway as it's only used for storing built-in applications and such. The Casio needs the extra 16 meg of flash -- the applications are written by Microsoft. (Have to have something to fit that flight simulator into the spreadsheet...)
    • Here's the thing though, Casio has a reputation for putting together good quality handhelds. Sharp does not.

      My Sharp Mobilon Pro was sent back to the shop three times due to battery usage problems. They can't even seem to manage holding a backup battery without bleed-draining it. The entire Mobilon line was problematic.

      Needless to say my Mobilon collects dust and it won't be anytime soon that I'll be purchasing another handheld from Sharp.

      Seeing a new handheld from Casio on the other hand intrigues me, because I still use my E-100 daily after two years without any problems.
      • In fairness, the Zaurus looks to be engineered EXTREMELY well. I really like its design, especially that built-in thumbboard. The production model, hopefully, will really be able to give Casio, Compaq, and HP a run for their money.

        On the other hand, I recently ordered an E-200 and eagerly await its arrival.

        So, draw your own conclusions.

        /me loads Linux on his Casio and wanders off, whistling...

  • All the same! (Score:2, Insightful)

    by rockwood ( 141675 )
    It seems that, for the most part, all palms and variants are mainly the same. I am still chugging along with my Palm IIIxe and putting aside the desire for a rechargable cradel instead of using AAA power.. I have found no great reason to compel me to purchase a newer model. It appears that everything after the originals are simply bell and whistles with no "I've got to have it" functionality. What about Palms that come equipped with built in radar detectors.. so while on the road you can mount it to your dash board and plug it into your cigarette lighter! Or built in scanning capabilities that are able to detect Radio frequencies so I can scan my house for wire taps and bugs. Or a montion detector that I can point around the corner of my cubicle.. and will sound off when my boss is coming.

    I mean really!! Even M$ comes with tons of useful things already in it.. even if the system itself sucks.

    Oh.. one last thing.. what about a built in unique encryption key.. with a retractable USB cord. This can be plugged into any USB equipped machine and you can use the key for file encryption or even for identity purposes simalair to a keyspan.

    Maybe it's just me and my tight wallet.. but I don't see the hype lately!
    • If nothing else, there's some serious geek factor involved. Take, for instance:

      Boy1 : "My Dad works with a 512 machine dual alpha 833 cluster"
      Boy2 : "Big deal. My Dad can kick your dad's butt at Quake"
      Boy1 (miffed): "Well, my mom drives a 2003 Lexus with built-in GPS, built-in electronic stun theft protection, built-in dog_pees_on_tire() protection, built in adaptive AI that reminds her to pick milk up from the store and it even talks in a deep sexy man's voice when Dad's not around."
      Boy2 : "So what, my Mom can cook."
      Boy1 (really miffed): "Ah Ha, let me see your PDA..." (pause as he boots up Quake) "Thought so, yours only does 6726 fps. Mine does 6731 fps."
      Boy2 : "DADDY!!!!! I WANT A NEW PDA!!!!"

      See.... And tell me that's not how 99% of geeks think about new hardware. I won't even mention the speed of my PDA....
    • WOW. That isn't needed or going to sell. Slow down or maybe just stop.
    • Oh.. one last thing.. what about a built in unique encryption key.. with a retractable USB cord. This can be plugged into any USB equipped machine and you can use the key for file encryption or even for identity purposes simalair to a keyspan.

      This would be great, right up until you lost or broke your PDA and couldn't access your files.

  • I'll be back (Score:4, Interesting)

    by KarmaBlackballed ( 222917 ) on Tuesday December 18, 2001 @11:25PM (#2724486) Homepage Journal
    I'll consider lugging one around every day when the pocket PC becomes half the thickness it currenly is and is half the weight.

    Yes, size does matter.

    Meanwhile I'll stick with my old but smaller Handspring.
    • Meanwhile I'll stick with my old but smaller Handspring.
      And I'll stick with my considerably smaller Rex 6000 [rex6000.org].

      Not everyone needs a 206MHz Strong Arm. Some of us simple organizer folk are content with a 4.3MHz 8-bit Z80.

      • It looks nice, but I wonder how useful it is.
        Apparently it is very slow and memory-ineffective when you enter notes on the Rex itself in stead of
        on the PC and sync it. My Palm IIIx is fast enough
        to be smooth and a Casio PocketPC I tried was even
        better at that. But at least this Rex PDA is
        really easy to take with you. Maybe even too easy :)
        • Apparently it is very slow and memory-ineffective when you enter notes on the Rex itself in stead of on the PC and sync it.
          It isn't especially slow when you enter notes and contacts. It does eat your memory faster (probably about 2x) until you sync it. When you sync it, the syncing software does memory defragmentation, so it doesn't wind up being any different.
      • Wow. I like it. Xircom certainly had the right form factor. But evidently they lacked the right marketing. I did not even know this awesome product existed. Shame on me.

        Looks like Citizen is also on the right track. I cannot read Japanese, but evidently they are showing a full function PDA that is about half the size of a Palm V (little bigger than Rexx). I want it!

        http://ascii24.com/news/i/topi/article/2001/11/07/ 631059-000.html [ascii24.com]

        They also demo a PDA watch but that will catch on as much as calculator watches and pocket protectors. We all have those right?
        • Looks like Citizen is also on the right track.
          Actually, Citizen made the PDA that the Rex 6000 is based on. It's called the DataSlim 2 (DS2) and is still available in Japan. Citizen licensed the DS2 to Xircom.

  • Another Pocket PC Freak (Score:4, Interesting)

    by KarmaBlackballed ( 222917 ) on Tuesday December 18, 2001 @11:30PM (#2724500) Homepage Journal
    These things are becoming freaks because they are too big to lug around in a pocket everyday but have more power than a decent laptop from 4 years ago. More memory and processor power are a waste in a package that will really do little more than some point-click lookups (eg address book) and play games.

    How much memory and processing power does an address book need?

    If it is more than an address book then give me a da*n keyboard and bigger screen. Wait, I already have one of those. I call it a laptop and it is about as small as I can stand a real computer being.

    • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

      by account_deleted ( 4530225 )
      Comment removed based on user account deletion
      • thiner than a co-workers Handspring by a few millimeteres

        Then you have a real pocket PC and I applaud you. My entire point is that size matters and you seem to appreciate that.

        All the other features are ho-hum if it is too much hassle to carry it around.
    • Address book? This thing has enough power to play video or MAME! I picked up a ipaq 3670 (206mhz, 64M RAM, $300) and have had tons of fun with it. By default, half the ram goes to storage, half to running stuff (on wince) - less for apps if you use it for storing MP3's. If I can get this thing to run Tomcat, I'm set. (I know I could do some form of PocketIIS) Heck, with that much power, IBM's J9 JVM is snappy. Heck, I can even use C++, rather than the C toolkit I used for than my Palm III.

      Mine filled up quick, though I'm the reason for quotas at our current shop (grin).
    • The big appeal to me with PocketPC's is being able to use them instead of a laptop on an airplane. I want to be able to play games (yeah! MAME would rock!), watch movies, listen to music, and so on. If I could hook up the iPod with a PocketPC and use it as a portable hard drive to store TV shows on, that would be the killer app for me. I would *stop* taking my laptop on trips! At that point, I would have just two items that each fit in my pocket.

      What about waiting an hour or 2 for the mechanic to fix my car?

      What about during a power failure?

      etc.. I can think of lots of times something like this would come in handy. (... I ache for a Tablet PC though...)
      • You don't even need the ipod particularly. There are many ways to expand storage in Pocket PC's from SD card up to PC cards. OK, you won't get a whole season of shows on one, but you'll get enough that power becomes your worry.
    • As a premise for this post, I had owned a Casio model E-100 for roughly 2 years until last week when I traded with a friend for his Palm III.

      Quite simply, I decided that the E-100 lacked true portability. This new device, and all others from non Palm or Handspring vendors, tend to simply be very large and cumbersome.

      What I love about the Palm is the ability for me to put it in my shirt pocket and not have it way that down. Though this may seem trivial, it is very important to me as I generally would rather not have a large device in my pants pocket (Aside from the obvious "device" already there).

      Anyway, I what I think needs to happen is that designers should take a look at a device like the Rex (remember that? It was a PCMCIA card that had a screen and PIM apps on it) and attempt to improve on that. A simple color screen shouldn't increase size overall too much, but would increase definition and clarity quite a bit. There seems to be a fairly large market for people who want simple, cheap PIM and PDA devices without hundreds of MB of storage, wireless networking, a Pentium IV processor and other crazy stuff that simply doesn't belong. Anyone out there with investment capital and some friends with engineering degrees listening?

    • If it is more than an address book then give me a da*n keyboard and bigger screen. Wait, I already have one of those. I call it a laptop and it is about as small as I can stand a real computer being.

      My old Psion 5mx has a keyboard (which I actually manage to use), and a screen that is small, but lets me do something useful. It's a shame that nobody wants to build it anymore.

      ciao, .mau.

  • Hah! (Score:2, Insightful)

    by saxmatt ( 320581 )
    If only it had the PalmOS on it. Palm's new StrongARM units, if done well, should solidly defeat the PocketPCs once and for all. That would be a nice blow to M$ to have them lose in a market they've invested billions in. Maybe Linux will be next :).
    • If only Palm OS wern't so horrible. It's not that it isn't efficent - it's that it isn't flexible or powerful. Look at the HandEra vs. Clie - both have high-resolution screens, but because they had to use a hack to do it the two systems are completely incompatible. Who's going to write 3 versions of a program (Lo-Res, HandEra High-Res, Clie High-Res). I imagine that the ARM conversion will be similar - incompatibility across the board. Another example: memory expansion. PocketPC adds the memory card as just another folder. Various Palm OS devices deal with it in different ways. Until Palm OS 4.0, there was no support for memory cards. So Handspring and Sony added it in - to be competitive with Pocket PC devices. Unfortunately, their solutions were "half-baked" and, again, completely incompatible with each other. That, added to the fact that Palm OS doesn't multitask, was never properly designed for color (look at the UI of PocketPC vs Palm), and has an extremely primitive filesystem and it spells disaster. You're trying to run an OS designed for 16MHZ 68K (Dragonball) CPUs with less than 1/2 a MB of ram on a 200+ MHZ ARM with 8+ MB of ram? It'd be like running DOS on your PC, constantly adding on cleaver hacks to make it better. Palm needs a serious rewrite. Compare Pocket PC and Palm and you see the difference. Pocket PC natively supports resolutions from 320x240 to whatever the driver can power. Don't believe me? Try JS Landscape and see. The Pocket PC handles quite well in high-res mode (some 3rd party applications don't, however. This is easy for the developer to fix, thankfully). The Pocket PC has an extremely similar API to Windows 2000 (albeit a subset). The Pocket PC has a fully featured hierarchical filesystem, too (and the root is even "\" - i.e. "\program files"). Palm is living in the past. And no, Palm's ARM units will not spell doom for Pocket PCs. Pocket PCs are too well established, and are slowly crushing Palm sales. Yes, the ARM units would be serious competition... if they ever come out. For now, they should be classified as vaporware. With Palm's poor sales with the M500 and M505 series, and the VII, they need something good - and fast. Sorry Palm, you didn't innovate. And MS crushed you. Sure the Clie and Visor may survive, but that's because Sony and Handspring innovated. The Clie has a high-resolution (2x) screen and can play MP3s as well as access Memory Sticks (yes, I don't like them either). The Handspring has it's Springboard slot which supports everything from GPSs to MP3 players. No, Handspring and the Clie will be spared. But Palm will not.
    • No CEO, severe layoffs and a limited kernel license adds up to a pretty big "if" on Palm making a comeback. It's a shame, but let's have a reality check here, PalmOS isn't going much farther.

  • Gee that site slashdotted fast....

  • A Small Suggestion. (Score:4, Offtopic)

    by hyyx ( 447405 ) <ckyNO@SPAMsnpp.com> on Tuesday December 18, 2001 @11:42PM (#2724544) Homepage
    I saw a post the other day about having /. consider running a mirror for each story. I couldn't load the review at 5 comments. What's the point of posting a story when you can't look at it? Just have a mirror up for a couple of hours until the /. effect wears off. No big deal to do that.
    • Nah... The whole point is that the slashdotted sites should die a horrible death. Slashdot is an assets to VA in the sense that it would actually attract businesses. Think about it: a news site wannabe doesn't survive a slashdot effect. Who are they going to call to solve the problem? The operator of Slashdot of course.


      Mod me down. I don't care. I have no karma to start with.

  • Nice, but.. (Score:2, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward
    ...is someone -really- working on porting Linux to it? "Should" really means nothing here...the effort needed to play the "flash game" to get Linux on there is NOT fun. The iPaq people have inside help from Compaq on this one...is the same true for this device?

    As an aside, the GCC-ARM code is terrible. GCC -still- has a vexing bug with optimization on the ARM platform. If you compile something with optimizations, it will blow up when you run it. This really needs to be fixed, or else Wince will have the speed advantage.

  • The only drawback (Score:3, Redundant)

    by tcc ( 140386 ) on Tuesday December 18, 2001 @11:45PM (#2724550) Homepage Journal

    I'd rather put 2x or 3x the price of that and get a laptop that will do 10 times more stuff.

    The good news is, for people that actually want a pda, and think that the Palm II is a bit obsolete, can not get a E115 for way cheaper than it was just 2 years ago. You get the extra features without the heavy price tag, besides for 1/3 the price of that E200 unit you won't be paranoid about breaking it or losing it...

    Still, the high-end segment is really cool, must be nice running a gameboy emulator on that little beast.
    • And it'd be 10 times more of a pain to lug around a laptop. Honestly, do you carry a laptop with you run out to pick up milk? How about when you go to the movies? Probably not. Of course, its very easy to run into someone you know at either of these spots and need something off of your machine. (Contact information for a third person, dates, public keys, etc.)

      The big advantage to these really high powered PDA's is that they can do more than act as a digital date book. Ever try manipulating a large data set on a Palm so you can show your boss what the results of your tests were? (if your boss has time to sit down and read e-mail, you work in a different environment than I do) Sometimes you need ultra portable computing that you can use while you move, not computing that you can move to different work locations.
  • Super Deformed? Does this mean my head will expand to 200x its normal size if I utilize the SD slot? My girlfriend's gonna get ticked...

    • Re:SD slot? (Score:1, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward
      i doubt severely that you have a girlfriend with such a shitty sense of humor

    • Translation: (Score:1, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward
      I just talked to someone claiming to be a chick on IRC and I want to show off.
  • Is anyone else getting broken images on Slashdot? None of them are loading, and the server seems to be returning a 403. Is it just me?

  • Running Linux (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Splezunk ( 250168 ) on Wednesday December 19, 2001 @12:09AM (#2724630) Homepage
    Could someone please explain the infation that everybody seems to have about running linux on everything even though its not suited to that task?

    I agree that linux is a good secure Server system, but for the life of me I can't understand what you would want it on a PDA for. Use the best tool for the job - This exludes Win XP as well.

    • Re:Running Linux (Score:1, Interesting)

      by Jimithing DMB ( 29796 )

      Could you please explain to me what the hell you were thinking in this post?

      I can only assume that a) you are a troll (although I'll give you the benefit of the doubt, and besides, I don't think this is the case), b) you have no idea what Linux is beyond knowing that a lot of people use it for servers and that some crackpots (like me) use it on their desktops, or c) you know what Linux is but can't figure out why anyone would use it on a PDA.

      Anyway, let me get to the point. You may have heard that Linux is free/open-source software. This means the sourcecode is available for all to modify, play with, do whatever with (for the most part). Because of this, Linux lends itself well to running on a variety of devices. Anyone can take the source and port it to different architectures. Also because of this anyone can mix and match components and write some of their own to make Linux more suitable for a particular device.

      For example, there is a long standing argument that having a GUI running on a server all the time is just plain silly. Most of the time no-one is going to be physically at the console. Also most of the time it is easier to remotely administer the machine (even from an office down the hall) than it is to go into the server room. Therefore having a GUI running is simply wasting resources. Linux allows you to do this. Windows does not. However, when you are running Linux as a desktop OS it rarely makes sense not to have a GUI running.

      Now, when running Linux on a PDA not using a GUI would be quite cumbersome and I would agree that I couldn't understand why you would want to do this... assuming you want to use the device as a PDA. But here's where the flexibility comes in again. Why run X11 and something like GNOME/KDE or whatever that is intended for a desktop computer. That would be silly for a PDA. It would be better to have a simpler GUI that is easier to interact with. Linux allows this to happen.

      Basically, the bottom line is that the term "Linux" seems to pretty much refer to any system using the Linux kernel. If you were to rephrase your question as "Could someone please explain the infatuation that everybody seems to have about running the Linux kernel on everything..." then you would realize that the Linux kernel is very well suited to the task, along with other parts of what makes up a Linux system. However, not all parts make sense as I described in the previous paragraph.

      I sincerely hope that this clears this issue up for you and that you now understand why people try to make the Linux kernel run everywhere. And I sincerely hope that you weren't a troll because if you were that means I just spent the last 5-10 minutes of my life so you could get your jollies hoping someone would get pissed off.

      • Thank you, you have explained it pretty well. And also emphasised my point, that being that linux being just the kernel, might not be that well integrated into the system.
        eg. PalmOS - Made for handhelds, etc.
        Wince - Bloated piece of crap, like most of MS stuff
        Linux - Could this not also suffer from bloat and having lots of unnecessary stuff for a PDA.

        Obviously, if you strip it down etc. you can get something really small, but still not quite doing what it was intended for...

        Just my thoughts....

        • Well, let me put it this way: when it all comes down to it a computer is a computer is a computer is really just a glorified calculator.

          A PDA is simply a computer with far less memory-- both volatile (e.g. RAM) and non-volatile (e.g. a hard-disk or flash ROM), a far slower processor, and a far smaller screen, etc.

          With any computer you need some sort of system in place that makes it easier to write applications and keep the system running. So many years ago we went from computers which started, ran a program, and stopped to computers which boot an operating system and run apps from there. So with any modern computer you need an OS. What exactly an OS is is somewhat hard to define. For our purposes lets say it is a kernel and other base services required to make using the device work as intended. For a PDA that's gonna be the kernel and some sort of API that allows programs to call into the kernel and also some sort of GUI interface for the PDA.

          Anyway, enough background info. The gist of it is that PalmOS was designed with an extremely limited computer in mind. The specs for a PalmPilot are something like a 20Mhz Motorola Dragonball (IIRC a close relative of the 68x00 series used in Macs before the PowerPC days), about a MB or so of ROM and about a MB or so of RAM. Palm also made some serious design choices to account for this very limited configuration. For one thing, there is no memory protection at all, so if you have a rogue application you'll need to unscrew the top of your stylus and use it to hit the Reset button. For another thing it doesn't scale worth a shit. It's basically limited to the very very very low-end device. So while this was a benefit in getting a reasonably priced working product out the door and opening up everyone's mind to a completely new type of computer, it is really a liability now. From what I understand, Palm is completely rewriting PalmOS so they can make it work with more modern hardware.

          WinCE was intended to be run on the more powerful PalmPC class of devices (renamed PocketPC due to lawsuits by Palm, Inc., dunno what the latest marketing name is now). Basically WinCE is a very very stripped down NT kernel. MS has even renamed it now (originally WinCE, then PocketWindows, now Windows XP embedded or something) to reflect that the newest release is a stripped down version of XP. Honestly, it is my understanding that Wince is really not that bloated. Now as you add features, you add code, but that's not necessarily bloat. Maybe feature-creep, but not bloat. Besides, it is up to the OEM to decide which features they include (well, to some extent like everything MS). All in all, Wince is not that bad of an OS from a technical standpoint.

          As for Linux, definitely a very cool solution for a PDA maker. Basically you can take whatever pieces you need and leave the rest behind. For the most part more along the lines of Wince than PalmOS.

          As far as doing what it was intended for, it's doing exactly what it was intended for, to manage the memory and provide services to applications. That's what an OS does. PalmOS does the same thing, manages memory and provides services to applications. It's just that PalmOS was specifically designed with a very specific set of requirements in mind. Like I said earlier, that has pros and cons.

          One notable difference between Wince and Linux (well, other than the obvious ones) is that I have never seen Wince running on a Palm device, while Linux does. The only Palm that Linux will not run on is the original PalmPilot. All the newer palms (III onward) can be made to run Linux. That right there should tell you just how much you can strip it down to get just the bare essentials for a very limited device and still have all the advantages such as standard POSIX programming APIs (a BIG plus). Honestly, I would expect to see a lot more Linux based PDAs coming up, although I won't expect to see it advertised as such. The great thing is that Linux can be made to work just as well as PalmOS on that style device and will scale up a bit and work with more features on a PocketPC style device. One notable exception is that I have no idea what the deal with Graffiti is. That is I think about the only remaining reason why Palm dominates.

          Anyway, it's late and definitely time to go to bed. It's been good posting some info for you (and whoever else cares to read it). Only downside that I see is that my original post in this thread got modded down a point for being overrated (i.e. from the default +1 to 0). Go figure, make an informative comment and get modded-down. On Slashdot??? NEVER! :-)

    • You said it:
      "Use the best tool for the job".
      Saying this you have to give me the justification of WindowsCE/PPC running on a PDA.
      From a productive view, the whole application suite coming with PPC can not be considered being "productive". Having used Newtons for year and having seen Palm and EPOC PIM applications, I find PocketPC being very very limited.
      The only reason I can imagine why someone might be using WinCE is that more drivers are available and more software (of low quality) is being developed).
      Both reasons are because manufacturers are jumping after MS due to a limited view of alternatives.
      Looking at the Qtopia desktop running under Familiar linux with a 2.4.16 kernel on iPaqs, I have to say that it is getting better and better every day and that it is more productive than any PocketPC I have seen.
      And you have the chance to actively influence the development. MS wont give you that chance.

      Oliver
  • Y'know, opinion is one of the most commonly mis-spelt words...

  • Is it REALLY a better mousetrap? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Christopher B. Brown ( 1267 ) <cbbrowne@gmail.com> on Wednesday December 19, 2001 @12:42AM (#2724742) Homepage
    • I keep being amused (and a little disgruntled!) that the 225MHz StrongARM of about three years ago is still the same "205 MHz StrongARM" that they keep deploying on these little critters.

      I realize that the 16 MHz DragonBall chips are still pretty sufficient for coping with storing addresses, notes, and the likes; it's just irritating that it's stayed at the same speed for so long.

    • On the up-side, it moves from having a mere 16MB of RAM to having 64MB of RAM.

      That's probably enough to start moving towards doing some "real" work, although if you want more than 15 minutes worth of MP3s, you'll still have to wait for the 256MB model.

      I don't think these get to be truly better "mousetraps" until they have a pretty serious amount of storage space.

    • The "StrongARM-based" PDAs have been around for a while, and the ones that you'd actually want always cost about $600 USD, which is a whopping lot more than a not-quite-disposable Whichever-Palm-has Gotten Cheap .

      A year ago, it made sense that the iPAQ was expensive as an 'early-adopter" product; the continuing-to-be-hefty price is not particularly attractive.

    • Woo-hoo! It runs Linux!

      I think it's pretty cool and all that IBM has built a wrist-watch that runs Linux; that doesn't forcibly grip me as being fundamentally important.

      PalmOS is old enough that it may be getting "old in the tooth;" it's still pretty much useful enough. (Except for playing MP3s, but it's cheaper to get a recent Diamond Rio for that...)



    A new model from another maker may be News for Nerds, but I have to wonder if it's really Stuff that matters.

  • Think of it as... (Score:1, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Everyone I know that has made the jump to pocketPC (from palm, laptops, etc) have all found their own justification and all could not go back (exclusively) to the laptop they used to use. Some of the comments I have heard from people lately.

    An IPOD with a real screen that can play movies as well.

    A laptop that fits in your shirt pocket. At least 10 times faster than my old palm IIIc.

    an email terminal that goes where you go, has connectivity as good as my laptop, and is so small that I will actually bring it with me everywhere (unlike my laptop)

    a game machine that shames most pocket game machines and can also play mp3s.

    A portable gps, mp3 player, movie player, presentation device, and portable storage unit that fits in my pocket.

    Its a great tool for astronomy. (starry night plus direct control of a telescope)

    The new GSM module from compaq is going to change the way I work..
    http://www.compaq.com/products/quickspecs/10903_ ca /10903_ca.PDF

    If you have not checked out all of the latest features/addons/upgrades for the pocketpc handhelds, you might be impressed at just how much they can do. They are not a replacement for a laptop but then you can't always take a laptop with you, nor would you want to.

    Entertainment, wireless/remote access, data storage/retreival, all in a device that runs for days of normal usage on a single charge and is fast enough to run real applications.

  • General observation (Score:3, Informative)

    by biglig2 ( 89374 ) on Wednesday December 19, 2001 @11:15AM (#2725895) Homepage Journal
    It should perhaps be pointed out to those not watching this market closely (just went thru a pda upgrade cycle meself) that after the sucess of the ipaq 36xx every single Pocket PC manufacturer is going for an ipaq clone as the PockerPC 2002. This is not anything spcial or surprising that they are doing.

    So they all have memory slots, tft screens, expansion capabilities of some sort, 206MHz processors. People are even throwing away their USPs to get on the ipaq bandwagon - the older casios were famed for high quality of their reflective screens. Now they're TFT too.

    There are differences of course, but it's thinkgs like size, form factor, how much in the way of accessories are ut there, battery life.

    Oh, and what did I pick? Palm M500. Does everything I need in a box that is so tiny I can barely tell if its in my pocket or not and that costs £200 instead of £500.

    OK, doesn't run Linux and it doesn't really do multimedia. Mind you, that £300 difference will buy me rather a lot of MP3 player ;-) And failing to get the sound to work on my thinkpad 600 under Linux meets my cursing needs.
    • They are not doing it because they are imitating the IPAQ! They all have the same button arrangement because Microsoft is trying to standardize on hardware for the developers and have said such arrangement in their PPC2002 papers! As for the speaker in the button though ... that is a IPAQ imitation ... but the button arrangement kind of has to be followed. 2 buttons on both side of scroll.
  • brighthand.com also has a review of the new Casio e-200. Generally they liked the new model, but thougth the new look, which resembles the iPaq I think, is less attractive than other Casios, like the e-500, which had more of a gameboy-style button arrangement.
  • The mainstream slashdot crowd (if there can be said to be such a thing) is so funny. They way we're all pretending that we're terribly interested in this little handlheld device "just because" and as an afterthought it's neat-0 that it might run Linux!

    Reality check here - if this thing didn't have the potential to run Linux the story wouldn't have been written and hardly a soul here would have cared about it anyway.

    Just an observation.

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