Microsoft takes on Palm
Quote Unquote:
"IDC estimates that, by 2003, Palm will hold a 60 percent share of the handheld market. Microsoft, it predicts, will have gained a 40 percent market share with its Pocket PC operating system (not counting embedded Windows CE applications)."
The Pocket PC is Microsoft's third attempt at a viable competitive platform to the market-leading Palm OS from Palm Computing. However, unlike the first two generations of Windows CE operating systems, which were frequently criticized as being too hard to use and clumsy to connect with desktop PCs, this latest OS is seemingly re-thought from the ground up to suit the form factor familiar to users of handheld portables. Gone is the stubborn mimicry of the Windows 95 taskbar interface. Gone are those attractive but space-wasting 3-D buttons on the screen. And, unlike Palm's latest color and monochrome offerings, the Pocket PCs we've seen from HP, Casio and Compaq provide a surprisingly full-featured Web browser and a slick implementation of the Windows Media Player that effectively turns the tiny devices into a portable MP3 player and digital audio recorder. Casio's unit even comes with the ability to play digital videos; with an optional digital camera, it can record them, too.
As with the last few versions of Windows CE, Microsoft hasn't skimped on the features, of course. In fact, the company still seems to be betting that users of these non-Palm devices will favour features over sheer simplicity. With a typical Pocket PC, you get an expansion slot, Pocket Editions of Microsoft Word and Excel (now able to directly read documents created with the full editions of these apps), a 320x240-pixel screen with 16-bit colour and support for Windows Media audio, MP3 and HTML files, plus a microphone, headphone jack and speaker. All these features are missing from Palm's latest units (Palm's only colour unit, the IIIc, offers a 160x160 pixel screen with 256 colours at best).
Potential Snags
Pocket PCs from Casio, HP and Compaq are all based on central processing units from different manufacturers. The Casio unit uses a 131MHz VR4121 CPU from MIPS. HP has gone with Hitachi's 133MHz SH3 chip, while Compaq's iPaq (available in two identical models: The iPaq 3650, which is sold out on-line, and the retail-oriented iPaq 3630) uses the most powerful CPU of the three: a 206 MHz Intel StrongARM. This, in contrast to the Palm units (which, by the way, are based on a 20 MHz processor) or standard desktop PCs, leads to a scenario where the software designed for one manufacturer's Pocket PC won't run on any other Pocket PC. Fortunately, most third-party Windows CE software is made available in SH3, MIPS and ARM processor binaries. Thus, the main software compatibility issues to consider are:
To elaborate upon point (2): Because Casio makes its digital video conversion software available only in a binary compatible with its MIPS processor, you must consider the possibility that this software (or some some third-party title like it) may never be made available for competing units. Each model has unique software add-ons to help differentiate it in the marketplace. Casio, in particular has moved strongly in this direction. Its video capture software and playback utilities are bundled with every unit, even if the optional camera is not purchased. Casio also provides several custom calendar views and provides no less than 14 pieces of additional software not found on Compaq or HP units.
Hardware Differences
Although all of the Pocket PCs run the same operating system (Windows CE 3.0), each manufacturer has designed its hardware differently. Casio's unit has a chunky, square form factor, with a large four-way scroll button on the front face. (Palm's units have only up-and-down scroll buttons.). The Casio E115 also has a "Windows" button that, like the Windows key on many desktop PC keyboards, pops up the Start menu. Another nice touch on the Casio and the Compaq iPAQ is the ability to hook up the AC adapter without attaching the unit to its desktop cradle.
HP's Jornada, by contrast, has no scroll button on the front panel at all, but has a sleek, sculptured look and a flip-up cover, similar to that found on Palm units, that protects the unit when it is not in use. HP's unit lacks the Windows button and separate AC jack, but adds a "Tasks" button missing from the Casio. The HP also has clearer icons that are much easier to understand at a glance. Overall, we like the practicality of HP's design better (with the possible exception of the under-the-cover storage bay for the stylus), but we miss the scroll buttons found on the Casio and Compaq units.
Fortunately, you can scroll up or down on any of the Pocket PCs with the aid of a wheel on the left side of the units that also acts as a selection button when pressed. For example, you can scroll up or down through a list of email messages with the wheel and depress the wheel to open a message. Pressing the button again closes the message and returns to the list of messages. It's very slick.
Software Expansion
Although Palm undeniably has a greater base of software developer support at this point, the more powerful CPUs in Pocket PC devices have already led to the development of over 1,000 applications and some interesting innovations. Insignia Solutions, a company best known for its "Soft PC" Windows emulation products for the Mac and other platforms, has released Java Virtual Machine for Windows CE known as Jeode. This Java VM allows Pocket PC devices to run Java 1.1.1-compliant apps and provides fully Sun-authorized compatibility.
All Pocket PC units also include an interesting software technology called Microsoft Reader. Amazing as it may sound, this software performs Subpixel Font Rendering, allowing the color LCD screen to display three times the resolution than that which is normally possible. This makes text on the Pocket PC look much better than that on a Palm unit. It sounds like a load of marketing hype, but it really does work. We did, however, find that ClearType text didn't display as well on the Casio unit, particularly when the unit is angled slightly away from the viewer. There are already a number of "e-books" available in Microsoft Reader format. At this writing, Pocket PC owners can freely download the entire texts of Michael Crichton's Timeline and no less than 15 Star Trek books from Barnes and Noble.
We think the full-featured Web browser included with the Pocket PC represents a key advantage over Palm's awkward method of accessing the Web. HTML pages must be specially written in order to be compatible with the Palm VII (currently unavailable in Canada). In essence, Palm's "Web Clipping" code makes a Web page look to the Palm like an executable application, allowing the device to open the page. Worse, these special pages are compatible only with the Palm. This issue can be partly addressed by the use of a service such as AvantGo, which converts web pages -- or an entire site up to 2 MB in size -- into Palm (or Pocket PC) compatible documents.
In contrast, Pocket Internet Explorer loads any Web site, in online or offline mode and provides support for HTML 3.2, frames, tables, Jscript 1.1, ActiveX controls, XML and XSL data. It's also secure, with support for SSL and 128-bit encryption. Obviously, many Web pages won't fit on a 320x240-pixel screen. To view a wider page, you merely scroll sideways -- an especially easy task on the Compaq or Casio units, with their four-way scroll button.
Even slicker is the utility called PocketTV, an MPEG Movie Player for Pocket PC and WinCE devices. On an iPAQ, it can display -- and even stream -- MPEG movies in full-screen mode, in portrait or landscape orientations.
PocketTV received the Windows CE Program of the Year Award in the Third Annual ZDNet PDA Software Awards. It is also the most downloaded Pocket PC software according to Handango.com and PocketGear.com. PocketTV can play any standard MPEG-1 file (extension .mpg or .mpeg).
PocketTV is also capable of streaming MPEG video files using standard internet protocols such as http or ftp, provided that your device has a network connection (wireless or ethernet) that supports the necessary bandwidth i.e. the bitrate of the MPEG file that you want to stream. If you want to try streaming video with PocketTV, go the following URL from your Pocket PC using Pocket IE: http://pockettv.com/stream/.
Hardware Expansion
Pocket PCs typically provide expansion options via a CompactFlash card slot. HP's thin Jornada unit includes a Type 1 slot, but the slightly beefier Casio E115 provides a Type 2 card slot, allowing more expansion options. Casio says it is preparing to release other models this year, including a unit known as the EM500 in July and a ruggedized model in late August. The EM500, says Casio, will be available in five colours -- signaling, we presume, a focus on a younger audience. It will not, says Casio, include a CompactFlash slot, but will instead support "multimedia cards."
Compaq, meanwhile, went all the way with its iPaq unit. You can choose a thin expansion chassis supporting CompactFlash memory expansion cards or go for the gusto with a "PC Card Expansion Pack" chassis that supports PCMCIA-type expansion options.
Already, there are numerous expansion options for these units, including
One of the most popular expansion items available for the Palm platform is an external keyboard, freeing users from the need to tap out data on an on-screen keyboard simulation or use the unit's idiosyncratic gesture recognition software.
Similarly, there are keyboard options for the Pocket PC. A fairly compact portable keyboard from GoType is available now, but a much more compact model from Targus that folds up to about the size of the Pocket PC is said to be coming soon.
New Functionality
During our tests of the Casio E-115 Pocket PC, one of the aspects that struck us the most was how much the operating system's performance had improved over that of Casio's first-generation Cassiopeia handheld PC. Indeed, performance gains are even substantial over second-generation "Palm-size PC" units, as the following table shows:
| Palm-size PC | Pocket PC | |
| Start Menu | 800ms | 100ms |
| Calendar Launch | 2300ms | 1200ms |
| Open Appt | 2700ms | 800ms |
| Switch to Contacts | 1500ms | 800ms |
| Find | Take a coffee break | 200ms |
| Synch (250 appointments, 200 contacts, 50 tasks, 20 messages) | 130 sec. | 20 sec. |
There have also been some substantial changes to the user interface. There's a new "tap and hold" behavior that pops up a "context menu" similar to that seen on a desktop PC when the right mouse button is held down. (A tutorial that runs when you first turn on the unit instructs you in this and other key concepts); the new interface has entirely eliminated the need to double-tap.
There have also been some major improvements to the handwriting recognition features of Pocket PCs. In addition to a tiny onscreen keyboard, previous generation Palm-size PCs (and the Palm Pilot) provided gesture-recognition software that could interpret handwritten input, etched upon the unit's screen with a provided stylus. The new Pocket PCs go much further, providing these features plus "rich ink" -- the ability to save drawings, maps, etc. in graphical format -- as well as rich ink with character recognition. In other words, you can save a phone number as a quick scrawl now and attempt automatic recognition of the characters later. And, as mentioned earlier, there's a quick voice-record function, invoked by simply pressing a button on the unit.
Targeting the Enterprise
As is the case with Palm, Microsoft sees that business users who need to keep track of appointments, to-do lists and contact information represent the core audience for this sort of product. Thus, these areas have all been given the makeover treatment. The unit's personal information manager (PIM) acts as a complete Outlook companion and supports email connectivity via the POP3 or IMAP4 standards. You can also receive -- and directly open and edit -- email attachments such as Word documents or Excel spreadsheets. There's also an optional password feature when the unit turns on with a feature that wasn't immediately obvious to us, but strikes us as a good idea. Every time you enter the password incorrectly, the unit waits twice as long before it allows you to try again. Thus, after several incorrect attempts, it will be several minutes before you can even try again.
Once you're connected (the unit supports both wired and wireless connections and includes built-in drivers for modem and Ethernet add-ons), the log-in procedure supports full NT authentication.
Synchronizing Data
There are several ways to synchronize data with desktop or server-based systems. In addition to the phone or Ethernet add-ons mentioned above, the units provide built-in hardware and software for infrared communications support and come with a "cradle" that allows syncing to desktop PCs running Windows. Unlike Palm's method of syncing, which is invoked when the user inserts the unit into the Palm cradle and pushes a "Sync" button, the Pocket PCs, by default, continuously synchronize, using a feature Microsoft calls ActiveSync. This strikes us as a love-it-or-hate-it sort of feature. On the surface, it's more convenient and one can always be sure that data contents are up to date. However, if you can think of a reason where you might not want to synchronize, this feature is going to stand in your way (but can be disabled in favour of on-demand syncing). It's also worth mentioning that changes made to databases are client-side only, at least with the included software. Server-based syncing is left to third-party solutions (Extended Systems, PeaceMaker, etc.).
Connectivity options for the Pocket PC include:
The Pocket PC recharges automatically when connected to its (included) cradle. This is a good thing because all that glorious colour comes at a cost: unlike the weeks-between-charges life of a monochrome Palm Pilot, the batteries on a colour Pocket PC typically last only between 8 and 15 hours. Fortunately, the unit can be completely recharged in a few hours.
What's Ahead
At the Tech-Ed conference in June, 2000, Compaq revealed that it will soon offer a bundle that will include its iPaq H3600 Pocket PC model (US$495) a PC Card Expansion Pack (US$150), a Sierra Wireless AirCard CDPD wireless modem, Infowave performance software, and a wireless connectivity plan. Canadian pricing for the bundle has not been announced, however, our Wireless Internet report provides details on a deal announced at PC Expo on June 28th, 2000, in which Microsoft and Aether Systems will deliver everything needed to get up and running with a wireless Pocket PC -- device, modem and service -- for US$39.99 a month.
Part 2 of our report discusses Pocket PC vs Palm: the pros and cons of each, plus a critique of Windows CE 3.0's GUI.
For further reading:
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