[Malatesta]

I take offense to the term crazy. I prefer "Sanity Impaired"

point taken.

[zeze22]

this is not a windows vs. plam post. I know the difference.
I just want to know how many of you tried the wx and just couldn't make it work. what was it that you could do without? what was it that you didn't like?
I have the wx and kind of miss my 700p. I have a few days left and i'm considering going back.

am I the only one?

I couldn't stomach the WX; screen was poor, device was slow and application-access was cumbersome. I have a new respect for mu 700p.

[bvd1147]

I had the P, got a WX 3 days ago, and am returning it by week's end. After having the P for about 4 months, I got used to the resolution. Although I was used to WM on my previous PDA, POS was easy to pick up...so easy that I'm completely lost on WM5. I know that will go away with practice, but I have also noticed that the apps cause slow downs after a while. I'm pretty sure there are utilities to handle this, but multitasking is not as important for me right now. Also, TMCMP is SO choppy on the WX. Everything from Family Guy to Da Ali G show is incredibly choppy. It looks almost like Sprintv quality. I'm not a pro, but those are my experiences.

[rick2203]

so i guess the fact that people brag about WM's abitity to multitask is not so great since , aparently when multitasking you get slowdowns, hmmmm i wanted to give WM a try but i think i'm going to pass.

[Malatesta]

so i guess the fact that people brag about WM's abitity to multitask is not so great since , aparently when multitasking you get slowdowns, hmmmm i wanted to give WM a try but i think i'm going to pass.

Not true at all.

Slowdowns would be due to running out of program memory (RAM) but since the WX has so much it rarely becomes an issue. In fact, that's probably the strangest thing about WM5: people keep shutting down the program instead of letting in run in the background. Calling up a minimized app is a lot faster than constantly restarting it, hence the default behavior is to minimize. With plenty of program memory this is a non-issue.

Just watch the video review of it here from TC at about 7 mins into it:
http://www.treocentral.com/content/Stories/895-2.htm

I can make a vid too showing how you can run multiple large programs and have no slowdows in switching (like running Slingbox and multitasking during commericials).

Once again, you don't really know till you try. But I assure you, many of us wouldn't "brag about multi-tasking" if it had such a obvious negative result to it. That begs the question of why would anyone want to use it if it's such a hinderance. An analagous situation would be when people say "Why use Palm when it randomly resets all the time". Using such sweeping generalizations might make you feel better but it's usually quite false.

In fact here's a video of me starting up and running Slingbox w/ a low signal. I don't consider that operation "slow" by any means (it's even faster w/out the registration screen!): http://youtube.com/watch?v=LDA_Ac0T0Rg

[skfny]

Malatesta has a good point. How many newbies have been ripped apart on TC for not liking a 650/700xyz because they didn't give it enough time?

I'll be first in line to try out a wx when:

1) There is a stable version of FlexMail that supports IDLE IMAP and does it well.
2) SplashData releases SplashMoney for WM (exp Q1 07).

Until then, I'm afraid a wx trial would invariably end with my p being reactivated after 29 days.

[rick2203]

I'm very impressed with you video malatesta not slow at all, wow makes me wanna go peek into the darkside.

[stroths]

If I move to the WX, I will likely wait until the 750 is released in the US. Hopefully, that will lower the price of the 700wx's on eBay. For now, the 700p works great for me

[copernicus]

If I move to the WX, I will likely wait until the 750 is released in the US. Hopefully, that will lower the price of the 700wx's on eBay. For now, the 700p works great for me

Is the resolution on the 750 any better? I would wait *at least* for that. I personally still think it's way too early for the move. It's good to see that after 10 years (or has it been 15 years?) Pocket PC is finally *starting* to work though. The 700p is working great for me too.

[Malatesta]

Is the resolution on the 750 any better? I would wait *at least* for that. I personally still think it's way too early for the move. It's good to see that after 10 years Pocket PC is finally *starting* to work though. The 700p is working great for me too.

nope. same resolution.

In fact, outside of being GSM and having no antenna, it's virtually the same as the 700wx (it's slighlty lighter, almost the same footprint). Hopefully in the next year or so we'll finally see some 480x480 screens (and 640x480) in the States.

As far as the ppc starting to work after 10 years, IMO WM 2003 was actually very good, stable and extremely fast, like 20x faster than WM5. The change occured due a change to the memory architecture e.g. persistant storage vs. straight flash RAM, that's when the "slowdown" occured (Sound familiar? Like when Palm switch to a new memory architecture in the 650? lol). This was a business decision to corner Enterprise who needed a device that could survive complete battery drains.

It's been improving, slowly, ever since (it's only been about 16 months).

MS was put in a precarious situation of having to merge their PPC and Smartphone lines (due to the shrinking PDA market, growing Smartphone market), hence the one-handed issues and observations that "it's a better PDA than a Phone" (a point I concede while acknowledging that Palm has addressed in the 700w/wx). You can see this being improved upon in AKU 3.0 and the future "Crossbow & Photon".

They've only had a real presence in the phone market for the last 2-3 years.

[copernicus]

I appreciate the explanation/clarification Malatesta. A question about PPC and WM5 (that I believe you were addressing): Is PPC the OS that was marketed for the PDAs, and WM the OS modified from PPC for smart phones? Is that a distinction that you are trying to clarify? Then, is WMx also randomly (possibly mistakenly) also called PPC?

That was a very informative post, thanks.

[Malatesta]

I appreciate the explanation/clarification Malatesta. A question about PPC and WM5 (that I believe you were addressing): Is PPC the OS that was marketed for the PDAs, and WM the OS modified from PPC for smart phones? Is that the distinction that you are trying to clarify? Then, is WMx also randomly (possibly mistakenly) also called PPC?

ah yes, to say the nomenclature is opaque is certainly an understatement!

Basicly, what you assert is correct. Originally there was "Pocket PC" which referred to both the OS and the hardware (much like "Palm" was synonymous with the Treo and OS). The major releases for that were Pocket PC 2002, 2003 and 2003 SE. Later, MS developed the "Smartphone" platform which was completely seperate.

WM5 is MS's first step in combining both platforms into a single OS (notice though they're not completely interchangable). The Next-gen "Photon" will complete this move by having one OS that can be completey re-configured via the Shell for any task, for any device, for any manufacturer or carrier.

And yes, most people refer to anything with WMx as a PPC. If it has phone capabilites, they will call it a "smartphone" (though that's not totally accurate).

Technically (roughly):

WM5 PPC Edition
WM5 PPC Phone Edition
WM5 Smartphone Edition

If you want the nitty gritty, I suggest this article: The History of Windows CE

[copernicus]

ah yes, to say the nomenclature is opaque is certainly an understatement!

Basicly, what you assert is correct. Originally there was "Pocket PC" which referred to both the OS and the hardware (much like "Palm" was synonymous with the Treo and OS). The major releases for that were Pocket PC 2002, 2003 and 2003 SE. Later, MS developed the "Smartphone" platform which was completely seperate.

WM5 is MS's first step in combining both platforms into a single OS (notice though they're not completely interchangable). The Next-gen "Photon" will complete this move by having one OS that can be completey re-configured via the Shell for any task, for any device, for any manufacturer or carrier.

And yes, most people refer to anything with WMx as a PPC. If it has phone capabilites, they will call it a "smartphone" (though that's not totally accurate).

Technically (roughly):

WM5 PPC Edition
WM5 PPC Phone Edition
WM5 Smartphone Edition

If you want the nitty gritty, I suggest this article: The History of Windows CE

Oh, thank you very much for that reply. Now I'm clear!


P.S.
Photon sounds almost unixlike. Hope it is has pre-emptive multitasking.

[Malatesta]

Oh, thank you very much for that reply. Now I'm clear!


P.S.
Photon sounds almost unixlike. Hope it is has pre-emptive multitasking.

it's interesting info, just from a technological standpoint even if you don't use WM. WM6 does sound impressive, hopefully it'll live up to it's promise!

[mobileman]

it's interesting info, just from a technological standpoint even if you don't use WM. WM6 does sound impressive, hopefully it'll live up to it's promise!

This is one of the biggest differences with WM in comparring to Palm OS....We know there will be a WM6. Cant say the same about Palm.