OT/FOAK: PDA suggestions with a twist

Say I was daft enough to want to develop a couple of mobile/PDA apps for
a Windows CE/Windows Mobile /
Windows-whatever-the-current-handheld-platform-is-called device, does
anybody have a recommendation for a PDA to play with, err, work with?

 

WM5.0 or WM6.0? I think you'd be better off with developing with WM5.0
for the moment, as I don't think that there's that much of a take on
WM6.0 (yet).

What sort of apps? With or without Bluetooth/WiFi? I can be a beta
tester, as I can get my hands on a few WM devices (such as an Symbol
MC35, Motorola Q, Qtek and possibly one or two others i.e. competition)

 

Wanna Medion MDPNA 100?

 

In the finest tradition of recommending what you own, I vote for the O2
XDA Orbit (assuming you want WM6).

--
Krusty
www.MuddyStuff.co.uk
Off-Road Classifieds

'02 MV Senna '03 Tiger 955i '96 Tiger '79 Fantic Hiro 250

 

That seems to be my impression from having a gander...

In famous UKRM tradition, I haven't decided yet

Probably without Bluetooth but with Wifi.

I'll keep that in mind, thanks.

 

Which version of Windows CE/Mobile is that running?

 

Probably WM5, and I need another mobile like I need another bike, errr,
a hole in the head...

 

I thought it was 5 but I'd have to check when I get home tonight.

 

As mentioned, I haven't got the foggiest yet.

Hmm. It's most likely going to be networked so that *may* make a
difference.

 

OK, would appreciate if you could let me know - if it's WM5 I'm
definitely interested.

 

Using the patented Mavis Beacon "Hunt&Peck" Technique, Timo Geusch

The PNA100 only has infra-red comms, IIRC.

--
Wicked Uncle Nigel - "He's hopeless, but he's honest"

WS* GHPOTHUF#24 APOSTLE#14 DLC#1 COFF#20 BOTAFOT#150 HYPO#0(KoTL) IbW#41
SBS#39 OMF#6 Enfield 500 Curry House Racer "The Basmati Rice Burner",
Honda GL1000K2 (Fallen apart)
Suzuki TS250 "The Africa Single" Honda ST1100 wiv trailer Norton 850 Commando
Kawasaki GTR1400

 

"Windows Mobile 2003"

Presume that isn't WM5 by another name?

 

AFAIK, no.

 

Assuming the emulator in the SDK isn't sufficent, I'm happy with my
Axim X51v for general PDA-ing. WM5, bluetooth, wifi, 640x480 screen.

How are you doing the development, BTW?

 

That's pretty much what I wanted to know - I've got a Palm T3 at the
moment which is a decent PDA but /if/ I get off my arse and start
developing stuff, it shouldn't be for a platform that either smells
funny, is dead or both...

Well, I do need to download the SDK, and possibly update my Visual
Studio (I've currently got 2003 pro and 2008 pro beta and am waiting for
2008 to come out before I update). And then figure how to do development
for one of these devices...

 

Ah. I thought you already had made some apps. I'm not sure it's worth
your effort - I'm not sure you can get the Dells new anymore as they
got out of PDAs. I think you're left with HP, HTC, Mio (pretty limited
on features IME) and Fujitsu-Siemens.

They seem to have fallen back into a niche where companies buy them for
a purpose, where they need a handheld computer based tool where a
laptop isn't appropriate.

As a personal thing I expect they'll be replaced by the ultra-small
computers in due course.

 

Hmm, I hear you... I was going to look into writing something for
Symbian or other phones instead but the trouble is that I don't like
most of the phone UIs.

Possibly; IMHO the issue is always the user interface/user interaction
and I don't think that the handwriting recognition is that good. So
we'll probably be going back to Psion-style keyboards.

 

I use mine for tomtom, a bit of web browsing (upto about 5 sites, or
mobile google-ing simple information like address/phone number), and a
bit as a calendar.

The things that hold it back from being really useful are:
* Web browsing is a pain - hardly any sites cater for small screens.
Pocket Internet Explorer is responsive but doesn't do much past HTML
and can make a hash of rendering a page. Mozilla's minimo does better
rendering, but it's slow and the UI isn't slick enough. Opera makes a
good bash, but it's a middle ground - not as fast as PIE, but easier to
use than minimo. All of them make me think "I'll just wait till I'm on
the laptop/desktop".

*Syncing. You can sync easily to outlook. Anything else requires a fair
amount of effort. I'm currently trying to get everything to run through
google, using it as the "master" for all the info. Again, seems to be
harder to get it working properly than it should be.

*Data entry - this is why syncing is so important. More than a
paragraph on one of these is out of the question. It's too slow, it's
too awkward. I wouldn't be that bothered, but as syncing doesn't go as
smoothly as I'd like it's a bit of a pain.