PDA users: WindowsCE vs. PalmOS

Even thought I am right now quite happy with my Palm M500 the new Palm models are quite interesting with impressive new features. I do like the Palm OS very much. Nevertheless lots of people use Windows CE based PDA's for several reasons. Some time ago Palm needed to compete with its Vx-series against the advanced Ipaq and similar PDAs and it seemed like Palm wouldn't keep up. With the new line they seem to have overcome the big advantage the Windows CE PDA's had.

What I would like to know is what you use and why? What reason made you decide to buy which modell?

Klaus. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thinking.gif

When I was shopping and making my choice, my impression was that Palm was an accessory for your desktop:
All software had to be installed via desktop.
Unimpressive battery life.
No backup battery.
No permanent storage memory.
And a less than robust OS.

The Pocket PC, on the other hand presented itself as exactly that. A portable PC:
Familiar peripherals that worked without being tied to a desktop.
Backup battery and non-volatile RAM.
(Almost) familiar OS.
(Almost) complete compatibility with the apps I was already used to.

No contest.
Once I decided the platform it was simple comparison shopping -- price vs features.

Now, years later, the line between the two platforms has definitely been blurred and the OS is really the only main difference.
I get to explore the lost & found here at work and every time I power-up a Palm to try and find the owner info it's still a very foreign experience.

Palm V. WinCE, huh?

Personally, I use the PalmOS (Sony NR70 to be exact). Why? Because in my personal, real-world experience, it has proven itself to be more stable, and higher performance. Also, the feature lists that many WinCE manufacturers (sp?) point to is not really that much of an issue. Non-volatile memory? Both have it. Expansion options? Both have it. Connectivity to office apps? Both have it. The list goes on.

But what I found in using both WinCE and PalmOS units is that I spent _NO_ time waiting for apps to start up on a PalmOS machine, while I spent more time than I cared to staring at a spinning hour glass on the WinCE units. Sorry, I do enough of that on the PC at work. Also, I found myself resetting the WinCE unit on a regular basis even when all I was doing was using the built in applications. There's something just fundamentally wrong there if the _built-in_ apps aren't even stable. The last time I had to reset my Palm unit was because of a bonehead move on my part in cleaning out old files.

Of course, not to give you the wrong impression, I do like the WinCE units, and their very existence is helping to drive the market to better heights. I just wasn't ever able to get over the fact that everything I could do on a WinCE unit I could do on a Palm unit, and do it faster, and more reliably.

Now, if only someone would come out with a really impressive PDA/phone combo... (currently trying to find a store with a Treo 600 in stock that I can actually hold).

Also, I don't want to spew too much more on this here, but if anyone would care to debate the merits of Palm V. WinCE off-line, I'm open to those who would try to convince me that WinCE is better. =)

Did you take a look at the Palm Tungsten W, I believe it has an integrated mobile phone. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

2 months ago I liked CE better, but the new Palms look nice and I'll have to give them lots of consideration when I'm buying my next PDA. Hardware wise they've caught up to, and surpassed WinCE. They Sync better with a Mac than a CE device too (Imagine that)

And the Palm master is here. Well, not really /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

I recommend you go with Palm for these reasons:

1) An efficient OS. It's really like doing surgery with a scalpel (Palm) or a chainsaw (PPC or WinCE). While the PPC has a much faster processor, it can't utilize it correctly. Palm can use its power efficiently.

2) More software. Or at least I think so. Also good intergration with existing PC software.

3) Palm can now do (almost) anything. Got smartphone? Yep. Got WiFi? Yep. Got Bluetooth? Yep. Got video, audio, and other multimedia? You get the idea.

As Saaby the PPC user has said, Palm has catched up and is now leading the pack. I suggest you go along.

//Dan

[ QUOTE ]
logicnerd411 said:
(...)As Saaby the PPC user has said, Palm has catched up and is now leading the pack. I suggest you go along.

//Dan

[/ QUOTE ]

This is exactly what I assumed. Even though I hoped more people would comment your arguments are good. I believe as soon as Palm as figured out one or the other bug in the T3 it'll be mine...all mine /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/broke.gif

I've owned (personally) a Palm for several years. I had no trouble with the interface and, in fact found it simple and intuitive to navigate. Last year I purchased 12 different Palm and Pocket PC's for office evaluation, six of each. These were handed out to our attorneys to use for 4 months and then report their preference to me. Then I switched the Pocket PC users with the Palm users for 4 months and asked for another report.

The final score:-

The Palm with 8 preferences won over the Pocket PC. All of the reports came down to the same few remarks:

Positive comments for the Palm

* Small size
* It does exactly what I want in a PDA
* It's easy to use
* Battery life is much better

Negative comments for the Palm

* Doesn't have a real database
* Less readable display (The test units were cheap models)

Positive comments for the Pocket PC:-

* Nice to have a spreadsheet
* Word Processor much like MS word
* Better Solitaire game

Negative comments for the Pocket PC

* Poor battery life compared to the Palm
* The interface is actually more difficult to use
* Users often couldn't figure out what was running

A last note. After six now months all the Palm users are still using the PDA vs the Pocket PC's, of which only two are still used. In large part this is due to the fact that nearly everyone preferred the Palm desktop over Outlook as a general calendar and information manager, it just worked better for them.

Al

TRG Pro for me (Palm OS)--does eveything I want to do including using cheap CF cards to hold large files, books and web pages that I've converted to .doc files so that when my eyes glaze over from my desktop, I can curl up in the sun and absorb my content in a lesiurely fashion ...

since Handera has introduced their new model with the bigger screen, these have been going cheap--paid $34 for mine used(replaced a basic Handspring Visor that I still keep for backup)

hideo

PalmOS all the way. Faster, lighter, better. The difference between linux and windows, except that PalmOS is user friendly in a big way...

I'm kind of torn personally, but, I'd have to say they both have their strengths and weaknesses.

As far as the Palm OS being more efficient, I wouldn't say that. The newer PalmOS CPUs all run in emulation mode of the old 68k's. Meanwhile the PocketPCs can do some pretty neat stuff, even run a full port of Quake.

I like the PocketPC better from a UI standpoint-- it's far easier to use for me and offers a lot more power.

On the other hand, the Palm OS devices like the Tungsten T3 have double the screen real estate and a better internet browser.

It's really a hard call. I think the Palm OS hardware is better (see: T3) but, I dunno.

I'd have to go with the CPF motto and say buy both...

(currently I used a Kyocera 7135 PalmOS/cell phone hybrid... but it's kind of obsolete already, 160x160 33mhz sucks)

Palm OS on my current Palm is just fine for what I need a small, portable, reliable device for. It's also a lot happier with my non-Microsoft main OS.

I have been a PDA user for the last 15 years. After experiencing a sudden & terminal hardware death recently, I purchased a Palm Tungsten E. So far I'm impressed with it's small size, ability to seamlessly integrate with Outlook, excellent screen, the availability of applications - many freeware - and the fact that it only cost about 200 Euro.

Not so impressive is the stability of the OS - I'm in experiment mode at the moment installing new apps, etc and it dies about once a day. This is because the applications are not firewalled and they can take the whole system out if they have any problem.

Like somebody else mentioned above, my ideal replacement was a PDA/Phone, but I didn't want a "House Brick" like the Nokia 9200 and I certainly didn't want the nasty camera that comes with all other PDA/Phone combos! [RANT ON] I mean why would anybody want a camera on a phone - to take black JPGs? That's all you get with a cheap camera that has no flash. So we get extra bulk, increased cost and reduced battery life. To paraphrase Bono - camerahone = fish:bicycle. The networks want these here because they think people will be stupid enough to use them and therefore spend lots of money transmitting the resulting mess to their friends. [RANT OFF] Of those PDA/Phones that are out there at the moment I would not consider the Treo 600 because the screen resolution is poor (at 160 X 160) and it doesn't have bluetooth. I'd probably go for the Sony/Ericsson P900 - check it out at P900 Page But really I just want either of these with NO Camera – and a better screen resolution in the case of the Palm.

And what PDA did I use for the last 15 years? Psions of course. Not really known in the USA but very popular in Europe. My (recently deceased) 5MX had a bulletproof OS (It would, maybe, crash once a year to the Palm's once a day - and then ***never*** due to a misbehaving app). And there was lots of impressive applications available. I think Psion discovered that to survive in the PDA market you needed to think BIG. Palm, knowing all about this have produced about 20 - 30 million PDAs to date.

The Palms OS may be unstable, but once my application selection project has matured that will not be an issue. Somewhere in the back of my mind I'll be upset that I chose a device with a dumbed down OS ([RANT ON] I mean, you can't even have a directory, so you end up working in document centric rather then activity centric mode, and don't get me talking about the lack of zoomable displays, multitasking, macros, process schedulers, etc, etc [RANT OFF]) but I'm sure if I treat it as a tool rather than a religion, I'll be very happy.

Maybe I just don't want to grow up?

Thanks to everyone for their opinion and short reviews, excellent comments sofar! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbsup.gif Nevetheless I would love to hear one or the other Windows CE user with his/her comment on why they chose their PDA. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/icon3.gif