Boy, did I cut and run. I had forgotten to follow on my “Last PDA I’ll Buy” post, after leaving that troll of a message, that WinMobile and PalmOS are essentially the same. I wish I could say that I’ve been eagerly absorbing the responses, and have been compiling the words of the OS fanboys to hang them with, but nope, I just flat out forgot. I even ignored reading the Writing On Your Palm mailing list! Mea culpa indeed.
But looking at the responses of the WOYPers, I would say that my point is proven. Most of the responses arguing in favor of one platform derive from hardware or software choices. VGA screen, price, WiFi/BlueTooth connectivity, HotSync/ActiveSync issues, and software were part of the response mix. Another over-riding reason for prefering one over the other is personal preference. The way someone likes Apple products over Microsoft offerings. The fact that the arguments devolve into feel indicates that both platforms have moved to a point of sophistication that only afficionados can truly bother identifying the differences. Before presenting my arguments, I’ll declare my assumptions and biases first.
I hope I communicated my reasons for why I think the Zod is the last PDA I’ll buy (I should also say that’s barring any hardware failures. I just don’t think I’ll “upgrade”). The reasons stem from one of fitting the hardware into my life, rather than conforming to the machine. I start with usage: I need a machine to take and organize notes; I need a writing package; I need to read both MobiReader and eReader formatted books; I need to easily dump and sync web content to the device; I need an appointment book; I need a listing organizer/outliner; I need a database. Next set of needs: half-VGA or VGA screen; memory expansion slots; low price; keyboard compatibility.
No one can argue too much with the software needs; while everyone has his own needs, I think it can be said that for my needs, both WinMobile and PalmOS devices satisfy them. And you know what? What I’ve outlined probably encompasses 95% of the possible uses for these machines (and I know I’ve left off video and music, but both platforms also have solutions for these). There could be more specialized uses, such as network management and software development, and here, I’m not entirely sure which platform has more tools. But this isn’t necessarily the fault of the OS.
The hardware choices are clearly not limited by OS either; Sony and Toshiba manufactured hardware that were unsupported by their OSes at the time (basically one had half-VGA and the other VGA screen.) And here, the preference for hardware is personal, and it is the manufacturers fault for not including the mix that users desire.
My bias then has shifted from, “Wow, isn’t this neat I can do it?” (the PocketpcThoughts.com motto - “Why? Because I can!”, which I truly appreciate since I’m a total gearhead) to how am I using it? What do I need, and which machine best fits me? If one extends this line of thinking, then one comes to the conclusion that no machine out there ever really fits the one’s ideal. One must make do, and currently, for what I want to do, the screen resolution takes precedence. I’ve said that for the price (which is an important factor for me), the half-VGA screen of the Zodiac 1 can’t be beat.
One may wonder about the attendant costs in my jumping from WinMobile (I had an iPaq 2210 before the Zod), but I’ve switched enough between software solutions =within= WinMobile that the jump to PalmOS didn’t really trip me. And that’s where my thinking is at the moment, since going from one platform to the other didn’t flummox me as much as I thought.
I’ve ignored the one area where there remains an actual difference: the file system. I’ll make this point again: when the file system is the only you can point to that’s different about the two platforms, then I would say that for the most part, both PalmOS and WinMobile are interchangeable. Now, I am sure I’ll hear from astute tech heads that because of the file system, limits are set on the types of programs and interactions available with a desktop. I’ll grant you this. However, it gets back to how one uses the software. For instance, I’ve had a TMobile GPRS data plan, a BT enabled phone, and the iPaq 2210. Mobile net heaven. Except that =I= didn’t really use it. It took too long to load web pages (I =hate= WAP or mobile device altered pages - I want to whole shebang, not just a summary or blurb.) It took too long to check e-mail. About the only useful thing it did for me was to update the weather on JournalBar. What I found I liked doing was to use IsiloX as a web-clipping service. I liked having, essentially, instant access to the things I want to see and hear (and, if you actually slogged through my posts on why I don’t care too much for serials, I want =all= the things I can see and hear at my disposal.) This meant that I wanted everything in one place. So, on my iPaq 2210, I had all my books with me (on a 1gb CF card), I had my 40gb iPod with me, and I didn’t care about watching videos. I couldn’t be bothered managing the music at my disposal on the 2210, nor could I bother with converting movies and shows into DivX or Kinoma or whatever. I could, however, keep everything I write or read with me.
Just because I can, doesn’t mean I will.
And once I got past that last hurdle, it didn’t matter to me whether things worked through conduits or direct desktop-to-palmtop transfers. So it wasn’t any big deal to me that I needed to HotSync to copy stuff from the desktop to the palmtop; anyway, there are workarounds in place. And lest anyone complain about added costs for functionality that should already be provided, I’ll point out CardImportII for PalmOS, anything other than PocketWord for PPC, an actual PIM for PPC, and an actual launcher for PalmOS. For the most part, PalmOS software can use some sort of virtual file system; PPC can do it out of the box, and more consistently, of course. I know you are entitled to staking the whole one’s-better-than-the-other argument on this point, but I think you would be blowing the wrong point out of proportion.
I think if one actually does a fair amount of PDA management through syncing (whether it be syncing an inbox, or offline web content, or journal, or databases), these processes need to be transparent. As I used my iPaq or Zod, there just wasn’t any difference between the two. And from what Jeff is saying, he can surf the web just fine with the Zod as I did with the iPaq. So at least some of the wireless access issue is addressed.
But it’s time people thought a little clearer about the choices they make, and how much of it is driven by personal feel. I have said that my two points were pixel resolution and price. The $300, half-VGA Zod1 is a great fit. However, I had some speed issues with my iPaqs.
There were a lot of slowdowns. I’ve tried doing clean rebuilds, soft-reseting often, removing extraneous programs, moving almost everything to mem card (to increase program memory), and you know what? I left the machine in a cradle, turned off, all day long. When I went to use it, the thing was slow. PocketInformant 4.8 startup, for instance, took seconds, and this program was in RAM. There was a low program memory note: it tells me that ActiveSync needs to be shut down. Huh? I have the machine in a cradle, but it was only connected to A/C. But clicking on shutting down this program doesn’t shut it down. A few futile taps, and I find myself soft-reseting a machine that wasn’t in use all day. Go figure. I am actually avoiding blaming WinMobile; I probably installed something with a memory leak. Perhaps it’s the machine itself. A friend tells me that his Dell Axim X3 was snappy and responsive. Perhaps this next generation of hardware, as well as the subsequent Xx0 series of Dells, are better suited to run WinMobile. I don’t know. But certainly, hardware dictates to some extent the responsiveness that all PDA users desire. At any rate, these slow downs (a few seconds here and a few seconds there) led to a slow start in note jotting. Of course, the Zod has its own problems; no Fitaly, for instance. Oh well. I just don’t see anything platform dependent that will move me to buy another PalmOS or WinMobile device. Hardware will be the biggest factor (screen, expansion, price.) Since hardware advantages go to WinMobile machines for now, but the prices are too high. So that’s why I don’t see me upgrading.
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