I have always used Palm PDAs, but now I’d like to try a PocketPC instead. I’d especially like to experiment with development, because I like the challenge of programming a more constrained platform than a PC.
So I’m thinking of getting a second hand PocketPC on eBay. What is your advice? What brands should I look for, or avoid? Most importantly, what minimum specs should I look for, and how much should I budget to get something not too obsolete?
I know that some mobile phones also have WinCE or Windows Mobile OS on board, so maybe it could be a good idea to include those as well - but not exclusively, I am looking for something cheap, so the latest whiz-bang mobile is out of my budget.
If you’re into programming, then you need to get a Windows Mobile 6.0 device. It’s the development platform. There are a lot of developer sites out there including this one: http://www.xda-developers.com/
Not sure what is available in the US. I’ve use(d) several i-Mate devices. Samsung has a new WM6 pda device out that seems pretty cool. Again you need a WM6 device
You need to figure out if you want a physical keyboard or just a virtual (I like just the virtual myself).
It sounds quite recent, is it considered some kind of minimum requirement today?
Allow me to explain with an example. When I was programming on Palm OS devices, 5.something had been out for a year, but the “common ground”, so to speak, the minimum expected platform, was Palm OS 3.5 if you were using colour and 3.0 if you were using B&W. You could stick to version 5.x but lose all the vast market out there of older devices, or go for old and primitive 1.0 and include the very first Palm Pilots, but limiting yourself in functionality. Choosing 3.5 was considered a good compromise, and even today if you go on PalmGear, tons of programs require Palm OS 3.5, even if you can’t buy any PDAs with that particular OS revision now.
Or consider Windows: if you keep compatible with Windows 98 you can reach a large portion of the market and still have the benefits of USB drivers and so on, while still being compatible with XP and Vista. If you stick to Vista you lose all this. On the other side, sticking to, say, Win 3.0 is just silly, you constrain yourself too much.
So what I’m looking for is something second hand (not new, it’s out of my budget) that has a combination of OS and specs that makes it a reasonable minimum, so that I can develop for it, reaching both the modern devices and the majority of the market.
Nope, you need a WM6 device. It’s basically the same as WM5 but with programming tools. WM3 kinda sucked and the upgrade difference to WM5 as a mere standard user was quite dramatic in terms of stability and functionality.
As I understand it, if it runs on WM6 it will also run on WM5. And I’m pretty sure it will run on WM3 as well. At least, I know for sure a lot of my WM3 programs run on WM5.
Now that I reread what you wrote, here’s what you need. You need a used WM5 device, then go to xda-developer site and find and figure out how to download the WM6 hack. then upgrade to WM6. The device hardware specs are the same in terms of proc.
I tried this about 2 months ago with a Russian hacked version. It reflashed but there were issues, so I reflashed back to a WM5 version. BTW, reflashing is pretty easy and takes about 20 minutes.
WM3 devices can not be upgraded because HTC never made the compatible version, thus forcing users to upgrade.
I’m going to be buying an 8525 sometime next month. It’s got everything I want, and it’s a phone as well. It’s pretty cheap, too- I’ve seen deals on Amazon for $160 (with two-year AT&T contract, of course). It ships with WM5, but it can easily be upgraded to WM6.
As far as I know there has been no “official” WM6 release for the HTC line, but it is said to be coming soon. There are several unoffical WM6 Roms running around that work really well though.
A-1 Wireless is currently selling the 8525 with a contract for about 70 bucks through Amazon, and they ship about a week and a half faster as well when compared to Amazon.
Also, Lightnin’, why not wait for the upcoming Kaiser? Is it purely a budget or time constraint?