OSs for your hand

Jason’s post about the Q has brought up some conversations about the Palm vs. Windows Mobile and I thought I should write up a comparison.

For someone who has worked with a lot of PDAs and smart phones recently; the current Palm OS, even though outdated, is much better then the Pocket PC OS. But with the recent arrival of the Windows Mobile OS and the questionable demise of the Palm OS things could change.
The main reason I like the Palm OS is that it is simple, similar to OS X-p, the average person could use it and not worry have to worry about, like Nathan said, the horrible UI of the windows system.

Palm OS pros:
More apps. Funny since Jared said it’s hard to write for, and it can’t be entirely related to the much earlier release of the Palm OS.
Better devices/smart phones. The Pocket PC was not meant to be a smart phone and until WM comes out on the new Treo and the Q it still won’t be an acceptable device to me because PDAs are useless if you have to carry a phone as well to connect to the internet wherever you are. I know you can use bluetooth to connect the two but really, what a nuisance, I did it before and my UX50 was just a paperweight after a week.
Documents to go rocks, supposedly better then the integration that PPC ever had with Office.

Palm OS cons:
OS stagnation until Access starts up the development of a linux based version or gets cobalt’s development back up.

Windows Mobile Pros:
Multitasking. More then one application open at a time is awesome but having to go the the memory manager to shut the apps down completely is bad.
Better Exchange compatibility.

Windows mobile cons:
Expensive. Only smart phones could make the prices reasonable since the carrier will absorb some costs.

So even though I really love the Palm OS I hear a lot of good things about the WM OS and the Q and new Treo looks awesome.

I also want to speculate that Microsoft will soon dominate the mobile OS market and then soon after stall all innovation; similar to what they have done with Windows, come out with a great product that everyone can use then rule with an iron fist riding there coat tails until another OS comes along to push them a long just a little bit. Hopefully this other OS would be Palm and Access will develop the so anticipated cobalt OS.

Blog

September 27

Comments

 

About the Author, Dan Cameron:

I'm the owner and solution engineer at Sprout Venture, a web solutions company that specializes in web development including WordPress.

I started my first blog in 2003 and transitioned to WordPress in 2004. Since moving to WordPress I've written a few plugins and themes for public consumption. Lately I'm busy engineering/building/coding and have only been able to share a few code snippets.

If you're in need of some web development, web design or custom WordPress plugins and/or themes contact me, I'll be happy to discuss it with you.

Read More »

  • But if the IT guy is going to set up the Exchange sync, why not also have him set up the close-on-X as well as the Bluetooth pairing, and anything else that is initially complicated but once it's set up is a piece of cake? The IT guy could also set it the OS to run by default in the view that is exactly like the Palm OS, so there you go.

    As for POP or IMAP, I agree that it's "easy", but you said yourself that *anything* that doesn't come ready to go out of the box is not "intuitive" enough for the average user; if they have to look up how to set their email settings (not only what the settings should be, but how to change them to begin with), then I would say that they can look up anything else they need as well.

    I'll have to post on encryption when I get a chance. If there weren't so many "average users" out there, and everyone understood how to use PGP, then all of my emails would be encrypted for the reason I stated above.
  • Dan
    There is no configuration necessary to browse the web on a Smartphone and if you use gmail or any other web based email provider then there is no configuration for email either.

    Bluetooth pairing is extremely complicated and instructions on how to pair two specific devices are rare, where as finding how to put pop settings into an email client is found at every email provider. Exchange: is easier to setup then pop or imap, especially since most companies who use exchange will have an IT guy setup the device anyways.

    Martha: You are right...compared to your razr. But we started the conversation on the OS, not the devices or the hot key buttons on the devices like Jared brought up to cover up the crappy UI of the PPC.

    Encryption: maybe you should post on this because I really don't care about that much encryption...because I don't have to, nor am I paranoid.
  • more flexible setup that allows me to do more stuff (faster and on a better screen, etc.) then I could with a single device.
  • nstryker
    hahaha, martha's point was better than all jared's!
  • Martha
    And Treo's are ugly.
  • Dan
    1: yes it does. Because the average person can't learn new tricks.

    2: No you have to buy a sd wifi card but it's still WAY easier, even with a hack, then figuring out the pairing of the two devices through bluetooth to share the data connection from your cell phone.

    What are you doing that you need to have everything encrypted? It seems that you not only overestimate the average person but those so called hackers out there and how many there actually are.

    So I guess we differ.

    I like one phone that does everything, is relatively small, and intuitive so if i want to dumb down.

    You like a complicated setup with more then one device and each device being larger then my one device. With multiple internet connection options that might take you longer to setup then just using an all in one device.

    I'm glad we got this straightened out.
  • Did I mention that the term "wifi" really bugs me?
  • way faster access in some places.

    On the subject of proxies, I wasn't saying it's for everyone, just for people who want their traffic encrypted. BTW, a proxy (on its own) does nothing to encrypt the traffic, so if you want it to be encrypted you still will have to tunnel it. I do use a proxy server, I just use it through an encrypted tunnel; the purposes are totally different. Of course, there are proxies that provide encryption as well, but I personally prefer the SSH approach.

    Is Tythyl on tonight, or are we postponing?
  • Dan
    LOL (Laugh out Loud).
  • Lippert
    No body was borrowing treos at Naci...
  • Dan
    Paragraph 1: I knew that but is that intuitive enough for the average person to know.

    Paragraph 2: The Palm or at least the Treo does play music and run other apps at the same time. The Treo does do Wifi with a hack and I rather have internet everywhere rather then just a hotspot (you called it WiFi) at starbucks. Who f'ing tunnels there traffic like you? Get a proxy.

    Non-intuitive = Complicated and Complicated devices = Suck
    I rest my case.
  • Dan
    We can, it was supposed to be tonight but we can postpone it until next Thursday.
  • nstryker
    We shoulda been smart enough to tythyl this...
  • can use the start menu as well, but you don't have to. You can add as many shortcuts as you want to the main screen, or you can even easily set it to use an interface ("Home" view) that is pretty much exactly like the Palm that you guys seem to like (with all program icons available from the main screen). So I guess maybe my suspicion that you guys haven't used PocketPCs enough to evaluate them is probably correct.

    As for multitasking, I use it on a regular basis. Besides listening to music while doing something else; if I am using a "wifi hotspot" to access the internet [not to rub in the fact that the treo can't :) ], I don't want to check my email or surf the web "in the clear", so I will SSH into my server and then tunnel all my other traffic through that. This is one of the *many* advantages of multitasking.

    Regarding separating myself from evaluating products, I made it clear above that I do think the issue of not closing the apps when you click the X is a design flaw. I also made it clear that it may be a problem for normal users, but I also said that I'm speaking from my own point of view in relation to using a PDA. Since the close-on-X thing is a *complete* non-issue for me (since it is easily changed to close-on-X if that's what you want), I was just saying that it isn't a drawback for me.

    I think it's perfectly valid for different people to evaluate products for their own personal use based on different criteria. I'm not going to consider things that don't matter to me when I'm buying a PDA for myself, that would be ridiculous. I already said above that if I was evaluating it for someone else, it would be a different story.

    If I were to dismiss things for my own use that aren't brain-dead easy to use, just on the principle of supporting intuitiveness, then I guess I would have to give up using Linux / BSD operating systems, which would of course be ridiculous, since they provide many things that other "closed" OSs do not and never will. There are a lot of things that may be more complicated than the alternatives, but that doesn't make them bad. (Not that I'm saying that the Pocket PC is more complicated... but you get my point).
  • Dan
    Jared:
    Yeah.
    The file system: Having to find a document or app is not intuitive. On the palm it auto finds everything. Then you have a program that spreads out on the system as well, uninstalling is a bear if done incorrectly.
    Programs: Why do you have to find them? The point of a PDA is to run apps, so why aren't the shortcuts on the main screen? The main screen has a few then the start dropdown has some more then you have to go to another screen to get the complete list.
    Navigation: pretty much said it above. So much in so many places.

    Separate yourself a little bit from evaluating products. Just because you get it doesn't mean its right.

    Nathan: Yeah, and if you were to multitask that much who wants to worry about multiple programs open at the same time.
  • nstryker
    on.
  • nstryker
    "start"
  • "non-intuitive" to not be able to have your computer manage more than one app open at a time.

    As for internet connectivity, there is a broad range of uses for PDAs that don't involve an internet connection. As a matter of fact, PDAs have been around long before they developed internet connectivity for them. I'd say easily more than half the stuff I use my PDA for does not require internet access. Of course, I think it's a great feature (and one that my PPC does *way* better than the treo by the way), it's certainly not the only thing that makes it more than a simple day planner.

    As for the opinion issue that Nathan mentioned, I'm not saying that everything has to be logically validated, only that there are many factors that go into how any given user perceives something, and sometimes (as in this case) there are not clear cut advantages that the majority of the public would recognize. That's not to say that the majority doesn't favor the PalmOS design over PocketPC - they very well may; I just don't see how since they are so similar.

    Ya, I guess I do occasionally overestimate the sophistication of the average user, but I still think in this case they are both equally easy to use. I maintain that the general use features (especially the simple day planner type functions plus email and web browsing) are equally brain-dead simple on both platforms; in fact the PocketPC probably has the edge in the web browsing and email departments, because the interface is much more similar to what they already have on their desktops.

    In any event, usability for the "average" user was only a small part of my comments above. When I'm evaluating a PDA for my own personal use, this factor doesn't even come into the equation, so I personally don't put any value in it in that case. If I were responsible for buying (and supporting) them for other people, then I would take other things into consideration, but my opinions above are primarily based on the perspective of those of us reading this blog, who are all more than capable of understanding how to operate any PDA that's on the market.
  • Dan
    The PocketPC UI does suck and is not just opinion because I have proof. 80% of the 100 physicians I regularly work with have PDA's and it's roughly split down the middle as to what devices OS they use. With that said, I rarely see Palms being a problem. And I continually see myself helping those poor soles that bought a PPC. User error rarely happens with a Palm OS and if it does then it is easy for the user to change the problem. With the PPC nothing is instinctive, to the average person.

    UI isn't just layout but intuition. If finding/completing what you want to do with the OS isn't instinctive then it has a horrible UI. For example, a lot of people don't know how to actually completely close a program on a PPC, rather they just reset it when it gets slow. You say there are programs to help but something so integral should be built in.

    PDAs are useless if they cannot connect to the internet; otherwise they are pocket planners and you might as well get a mole skin book.

    Oh, and you perception of the "average" person is too generous.
  • nstryker
    "the ui sucks" may be strictly opinion, but it's still important. not all aspects of a decision making process need to be logically validated, just as not all aspects of life follow a logical pattern. the factors which cannot be quantified are still important factors to consider. of course, dan and i are much more qualified to judge what is/will be popular subjective opinion because jared doesn't like in-n-out.
blog comments powered by Disqus