Pocket PC

Pocket PC with Wikipedia.

Pocket PC is a pocket computer, also called a PDA (Personal Digital Assistant). It is a small computer, designed to occupy the minimum space and be easily transportable, which runs Microsoft's Windows CE or Windows Mobile operating system, among others, which provides similar capabilities to desktop PCs.

Microsoft brought the line to market in 1998, deciding to name it Palm PC. Due to a lawsuit by Palm, the name was changed to Pocket PC.

Features

According to Microsoft, the Pocket PC is "a handheld device that allows you to record, send and receive e-mails, contacts, appointments, display multimedia files, play games, exchange text messages with MSN Messenger, surf the web and more".

From a technical point of view, Pocket PC is a Microsoft standard that imposes various requirements on mobile device hardware and software to carry the Pocket PC label.

Any device that is classified as a Pocket PC must:

• Run the Microsoft Windows CE or Windows Mobile operating system (Pocket PC version)
• Have a set of ROM applications
• Include a touch sensitive screen
• Include a pointer device called stylus or stylus
• Include a set of hardware buttons to activate applications
• Being based on a StrongARM compatible processor (the oldest Pocket PC have a MIPS or SH3) processor

Some of the applications that come with these devices are mini versions of Microsoft Outlook, Internet Explorer, Word, Excel, Windows Media Player, etc.

Manufacturers

Currently, there are few manufacturers, and the vast majority are concentrated in the Asian continent. Among them, the most important and that recently became a distributor is HTC, former supplier of HP, Acer or Fujitsu among others. Other manufacturers of Pocket PC devices are Quanta, Foxconn, Inventec, Asus or Compal, all of them concentrated in Taiwan, and also dedicated to the manufacture of other electronic equipment, such as laptops or GPS devices.

Distributors, however, there are many more, among which we find HP, Fujitsu Siemens, Garmin, Acer, Casio and a long etcetera, who entrust the aforementioned manufacturers with the design of their equipment and only put their brand on them and are in charge of distributing them and providing technical support.

Versions

• Microsoft Windows CE 1.0
• Microsoft Windows CE 2.0
• Microsoft Windows CE 2.01
• Microsoft Windows CE 2.02
• Microsoft Windows CE 2.1
• Microsoft Windows CE 2.11
• Microsoft Windows CE 2.12
• Microsoft Windows CE 2.11 H/PC PRO
• Microsoft Windows CE 3.0 H/PC 2000
• Microsoft Pocket PC 2000 (WinCE 3.0)
• Microsoft Pocket PC 2002 (WinCE 3.1)
• Microsoft Windows Mobile 2003 for Pocket PC (WinCE 4.2)
• Microsoft Windows Mobile 2003 Second Edition (WinCE 4.21)
• Microsoft Windows Mobile 2005 (WinCE 5.0)
• Microsoft Windows Mobile 5
• Microsoft Windows Mobile 6
• Microsoft Windows Mobile 6.1
• Microsoft Windows Mobile 6.5
• Microsoft Windows Mobile 7.0

Applications

Like other computers, Pocket PCs or PPCs are general computers, however, applications have been specially adapted to their characteristics, such as barcode readers or GPS receivers for fleet control.

Application programming can be done using various languages, and usually from a desktop computer, among which C Sharp, Visual Basic and Lexico are good examples. The third has the particularity of using codes in Spanish that make it very readable for Spanish-speaking people.

The main difference to take into account in programming is that due to the limitations of the machine, the.NET platform used is smaller and has fewer options in its polymorphism.