My 13 Year Old "iPAQ" (NOT an iPad)

[nicklmg]

 

Buy modern smartphones on Amazon: https://lmg.gg/8KV3M

[rcmaehl]

For some reason I want an original PalmPilot-esque device again. The modern phone/phablet just doesn't fill that Business feel anymore. 

[kelvinhall05]

2 minutes ago, rcmaehl said:

For some reason I want an original PalmPilot-esque device again. The modern phone/phablet just doesn't fill that Business feel anymore. 

I would rather just have a third popular phone OS.

[rcmaehl]

4 minutes ago, kelvinhall05 said:

I would rather just have a third popular phone OS.

Not possible

[GrockleTD]

I had a topic on a video suggestion, not sure who I would mention to have a staffmen take a peek at it

[kelvinhall05]

2 minutes ago, rcmaehl said:

Not possible

Why not? It may not succeed, but someone could totally make a new phone OS. What makes you say it's impossible?

[Zando_]

1 minute ago, kelvinhall05 said:

Why not? It may not succeed, but someone could totally make a new phone OS. What makes you say it's impossible?

If it didn't succeed, how would it be popular? Alt phone OSes have already been made, but iOS and Android have won out over all the other alternatives in the long run. 

[kelvinhall05]

Just now, Zando Bob said:

If it didn't succeed, how would it be popular? Alt phone OSes have already been made, but iOS and Android have won out over all the other alternatives in the long run. 

My point wasn't that it would be an instant success (or not), but rather that it is totally possible for someone to make a third phone OS, and it's totally possible for it to become widely adopted.

 

I feel like this is a more realistic idea than the return of the PDA or whatever since that would require not only a new OS but also new hardware.

[Zando_]

Just now, kelvinhall05 said:

My point wasn't that it would be an instant success (or not), but rather that it is totally possible for someone to make a third phone OS, and it's totally possible for it to become widely adopted.

 

I feel like this is a more realistic idea than the return of the PDA or whatever since that would require not only a new OS but also new hardware.

You said you'd like to see a third popular phone OS, rc replied "not possible", and you haven't provided any reason that he was wrong. Multiple alt OSes have already been made, none of them succeeded. Don't really see how it'd be possible for a new phone OS to rise tbh, devs already have to pick between supporting iOS or Android or coughing up the cash for dev teams for both, they'd have no interest in supporting a 3rd OS. It would have to somehow get big enough for them to care without any good apps made for it in the first place. Similar to the place Linux is in, not many people use it because companies don't develop for it, and companies don't develop for it because everyone is using Windows or macOS already. 

Given that they have flip phones that run custom versions of android (IIRC), or basic operating systems of their own, a PDA-type device with a customized OS would be much easier to implement than making an OS popular enough to have everyone develop apps for it, without any good apps for it before then. Given the amount of niche devices companies like Samsung and such pump out, I assume they could easily sell devices like that to just the niche that wants them. 

At best both ideas are equally feasible, at worst a third popular OS is basically impossible given how the majority uses phones nowdays. 

[kelvinhall05]

Just now, Zando Bob said:

You said you'd like to see a third popular phone OS, rc replied "not possible", and you haven't provided any reason that he was wrong. Multiple alt OSes have already been made, none of them succeeded. Don't really see how it'd be possible for a new phone OS to rise tbh, devs already have to pick between supporting iOS or Android or coughing up the cash for dev teams for both, they'd have no interest in supporting a 3rd OS. It would have to somehow get big enough for them to care without any good apps made for it in the first place. Similar to the place Linux is in, not many people use it because companies don't develop for it, and companies don't develop for it because everyone is using Windows or macOS already. 

Given that they have flip phones that run custom versions of android (IIRC), or basic operating systems of their own, a PDA-type device with a customized OS would be much easier to implement than making an OS popular enough to have everyone develop apps for it, without any good apps for it before then. Given the amount of niche devices companies like Samsung and such pump out, I assume they could easily sell devices like that to just the niche that wants them. 

At best both ideas are equally feasible, at worst a third popular OS is basically impossible given how the majority uses phones nowdays. 

Yeah, but even if somehow a new OS was developed exclusively for PDA-like devices, I doubt someone would want to bring that and their phone with them. I would love to see a phone that can dual-boot between Android and some kind of "desktop" OS (it could have external monitor support or something, idk).

[Zando_]

1 minute ago, kelvinhall05 said:

 I would love to see a phone that can dual-boot between Android and some kind of "desktop" OS (it could have external monitor support or something, idk).

Pretty sure that's also already been done, not the dual boot part, but there are/were phones that dock and run android on the desktop like a chromebook or something. IIRC Ubuntu's mobile OS was going to have this functionality, I don't know if it ever got that far. 

 

3 minutes ago, kelvinhall05 said:

Yeah, but even if somehow a new OS was developed exclusively for PDA-like devices, I doubt someone would want to bring that and their phone with them. 

[rcmaehl]

Developers require users

Users require Developers

 

It's a horrible catch 22.

[Denned]

I work at a pretty big company, and it happens more often than it should. People drop by with old PDAs exactly like that, and want them set up with mail etc.

[dDave64]

At my work we had probably 100 or so PDAs like this and fully discontinued support back in 2013 or so. Still, several of them remain around the building. Stupidly, one of them is set up as the ONLY computer that can reprogram the door to the IT tech shop. This is still a thing and it’s the only one left that gets any use I am aware of. I want to strangle whoever made that decision.

[Luscious]

Yay for nostalgia. Mine was the H6315 iPaq circa 2003, also still in perfect working order with the keyboard attachment. I also had an Arkon powered car dock for charging and taking hands free phone calls with it as well.

 

BTW: I used mine for movie watching by compressing DVD's using the old Windows Media Encoder software to WMV format. It was a very delicate balance to get resolution, frame rate and quality "just right" for the processor in this to handle it but I was able to nail it after trial and error. The built in Windows Media player handled playback nicely. NOBODY at the time could watch full length movies on their handheld like I could

 

 

[maksakal]

Oh boy, who doesn't remember Windows Mobile? What a delight that was! Although iPaq's were overall much muuuuch better it still ran Windows Mobile and was slow, user UNfriendly, would crash all the time, battery time was really really bad and setting up anything was an almost impossible task. Try to setup any form of network connectivity, you had to go into atleast 3 different menu's.

Fun fact, HTC began as an OEM for WM devices. Most of their devices sucked balls so I really have no idea how they became so big back then.

[sydh]

Damn that is still surprisingly snappy compared to even modern phones and their commonly used task.

[ThePointblank]

Pfft, I had both a Toshiba Pocket PC e800, and later on, a Dell Axim x51 (after the Toshiba wasn't reliable, and was sent back twice with issues with the battery contacts). Both the Toshiba and the Dell got me through the bulk of university as my note taking machines in class, coupled with a IR foldable keyboard. I had a side carry pouch to carry it all. I believe I still have the Dell kicking around somewhere...

[Bitter]

I still remember my friends first smart phone running Windows CE, I was on a call with him when the call dropped. Eventually he called me back and explained that his phone had a BSOD. I'm still laughing almost 15 years later!

[Zodiark1593]

My old BlackBerry Pearl Flip shared a very similar XScale PXA 27x, albeit at 312 MHz instead. Mobile web browsing, if memory serves, was pretty painful even for the time.

[BakaPetra]

I had a HP model, I loved it. It came with a mobile vresion of if I can remember Windows XP.  I used it to take notes and play a ball popper game that the thing came with ( you were able to pop clusters of balls larger than 2, basically a stone age Candy crush )

[The Smokin Deist]

While new things are great, I still have a soft spot for working older tech.

[RoseLuck462]

Huh, I watched the vid and now my Amazon recommendations include one of these. The HP Ipaq 210.

[Commodus]

On 8/15/2019 at 2:42 PM, kelvinhall05 said:

My point wasn't that it would be an instant success (or not), but rather that it is totally possible for someone to make a third phone OS, and it's totally possible for it to become widely adopted.

 

I feel like this is a more realistic idea than the return of the PDA or whatever since that would require not only a new OS but also new hardware.

Popping in belatedly, but there's a simple reason why this isn't likely to happen: apps.

 

If devices on this platform are going to succeed, they must have virtually all major apps available on day one.  Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Spotify, Gmail... no exceptions.  The creator of this third major platform must be prepared to spend billions to guarantee these apps will be developed alongside their Android/iOS counterparts for however long it takes to ramp up the user base.  And of course, this is assuming the hardware is a hit, which it's not certain to be.

 

Heck, Microsoft even tried something like this.  It paid for Windows Phone/Mobile versions of major apps like Instagram and Vine that would otherwise never have existed.  But it didn't really seem to realize that it had to buy support for many more apps, and that there would likely still have needed to be rockstar phones for this to work.  So its strategy merely prolonged the death of Windows Phone/Mobile rather than creating a third viable platform.

 

Part of why there was a plurality of operating systems in the pre-iPhone era was that people didn't do nearly as much with their smartphones.  They surfed the web (badly), checked email, maybe played media on them (also badly) or ran the occasional specialized app.  You could switch platforms relatively easily because you could generally accomplish the same things whether you used Windows Mobile, BlackBerry OS, Palm OS or Symbian.  Today, you might feel hamstrung if you don't have access to dozens of apps.

[Catt0s]

since when is the start menu on the bottom right? 5:30