Microsoft has four key 'visions' for Pocket PC 2003 (PPC 2003): make it easier for manufacturers to innovate, improve the 'wireless experience', bring easy instant messaging to the PDA, and expand the 'media experience'.
As you can see from our first meeting with a PPC 2003 device, the iPAQ H5550 (page 52), not all of these visions will be met instantly.
The first thing to look forward to is new hardware designs. PPC 2003 makes it possible for screen sizes to drop down to a 2.8in diagonal, meaning that Pocket PCs will get smaller. We can also expect pendants, such as remote controls for Windows Media Player, while the addition of a USB host makes it easier for manufacturers to bring USB peripherals into the fray.
With built-in support for low-cost NAND memory, we can also hope for aggressively priced PPC 2003 devices - possibly as low as $150 in the US, which could result in devices around the $400 mark in Australia. Initially, the only PPC 2003 devices in Australia will be revisions - the likes of Dell and Toshiba will simply update the ROM on the Axim X5 and e750 respectively.
But things are much more exciting in the US. JVC and Panasonic are both producing new Pocket PC devices, Samsung will be updating its i700 (with an integrated digital camera) and Hitachi is introducing a keyboard-based PDA. This takes advantage of Microsoft's keyboard-friendly initiatives, making it possible to send an email, for example, without reaching for the stylus.
We can also expect more future devices to include WLAN and Bluetooth. In Bluetooth's case, this is because PPC 2003 now includes the same Bluetooth stack as Windows XP SP 1 - this should make Bluetooth add-ons cheaper and improve compatibility. For the moment, Microsoft is concentrating on device-to-device and dial-up networking profiles, but manufacturers can add more with their machines, as HP has done.
PPC 2003 also extends the WLAN zero-configuration idea, as introduced in Windows XP, to the Pocket PC. This means that a suitably equipped PPC 2003 device will automatically detect a new network and link up seamlessly - at least in theory.
PPC 2003 now has a Wizard-based approach, which won't please everyone. Although the 'power' settings are still there, they're hidden away, so many existing guides will refer people to a button that's no longer there. Still, the Message dialog buttons have been beefed up, allowing you to click directly to the appropriate settings.
Corporate users should also appreciate a new IPSec VPN client, support for multiple VPNs and integrated 802.1x support. And everyone will benefit from the enhanced version of IE, with support for cascading style sheets, XHTML, HTML 4 and IPv6. If you intend to link up a GPRS mobile phone (or wait for devices with the Phone Edition, like O2's xda), you can also take advantage of always-on instant messaging. So even if your device is 'off', the message will get through.
The final part of Microsoft's 'vision' is for enhanced media, and there are two extra apps to back up the hype. First, there's Media Player 9. This isn't radically different to version 8, but there's support for Photo Story, as supplied by the XP Plus! Digital pack. This allows you to take digital photos, add a track and combine them to create a photo story.
There's also a Picture app, which provides basic editing abilities - principally crop, brightness, contrast - and makes it easy to set an image as a background or beam it to someone. However, I suspect more people will use the new game: Jawbreaker. This is in the same vein as Minesweeper, but the idea is that you 'pop' as many balls of the same colour as possible at the same time. Simple but addictive.
Small change
One nice touch, albeit overdue, is that programs (including third-party apps) like ActiveSync and Media Player can now be run with the screen switched off. Similarly overdue is the improvement to infrared - you don't need to set it to receive, it just works.
There are minor changes to the PIM too, with improved time-zone handling, automatic suggestion of names when writing email (like the desktop version of Outlook) and optimised name searches.
Microsoft claims this version of PPC is faster and more efficient than ever. It has been optimised for ARM4 chips (which include Intel's XScale CPUs), but our first experience doesn't bear this out. However, this was early code, so we remain optimistic.
The code underneath is WinCE .NET 4.02, which inevitably means that some programs won't run - Microsoft estimates the percentage of programs that do run to be 'in the high 90s'. If you're a developer, though, you'll appreciate the new APIs, new tools and new SDK.
Conclusion
There are some things missing we would have liked, mainly to do with ease of use. For example, to set a Calendar appointment, you still need to tap New and select the right time rather than just tap on the time in the Day view. Plus, there continues to be a lack of detail in the Week view, and it's still impossible to change the business hours.
Admittedly, these are minor, frustrations and it isn't as if Palm OS 5 doesn't have faults.
As with any PDA OS, PPC 2003's success can only be judged by the devices that follow. With the flood of already-announced machines in the US, I've no doubt it will mount a serious challenge to Palm OS over there, especially if prices drop as low as Microsoft suggests. But while Palm and Sony keep on producing innovative devices and releasing them here simultaneously, by the time PPC 2003 devices start arriving in force it will probably be time for Pocket PC 2004.