Pocket PC 2003 and XScale

[rcase13]

Does any one know if Pocket PC will have better support for the XScale processor? Most of the reviews I have read of Pocket PC 2002 say that it does not take full advantage of the new XScale processor.

Rodney
Anxiously awaiting my new Axim!!!

[cageyjames]

Its more complex than just Pocket PC 2002 not supporting XScale. I don't think Pocket PC 2003 will "fix" anything with the XScale.

[Rob Borek]

You can ask that question if and when it comes out.

Here's a little ditty that explains it:

Those that talk don't know. Those that don't talk know.

So, take anything you hear with a grain of salt.

[NMkiD]

The truth is that I think there are hardware limitations that we are constrained by, BUS issues and what not, however only time will tell.

[commoved]

Not to be overly negative, but to my knowledge, Dell has not announced plans to support the next OS on the Ax. I suppose they will, but that's hardly a guarantee.

[cageyjames]

No its not negative, its the truth. I wouldn't bank on being able to have Pocket PC 2003 at all. As Rob said, no one know what it will be at all, and Dell will have to evaluate it and decide if its worth putting out an "upgrade" disk.

[Swordsman74]

I always thought that because they deliberately gave the 400mhz extra ROM, that was a very good sign that they would indeed provide an upgrade. Dell isn't the type of company to add extra space to the unit and make it a selling point if they didn't plan on utilizing it. They would cut their costs and only provide 32mb for both models, and then keep the price of the units the same as they are now so their profits are higher....right?

[cageyjames]

The problem is that other than those a Microsoft (and HP I assume) who are working on PPC 2003, no one knows what the hardware/software requirements would be. I wouldn't look at the specs and assume anything. With computers that is the worst thing to do. Just sit back, load up a few MP3s/Divx movies and enjoy the present.

[hesse]

Check out this thread...

http://www.aximsite.com/boards/showt...ighlight=hesse

[Rob Borek]

Originally posted by hesse
Check out this thread...

http://www.aximsite.com/boards/showt...ighlight=hesse

That thread contains a whole lot of speculation, and not much substance. It looks like the author is looking at CE .NET 4.2 and making assumptions on the future of the Pocket PC - which isn't necessarily true.

Reading between the lines will get you nothing but incorrect assumptions - and then people will be yelling at Microsoft based on these assumptions (ie "you said..." even though Microsoft never did). Be patient, and you'll know when everyone else does.

[rcase13]

I realize that it's a

whole lot of speculation

but there has to be a reason why Dell put more ROM in the 400Mhz model.

The StrataFlash ROM is an Intel product that is still fairly new and not cheap compared to other types of flash memory. The unit is priced pretty competitively, so I would think profit margin would have to be pretty tight.

Man has nothing if we can't dream and speculate!

Rodney

[Rob Borek]

Originally posted by rcase13
I realize that it's a but there has to be a reason why Dell put more ROM in the 400Mhz model.

The StrataFlash ROM is an Intel product that is still fairly new and not cheap compared to other types of flash memory. The unit is priced pretty competitively, so I would think profit margin would have to be pretty tight.

Man has nothing if we can't dream and speculate!

Rodney

The current ROM image is around 24MB. That means they'd have to add more than 8MB on to the current ROM image - that's a whole lotta code bloat, seeing it's 1/4 of the current image!

(the image size went up in Pocket PC 2002 because they added a ton of new programs that should have been on the Pocket PC 2000 OS, like MSN Messenger and a Terminal Services client, and a dictionary for Word).