Casio BE-300

[Warren]

What do you people think about the new Casio BE-300? I like it. It's 166Mhz MIPS, CF slot (although I've heard that the MMC may override the CF cards into obsoletion in the near future), I don't know about the memory space but I estimate 32Mb, I heard somewhere that the battery supposed to last a real long time, but the bad thing is it has half the colors of the EM-500 or E-125, only a very low pitiful 32,000 colors (just tryin' to make fun of the iPAQ people ). I like the design of it though, and a price tag of below $300 bucks, it's quite good, but I'll stick with my EM-500, I'm not planning to get a new PPC within the next 2-3 years.

[jongjungbu]

Doesn't it use its own custom GUI and Apps integrated over the original Windows CE 3.0 license rather than the Pocket PC OS package?<br><br>Last modification: JongJungBu - 07/10/01 at 11:03:42

[Paul]

its absolutely disgusting. even the name is stupid. all hail E-750!!<br><br>BE-300 stinks.

[Moose or Chuck]

its crap, and its gonna fail.

[Chris Edwards]

i doubt MMC will overtake CF. With the Microdrive, etc and the usage of CF in digital camera's, pda's, etc..<br><br>MMC may be superior to CF. But look at the floppy drive... it's stupid that manufacturers are still trying to support it and are not bringing in another type of media.

[Moose or Chuck]

It only has 16 MB of RAM and is not a PocketPC. It is a Personal Organizer, and doesn't run true WindowsCE 3.0. And it's only got 133MHz.<br>And the iPaq has 4,096 colors, not 32000 colors. The Casios have 64k colors.Last modification: Moose Master - 07/10/01 at 12:55:50

[RavenRay]

Bah,  I'll just keep waiting...

[Digby]

NEC just announced a new PDA that is also going to run Windows CE 3.0 instead of the Pocket PC package.  It will be based on the Intel StrongArm processor and have a color screen.  I didn't get any other details other than it will be available before the end of the year.<br><br>What I find interesting is that this is the second OEM that has decided to go with the Windows CE OS from Platform Builder instead of Pocket PC.  They also seem to have written their own shell and UI.  I wonder what it is that makes an OEM like Casio decide to go with the bare bones CE OS and roll-your-own UI vs. taking the Pocket PC package?  Do you think more OEMs will do this?  As long as it has GAPI I'm happy! (gee, that sounds like something for a t-shirt or bumpersticker)<br>

[Moose or Chuck]

The term PocketPC refers to a PDA running Windows CE 3.0, Digby. So you're entire post was meaningless blather.

[Moose or Chuck]

no it doesn't moose. They are going for Ce Powered device, like Dreamcast. Not Pocket PC. They are two different things, its like using Windows code, but completely rewriting the UI and other crap.

[Moose or Chuck]

The term PocketPC refers to any palm sized PDA running Windows CE 3.0, like I said.

[Digby]

Moose,<br><br>You might not know this, but Microsoft offers a product called Windows CE Platform Builder.  This product includes the core Windows CE 3.0 operating system, multimedia components, various drivers and source code, samples, SDKs, DDKs, etc. for something like 10 different CPUs.  The Microsoft Pocket PC team takes this product and then combines that with their custom shell and the other utilities specific to a PDA and provides this as a product to the OEMs such as Compaq, HP, etc.<br><br>Platform Builder can be used to build a custom OS for set top boxes, game consoles, telephone switches, gas pumps, ATMs, industrial controllers, and yes, even PDAs.<br><br>More info <br><br>

[Tom]

No Moose!  They are right.  You are wrong.  Pocket PC does NOT refer to any palm sized PDA running windows CE3.0<br><br>Windows CE3.0 is the base OS.  It has many modules that can be built into platforms for many devices.  Pocket PC uses a subset of the modules available for CE3.0 and adds its own GUI.  The handhelds use a different subset of CE3.0 modules and its own GUI.  Platform Developer can be used to create your own GUI built on top of CE3.0 using whatever modules you want to include depending on the architecture of your device.  thats what they did with the BE-300.<br><br>If you don't believe all of us then go look it up, but quit saying you're right... the foot is just going deeper into your mouth:)

[Dan East]

Yeah, if you've got 10k+ to spend you can buy Platform Builder and build your own OS. Hmm, maybe I should release a build of Windows CE whose sole purpose is to play Pocket Quake? <br><br>Dan East

[Paul]

theres an article on microsoft.com or pocketpc.com about the name thing. i think i remember it being interchangable or something but dont take my word for it