| Pocket
PC Hardware |
|
| True Pocket PC devices
are almost gone |
| In the last year or two there is less
and less true Pocket PC devices. At this time only HP is producing true
Pocket PC consumer devices and there are no devices with RS232 interface. This
means, that you can not connect iPAQ with your instrument. |
| There are more and more PDA phone
devices and navigation devices. They both run Windows CE, bit do not
have serial port. Some devices (all navigation devices) have built in
GPS and most PDA phones have Bluetooth. This should be enough for basic
navigation, but for advanced features you will still need serial
connection to receive extended NMEA sentences generated by glider
instruments. PDA phones also have smaller display. |
|
| Buyer's guide |
| 1. Operating system |
| The
latest version of Windows CE operating system for handheld devices is
Windows Mobile 5.0, but also older operating system will be good
enough (anything newer than Pocket PC 2002 will also be OK). |
| 2. Display type |
|
Display is the most important part of the Pocket PC device. You should
pick device with color display, which has also good visibility under
direct sunlight. |
| 3. Display resolution |
| Now you can buy devices with QVGA (320 x 240) or VGA (640
x 480). High resolution would result in better picture, but will also
consume more processor time. |
| 4. Microprocessor |
|
Buy device with ARM microprocessor (or ARM
compatible processor). Avoid devices with SH3 or MIPS processors. |
| 5. Expansion
slot |
| New programs will also need more disk space to store
maps. Because of that a memory expansion slot is a big plus. |
| 6. Connection interface |
|
RS232 communication port is a must. Anything extra is a bonus. |
| 7. Integrated GPS |
| Several Pocket PC devices are available with integrated
GPS receiver. |
|
|
Common misconceptions |
| USB only port is not a problem,
because I can use USB to serial converter like on my laptop. |
| Yes it is a problem. You can use this
adapter only on USB host devices, which is your PC or laptop. Pocket PC
is a client USB device and on client device this adapter will not work. |
| If there is no serial port, than I
will use Bluetooth GPS. |
| This will work, but you should also
think about the power consumption. It is better to go with the wired
option and preserve the battery (and avoid any interference between the
cockpit instrumentation and Bluetooth signal). |
| I have a fast VGA Pocket PC and now
all my software will run faster. |
| Wrong! VGA device has 4 times more
pixels than QVGA device. This means that it will also take 4 times more
time to prepare a bitmap image of the map. On the other hand the
processor frequency increased only 1.5 to 3 times (from 200 MHz to
300 MHz or 600 MHz on faster devices). Because of that some programs
might run faster on old QVGA devices. |
| If memory will be a problem, than I
will simply buy bigger memory card. |
| Yes you can, but this is only for storage
memory. Sometimes program needs extra (internal RAM) memory in which the
bitmap map is generated. For this external memory or internal Flash can
not be used. |
|
| Recommended Pocket PC
devices |
| In the table there are several devices
that are worth looking at. I have not checked all devices and because of
that make sure that the screen visibility is also great under direct
sunlight. |
| When buying new device you should also buy extra serial cable,
because communication cradle is usually too big and too clumsy to
carry around. |
| |
| All Pocket PC devices are listed on Microsoft
Pocket PC page. Some of them are shown in the following table. |
|
| Device |
MHz |
Display |
RAM |
OS version |
EXPANSION |
IO |
|
|
HP
invent
|
| HP iPAQ
hx2490 |
520 |
QVGA |
64M |
Mobile 5.0 |
CFII, SD/MMC |
RS232?, USB, BT, WiFi |
|
| HP iPAQ
hx2790 |
624 |
QVGA |
64M |
Mobile 5.0 |
CFII, SD/MMC |
RS232, USB, BT, WiFi |
|
| HP iPAQ 111 |
624 |
QVGA |
64M |
Mobile 6.0 |
SD/MMC |
USB, BT, WiFi |
|
| HP iPAQ 211 |
624 |
VGA |
128M |
Mobile 6.0 |
CFII, SD/MMC |
USB, BT, WiFi |
|
|
HTC
|
|
E-TEN
|
|
Mio
|
