This paper has been written in an attempt to clarify the confusing issues surrounding Windows CE, Pocket PC etc. What is Windows CE? Is it the same as Pocket PC? What are the differences? Read on…
Since Microsoft’s first release of software for handheld devices, it has changed its name 3 times. It was initially called Windows CE, which became Windows Powered and is today called Windows Mobile Software. The initial name has stuck and become a generic term associated with all Microsoft mobile operating systems.
In 1996 a new device became available on the open market, which was produced by several companies including Hewlett-Packard, Casio, Sharp, and Compaq - the Handheld PC was born. Running on these devices was software developed by Microsoft, including the Windows CE operating system and other programs for managing personal information and creating documents and spreadsheets. The Handheld PC was the first of a variety of types of what Microsoft now calls Windows Mobile devices. These devices have evolved over the last decade into what is now commonly known as the “PDA” or Pocket PC. These devices have successfully allowed the desktop computer to be taken anywhere at anytime.
In the last 5 years Handheld PCs and Pocket PCs have begun to receive a lot of attention, elevating them to an almost “necessary” status for today’s workforce. Most of the articles written would have you believe that these devices are new, but in reality only the attention is new. The concept of the “information appliance” as they were first known, was introduced by Jef Raskin, the creator of the Apple Macintosh, in 1978!
In 1992 Apple Computers introduced the Newton MessagePad, the first PDA to draw serious global attention to the concept of mobile computing. The MessagePad was launched the following year, to a tremendous amount of media hype. Also in 1992 Jeff Hawkins founded Palm Computing (Microsoft’s biggest rival in today’s PDA market). After the firm's first product, the “Graffiti” handheld, which is widely regarded as the first tablet-like PC, the company was acquired in 1995 by US Robotics (who developed the first Palm handheld models 1000 and 5000 that were announced in January 1996).
Newton MessagePad
Casio Zoomer
Sony Magic Link
Other manufacturers quickly followed suit with Casio introducing the “Zoomer” and Sony introducing the “Magic Link”. The real interest was in the rumour about Microsoft developing an operating system for these mobile computing devices.
Microsoft weighs in…
Between 1990 and 1992 Microsoft started developing a rival handheld Operating System (OS). The first offering by Bill Gates (known as a “WinPad”) was presented in 1992 and generated a large amount of interest from the hardware big guns of the computing world e.g. Hewlett Packard, Phillips, Casio and Compaq. In 1994, the WinPad project was discontinued and merged into the “Pulsar” project, resulting in a new project, code named “Pegasus”, which resulted in the first version of Windows CE in November 1996. Windows CE was based on the Windows 95 interface and was designed as a companion to the business user. However, in the background there was a new operating system at work - the basic Windows CE OS fitting in 500k of RAM! This “lean” size was essential to the success of the OS, because it needed to fit onto small electronic devices.
Windows CE was also designed as a modular operating system, allowing the manufacturers, like Compaq and HP, to include whatever modules they required. Internally, Windows CE has more in common with NT than it does with Windows 95/98. All Windows CE applications are run within protected 32MB memory spaces, with up to 2 gigabytes of memory allowed. This means, it is highly unlikely that an application crash will bring down the operating system with it.
The mobile hardware that followed the introduction of Windows CE became known as a “PC Companion”. These were small hand-held devices designed to exchange information with programs running on desktop computers that had the Windows CE operating system stored on a computer chip running continuously, therefore eliminating the lengthy boot-up procedure of desktop PCs.
This process of exchanging information between a PC Companion and a desktop computer is called synchronization. Synchronization is actually a bit more sophisticated than simply uploading and downloading information, because it has the ability to determine what has been added to both devices and to ensure that the information is the same on both, all in one step.
Since 1996, Microsoft has continually made changes to the Windows CE operating system (and its associated software applications) resulting in subtle differences between operating system versions, software application bundles, different hardware platforms, and a very confused end-user market. Part of the confusion is created by the large number of hardware and software names and tags. To combat this Microsoft introduced the terms Windows Powered Devices (when referring to hardware), and Windows for Pocket and Handheld PCs (when referring to software), which in 2003, became Windows Mobile Devices and Windows Mobile Software for Pocket and Handheld PCs respectively. You can decide whether this alleviates the confusion or not!
Windows Mobile Devices
Since Microsoft launched the first Handheld PC, several OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) such as HP and Compaq have developed the hardware while Microsoft developed the software. The software development has included not only the operating system, but also pocket versions of Microsoft’s desktop software, such as Pocket Outlook (Calendar, Contacts, and Tasks) and Pocket Office (Pocket Word and Excel).
This combination of the OS, Pocket Outlook, and Pocket Office has become known as Windows CE, even though Windows CE is just the operating system. The true name of this combination is Windows Mobile Software for Handheld PCs or Pocket PCs.
The Handheld PC was the first Windows Powered hardware platform, and since 1996, Microsoft has introduced a further 4 platforms: Palm-size PCs, Auto PCs, Handheld PC 2000, and Pocket PCs.
Handheld PCs
Handheld PC devices (H/PCs) included the first version of the Windows CE operating system (Windows CE 1.0), Pocket Outlook, and Pocket Office. The first version of Pocket Office included only Word and Excel. Microsoft also included a copy of its first Personal Information Manager (PIM), Schedule+, and Handheld PC Explorer, which provided synchronization between Schedule+ and the Handheld PC.
The following hardware specifications were typical for Handheld PCs:-
- Clamshell design, approximately 3.5x7 inches and weighing 13 ounces.
- Powered by alkaline batteries.
- 480x240 resolution monochrome display.
- Keyboard for data input and a stylus instead of a mouse.
- One serial port and cable to connect the Handheld PC to desktop computers.
- An IrDA (Infrared Data Association) compliant infrared port for data exchange.
NEC Mobile Pro
HP Jornada
An upgrade to Windows CE 1.0 was introduced 12 months after the launch of the first Handheld PC. Windows CE 2.0 added support for colour displays, direct printing, Ethernet networking, an improved web browser, and video output to external monitors. Pocket PowerPoint was added to the application software. The NEC Mobile Pro or the HP Jornada devices belong to this group.
Palm-Size PCs
Palms-Size PCs (P/PCs) were introduced in 1998 and were approximately 3x5 inches in size and weighed around 6 ounces. The screen was designed in a portrait layout, with the hard keyboard removed. To input data, a stylus was used to write on the screen using a character recogniser, or tap on an onscreen keyboard.
These devices were still equipped with Windows CE 2.0. However, the user interface was altered to support the difference in screen layout and size. The “bundled” software also changed. Pocket Outlook, Inbox and Solitaire remained, but Pocket Office, Windows Explorer, and Pocket Internet Explorer were not included on these devices, which prompted several third-party developers to write applications to replace the lost functionality resulting from the exclusion of these applications. However, Microsoft did add new software to P/PCs that was not available for H/PCs, none of which is relevant here. Examples of the first P/PCs include the Casio E-1 1, Philips Nino 320, and Everex Freestyle Associate. The hardware specifications for a typical P/PC included the following:
- A monochrome screen with a 320x240 resolution and diagonal size of about 4 inches.
- An LED that flashes to notify you of an alarm.
- Microphones to make voice recordings, and headphone jacks to listen to the recording play back.
- IrDA-compliant infrared ports for exchanging information with Handheld and P/PCs.
- A Compact Flash slot for storage cards and peripherals such as modems and Ethernet cards.
In February 1999, Windows CE v2.11 was launched, but was little more than support for colour screens. The hardware Microsoft announced a colour version of the P/PC. Other than support for colour screens, little was changed to Windows CE except a version number change to 2.11. The hardware for these devices retained same basic size, but some included faster processors and more RAM.
This is probably a good time to discuss the “indoor and outdoor” screen issue. Colour LCD screens used in handheld devices come in two varieties. The first is an active display e.g. TFT screens, which provide a sharp clear image by a quicker and more frequent refresh rate than the second display type; passive. In an active display an individual transistor controls each pixel, whereas, a passive display uses a grid of horizontal and vertical wires.
The illumination of a screen is another important factor. A transmissive display is lit from behind the screen, and provides a well lit and readable screen for indoor use, but a virtually unreadable outdoor display. A reflective display is lit from the front and uses ambient light to provide a readable outdoor screen.
Auto PCs
When Microsoft launched the Palm sized PC, they also announced the Auto PC. These devices were designed to replace your car radio with a voice –activated Windows based device, capable of receiving information, such as driving directions etc. The Auto PC was driven by the modular Windows CE operating system which allowed Microsoft to remove components such as the Pocket PC user interface, and replace it with other interfaces e.g. the Auto PC voice recognize. The Auto PC wasn't the success Microsoft hoped, and poor sales resulted in the death of the Auto PC. However, it should be noted that most of the major car manufacturers have developing products, inspired by the original Auto PC, known as telematics.
Handheld PC 2000
Late 1998 saw Microsoft announce the launch of the Handheld PC Professional platform which retained the screen and keyboard combination introduced with the Handheld PC, but in a larger size. Two years later the Handheld PC 2000 platform was launched and is still the current version of this operating system.
The success of the Handheld PC has been in the corporate (as opposed to the consumer) market, where specific functions and needs of individual organisations can be catered for, (e.g. MBS Floor Plans, where a larger screen and keyboard are required). Example of a Handheld PC would be a NEC Mobile Pro 790.
Pocket PCs
The Pocket PC (Pocket PC 2000) was first launched in April 2000, followed in 2002 by Pocket PC 2002. The current Pocket PC version is called Windows Mobile 2003 and refers to devices which run Windows CE.NET Version 4.2, Pocket Outlook and Pocket Office.
Pocket PCs have the same physical specifications as P/PCs, but include faster processors, more memory, and better battery life. Their use for an on-site graphical data capture system, such as MBS, is limited due to the lack of screen size, expansion slots and hard keyboard.
The following features are common to all Windows Mobile 2003 devices:
- Intel StrongARM or X-Scale processors.
- A FlashROM chip for storing the Windows Mobile 2003 software.
- A minimum of 32MB of RAM.
- A colour transflective TFT display.
- At least one, and in many cases multiple, storage card slots.
- Built-in Bluetooth support.
- Pocket PC Phone Edition
During the summer of 2002, Microsoft released Pocket PC Phone Edition, which is Windows Mobile Software for Pocket PC’s, plus additional software to support wireless voice and data communications.
Windows CE .NET
It’s tempting to look at Windows CE.NET and ascertain that Microsoft simply ported Windows 95 from PC to handheld devices. The truth is that Windows CE .NET is a completely new 32-bit operating system, built from the ground up, to run on embedded devices. Some key points to be aware of are:
Windows CE.NET makes it easier for software developers to write programs using familiar tools, which speeds up the software development process.
- It is portable and can run on different processor types.
- It is a real-time operating system, which basically means that the operating system should run faster.
The operating system has a modular build, allowing systems to be built using only the components needed for a particular platform. This means that a variety of different devices can be built from the same core operating system, so decreasing product development life cycles.
The Windows CE.NET user interface (i.e. the “shell”) is one of the operating system’s modules which allows for a different shell on each hardware platform that runs the operating system, e.g. different shells have been created for the Handheld and Pocket PC platforms, resulting in a different look between the two devices. This flexible modular design means that it can be used in a wide range of devices e.g. petrol pumps and tills.
ActiveSync
All Windows Mobile devices come with a combination of USB, serial and infrared ports that allow for data exchange with other devices including desktop PCs. Microsoft provide a free downloadable application called ActiveSync to act as the middle man between PC and handheld.
ActiveSync works on PCs running Windows 98, Windows NT, Windows 2000, or Windows XP operating systems and is designed to synchronize data between Windows Mobile devices and Outlook 2000 or newer. During synchronization, the software compares information between the device and the PC, determining what has been added to both. The two are then updated so the information is consistent on both devices.
Summary
Over the last decade, Microsoft has developed its software for mobile devices. Today the Microsoft mobile device strategy recognises that a single device will not meet all the needs for all handheld computing tasks. Commercial industries, such as surveying and engineering require devices with larger screens and keyboards, which Handheld PC’s provide, whereas consumers want a device for storing personal information and connecting to the Internet, which Pocket PCs provide.
One last thought…
Since the introduction of Windows CE, a debate has ensued about what CE stands for. Two of the most popular theories are that it stands for Compact Edition or Consumer Edition. However, Microsoft says that CE stands for neither of these, nor anything else for that matter.
Tablet PCs appear to be a big brother to Handheld and Pocket PCs, but they are in fact totally different devices. A Tablet PC is a fully functional personal computer that runs Windows XP Professional Tablet PC Edition and full Windows applications. The key features provided by the Tablet PC are handwriting recognition, long battery life, high-resolution displays, and wireless connectivity. The Microsoft vision for Tablet PCs is that they will he used to take notes instead of pen and paper and to annotate and read digital documents.
Andy Roberts © 2005
