Windows Mobile 2003 Second Edition: a first look
Smartphones and handhelds
Hardware manufacturers have yet to officially announce device support for Windows Mobile 2003 Second Edition. However, on the smartphone side, Motorola’s MPx, which was announced late in February and which should be available in the summer, is expected to be the first smartphone we'll see running it in the UK.
The MPx is intended as a blend of mobile phone, PDA and email messenger, and sports a full QWERTY keyboard plus a dual-hinge design that allows the screen to be oriented along either the long edge (landscape mode) or the short edge (portrait mode) of the keyboard section. Meanwhile, on the Pocket PC front, the Asus MyPal A730, shown for the first time at CeBIT last week, would appear to be a likely candidate for Windows Mobile 2003 Second Edition, as it has support for VGA resolution. However, there is no official word from Asus on this as yet. OS- level support for VGA screen resolution would certainly be a boon in this device, as it would presumably overcome the issue with Toshiba’s e800 -- the only Pocket PC currently offering this resolution – where a soft reset is needed whenever you switch between VGA and the standard QVGA resolution.
Second Edition software
Software developers are less reluctant than their hardware counterparts to announce support, and many are working hard on upgrades to take advantage of VGA and landscape orientation. Among those ready to show off how their new software looks at the new resolutions and in landscape mode are Web Information Solutions, whose Pocket Informant is a popular Personal Information Manager (PIM) for Pocket PC devices.