Question: Which is better for entertainment: Palm OS or Pocket PC?
Answer: One of the great things about taking a PDA with you on the road is that you can enjoy videos, music and games, expanding the otherwise bland functionality handhelds are known for. The two main operating systems for handhelds, Palm and Pocket PC, take decidedly different approaches to entertainment options. The question is: which one is better? When thinking about this topic, there are three things which you should consider: the overall power and performance of the machine, the entertainment options available (audio, video, games) and how easy the machine is to use. Read on to see who we feel is the best in PDA entertainment based on these three criteria.
- Power and Performance In the early days of the Pocket PC/Palm wars, Pocket PC devices from companies like Hewlett Packard and Compaq were hands down the better machines for multimedia, sporting fast Intel processors and plenty of internal memory to store games and music. Palm devices, with the exception of Sony's CLIE line, were more geared towards contact and information management and thus had more limited memory and storage options.
Palm, realizing the error of their ways, has more recently begun releasing handhelds which, while still lacking in storage unless an expansion memory card is brought into the picture, now have faster internal chips as well as brighter color screens. The overall change though is not earth shattering given the fact Pocket PC manufacturers have continued to do the same type of growth, with better results.
- Entertainment Options Both Palm and Pocket PC are capable of playing audio and video as well as games. Generally speaking, multimedia capability on the Pocket PC is better and as a result the games developed have tended to be richer then those on the Palm. The trend has not escaped the eyes of major gaming publishers, who have made steps to port some of their older products to the Pocket PC.
In regards to music and video, playback software for each of the platforms is on an even keel, with developers like Real releasing versions for each.
- Ease of Use Palm devices have always been easier to use then Pocket PCs, mainly due to the fact that they have a simple on screen navigation scheme, while the Pocket PCs require Windows like menu scrolling.
And the winner is...
More Portable Electronics Q&A
For the moment, the Pocket PC platform continues to be the better choice for entertainment options. What it lacks in simplicity, it more than makes up for in robustness and audio/video quality.
