Maybe as far as Microsoft is concerned. But I’ve never heard of any of the PDA makers saying they sell WinCE PDA’s.
No, they don’t sell Win CE PDAs. They sell Pocket PCs, which is a package of Windows CE and other applications.
Windows CE is an embedded OS. Various Microsoft divisions take it, configure it, slap it together with other software, give it a fancy name, and then shop that around to OEMs.
Trust me on this, the OS itself is still called Windows CE, but when it comes down to it, few users actually care about the OS, and more about the platform as a whole.
And that’s the way it should be. Saying “my device runs Windows CE” implies such a configurable level of functionality that is almost useless. “If my car stereo runs on Windows CE, does that mean I can download games to it?” No.
Similarly, if my Linksys or Netgear router runs Linux, does that mean I can nethack on it? No.
Its all embedded software.
I’m sure people have tried to, though.
BTW the nethack for ppc is nice.
Windows CE is an embedded OS. Various Microsoft divisions take it, configure it, slap it together with other software, give it a fancy name, and then shop that around to OEMs.
Trust me on this, the OS itself is still called Windows CE, but when it comes down to it, few users actually care about the OS, and more about the platform as a whole.
I’m pretty sure this is wrong - Windows Mobile 2003 is a completely revamped OS compared to the original Windows CE. There’s a lot of different stuff going on at the bottom level than just differently packaged software: WM2003 is only the same as WinCE functionally as far as WindowsME is the same as Windows 95 functionally. There have been major advances on the OS since its original incarnation, and the WM2003 branding is independent of any OEM software configurations incorporated by Dell or Hewlett Packard or whoever.
Sorry Crypty, you’re wrong.
Microsoft recently announced Windows Mobile™, a new global brand for Microsoft software for mobile devices such as Pocket PCs and Smartphones. The launch of Windows Mobile software extends the Windows brand to the Pocket PC and Smartphone mobile device categories. The new Windows Mobile brand also helps customers more readily understand the consistent user experience they can expect from the software inside Pocket PCs and Smartphones. The new branding also reflects Microsoft’s commitment to the mobile space in bringing its mobile device software into the Windows brand family.
Windows Mobile 2003 software for the Pocket PC builds on Windows CE by adding new functionality, user interface, and applications to create an optimized mobile computing platform for handheld devices. Specifically, Windows Mobile 2003 is based on Windows CE .NET 4.2 while Windows for Pocket PC 2002 utilizes Windows CE 3.0. The figure below illustrates the relationship between the Windows CE OS and the Pocket PC platform.
Windows Mobile 2003 = Windows CE.NET 4.2 + Pocket Word + Pocket Excel - Wordpad + Inbox + blah de blah de blah look at the table in the Word doc yourself. Its all about hanging bits off the side of Windows CE.NET.
Thread revival to answer this age old question.
Answer: It’s not.
Just after seeing that news, earlier today, I was reading this list of the top 50 handheld games of all time, and I thought, Damn, that Tapwave Spy Hunter looks pretty sweet.
The Zodiac had a lot of potential. The huge touch screen was amazing. They had even more questionable software support than the N-Gage though.
Supposed to come out at 150ish…
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Threads like this really make me wish their was a firefox plugin that fixed horizontal scroll problems. All it would have to do is shrink big link text.
That’s nice.
What is it?
Any handheld not Nintendo branded has troubles. Even Sony.
Only in this specific case, it wasn’t just a handheld gaming machine or a Gameboy competitor. It was a full-blown PalmOS machine, albeit one with some game-specific features.
The Gizmondo, on the other hand, that’s a game machine since, despite it being a Windows CE device, it doesn’t run regular PocketPC software.
Only in this specific case, it wasn’t just a handheld gaming machine or a Gameboy competitor. It was a full-blown PalmOS machine, albeit one with some game-specific features.
The Gizmondo, on the other hand, that’s a game machine since, despite it being a Windows CE device, it doesn’t run regular PocketPC software.[/quote]
I was referring tot he GP32 in that quote, but Tapwave originally positioned the Zodiac as a game machine with Palm compatibility. They made the same mistake Nokia did – it would have been much smarter to position it as a Palm handheld with better gameplay capability.
I owned one, it was pretty good but was also hurt by the lack of Wifi compability. By the time they got around to releasing the card plug-in, it had jumped the shark.
That thing looks sweet, ran. I always wanted a Gamepark, but I eventually opted to get a DS instead. This new one is already outpacing the PSP in my heart and mind.
even though I have a psp I will prolly get one of these… depending on the price.
Also Tapwave is dead
From 1UP:
There’s one less handheld vying for market scraps left over from Nintendo DS and PSP; Tapwave confirmed on its website the Zodiac, a gaming, multimedia, and Palm-compatible, device has been officially discontinued.
The announcement didn’t mull over any disappointment over the news. “We thank you for your past interest and support and apologize for any inconvenience that this may have caused,” said the company’s website.
Service and support for the Zodiac were discontinued as of July 25. The website notes that accessories, games and applications will be available at select retailers until supplies run out.
If you were interested in completing your collection of failed handhelds, now’s the time to hop in the car and go for a drive!
Tapwave simply didn’t have the software royalties to enable them to offer the hardware at a competitive price.