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Pocket PC 2002 up to the test.

Product: Pocket PC 2002 professional (upgrade for flashable Arm devices)

Price: varies ($29 for iPAQ)

Company: Microsoft.

Pocket PC 2002 has to be the most awaited upgrade for all Pocket PC users. Many questions have been pouring in from all over the web for the past few months.
Bottom line, users wanted to know whether to upgrade or not, and what the upgrade would do to their Pocket PC.

Let's start by saying that only Flashable ROM device running on Intel Strong Arm will be able to upgrade to the new OS. For now, the only two devices capable of just that are the Compaq iPAQ and the URthere @migo. URthere will provide a free upgrade for all its customers whereas Compaq will charge a small fee for the ROM update.

What is Pocket PC 2002 AKA Merlin?

Pocket PC 2002 is a revision of WinCE 3.0. It integrated many new exiting features that I will be discussing shortly.

How will it work?

Pocket PC 2002 will be shipped as a ROM upgrade for iPAQ and @migo and already installed on the newest PPCs.
What you'll get with the upgrade is simply a new ROM pack, which will install in the same manner as previous Flash updates. You'll be able to back up the current ROM in case of a disaster.
The upgrade will take only a few minutes as opposed to the first flash updates that would take up to 45 minutes! My iPAQ was up and running in less than 5 minutes!
You'll then need to install the add-ons onto RAM (or CF)... Reader, Messenger, WMP 8, Terminal Services...
One thing to remember: you'll need to reinstall EVERYTHING. I did try to run a restore from my 1.77ROM image but.... AHHH... horror, the iPAQ was looking for programs that did no longer exit! It also messed up iTask, and other applications forcing me to reset and start reinstalling application by application... Geez, that took a while... I had some 100MB of programs on my CF!!! Time for a cleanup!

First feel!

As soon as my computer had finished updating the ROM, I prayed that my iPAQ wasn't dead (again). Turned it on, and .... WOW.... Brand new logo, sounds.... Looking good!

The GUI:

As soon as your iPAQ is on, you realize that PPC 2002 has a similar look to Windows XP (the new Microsoft PC OS). The icons have all been updated for a much better 3D view. The task bar is now a little bit cleaner with the XP start menu icon. The clock has been re-centered, and added is the sound icon that will allow you to adjust the sounds!
The main improvement comes from the skins. You can now add you custom skins and use them for your Today's page. Very cool! I wonder if Dashboard and other such applications will still sell!
The OS is slightly faster than Pocket PC 2000, even on my 16MB/32MB iPAQ. Microsoft did tremendous work on the memory management of the new OS. Now, tasks don't need to be closed anymore; they will automatically be refreshed by the most recently ran programs. This great feature in Pocket PC 2002 isn't without problems. I did notice that if you wait until the memory starts filling up, your PPC will start responding much slower. In order to close tasks, you can use iTask, the new task switching utility... But let's get back to that in a moment.

The Sounds:

The sounds are also completely different! Nice little work from Microsoft... You can customize them almost the same way as in the previous version of the OS, but this time, you'll be able to add flashing warnings or reminders.

The different new applications:
File Explorer:
This has to be the one with the biggest improvement. File Explorer has many more options that will facilitate the access of all your files. Three icons have been added: the first for Device Files (located in RAM), the second for Storage Card File, and finally a third icon for network shares!!! You can now browse files on your computer from your Pocket PC (and of course copy and paste them)!!! Sweet!!!

Word and Excel:
Not much new here... Pocket Word and Excel are still pretty much the same with the addition of word count, and now you can also insert pictures on text!
The spell check option has so far been omitted by Microsoft. They are still thinking about whether or not to add it, but you won't know until the final release... Or even after... in a new ROM update!!!
Microsoft Reader:

Microsoft Reader needs to be activated. I'm not sure why, but once the program has been installed, you'll need to go onto a website and register it using your Passport account. New is the support for DRM5.

Internet Explorer:

PocketIE, doesn't look much different. Only new icons replacing the old ones. But Pocket IE is hiding its game... Underneath the similar appearance, you'll get a much improved browser. I couldn't use Pocket IE before to go on many websites, due to encryption, Java,.... Now, there are almost no sites that you can't get on!!!!
Also a nice little feature is that you'll be able to click on mail hyperlinks and it will directly open Inbox and a new message... I don't think the previous version was able to do this!

WMP 8:

As far as WMP, just as Jason Dunn, I'm an old school. I loved the RAM, the plain and easy one! No fancy support for networking, no nothing! Just plain and simple...
Well, WMP 8, looks good and works slightly better than 7.1. When I say slightly, I mean that while using my 1GB Microdrive, I could still hear some songs skipping. It did just that with the previous versions of WMP, but the one installed in ROM... Yeah, the plain and simple one!
WMP 8 also adds networking support. You'll be able to play streaming audio/video but also files from network shares! That's gonna make some people happy!!

Messenger:
It's available... I don't use it, haven't even installed it yet! Oh, well... Give it a try anyhow!
Terminal Service Client:
TSC is one of the best little additions to Pocket PC 2002. As a note, I heard that it will work on the current OS.
It has been designed to minimize the number of operations to perform in order to get connected to the remote machine. There are 5 icons for each side of the remote machine screen and for the center. I tried it out with my Win2k server and it worked great. You can even connect through Active Sync but the best is with wireless connection. Terminal Services let you get connected to a server machine with very little bandwidth consumption. That is, you can even access the remote host with a slow wireless connection such as CDMA or other wireless protocol. Simply enter the IP, and you're on the roll!
Connections:

That has been one of the best improvements on Pocket PC 2002. Not only will your PPC connect to the Internet through your cradle but the way you'll be able to setup because the connection has been tremendously simplified!
It would just be too long for me to get too specific about this but let's say that there are 3 types of connections that you can customize: Internet, Work, and Network... You'll have a bunch of different options for each, including VPN, and other networking protocols. Network cards are also more supported now (several models have been added to the list).

Inbox and Active Sync:

Inbox now has the ability to synchronize sub folders. Active Sync is also included as a client application. You'll be able to choose how and when to synchronize from your Pocket PC, but also view the synchronization process!!!

Contacts:

Contacts are now a little more manageable with the option to view the names by company.

Calendar:

Calendar was added a few more icons to toggle from day-week-month view without having to press any buttons.

iTask:

That has to be the best. The new task switching applications called iTask.
iTask, a a la Gigabar task switching application, will be fully customizable. You'll be able to add or delete any menu items, assign quick shortcut keys to any program installed! There is also the Star-Tap items that can be installed (if you're a Gigabar user you'll know what I'm talking about... If not just pass and try it out when you get it).
The minor problem with iTask is the suppression of the tray icon. In order to access the program, you'll need to use the button, nothing else! I hope the final release will have it back on the screen since I found it a little annoying to have to always use the button!

Well, this is pretty much it. I probably forgot a bunch of stuff but there really is too much to be covered in one article. My objective was to give you a good insight of the new OS, and whether or not you feel like you're ready for the upgrade.
My recommendations are the following:
1) if you got $$$... Don't bother, just get a new iPAQ in a month or so... A 3800.
2) if you don't use wireless applications much but have a lot of memory hungry programs running on CF card, then it might be time to think about upgrading.
3) you're a wireless "geek"... Don't pass on PPC 2002!!!!!
4) you don't have a storage card and your iPAQ memory is getting full.... Time to upgrade your hardware...not the software yet!

As a note, I wanted to add a word about compatibility. Most applications will work on the new OS, though I one or two not working.
Two programs that I wished worked didn't; Pocket Streets 3.02 (yeah, I'm still using it since I have Streets and Trips 2000) and eWallet. The both have a fix with the latest version of eWallet and Pocket Streets 2002 but hey, that's just little to trade for so many new features!!!!

Pocket PC 2002 won't take that much RAM, but I would suggest you to have a solid PPC before upgrading. When I mean solid is that most apps are installed in storage in order to keep as much free RAM as possible!! If not, a 64MB upgrade might be a good alternative, especially for as little as $120 or so!

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