No Windows Mobile SE Upgrades? No Big Deal

Last week, many of you got some bad news. HP announced that it wasn't going to release Windows Mobile Second Edition upgrades for any current iPAQ models. Dell also said the same thing about the Axim series, but it had made this announcement before.

These announcements were met with howls of protest. Pocket PC users are accustomed to getting upgrades to the latest version of the operating system, especially for models people have bought in the last few months. There are still people who despise Toshiba for not releasing Windows Mobile 2003 upgrades for some of its models.

While the complaints against Dell and HP aren't surprising, I put a bit of thought into why these companies made the decision they did, and it makes a certain amount of sense to me.

In the past, both HP and Dell released Windows Mobile 2003 upgrades for recent models. So why aren't they releasing Second Edition upgrades? I'm sure it isn't because they are run by evil, twisted trolls, though based on some of the comments I read online in the last week I suspect there are a few people who believe that's the reason.

No, it simply comes down to economics. And I'm not using that in a negative way. I understand that companies aren't in the business of losing money.

The average selling price for a Pocket PC has dropped like a rock over the last few years. Right now, you can get an Axim X30 with multiple forms of wireless networking and a 624 MHz processor for under $300. Prices this low were inconceivable just a couple years ago.

This has been great for everyone buying a new handheld, but it has cut into companies' profit margins. This, in turn, cuts into the amount that these companies can afford to spend on support after the sale before the whole deal becomes unprofitable.

Upgrades Ain't Cheap

Developing, fully testing, distributing, and supporting a handheld operating system upgrade is a Herculean task, and an expensive one, too.

If you think this involves a couple of code jockeys whipping up an upgrade one afternoon after lunch and then posting it on their companies' web site, then you aren't aware of the intricacies involved.

Dell itself is the poster child for how a handheld OS upgrade can go wrong. Last summer, when it released a Windows Mobile 2003 upgrade for the Axim X5, users almost immediately began to complain that the new OS version made their 400 MHz handhelds work glacially slow. Dell had to go back and fix the problem and re-release the upgrade. It took months to track down the bug, create a fix, and triple check to be sure the fix didn't break something else.

And just putting an upgrade out is only the beginning. Companies have to have a small army of support people trained in fixing everything that can go wrong when customers are applying an OS upgrade, and trust me, there's lots that can go wrong. Those people expect to be paid while they are trying to help customers figure out what went wrong, and customers expect their support calls to be free. That all goes into the cost of an upgrade.

Despite the costs, HP and Dell might have put out upgrades, if there were enough benefits on the new OS version. In this case, I don't think there are.

Is it Worth it?

I know many of you are willing to pay for the upgrade, but I have to point out that I don't think it would be worth it.

As far as I'm concerned, there is only one significant improvement a Windows Mobile 2003 upgrade would bring to your iPAQ or Axim: the ability to easily switch the screen between portrait and landscape modes.

After extensive use of a handheld with the new OS version, let me tell you this feature isn't all that great. About the only application landscape mode makes a noticeable improvement in is Pocket Internet Explorer. Landscape mode makes reading web sites designed for desktop computer screens more tolerable on a handheld's much smaller screen.

For most other applications, I find myself switching to portrait mode because entering text while in landscape mode is handled very poorly by Windows Mobile SE. The text entry area takes up a big chunk of the screen, and all the other interface elements are still there, of course, and they take up even more screen space when in landscape mode than they did in portrait mode. This leaves very little room to actually display the application you are working in.

Unless there are some very obvious benefits from doing an OS upgrade, only hard-core users who must have the latest-and-greatest are going to do it. With fewer people buying the upgrade, companies will have to charge more for it if they are going to recoup the costs from developing the it. Then you start getting into a nasty cycle. The more you charge for the upgrade, the fewer people will buy it. The fewer people who buy it, the more you have to charge for it. Pretty soon, you reach a cost that no one will pay, especially for as minor an upgrade as Windows Mobile SE.

What You Can Do Instead

Rather than wasting any more time seething over HP's and Dell's decision to not offer upgrades, I'd suggest you consider Nyditot Virtual Display, an application that adds landscape support to Pocket PCs. It can also give you access to a larger virtual screen, a feature not offered by the new OS version. However, in order to make either of these changes, you have to reset your handheld, which is not as convenient as the simple one-push switch offered by Windows Mobile SE. Nyditot Virtual Display is $19.95.

Another possibility is BitStream's ThunderHawk. This is a web browser that offers landscape support and compresses fonts and images to fit more of web pages onto the handheld's screen. This gives you a more desktop-like view of web sites than you typically get. The application is free but the required service is $5.95 per month or $49.95 per year.

If you are irritated that Microsoft didn't add some of the basic improvements to Windows Mobile SE that we've all wanted for years, I'd recommend Spb Pocket Plus. This adds a laundry list of features to the OS, like the ability to easily close running applications, multiple windows and full-screen support for Pocket IE, and much more.

An advantage of these applications is they don't come with Windows Mobile SE's drawbacks. For example, I had to give up a couple of Today Screen plug-ins I'm fond of because they are incompatible with the new operating system version. The same is true of a utility or two. So I've had to give up software that I like, but I haven't seen any applications that require Windows Mobile SE.

I'm not saying there's anything wrong with Windows Mobile 2003 Second Edition, but the fact that both HP and Dell have decided to pass on offering upgrades is understandable and hardly a disaster for users.

Related Links

• Brighthand Reviews Windows Mobile 2003 Second Edition