Windows Pocket PCs

motsy · 2 Nov 2014 at 19:59

I know the sort of devices I'm talking about can now only be obtained from ebay or second hand shops like CEX (I've got a few back ups from there) and found them a god send/life saver when important notes're need (I even keep all my passwords and the codes for DOOM3 on mine).

It's a shame they became obsolete before their time (and mine're still working despite becoming obsolete).
As a writer of fiction some of the stuff I need requires serious note taking and I can just transfer sequences from Word Mobile into what I've already done on Microsoft Word. I have used pen and paper notepads but for some of what I need I need different note pads and you try keeping several notes in order for easy access. And then there're the problems of having to go through several pages to find a certain note, pages going missing.

Haggisman · 2 Nov 2014 at 20:01

Galaxy note and office mobile, sorted.

OhEsEcks · 2 Nov 2014 at 20:02

I miss mini discs. They only ever seemed to be used by evil bad guys to store super secret data that the hero must never get his hands on in action movies though.

Amp34 · 2 Nov 2014 at 20:05

Microsoft surface and Microsoft Onenote would be your best option. Although a bit larger than a pocket PC. Alternatively a little 7" Windows tablet with a pen (not sure if any have them).

Onenote has multiple pages you can flick through easily and handwriting recognition. Would be very easy to copy it to Word (which you could always run on the surface).

deusexlumina · 2 Nov 2014 at 20:05

Did a repair on a device similar to what you mentioned last week. It didn't even have any permanent storage though, so when the battery ran out you lost everything - contacts emails the lot. Couldn't quite believe it.

Mynight · 2 Nov 2014 at 20:06

OhEsEcks said:
I miss mini discs. They only ever seemed to be used by evil bad guys to store super secret data that the hero must never get his hands on in action movies though.

I loved minidisc

. Seemed a solid format just a shame they didn't really catch on

.

Tomsk · 2 Nov 2014 at 20:31

I think I've still got a windows Pocket PC somewhere. A Qtek 9000 - http://www.gsmarena.com/qtek_9000-1264.php

Mynight said:
I loved minidisc . Seemed a solid format just a shame they didn't really catch on .

I can't help thinking that Sony got their marketing wrong with them.
If they had let everyone else use it and allowed use on PC's we would have full HD movies on them now.

OspreyO · 2 Nov 2014 at 20:40

I use one note on my windows phone and while its handy its only for notes. Its almost impossible to control formatting on it.

I much preferred the functionality we had with Pocket PC and Palm.

DJMK4 · 2 Nov 2014 at 20:47

You mean a PDA? I had a dell axim x51 with a GPS flash card that had windows mobile edition on back in the day, run tomtom from it that's all I used it for,they stopped releasing TomTom for it though as they knew everyone was cracking it

Amp34 · 2 Nov 2014 at 21:01

OspreyO said:
I use one note on my windows phone and while its handy its only for notes. Its almost impossible to control formatting on it.

I much preferred the functionality we had with Pocket PC and Palm.

Massively different on the tablet/windows version.

ikillbears · 2 Nov 2014 at 21:02

Tomsk said:
I think I've still got a windows Pocket PC somewhere. A Qtek 9000 - http://www.gsmarena.com/qtek_9000-1264.php

I can't help thinking that Sony got their marketing wrong with them.
If they had let everyone else use it and allowed use on PC's we would have full HD movies on them now.

towards the end you could connect it up, rip cds and i think they even had a itunes like system you could use

motsy · 2 Nov 2014 at 21:16

I fancy boys said:
Did a repair on a device similar to what you mentioned last week. It didn't even have any permanent storage though, so when the battery ran out you lost everything - contacts emails the lot. Couldn't quite believe it.

That's why they had SD card slots (BTW does anybody from Manchester ar on here know where I can get mini SD cards [blank Video/audio tapes're still available but for some reason mini SDs have vanished compeletly] from sale(I owant the size that comes between the min and standard size ones as none of my USB adapters work).

motsy · 2 Nov 2014 at 21:20

Mynight said:
I loved minidisc . Seemed a solid format just a shame they didn't really catch on .

So did I. But mine fell apart.
They were great but there was still the tedious time consumption trying to fill one by connecting the recorder to a hi-fi and then there were the problems of back ups for them and having to carry round spare batteries.
But then again, MP3 players aren't exactly perfect are they?

Malevolence · 2 Nov 2014 at 21:26

I miss my old...

JBod · 2 Nov 2014 at 21:28

Captain Fern?

motsy · 2 Nov 2014 at 21:32

I started off using Palm tops myself (rather embarrisngly some notes I kept on it could only be accessed by password, even on the old windows 98 PC) but the said Palm top's battery died and couldn't be replaced so the said notes're somewhere in a virtual world as I could no longer access them.

tom_nieto · 2 Nov 2014 at 21:38

Tomsk said:
I think I've still got a windows Pocket PC somewhere. A Qtek 9000 - http://www.gsmarena.com/qtek_9000-1264.php

Holy crap, I used one of these as a phone for a while! It was terrible! The only good thing about it was the fact I could play transport tycoon and get on the internet at uni!

LordSplodge · 2 Nov 2014 at 21:54

motsy said:
It's a shame they became obsolete before their time (and mine're still working despite becoming obsolete).
As a writer of fiction some of the stuff I need requires serious note taking and I can just transfer sequences from Word Mobile into what I've already done on Microsoft Word.

They didn't become obsolete before their time, they became obsolete because they're were mostly rubbish.

Anyway, as a writer of fiction why would you use Word? They key is portability of text, then you can edit notes, create chapters and such on almost any device.

I'm a writer, and I worte my novel (& the sequel I'm working on) using Scrivener syncing with DropBox. I can access notes and chapters on my Mac, my iPhone iPad, Android device or even a Windows computer if I must.

I don't want to be tied into any device and I sure don't want my text to be tied to one program. Formatting and what not can be done at the end. My editor requires the works in Word format and Scrivener takes care of formatting.

I agree with you on pen and paper though. Tried that and it doesnt work for me.

Macro · 2 Nov 2014 at 22:19

You can get a 7" Windows 8.1 tablet including a years worth of Office 365 personal and unlimited Onedrive storage for less than £80 now.

It's not going to be playing high res games but for OneNote, email, metro apps and web-surfing etc I'd say it's hard to beat for value.

In fact trade in one of your old tablets and it's £49...

http://www.neowin.net/news/linx-7-windows-81-tablet-goes-on-sale-in-the-uk-for-just-80

7-inch IPS LCD with 1280x800px resolution
Quad-core Intel Bay Trail-T processor
1GB RAM
32GB storage (plus microSD slot)
2MP rear camera
2MP front-facing camera
3500mAh battery

Ludicrous value for money for simple tasks all things considered...

Macro · 2 Nov 2014 at 22:21

LordSplodge said:
I'm a writer, and I worte my novel (& the sequel I'm working on) using Scrivener syncing with DropBox.

I think that answers why you should use word - lol...

You do know with Onedrive you can sync your work across Windows PC, tablets and phones as well as iOS, OSX, Android etc? Word is perfectly capable of saving to RTF as well if need be.