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PDA prizefight: Palm OS 5 v Windows Mobile 2003

Rick Broida CNET

Published: 26 Feb 2004

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Microsoft may rule the desktop world, but in the battle for handheld supremacy, it's still anybody's game. Found in handhelds from PalmOne, Sony, Kyocera, Samsung and other manufacturers, the Palm operating system has held a market-share advantage since the beginning, but Windows Mobile 2003 (née Pocket PC) is no longer just nipping at its heels; it's nipping away at its sales, as well.

But if you put the Palm OS in the ring with Windows Mobile, which handheld operating system would survive the bout? Is one notably stronger than the other?

To find out, we booked eight rounds of PDA pugilism, pitting Palm OS 5.2.1 against fast-rising challenger Microsoft Windows Mobile 2003 in categories such as ease of use, Office compatibility, and multimedia features. For the most part, we left the hardware outside the ring, as features such as battery life and processor speed vary widely from model to model across both platforms. The operating systems threw some seriously powerful jabs, and the winner may surprise you.

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Full Talkback thread

25 comments

  1. Nice try to award Palm OS 5 as the winner! I disag... JED
  2. First of all, the difficulty you describe in openi... Steve Hall
  3. At a time when PDAs are used for more than just ha... Anonymous
  4. I have used to both the Pocket PC and Palm systems... Anonymous
  5. In using both the pocket PC and Palm for a long ti... Bill Ayers
  6. I used the Palm OS for six years and loved it. I... Paul Alandt
  7. I disagree as well with the direction this article... Anonymous
  8. Actually, they *did* compare the two fairly a... Verne Arase
  9. absolutely agree with the article. being a user of... David T
  10. The PDA market is losing out to smartphones. It wo... shekhar
  11. Given a choice, I will opt for Palm just simply I... Michael Lee
  12. i think pocket pc is better than palm os ,especial... hock lam lee
  13. You seem to be comparing the Pocket PC out of the... Peter Freeth
  14. I notice reading previous comments that opini... Denis
  15. If you want a paper weight, or at least to blow so... James E. Freedle II
  16. I recently purchased a PDA. Before doing doing tha... Nightz
  17. Windows Explorer makes Windows Mobile the winner i... Erik
  18. I was genuinely pleased with my Palm PDA - Sony Cl... Anonymous
  19. Not only does this article not compare like with l... Anon
  20. I think the article is rather good, no favorites a... Marijan Franovic
  21. After looking carefully at current PDAs I bought a... Duncan Corps
  22. Its been 2 years since the day i had my first PDA... strayato hirzaki
  23. And this is not an OS comparison I think. What abo... Michael Elfial
  24. I owned an IPAQ for a year and it was replaced 3 t... Monty Green
  25. hmm i'm stuck, i have had my IPAQ 1940 for ne... Anonymous

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