12 MAXIMUMPC APRIL 2004
ALT.OPINION.RANTS BY JON PHILLIPS
‘Solutions’ Are
for Sissies
Jon Phillips was formerly editor-in-chief of Maximum PC ,
and now serves as the magazine’s editorial director.Portable Media Centers Hit the Road
Microsoft’s newest OS kicks off the Year of Video-To-Go
L
ast month we gave you a gander at Creative Labs’ Zen Portable Media
Center, a handheld media player that lets you listen to music, view and
pictures, watch movies on the same foxy device. It’s based on Microsoft’s
fledgling OS, once named Media2Go and now rechristened Windows Mobile for
Portable Media Centers (by far, more of a mouthful).
Windows Mobile PMC is a spinoff of Windows CE in the same way Windows
XP Media Center Edition was spun off from Windows XP. Microsoft hopes its
newest OS will soon enjoy the same ubiquity that the Media Center Edition
appears to be achieving. By providing a standard, easy-to-use interface for
the next generation of media players, the company believes it will encourage
manufacturers to adopt the platform and build hardware that supports it.
From the look of things, Microsoft appears to be right in its assessment
that consumers are ripe and ready
for portable media. At the January
Consumer Electronics Show (CES)
in Las Vegas, eyeballers swarmed
around a gaggle of Portable Media
Center devices from a slew of different
companies. However, only Samsung
joined Creative Labs in announcing a
product expected to ship this year.
DirectX 8 technologies are among
the features supported by Windows
Mobile for Portable Media Centers
(that name!), as are USB 2.0 playback
of digitally recorded TV, instant-on,
preemptive multitasking, and, of
course, a standard user interface based
on the familiar WinCE model.
We also know that Windows Mobile
for Portable Media Centers will support
Windows Media Digital Rights
Management (DRM), but to what
extent is unclear. This will determine
whether users will be able to swap
content (unlikely), or be able to play
media encoded in non-Windows
formats such as DivX and Xvid (also
unlikely). If non-Windows devices like
the Archos AV320 ( http://www.archos.com ),
RCA’s Lyra ( http://www.rca.com ), or Sony’s
upcoming PSP ( http://www.sony.com ) remain
less restrictive, Microsoft’s Portable
Media Center OS could take a
competitive hit in the coming year.Quick Start
interface of Windows Mobile for
Portable Media Centers (showing
music playback with album art).that consumers are ripe and ready
for portable media. At the January
Consumer Electronics Show (CES)
in Las Vegas, eyeballers swarmed
around a gaggle of Portable Media
Center devices from a slew of different
companies. However, only Samsung
joined Creative Labs in announcing a
product expected to ship this year.the features supported by Windows
Mobile for Portable Media Centers
(that name!), as are USB 2.0 playbackHere’s your first peek at thecourse, a standard user interface based
on the familiar WinCE model.for Portable Media Centers will support
Windows Media Digital Rights
Management (DRM), but to what
extent is unclear. This will determine
whether users will be able to swap
content (unlikely), or be able to play
media encoded in non-Windows
formats such as DivX and Xvid (also
unlikely). If non-Windows devices like
Another look at the Windows the Archos AV320 (
Mobile for Portable Media
Center interface demonstrates
a particularly tasty function—
downloading broadcast video
recorded on your PC to your
portable media player!Stone Tablet
Durable, no batteries
Low information densityMusic Box
Hypnotic, low-maintenance
“Nutcracker” theme
not written yet8-Track Tape
Easy-to-read large-print labelsUnshakeable association with
feathered hairWalkman
Plays user-recorded tapes
Plays Journey tapesG
H
GG
HH
G
H
Portable Media Through Time
We take a historic look back at humanity’s quest for fun on the runLow information densityGG
HH
Hypnotic, low-maintenance
GGHH
Easy-to-read large-print labelsUnshakeable association withWe take a historic look back at humanity’s quest for fun on the runD
escribing a piece of hardware as a “solution” is
repugnant. Sure, to a tired-old corporate bureau-
crat—his brow stinking of combover gel; his pudgy body
shoe-horned into a Reagan-era blazer—a videocard
might indeed be a “graphics solution.” But as far as I’m
concerned, videocards and other lustworthy computing
parts aren’t “solutions.” They’re objects d’art. “Solutions”
are for people who don’t understand computers—people
who have actual computer problems. Me? I don’t have
computer problems. I have “computer situations” that are
just seconds away from being resolved.
Or so I thought. Last month I realized, much to my
shame and embarrassment, that I was in need of a
bona fide computer hardware solution. Here’s the deal:
I’m incapable of comfortably and accurately entering
text into a PDA. I don’t like thumb-typing on those little
keyboards, and my text entry style (imagine a vague
amalgam of vertical and horizontal lines) perplexes the
AI of modern character-recognition systems. These are
serious problems indeed, especially because half of my
work day now involves attendance at meetings where
note-taking is considered a professional requirement.
And so I was compelled to find a portable “personal
computing solution” that can be easily toted to meetings
and used for general doodling.
Enter the HP Tablet PC TC1100. Maximum PC hasn’t
yet reviewed the TC1100, but sister magazine Mobile
PC found it to be the best of seven Tablet PCs reviewed
in its April 2004 issue. I’ve been using the device for
exactly one week as of this writing, and I can testify
that, thus far, it’s been the perfect solution for my par-
ticular computing problem. Using the TC1100’s bundled
“pressure pen” and built-in “digital ink” feature (which
is intrinsic to all Tablet PCs), I’ve been jotting down
cursive, long-hand notes directly onto virtual paper.
Gone is the heartbreak of flawed character-recognition.
I simply open up a Windows Journal document, and
then write on the Tablet’s screen as if the TC1100 were
a normal paper notepad.
Yes, I’m sold on the basic Tablet PC concept, but
how will the TC1100 stack up over time? After all, if
any product were to reveal itself as a useless curiosity
after a brief honeymoon period, it would be the oh-so-
novel Tablet PC. Is it a true personal computer—a direct
replacement for notebooks and PDAs—or a one-trick
Shetland? Will I grow to hate the lack of a built-in opti-
cal drive? And what about the dearth of applications that
leverage the awesome power of the pen?
Check back next month for a little “solution resolu-
tion.” I’ll have a full road-testing report, and pass a final
referendum on Microsoft’s and HP’s interpretation of pen-
based computing.