Over the years since the advent of the Personal Digital Assistant, there have been a number of popular form factors, and this trend may be set for a shake-up over the next couple of years.
My personal involvement began in 1989 with the Microwriter AgendA, a handheld device with two lines of display and a unique method of entering text by the use of one handed finger buttons. It worked well but the limitations of its lack of connectivity, the 16Kb of RAM and the small screen saw it give way to a succession of Psion devices, all following the clamshell format. The Psion 5 remains the best physical keyboard I've ever used, but once again, lack of development and the advent of the Pocket PC saw me move on.
My first PocketPC was a Compaq Ipaq 3630, which was, in 2000 the first in the line of the sort of device we still see today, though various Palm Pilot models hit the market before the Ipaq range. These early PPC devices had limited memory by today's standards, but the form factor of the 3.6" 240*320 touchscreen remained the most popular for around five years.
The early PPC devices were hampered by a lack of connectivity, which meant they were mainly 'briefcase' devices. Size was not really an issue in comparison to the ease of reading the screens for the purposes of reference or document management. This started to change however, when in 2002, O2 released the first truly 'connected' device, the XDA (short for eXtended Digital Assistant!); While keeping to the same form factor as earlier devices, this came with the new Phone Edition of Pcoket PC 2003, and integrated the functions of PDA and mobile phone. GSM data connectivity became available for 'on the move' email and web browsing, at a price. This was still a 'tablet' type device with a 3.6" QVGA screen with the added size of the external GSM antenna but it became a niche device with an ever increasing fan base. I shall probably refer to subsequent devices by a number of trade names, but most were actually made by HTC under various development and model names for the various mobile operators.
The XDA 1 developed into the XDA II, then the XDA IIi and XDA IIs, each adding usability within a similar form factor. Very shortly after the XDA 1 appeared, Orange released the first in its line of SPV devices. The original Orange SPV was as much a milestone as the XDA 1, being the first to use the new Smartphone operating system. This eschewed the 3.6" touchscreen in favour of a much smaller non-touchscreen format, with an enhanced physical keyboard below the screen. The SPV begat a whole range of successors and development has remained in parallel to the PocketPC/Windows Mobile range.
Hence we see the start of the Form Factor debate- a larger touch screen devce with no keyboard or a much more compact non-touchscreen device with a keyboard. There have been crossover devices of course, and the merits of a hardware keyboard soon became apparent. The first of these was the XDA IIs with its slide down keyboard, then we saw the XDA Exec with its complex twisting keyboard and VGA screen but the comparitive form factors remained about the same- pocketable Smartphones or less pocketable PocketPCs.
The form factor question took it's next step in late 2005 with the release of the HTC Magician and it's keyboard equipped brother called the XDA MiniS in O2 guise. These saw the start of the reduction in screen size, and therefore overall bulk. Both sported a 2.8" QVGA screen and using Pocket PC 2003 Second Edition were capable of working in portrait or landscape orientations. Both were resounding successes and resulted in a general reduction in the screen, and overall size of Pocket PC Phones. The 2.8" QVGA screen became the norm until July 2008 when the HTC Touch Diamond was released.
The form factor of various devices has evolved parallel to the abilities of the operating system and also to the ongoing rapid development of the chipsets and memory powering them. Over the last three years, devices have tended to become smaller and lighter, rivalling the more traditional 'dumb' phones whilst continuing to add features like GPS, 3G, WiFi and enhanced storage. For the last two years the attitude has tended to be 'smaller is better' and this has definite benefits for those using the devices for telephony. There is of course a trade off. Reference, ebook reading and web browsing become ever more difficult as screen sizes decrease and resolutions increase. A VGA 2.8" screen looks great but the text can sometimes be unreadable for those of maturing years like me!
Things however were starting to change! Something called the iPhone came along in late 2007; a device unashamedly aimed at media usage and simple navigation. This sported a mid resolution 3.5" screen and proved to be a major success. The iPhone bandwagon has charged along with enhancements to the underpinnings but little change in the form factor. What it does, it does exceptionally well and has resulted in a massive endorsement of its presentation. It is a little smaller than the early XDA's but it no longer had the 'nerd factor' of holding a slightly oversized device up to the ear to make phone calls.
So, this now begs the question- where to from here? The success of the iPhone appears to have Microsoft running to compete, possibly at the expense of those who want a smaller device. 2009 has seen the release of a number of devices compatible with or supplied with WM6.5. A large number of these sport 3.8" screens or larger. There are some notable exceptions in the Xperia 2 and the HTC Touch 2 but the provisional specifications for Windows Mobile 7 would suggest that these are a dying breed.
The Windows Mobile 7 minimum specifications, if the leaks are to be believed, are for a WVGA screen of 3.5" or greater. As screen size is the major determinant of actual device size, where does that leave those who want something like the HTC Magician or Touch? Where are the potential specifications for any Smartphone (ie non-touchscreen) variant?
Will Microsoft continue to support a parallel line of devices running a form of WM6, allowing the continuing production of devices which don't conform to the WM7 specification?
I am personally happy with a larger screen device but I may not always be of that mind. Will I be able to buy a compact, highly specified smaller phone like the HTC Diamond if I so choose? Time will tell, but unless we start asking questions now, we may find ourselves forced to use iPhone clones, or perhaps move to a different platform. Do we really want that?
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