After the news that the xpPhone, a mobile phone running the full fat version of Windows XP, will go on sale (as outlined in a blog post I did a bit back), news has appeared today about a second Windows XP-powered mobile phone that’s being developed. And, much like the xpPhone, I’m not entirely sure I can see it working as, y’know, an actual phone…
According to Engadget Mobile, the phone’s called the ViewSonic VPC08, and as with the xpPhone, I’m having trouble thinking of a compelling reason why you’d want to buy one…
But anyway, specs first, before I trash it. What you’re looking at is a phone very much in the mould of the Nokia Communicator series of phones (like the E90), with a sideways-opening clamshell design, a big screen and QWERTY keyboard inside, and a piddly little screen with an alphanumeric keypad on the front.
As for internals, it’s running an Intel ULV processor (whatever that is), 512Mb of RAM and 8Gb of storage. And, of course, it’s running Windows XP. And that’s all well and good, since there’s only two phones been announced that run XP, but that thing that gives the VPC08 its uniqueness is also the biggest problem with the phone. Look at those RAM and storage specs again. Not very big, are they? Okay, fair enough, they’re probably not far off most netbooks out there, but I would imagine the performance of the phone will be a bit, well, jittery, to say the least. And then there’s the really big problem, which is ironically caused by something that’s not big enough.
The screen. I’m assuming it’s a touchscreen, since I can’t see any kind of touchpad or nav-keys on the QWERTY keyboard, and that’s fine… except that XP is designed to run on big screens. Like, not big mobile screens, but proper PC monitors. I’m sitting writing this blog post on a 19″ widescreen monitor, and I honestly dread the thought of trying to use XP’s icons and what have you, on a 4.3 inch screen. Imagine how tiny the START button’ll be! Never mind touch controls, you’d need a bleedin’ nano-stylus to work that. And as for the fact XP doesn’t have kinetic scrolling, so you’d be stuck using scroll bars that are about half a picometer across… just don’t get me started.
Of course, there’s one (and only one) way they could make XP work on a small screen: take a leaf out of the Windows Mobile book, and stick a custom interface app on, that loads instantly when you boot the phone up. Of course, that begs the question of why they don’t use Windows Mobile. Fair enough, XP has access to a lot of software that you can’t use in WinMo (I’m thinking PhotoShop), but is it worth using an OS that’s not optimised for phones, just to be able to use software that isn’t, let’s be honest here, optimised to run on phones either.
And that’s before you get started on things like the battery life, which I can guarantee will be awful. So, all in all, the VPC08 is a brave attempt, but I can tell you now, an optimised, uber-powerful WinMo phone like the HTC HD2 will kick it in the clackers, laugh in its face, and steal its dinner money.
Still, could be worse. Could be Vista…
What do you think about phones running XP? Is it a BSOD waiting to happen (like, every time you turn the damn thing on)? Leave us a comment and have your say!