Which PocketPC device for ScummVM?

Subforum for discussion and help with ScummVM's PocketPC/HandheldPC port

Moderator: ScummVM Team

Post Reply
cappuchok
Posts: 134
Joined: Mon Oct 31, 2005 7:54 am

Which PocketPC device for ScummVM?

Post by cappuchok »

I'm currently looking into buying a Windows Mobile phone/PDA, and good support for ScummVM is a priority to me so I can help out with testing and have some fun on the go without having to bring two devices.

I'm currently trying to decide between Qtek's 9090 (HTC Blue Angel platform) and 9100 (HTC Wizard).

Apart from the 9100 having the advantages of a landscape QWERTY keyboard (9090 has a portrait one), automatic switching of orientation, newer Bluetooth (1.2 as opposed to 1.1), the possibility to patch it for supporting 802.11g in addition to .11b, and Windows Mobile 5.0 (9090 has WM 2003 SP2), it has the seeming disadvantage of only half the RAM (but 4x the ROM) and less than half the MHz (but if I understand correctly, dual cores) compared to the 9090.

(BTW, if the 9100 does have dual ARM cores @ 195 MHz, that would put it right alongside my GP2X in terms of speed, right?)

How severe a disadvantage is this to ScummVM, considering the architecture is different (9100: 2x ARM @ 195 MHz vs 9090: 1x XScale @ 400 MHz)? Experiences would be welcome.
User avatar
robinwatts
ScummVM Developer
Posts: 84
Joined: Sat Apr 07, 2007 5:16 pm
Location: Hook Norton, Oxfordshire, UK

Post by robinwatts »

I have no experience of either of the phones you mention, but PocketScumm hasn't been written to take advantage of twin cores - so I strongly suspect you'll only see performance equivalent to it running on a single core machine. On the other hand, my 200 MHz ipaq here does a storming job of running most games at full speed these days, so that may not be a problem.

Have you considered a T-Mobile MDA Vario II (aka HTC TyTN or HTC Hermes I believe)? I've got one of these from work, and I love it.

It's got a 400MHz processor, Windows Mobile 5, a landscape qwerty keyboard, supports 802.11b and g out of the box, bluetooth 2.0. It's also HSPDA (3.5G) compatible. Quad band GSM too. Has a microSD slot - I've got a 2Gig card in mine full of games. 128Meg ROM, 64 Meg RAM (48Meg usable).

HTH,

Robin
User avatar
DJWillis
ScummVM Porter
Posts: 174
Joined: Wed Oct 26, 2005 8:55 pm

Post by DJWillis »

I can vouch for ScummVM for WinCE being just peachy on the HTC Hermes (HTC TyTN, MDA Vaio II, Vodafone V1640 etc.). It's a fine QVGA device and you would be VERY hard pressed to get me to part with mine :D.

ScummVM also works well, with some lagging in the bigger games, on the Wizard but I suspect there is very little, money wise, between a Wizard and a Hermes and for pure device functionality there is no contest ;) (well unless you wait for the new HTC Kaiser platform).

You can't really use the 2nd core on the Wizard anyway (the radio runs on that) and as the GP2X port of ScummVM does not use the 2nd CPU core anyway its a moot point (well I am messing with OGG and MP3 on the second core but that is not stable yet). The Wizard is a bit slower then the GP2X in ScummVM but they are very different platforms ;).

I have to ask, why are you looking at something on the Blue Angel platform, that was end of line a VERY long time ago (and the Wizard stopped production a fair while ago also).

The Hermes (Well HTC TyTN variant) also has an official upgrade path to Windows Mobile 6 (HTC have info on there site).
cappuchok
Posts: 134
Joined: Mon Oct 31, 2005 7:54 am

Post by cappuchok »

I was looking at the Blue Angel platform mainly because a co-worker had found a few of them refurbished with a very good price from a trustworthy vendor. Someone mentioned that it used regular SD cards as opposed to the TyTN which uses micro-SD. Seeing as SD cards are cheaper and I already have a lot of them for my camera and GP2X, I saw it as a big advantage but I was somewhat dubious about the CPU of the unit.

I looked briefly at the HTC TyTN but immediately decided against it because it is one of the most expensive phone PDAs available (even the Wizard is some 200€ cheaper)). If I had been able to find a refurbished one at a well respected store, I might have considered it had the price been right.

My main focus with this buy is to get a cheap and good entry-level Windows phone to mess about with and learn the platform. I'm more of an Ericsson user when it comes to phones, and haven't used smartphones before, so this is really just about seeing what a Windows phone is like and if it would be worth spending (a lot of) money on my next "real" upgrade being a Windows device.
And I also figured if I find a device that is powerful enough, I could help out with ScummVM testing on this platform.

Anyway, to make a long story short, I found a very cheap refurbished E-Ten M600 at a big retailer, and as it features the same CPU (though in a different SoC) as the TyTN, I went for it. Yes it doesn't have 3G (and I don't even want that right now) and doesn't have an official upgrade path to WM6 (it should be compatible, though), but as this is mainly intended as a toy for now I couldn't be persuaded to part with nearly 750 € for the TyTN (even though that would make a VERY nice toy, I really can't justify spending that much money on a QVGA device when VGA devices are already available).

Oh, and the E-Ten M600 has a nifty feature - USB Host capability (through the cradle, not that USB-on-the-go stuff) - that I haven't found in any other currently available PDA phone (in Europe, at least). That'll make this a great toy to play around with even if I decide on another phone further down the road. Then perhaps I'll just use this as a wireless Skype handset.
Post Reply