Josh Bancroft (he does the excellent TinyScreenfuls weblog) visited me today. He doesn't work at Microsoft. He works at Intel. But he sold me on a Dell Axim and convinced me that I don't have a clue about what the new portable user really needs.

I thought that all I really need is my SmartPhone. After all, that plays audio, video, does text fairly well.

I assumed that for people who wanted to play more video, or that wanted a screen that they could actually see some detail in the video that a portable media center would be the ticket.

I'm now convinced I'm wrong. I'm convinced that the PocketPC form factor is the better way to go. Here's how Josh convinced me:

First, it has a VGA screen. 640x480. That doesn't sound impressive, but when you see this screen your eyes will pop out. Ken Levy showed me a Toshiba that also had a VGA screen. I didn't understand the benefits when Ken showed me his, though, cause Ken didn't show me video playing on his.

Wow.

Josh had three hour-long videos stored on his 1GB SD card. The detail was stunning. Better quality than I've seen on the portable media centers.

But, this sucker has a few advantages. One, there's a ton of software. Josh demonstrated a few things including email, Web browsing, and an RSS news aggregator. The Portable Media Centers don't have those.

I could see that someone taking a bus or train to work would really get a lot of use out of the PocketPC.

"But don't you need more space than that for video?" I asked Josh. He said you really don't, because most of the time you won't watch more than three hours of video in any one sitting anyway. For instance, let's say you have a 30 minute commute on a subway or train, you don't need more than a couple hours of video.

And a 1GB SD card can hold a LOT of RSS feeds and audio podcasts. He says a device like this is revolutionary when you start getting into the new videoblogging and podcasting trends that are happening.

Thanks Josh for being an effective evangelist for the PocketPC. Josh claims he's sold about 20 Dell's and has been so successful getting people to buy them that he's setup his own Dell affiliate program. He also said that if you're careful you can usually get the Dell for about $400 (right now they are selling on the Dell site for $500).

12:38:34 PM    

I love reading the Venture Capital blogs. VC's are generally really interesting people tied into networks of very interesting people. A VC, for instance, just brought me two KILLER podcasts. You know, those of you who think podcasting is just hype for a fad that'll disappear just haven't listened to some of the best podcasts.

12:37:39 PM