When I saw "handheld PC" I thought it refers to Steam Deck and alike.

Only until I saw "Windows CE" along with the UI did I realize what devices this forum is actually about

P.S. of course I also confused "HPC" in the domain with "high performance computing"

• NetMageSCW

  12/25/2025

  Initially I thought it referred to the Japanese (Casio/Sharp/Panasonic) single line calculator/coomputer bridges I have a collection of and the Radio Shack/Tandy versions that came out (I have every one from RS).

This brings back memories. I used to write software for these things before iOS and Android took over.

https://fantasticbytes.com/products/launchmanager

I even wrote a disassembler for them

http://blog.carolos.za.net/2007/03/charmed-disassembler-beta...

• NetMageSCW

  12/25/2025

  I did as well (scw.us still has a page) but I called them Pocket PCs back then.

> There are 169 guests currently online and -1 members (168 users in total).

haha this made me chuckle

• roughly

  12/25/2025

  Old joke:

  A pair of mathematicians are sitting in a park chatting. There’s a snack shack near by, and while they’re talking, three people walk into the building. Some time later, four people walk out, and another couple walks in. A bit after that, two more people walk out. One of the mathematicians notices this and comments to the other, “you know, if one more person walks into that building, it’ll be empty.”

Browsing this from a CM5 powered Hackberry Pi - a device not on-topic despite being a handheld deck - the problem is I'm running Linux, and these discussions seem more retro-focused on WinCE. Fewer forums for modern HPC than I'd like. Should probably host one.

Still don't understand people's dislike for Windows Mobile, I liked it a lot.

• numpad0

  12/25/2025

  The UI wasn't doing multitasking correctly. The [X] button was [_] button for no good reason, and users tended to leave bunch of apps burning battery not knowing how to close them(e.g. through a third party quick task switcher-killer).

  The OS kernel wasn't so stable relative to anything else at that time including embedded Linux, had 32MB/process hard RAM limit that ruled out WebKit, and also the scheduler was badly designed that the UI frequently stuttered or locked up. The UI also did not utilize GPU for general UI rendering(common at the time; made an obsolete idea by Apple), tasking CPU and its bus for everything.

  The device I had came with a stylus shaped like a handstrap charm that doubled as the reset button pick. Isn't that inexcusable by modern standards? Everything back then did have a recessed reset button hole, but not everything came with a carry-on tool to poke it. The WM device I had did. Which I didn't use as lifting and reseating the battery was faster.

• wkat4242

  12/25/2025

  It was good for mini PC like devices. Like the HP Jornada. It was just windows but mini. Which made total sense for the Jornada which was just a PC but mini.

  It totally deeply horribly sucked for phone-like devices. I used to have one from work. HTC Touch Pro 2. It had a glossy horrifically slow overlay that made things even worse but either way it was a UX nightmare.

  Even on my Dell Axim it wasn't great though not terribly bad either. For the time it was ok, and I read some books on it and played some games with the likes of ScummVM. But as a phone you use every day brrr.

  The later windows phone solved a lot of issues and it was very well liked, Microsoft just didn't give it enough time to actually take off. Some people still pine for it today.

  • mattkevan

    12/25/2025

    Love how Microsoft decided that a desktop UI was the right approach for a handheld OS. Then when the iPhone showed that it wasn’t, they overcorrected and put a tablet UI on their desktop OS. Geniuses.

    • wkat4242

      12/26/2025

      Yes. Windows 8 was completely ridiculous. And the worst part was they doubled down for about a year. At that point businesses started stopping upgrade plans and they had to cave in with 8.1.

      For some reason they thought the tablet would be the next major computing form factor rather than the niche it has become and they were afraid losing it all to Apple. Kinda can imagine that but I never understood why the desktop had to suffer for it.

brings back memories. ive had a digital organizer/pocket computer since high school in the 90s. casio databank with an alphabetical (not querty) keyboard, Psions where I worked a summer job while travling, Palm, Handspring, Sony Clie, and finally into iPhones — though I do really miss keyboards and terminals.

• nytesky

  12/25/2025

  oh and of course my Windows CE handheld pc.

Certainly very old school.

Side note: this makes me wish the windows handhelds had a phone form factor and 5g

Do anyone have any recommendations on "slabtops", i.e computers with a C64 form factor but also a small screen embedded on the keyboard, so I can use it as a scientific computer rather than a laptop

• The_SamminAter

  12/26/2025

  There’s this[0] one that seems pretty approachable, I’ve been considering making it

  [0]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46265015

I should fire up my HP Jornada and join this forum from it.

• als0

  12/25/2025

  It was a great little device.

  • MarcelOlsz

    12/26/2025

    It truly was. It just felt good. The UI brings me such positive nostalgia. I was obsessed playing solitaire on that thing.

Thought this was gonna be about ultra mobile PCs (UMPCs) in general

I think I've still got a Compaq iPaq in my collection of obsolete gadgets, but last time I tried it the battery wouldn't hold a charge at all.

More disappointingly, other gadgets of a similar era - such as a Creative Labs Nomad Jukebox and a GP32 handheld are suffering from flash memory losing it's contents (the firmware), bricking the devices :(

do tablets count as handheld PCs nowadays?

• justsomehnguy

  12/25/2025

  At 10" and 12"? More like twohandheld.

  I had Acer W4-821 and I think this (along with the Dell counterpart) was the last 8" on the market, at least available in the retail. It was compact enough to go into a jacket pocket and had a full blown OS, I even run CentOS virtual machine on it for testing small things while on the go.

  Today the only option for less than 10" are Android tablets and they are far from a PC.

  • spankibalt

    12/25/2025

    > "Today the only option for less than 10" are Android tablets and they are far from a PC."

    Yeah, outside of the odd offering from GPD or their knock-off crews every now and then, that segment only exist in the industry-PC market ("ruggedized"). Everything else is indeed ToyOS land. Or indie hopefuls, most of which either don't make it to market or are not powerful enough.

  • walterbell

    12/25/2025

    Google Pixels can run a Debian VM with optional external keyboard or display.

    • justsomehnguy

      12/26/2025

      I would sooner scratch my left ear with my right hand than do this.

      • walterbell

        12/27/2025

        Comparable to WSL2, including virtualized graphics, available as foldable Pixel handheld with optional external peripherals and standard Debian packages, i.e. supports all three of: phone, handheld and desktop use cases.

  • NetMageSCW

    12/25/2025

    The iPad Mini was refreshed just over a year ago.

• rchaud

  12/25/2025

  I wouldn't imagine so. It is a different device category targeted at a different kind of user. They're entertainment devices first and foremost, where as the "handheld PC" category targeted business customers, some of whom could write their own programs for it, without needing a "developer license" or to publish through an "app store".

• numpad0

  12/25/2025

  I think the exact terms "Handheld PC" and "Pocket PC" were technically Microsoft trademarks and branding for non-x86 mini laptops(not all were ARM!) and tiny tablets(Wi-Fi happened later!) that ran CE/PPC/WM. So technically no.

• bigyabai

  12/25/2025

  Depends, is it a computer?

  The Steam Deck is, no doubt about it. The iPad isn't. If you're walking around calling your iPad a "handheld PC" then you're looking like Dwight from The Office.