A handheld personal computer (PC) is a miniature computer typically built around a clamshell form factor and is significantly smaller than any standard

laptop A laptop, laptop computer, or notebook computer is a small, portable personal computer (PC) with a screen and alphanumeric keyboard. Laptops typically have a clam shell form factor with the screen mounted on the inside of the upper li ...

computer, but based on the same principles. It is sometimes referred to as a ''palmtop computer'', not to be confused with

Palmtop PC A handheld personal computer (PC) is a miniature computer typically built around a clamshell form factor and is significantly smaller than any standard laptop computer, but based on the same principles. It is sometimes referred to as a ''palmto ...

which was a name used mainly by

Hewlett-Packard The Hewlett-Packard Company, commonly shortened to Hewlett-Packard ( ) or HP, was an American multinational information technology company headquartered in Palo Alto, California. HP developed and provided a wide variety of hardware components ...

. Most handheld PCs use an

operating system An operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware, software resources, and provides common services for computer programs. Time-sharing operating systems schedule tasks for efficient use of the system and may also in ...

specifically designed for mobile use. Ultra-compact laptops capable of running common

x86 x86 (also known as 80x86 or the 8086 family) is a family of complex instruction set computer (CISC) instruction set architectures initially developed by Intel based on the Intel 8086 microprocessor and its 8088 variant. The 8086 was introd ...

-compatible desktop operating systems are typically classified as subnotebooks. The first hand-held device compatible with desktop IBM personal computers of the time was the

Atari Portfolio The Atari Portfolio (Atari PC Folio) is an IBM PC-compatible palmtop PC, released by Atari Corporation in June 1989. This makes it the world's first palmtop computer.

of 1989. Other early models were the

Poqet PC The Poqet PC is a very small, portable IBM PC compatible computer, introduced in 1989 by Poqet Computer Corporation with a price of $2000. The computer was discontinued after Fujitsu Ltd. bought Poqet Computer Corp. It was the first subnoteboo ...

of 1989 and the Hewlett Packard

HP 95LX The HP 95LX Palmtop PC (F1000A, F1010A), also known as ''project Jaguar'', was Hewlett Packard's first MS-DOS-based pocket computer, or personal digital assistant, introduced in April 1991 in collaboration with Lotus Development Corporation. ...

of 1991 which run the MS-DOS operating system. Other DOS-compatible hand-held computers also existed. After 2000 the handheld PC segment practically halted, replaced by other forms, although later communicators such as

Nokia E90 Nokia E90 Communicator was a high-end 3G smartphone from Nokia, the fifth generation Communicator, and also part of the Eseries. It was announced on 11 February 2007 at the 3GSM show in Barcelona. It succeeded the Nokia 9500 Communicator as ...

can be considered to be of the same class. The name Handheld PC was used by

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washing ...

from 1996 until the early 2000s to describe a category of small computers having keyboards and running the

Windows CE Windows Embedded Compact, formerly Windows Embedded CE, Windows Powered and Windows CE, is an operating system subfamily developed by Microsoft as part of its Windows Embedded family of products. Unlike Windows Embedded Standard, which is base ...

operating system.

Microsoft's Handheld PC standard

The Handheld PC (with capital "H") or H/PC for short was the official name of a hardware design for

personal digital assistant A personal digital assistant (PDA), also known as a handheld PC, is a variety mobile device which functions as a personal information manager. PDAs have been mostly displaced by the widespread adoption of highly capable smartphones, in partic ...

(PDA) devices running

. The intent of Windows CE was to provide an environment for applications compatible with the

Microsoft Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for serv ...

operating system, on processors better suited to low-power operation in a portable device. It provides the appointment calendar functions usual for any PDA. Microsoft was wary of using the term "PDA" for the Handheld PC. Instead, Microsoft marketed this type of device as a "PC companion". To be classed as a Windows CE Handheld PC, the device must: * Run Microsoft's Windows CE * Be bundled with an application suite only found through an OEM Platform Release and not in Windows CE itself * Use

ROM Rom, or ROM may refer to: Biomechanics and medicine * Risk of mortality, a medical classification to estimate the likelihood of death for a patient * Rupture of membranes, a term used during pregnancy to describe a rupture of the amniotic sac * ...

* Have a

screen Screen or Screens may refer to: Arts * Screen printing (also called ''silkscreening''), a method of printing * Big screen, a nickname associated with the motion picture industry * Split screen (filmmaking), a film composition paradigm in which mul ...

supporting a resolution of at least 480×240 * Include a

keyboard Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...

(except

tablet Tablet may refer to: Medicine * Tablet (pharmacy), a mixture of pharmacological substances pressed into a small cake or bar, colloquially called a "pill" Computing * Tablet computer, a mobile computer that is primarily operated by touching the s ...

models) * Include a

PC card In computing, PC Card is a configuration for computer parallel communication peripheral interface, designed for laptop computers. Originally introduced as PCMCIA, the PC Card standard as well as its successors like CardBus were defined and devel ...

slot * Include an

infrared Infrared (IR), sometimes called infrared light, is electromagnetic radiation (EMR) with wavelengths longer than those of visible light. It is therefore invisible to the human eye. IR is generally understood to encompass wavelengths from around ...

(IrDA) port * Provide wired serial and/or

Universal Serial Bus Universal Serial Bus (USB) is an industry standard that establishes specifications for cables, connectors and protocols for connection, communication and power supply (interfacing) between computers, peripherals and other computers. A broad ...

(USB) connectivity HP's first displays' widths were more than a third larger than that of Microsoft's specification. Soon, all of their competition followed. Examples of Handheld PC devices are the NEC MobilePro 900c,

HP 320LX __NOTOC__ The HP 300LX was one of the first handheld PCs designed to run the Windows CE 1.0 operating system from Microsoft. Unlike other HPCs of the time, the resistive touch screen had an enhanced screen resolution of 640x240 with 4 shades of ...

Sharp Sharp or SHARP may refer to: Acronyms * SHARP (helmet ratings) (Safety Helmet Assessment and Rating Programme), a British motorcycle helmet safety rating scheme * Self Help Addiction Recovery Program, a charitable organisation founded in 19 ...

Telios, HP Jornada 720, IBM WorkPad Z50, and

Vadem Clio {{Advert, date=March 2010 The Vadem Clio is a handheld PC that ran Windows CE H/PC Pro 3.0 (WinCE Core OS 2.11). It was released in 1999. Data Evolution Corporation currently owns the rights to the Clio. Overview The Clio is a convertible tablet ...

. Also included are tablet computers like the

Fujitsu is a Japanese multinational information and communications technology equipment and services corporation, established in 1935 and headquartered in Tokyo. Fujitsu is the world's sixth-largest IT services provider by annual revenue, and the la ...

PenCentra 130, and even communicators like the late

Samsung The Samsung Group (or simply Samsung) ( ko, 삼성 ) is a South Korean multinational manufacturing conglomerate headquartered in Samsung Town, Seoul, South Korea. It comprises numerous affiliated businesses, most of them united under the ...

NEXiO S150. In 1998 Microsoft released the Palm-size PC, which have smaller screen sizes and lack keyboards compared to Handheld PC. Palm-size PC became

Pocket PC A Pocket PC (P/PC, PPC) is a class of personal digital assistant (PDA) that runs the Windows Mobile or Windows Embedded Compact operating system that has some of the abilities of modern desktop PCs. The name was introduced by Microsoft in 2000 ...

in 2000. Due to limited success of Handheld PC, Microsoft focused more on the keyboard-less Pocket PC. In September 2000, the updated Handheld PC 2000 was announced which is based on version 3.0 of Windows CE. Interest in the form factor overall quickly evaporated, and by early 2002 Microsoft were no longer working on Handheld PC, with its distinct functionality removed from version 4.0 of Windows CE. HP and Sharp both discontinued their Windows CE H/PCs in 2002, while NEC was last to leave the market in 2005. However, some manufacturers abandoned the format even before Microsoft did, such as Philips and Casio.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Handheld Pc Mobile computers Windows CE devices de:Handheld PC lt:Delninis kompiuteris

Microsoft's Handheld PC standard

See also

References