Pocket PC 2002 (codenamed Merlin) is a mobile operating system developed by Microsoft as part of the Pocket PC family. It was announced on September 6, 2001, and released on October 4.^[1][2] Like Pocket PC 2000, it was based on Windows CE 3.0. Although mainly targeted for Pocket PC devices, Pocket PC 2002 was also used for Pocket PC phones (Pocket PC 2002 Phone Edition), which were devices that combined the PDA functionality with cellular connectivity.

Aesthetically, Pocket PC 2002 was heavily inspired by the then newly released Windows XP. Newly added or updated programs include Windows Media Player 8 with streaming capability, MSN Messenger, and Microsoft Reader 2, with digital rights management support. Upgrades to the bundled version of Office Mobile include a spell checker and word count tool in Pocket Word, and improvements to Pocket Outlook. Connectivity was improved with file beaming on non-Microsoft devices such as Palm OS, the inclusion of Terminal Services and Virtual Private Networking (VPN) support, and the ability to synchronize folders. Other upgrades include an enhanced UI with theme support and savable downloads, and WAP in Pocket Internet Explorer.

On the technical side of things, Pocket PC 2002 removed support for the MIPS and SuperH CPU architectures, leaving only the ARM architecture. The maximum resolution supported by this release was 240×320 (QVGA) on Pocket PC devices, the same as Pocket PC 2000. Another software platform on the same base, designed for smartphones (Smartphone 2002), was also released, which was mainly for keypad-style GSM devices. With future releases, the Pocket PC and Smartphone lines would increasingly collide as the licensing terms were relaxed to allow OEMs to take advantage of more innovative, individual design ideas.

References

External links

• Pocket PC 2002 at Microsoft (archived 2002-06-03)
• Pocket PC 2002 at Wikipedia

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