The promised unveiling of the first batch of Windows CE-based handheld devices at Comdex a few weeks ago gave the world its newest generation of tiny personal computers with keys designed to challenge the fingers of anyone older than eight. As expected, the first ones came from Casio Computer Co, Compaq Computer Corp, Hewlett-Packard Co, Hitachi Ltd, LG Electronics Inc – the old Goldstar and Philips Electronics NV, some of whom are even promising $500 devices for Christmas. Redmond’s promising hardware and software from another 90 vendors by the first quarter 1997. Windows CE, the erstwhile Pegasus, uses an Windows95/NT-derived kernel for compatibility with Windows95/NT programs running on full-scale computers. It also has a cut-down version of Explorer so the machines can be used as portable browsers. The first flush of CE-based devices are powered by NEC Corp/Hitachi SH-3 chips and $50 Mips R4000 microprocessors.
