What Would You Do with a Mouse on a Pocket PC?

[Chuong Nguyen]

Samsung showed off a new Windows Mobile Professional device with a mouse pointer at GITEX. The device looks like a Samsung Blackjack with a touchscreen and this new mouse technology integrated within a traditional directional pad.

While the mouse technology has been inplemented before on the hp iPaq hx4700 (http://pocketnow.com/index.php?a=portal_detail&t=reviews&id=483) of yore, this looks more useable and gives the user an option of using the d-pad or mouse. The technology looks cool; the form factor is nice--so what would you do with a mouse pointer on a Pocket PC? Would you use this?

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Source:
Pocket PC Thoughts (http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=442680&sid=9d4ffd994cf7ba7f2c6fc8deef3da374)

[Brandon Miniman]

Yeah I just don't see the point of having a mouse on a WM device. Maybe it's helpful for one-handed usage, but why not just poke your thumb at the screen?

That looks like a nice 320x320 screen to me!

[Chuong Nguyen]

The screen looks flush, kind of like the HTC Touch from the window. I am wondering if Samsung is using the same or similar technologies to enable this. Love the flush screen look--it just seems cleaner.

[adamz]

A mouse is the thing you put on a desk and move around so that the cursor moves on your screen. This looks like a trackball.
The HTC P3300 (http://www.pocketnow.com/index.php?a=portal_detail&t=reviews&id=886) has this as well. I never use the pointer. It's not useful at all. However, the trackball is great for scrolling through menus and lists. I like it a lot better than a traditional D-pad.

[Chuong Nguyen]

I think this is more like a trackpad than a trackball, but you are correct adamz.