In follow-up to my November post regarding the availability of a Pocket PC 2003 upgrade for the Viewsonic V37 I have now received and successfully installed the update.
The process is pretty straight forward and quick. One of the major drawbacks is the need to perform a cold reset causing loss of all data on the device so please ensure that you back up anything of importance before beginning the process. The update software provides simple instructions that step you through the process. The only real problem I ran into during the upgrade was where the instructions state to rotate the jog dial towards the record button they should really say Press (not rotate) the jog dial in while turning the battery on. The process to put the V37 in upgrade mode is different than other models.
When the system restarts it looks pretty much like it did before. I think that I was hoping for a flashy new background or something. Most of the changes appear to be enhancements rather than dramatic visual changes.
The Zero Configuration Wi-Fi is a change that I really like. In the past it always seemed a little strange setting up a network card for internet access. it would eventually work, but sometimes it seemed inconsistent in getting things to setup to work. Now you are greeted with an XP-like list of available networks and you are prompted for a WEP key if required.
The official Microsoft list of new features for Pocket PC 2003 includes:
Zero Configuration Wi-Fi
Bluetooth Support
New Connection Manager
Enhanced Messaging Support
Enhanced Keyboard Support
Enhanced Contacts
Enhanced Calendar
'Pictures' Image Viewer
Windows Media Player 9 Series
Improved pIE Performance
Jawbreaker