wm5 upgrade vs wm3

[jelty]

I'm using 2003 version now. when battery ran out, programs in my sx66 got lost.

it is said in 05 , programs don't lose even when battery is out.
is it true?

[Midget_1990]

yes it is true, and is the main reason why i use wm5.

Basically in wm2003 your programs and data etc are stored on a 'ram drive' meaning that a partition is created in the ram memory on your device (which clears when the device loses power) - this is known as volatile memory.

You may also have noticed that you have a folder called 'storage' that keeps the data stored in it even when the power goes out. This is because the 'storage' folder is stored on a seperate flash chip, a type of NON-volatile memory, similar to the kind used in usb flash drive and SD cards etc.

Basically windows mobile 2005 does things differently to 2003, instead of using the Ram as both program and storage memory, and the 'storage' chip as a serperate thing it uses the whole 128mb of ram for program memory and the internal 'storage' flash chip for storage memory.

There are various (dis)advantages to this:

1) Your device will perform faster in some memory hungry situations as there is more ram avaliable to the programs

2) The storage memory (inc instaled programs and settings) will not be lost on a hard reset (or power failure)

3) you are stuck with the amount of storage space on the flash disk (no more resizing the storage memory for a few minutes to take a large file)

4) the storage memory will be slightly slower than it was in wm2003, although it is still faster than an sd card and this is negligble.

Basically if your not worried about large files and slightly slower file copy times and you want your data to be there after a hard reset or power loss then this is the way forwards, however you must also take into consideration the many other problems and advantages of WM5 first and weigh out if it will be worth it for you personally.

Hope this helps :D

(wow, longest post ever...)