I did as well (scw.us still has a page) but I called them Pocket PCs back then.

Initially I thought it referred to the Japanese (Casio/Sharp/Panasonic) single line calculator/coomputer bridges I have a collection of and the Radio Shack/Tandy versions that came out (I have every one from RS).

oh and of course my Windows CE handheld pc.

Old joke:

A pair of mathematicians are sitting in a park chatting. There’s a snack shack near by, and while they’re talking, three people walk into the building. Some time later, four people walk out, and another couple walks in. A bit after that, two more people walk out. One of the mathematicians notices this and comments to the other, “you know, if one more person walks into that building, it’ll be empty.”

It was good for mini PC like devices. Like the HP Jornada. It was just windows but mini. Which made total sense for the Jornada which was just a PC but mini.

It totally deeply horribly sucked for phone-like devices. I used to have one from work. HTC Touch Pro 2. It had a glossy horrifically slow overlay that made things even worse but either way it was a UX nightmare.

Even on my Dell Axim it wasn't great though not terribly bad either. For the time it was ok, and I read some books on it and played some games with the likes of ScummVM. But as a phone you use every day brrr.

The later windows phone solved a lot of issues and it was very well liked, Microsoft just didn't give it enough time to actually take off. Some people still pine for it today.

It was a great little device.

I wouldn't imagine so. It is a different device category targeted at a different kind of user. They're entertainment devices first and foremost, where as the "handheld PC" category targeted business customers, some of whom could write their own programs for it, without needing a "developer license" or to publish through an "app store".

Depends, is it a computer?

The Steam Deck is, no doubt about it. The iPad isn't. If you're walking around calling your iPad a "handheld PC" then you're looking like Dwight from The Office.

At 10" and 12"? More like twohandheld.

I had Acer W4-821 and I think this (along with the Dell counterpart) was the last 8" on the market, at least available in the retail. It was compact enough to go into a jacket pocket and had a full blown OS, I even run CentOS virtual machine on it for testing small things while on the go.

Today the only option for less than 10" are Android tablets and they are far from a PC.