What is strongARM and XScale?

StrongArm is a type of processor, just like the Intel "i386/i486/Pentium" or AMD processors for the PC Platform, the Motorola Power PC processor for the Macintosh, or the Dragon Ball processor for the Palm Pilot. It is a RISC (Reduced Instruction Set) processor designed for small devices with limited battery supplies. It is the only processor supported by the Microsoft Windows Pocket PC 2002 operating system (a.k.a Windows CE 3). The XScale processor is a new kind of mobile processor, usually with higher Mhz ratings than the StrongArm, that is compatible with the StrongArm. Pocket PC 2002 and Windows CE applications run just fine on the XScale, but do not currently take advantage of the new features of the new processor. Even though the Mhz may say 400Mhz, it is only slightly faster than the 200Mhz StrongArm processors out there due to the need to run in StrongArm compatibility mode for Pocket PC 2002. Future releases of software or Windows CE operating systems may take advantage of the XScale, but no official information is yet known from Microsoft. Both the StrongArm and the XScale processors are from Intel. In short, the StrongArm and XScale processors are all the same with regards to running Pocket PC 2002 (a.k.a Windows CE 3) Software. If you need to download software for your Dell Axim X5, treat it as if it has a StrongArm processor in it.

Xscale is Intel's processor architecture for microprocessors used in appliance applications. Dell uses Intel's Xscale processors in AXIM.