The optimal standalone PDA? Quick facts Introduction When Palm introduced the PalmPilot in 1997, the company was by no means one of the pioneers. Far from it. Companies such as Psion, Atari, Amstrad and AST, to name just a few, had already been making handheld computers for many years. Even so, Palm managed to go … Read more
The first commercial smartphone Quick facts Introduction Released in 2000, the Ericsson R380 is often referred to as “the first smartphone”. While that description is not entirely wrong, it is also somewhat simplified. From a functional point of view, the IBM Simon, released as early as 1994, combined mobile phone and PDA functionality long before … Read more
Smaller is not always better Quick facts Introduction Psion, one of the true pioneers in handheld computing, needed something that could compete with the increasingly popular line of shirt-pocketable PDAs from Palm. The year is 1999, and competition in the PDA market is fierce. Palm and Handspring have captured a significant share of the market, … Read more
Just your average, run-of-the-mill Windows CE 2.0 PDA? Quick facts Casio Cassiopeia E-11 Today perhaps best known for its line of G-Shock sports watches, Casio was once a consumer electronics giant, producing a wide range of devices commonly found in homes during the 1990s. In particular, it was well known for its calculators and digital … Read more
The first Palmtop computer Quick facts Background In the United Kingdom, the computer landscape of the late 1980s differed significantly from that of the United States. While IBM-compatible PCs were beginning to establish themselves, many British users still relied on platforms such as the Amstrad CPC, BBC Micro, and Sinclair Spectrum. At the same time, … Read more
The perfect school computer Quick facts Introduction The Apple Newton eMate 300 is unlike any other Newton. It runs the same Newton operating system as the later MessagePads, but its form factor is completely different. Instead of a handheld organizer, the eMate is a rugged, clamshell computer with a built-in keyboard, designed primarily for use … Read more
The final model that truly delivered on the promise of being a Personal Digital Assistant Quick facts Introduction Over the course of just four years, Apple introduced no fewer than seven Newton models. The MessagePad 2100 was the last—and by far the most capable—of them all. Introduced in 1997, it ran Newton OS 2.1 and … Read more
The machine that thinks with you (phrase from its brochure) Quick facts Overview Building on the relative success of the original Psion Organiser, released two years earlier, Psion took the concept of a handheld computer a significant step further with the Organiser II. The most visible improvement was the display, which now featured two lines … Read more
The world’s first smartphone Quick facts Background Back in 1992, the world was a very different place. Mobile phones were primarily used by business professionals who could afford the high per-minute fees charged by cellular network operators, and handheld computers such as the Psion Series 3 had only just appeared. It was in this context … Read more
Way ahead of its time – and still unlike anything else Quick facts Background The DataRover840 is an unusual device. It is one of the few PDAs that run the Magic Cap operating system from General Magic. General Magic started as a spin-off from Apple, where Marc Porat had some revolutionary ideas about how mobile … Read more