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Apple Newton celebrates 20 years of eating up Martha
History hasn't been particularly kind to the Newton. Apple's early play at the mobile device market has largely been a source of ridicule, considered a low point in the company's catalog. For every suggestion that the device was ahead its time, there are countless "eat up Martha" jokes. It's not hard to see why -- in spite of tenacious commitment on the part of John Sculley and co., the PDA never really took off, a fact blamed, in part, to hardware and software limitations. To mark the 20th anniversary of the device's on-stage debut, Harry McCracken picked a first-gen MessagePad H1000 and some accessories up on eBay, living with the device for six weeks, as part of an attempt to "reconsider" the Newton. So, how does the product hold up in the harsh light of 2012? At the very least, it offered up the opportunity for great shots like the one above.
A hands-on reconsideration of the Newton
Harry McCracken over at TIME Techland has written a beautiful piece about a 20-year-old piece of technology that was ahead of its time -- Apple's Newton MessagePad. As he notes, it was twenty years ago this week that Apple CEO John Sculley introduced the Newton to the public at a CES show in Chicago. The device wouldn't actually ship until August of 1993 and would fly for only five years before being axed by Steve Jobs upon his triumphant return to Apple, but it made its mark on the world and on Harry McCracken. He never had an opportunity to write a review of the Newton, so he purchased a "new in box" first-generation Newton MessagePad H1000 off of eBay and set to work giving this piece of nostalgic technology a fair review. McCracken found a number of things interesting about his time with the Newton. First, most people ignored the device when he pulled it out in a meeting or on an airplane, dismissing it as just another tablet. Next, he points out that the screen on the original Newton MessagePad was "terrible". Apple did improve it somewhat with a backlight later, but it remained pretty crappy by today's standards. When it came to battery life, McCracken was impressed. As he notes, "Back in the 1990s, people squawked that the MessagePad H1000 drained its four AAA batteries too quickly. I found, however, that I could go for a couple of weeks on a set. In an age of smartphones that conk out after less than one day, that was more than enough to keep me happy." I won't spoil the day for you by reiterating all of McCracken's post, but instead invite you to read his well-written words on the subject. The post was enough to make me dig out my still-working MessagePad 2100, plug it in (the battery pack no longer holds a charge), and take the title shot above comparing my vastly more powerful iPhone 4S to the last of the Newtons. If you have a little bit of time and want a nice trip down memory lane, I also suggest watching the video below, which is from a video that shipped (on a VHS tape) with the original device.
USRobotics PalmPilot Personal review
It's 1996. You might have a cellphone, but it doesn't do much more than make phone calls. You might have a laptop, but it's likely too heavy to carry with you everywhere you go. Or you might only have a phone that's plugged into a wall and a PC that's confined to a desk. That's the environment that gave rise to the Personal Digital Assistant (or PDA), a new type of product that first arrived in the late 1980s but really came into its own in the mid-90s. 1996 also saw the release of the first PDAs developed by USRobotics subsidiary Palm Inc., the Pilot 1000 and 5000, which had more in common with today's smartphones than many of their contemporary devices. They had a touchscreen with only a few physical buttons at the bottom. They had apps you could download. They could sync data with your computer. And they were small and light enough to carry with you at all times. They just didn't make phone calls. A year later, Palm released the slightly upgraded PalmPilot Personal and PalmPilot Professional (with 512KB and 1MB of RAM, respectively), and the ensuing years would see a regular stream of new devices -- not to mention an acquisition by 3Com, and a new spate of Palm OS products from Handspring, a company founded by the folks behind the original Pilot. But it's those first few devices that come to mind when someone mentions "Palm PDA," and with good reason -- they set a mold that wasn't deviated from much until Palm made the jump into smartphones.
Entelligence: Happy 10th birthday, Pocket PC
Entelligence is a column by technology strategist and author Michael Gartenberg, a man whose desire for a delicious cup of coffee and a quality New York bagel is dwarfed only by his passion for tech. In these articles, he'll explore where our industry is and where it's going -- on both micro and macro levels -- with the unique wit and insight only he can provide. Microsoft introduced the world to Pocket PC on April 19th, 2000 at a relatively small gathering in Grand Central Station in New York City. Pocket PC was the company's response to Palm, which at that time was leading the PDA market -- for many geeks, using a personal digital assistant was indeed a public display of affection. I was at the launch event -- in fact, I was even quoted in the press release. Microsoft introduced four devices that day with their partners: the Casio EM500, the HP Jornada 545 & 548, the Symbol Technologies PPT2700, and the Compaq iPAQ. The iPAQ was the flagship of the Pocket PC line and the hottest handheld you could buy at the time: it had a slim form factor with "sleeves" that could be attached to add functionality such as Compact Flash or PCMCIA cards, a "fast" ARM processor and a killer indoor/outdoor screen. Availability was limited and prices on eBay quickly topped $1,000 for the scarce unit.
The IMOVIO iKit: everything you ever wanted in a PDA, save for a bunch of stuff you wanted
A company called IMOVIO has introduced the iKit -- a twisted combination of a Nintendo DS and your favorite old-school PDA (Psion anyone?). Predicting a rip in the fabric of space which tears all sense of reason and linear evolution of technology asunder, IMOVIO figures that there's a group of people who just want a small, underpowered handheld with WiFi as opposed to a smartphone or netbook. The device packs a 312MHz Marvell CPU running Linux, a 2.6-inch QVGA display, 128MB of ROM, 64MB of RAM, microSD support up to 8GB, Bluetooth 2.0, optional 0.3 megapixel webcam, and a full QWERTY keyboard. Sounds kind of okay, right? Take into account that it only accepts USB 1.1, has no proper headphone jack (again, USB), and gets a measly four hours of battery life while playing Java games and, well, it starts to seem less than exciting. If you're not deterred by the aforementioned facts, one of these can be yours in black or white for £99 (about $172), no word on street date.[Thanks, T.I.]
HP's iPAQ 110 and 210 PDAs get shipment date, prices
We know that you're all on pins and needles right now waiting to find out when you can get your hands on those new HP PDAs, the iPAQ 110 and 210, and how much it will cost you when you do. Well, you're in luck, because the company has just added shipping dates and pricing to its website, thus making your Fall plans a little bit easier. If you'll recall, both WiFi equipped, Windows Mobile 6 devices feature color TFT touchscreens, Marvell PXA310 624 Mhz processors, and Bluetooth 2.0. The devices will be shipping on October 8th, with the 110 selling for $299, and the 210 for $399.[Thanks, Speed]Read -- HP iPAQ 110 Classic HandheldRead -- HP iPAQ 210 Enterprise Handheld
HP unleashes iPAQ series 100 and 200 PDAs
As we've mentioned recently, HP has been readying a handful (no pun intended) of new iPAQ handhelds. Luckily, today we get to move from rumor to fact, as the company has officially announced the next wave of its mobile line. Along with new 3G phones and a GPS navigator, HP is launching the 100 Series "Classic" and 200 Series "Enterprise" edition (pictured) PDAs. Both models are based around Windows Mobile 6 Classic, and sport 64MB of RAM, 256MB of ROM, a Marvell PXA310 624MHz CPU, 802.11b/g, Bluetooth 2.0, and color touchscreens. There are some notable differences between the two models, however, with the 100 sporting a 3.5-inch, 240 x 320, RGB screen, Mini-USB, and SDIO card slot, while the 200 sports a 4-inch, 480 x 640, 260k screen, 24-pin and Mini-USB connectors, plus SDIO and CF card slots. No word yet on pricing and availability, but you'll know when we do.
