My Palmtop History

I've been carrying palmtop and pocket PCs for well over a decade now. Below, I list every device I've ever owned.

Apple Newton MessagePad 100

I got my first PDA in 1994. My boss had taken it in trade from a client, and it didn't do much for him. I loved it. He let me buy it, making weekly payments.

The thing wasn't backlit, it weighed a lot, it was big, and it was slow as molasses. But I loved it. It had my schedule in it, all the anniversaries and birthdays I needed to know, my phonebook, and most importantly: it let me carry a huge amount of reading material with me at all times. If you've ever been a student and had to lug around 30 pounds of books, you know what a miracle it is to carry 30 or 40 titles in less than a pound!

See more juicy details about this forerunner of the modern palmtop here.

Newton 120

Somehow I managed to collect two or three of these over the years... I don't even recall where I bought them!

I gave them to friends so we could beam messages to each other or play games in the bar, or I sold them. This was a really fun, solid device.

The Newton's form factor really made you feel like you were holding onto a quality device. Even the stylus was full-sized and weighted like a quality pen!

Newton 130

Now this was a portable computer! A robust PDA, it did everything you'd ever want it to, and it was backlit. I could finally read in the dark!

There were portable keyboards, modems, network (Appletalk) connectors, and more. All the accessories were out there, if you just had the money to buy them.

The 130 was backlit (did I say backlit?), it was fast, it had storage space... with all the periferals I'd managed to collect, it was very close to being as functional as a laptop.

I finally sold my old 130 on eBay last year. I almost wish I still had one around somewhere to play with sometimes!

You know, I'll reveal here that I actually paid someone once to write a hack that would let me run a particular Newton OS easter egg whenever I wanted. Newton was the cutest opsys in the history of mankind. Sigh.

Casiopeia E-100

Apple discontinued the Newton, apparently because they didn't enjoy their success. (Their handwriting recognition AI was superb, and still hasn't been duplicated.)

I was disappointed that there was no new software coming out for Newtons, so I saved up and broke down and bought myself a WinCE device.

This Casiopeia had an amazing color screen and it was really speedy. It was light years ahead of the Newton in terms of general functionality, but no Windows product will ever match the charm of the Newton operating system.

HP Jornada 520 Series

The Casio eventually got dinged up, and its old operating system wouldn't let me run some of the newer software. I upgraded to a Jornada, not because I didn't want another Casio but because it was so much cheaper - PDAs, like cars, depreciate the minute you look at them, and I'm not much of an early adopter. I don't pay for R&D if I can help it.

This device's screen was a disappointment after the Casio, but it made up for it by being faster, noticably lighter, and having a cuter form factor.

HP Jornada 540 Series

This one was essentially the same as the 520 series, but it had 32MB instead of the 16MB the 520 shipped with. It's also had a nicer feel to it, and the case was black instead of brushed aluminum. The screen's resolution was slightly higher too.

Compaq iPAQ H3800

Believe it or not, I got this as a Christmas gift. It's fast, sleek, and has a great screen. I love this PPC to death - I carried it for over a year before I had to buy a storage card. It's upgradeable, too - I could even have gotten PPC 2003 installed.

Toshiba e400

This I ordered for myself for my birthday in 2004. It's ultra-slender and light, and I bought it a sturdy lined cover so hopefully it will fare better if (when) I drop it than my last PPC did.

You do tend to get what you pay for, though, and while I enjoy this device I don't recommend it - the card slot has never worked properly, and many of the buttons are glitchy after less than a year of moderate use (and no, I haven't dropped it!).