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I spent years ticking back and forth between Palm and Pocket PC devices. Palm hardware quality was bad and Pocket PC software was terrible. To this day I wonder

I spent years ticking back and forth between Palm and Pocket PC devices. Palm hardware quality was bad and Pocket PC software was terrible. To this day I wonder why Palm thought it was ok that all their LCDs emitted a high-pitched humming noise when turned on.

lxgr 5y ago
> Palm hardware quality was bad They were definitely not perfect, but at the time (and at my budget as a middle school student), Palm devices were the only way to have a pocket-sized computer of my own that I could bring to and use in school. The shareware community was amazing, and it's almost impossible to imagine how much stuff I could fit into 2 MB of total system memory: An eBook reader and a couple of books, several games (shout out to Space Trader), a TV remote control, offline newspaper articles... Only to see it all disappear in a heartbeat when changing batteries, with no way to restore while traveling for the summer! (My m100 had a flaky capacitor and would sometimes do that.)
- causality0 5y ago
  The design was fantastic. They just made bad choices about parts vendors, in my opinion.
Lammy 5y ago
> To this day I wonder why Palm thought it was ok that all their LCDs emitted a high-pitched humming noise when turned on. Maybe it was designed by people who couldn't hear it? High-pitched sounds are supposedly the first to go with age/tinnitus/etc: https://mosquitoloiteringsolutions.com/why-mosquito/sound-deterrent-for-under-25s/ https://mosquitoloiteringsolutions.com/why-mosquito/sound-de...
- markrages 5y ago
  That was the era of the elecroluminescent backlight. This technology required a high-voltage (~100V) squarewave across the mostly-capacitive EL panel. This squarewave was at audio frequencies. The panel also happened to function as a piezo tweeter, depending on mounting. I worked for a cell phone company at the time. I have two memories of this technology: 1. Using the prototype phone out of its case and touching the 100 V squarewave to my ear. That's some tender skin... 2. Using a primary transformer in reverse as an audio transformer, to play the lab stereo over EL panel. It turns out the panel color changes a little bit with frequency.
  - causality0 5y ago
    So why didn't pocket pcs or non-Palm PalmOS devices have the same problem? All of the Palm units in my collection have the buzz but none of the Clies do.
    - omgwtfusb 5y ago
      They mostly used LCDs with LED backlights (not sure what they used the some early WinCE laptop style handhelds with color displays)
      - causality0 5y ago
        Yet another sad story. I wanted to love those but I couldn't put up with the passive-matrix display.
buescher 5y ago
I had a number of the IIIxe in the late-middle days of Palm. They were a little fragile and tended to get busted up. I had one whose switch-mode supply hummed audibly- that one ate batteries. Maybe you had better hearing than me or worse luck.

lxgr 5y ago

> Palm hardware quality was bad They were definitely not perfect, but at the time (and at my budget as a middle school student), Palm devices were the only way to have a pocket-sized computer of my own that I could bring to and use in school. The shareware community was amazing, and it's almost impossible to imagine how much stuff I could fit into 2 MB of total system memory: An eBook reader and a couple of books, several games (shout out to Space Trader), a TV remote control, offline newspaper articles... Only to see it all disappear in a heartbeat when changing batteries, with no way to restore while traveling for the summer! (My m100 had a flaky capacitor and would sometimes do that.)

causality0 5y ago
The design was fantastic. They just made bad choices about parts vendors, in my opinion.

Lammy 5y ago

> To this day I wonder why Palm thought it was ok that all their LCDs emitted a high-pitched humming noise when turned on. Maybe it was designed by people who couldn't hear it? High-pitched sounds are supposedly the first to go with age/tinnitus/etc: https://mosquitoloiteringsolutions.com/why-mosquito/sound-deterrent-for-under-25s/ https://mosquitoloiteringsolutions.com/why-mosquito/sound-de...

markrages 5y ago
That was the era of the elecroluminescent backlight. This technology required a high-voltage (~100V) squarewave across the mostly-capacitive EL panel. This squarewave was at audio frequencies. The panel also happened to function as a piezo tweeter, depending on mounting. I worked for a cell phone company at the time. I have two memories of this technology: 1. Using the prototype phone out of its case and touching the 100 V squarewave to my ear. That's some tender skin... 2. Using a primary transformer in reverse as an audio transformer, to play the lab stereo over EL panel. It turns out the panel color changes a little bit with frequency.
- causality0 5y ago
  So why didn't pocket pcs or non-Palm PalmOS devices have the same problem? All of the Palm units in my collection have the buzz but none of the Clies do.
  - omgwtfusb 5y ago
    They mostly used LCDs with LED backlights (not sure what they used the some early WinCE laptop style handhelds with color displays)
    - causality0 5y ago
      Yet another sad story. I wanted to love those but I couldn't put up with the passive-matrix display.

buescher 5y ago

I had a number of the IIIxe in the late-middle days of Palm. They were a little fragile and tended to get busted up. I had one whose switch-mode supply hummed audibly- that one ate batteries. Maybe you had better hearing than me or worse luck.