6 ms·
Tiny computer or huge Palm III PDA: $25
- silentscope 15y agoI remember those from elementary school! They were a huge fad and all the cool kids had em. They quickly got replaced by the palm pilot (in coolness). Funny how middle school fads and tech seem to have so much in common...
- quinndupont 15y agoIf the keyboard is good, it seems like it would make a great distraction-free writing device.
- nullflux 15y agoHow are these relevant with the dawn of tablets and ultraportable, cheap laptops? Is it just price, or am I missing something?
- Avshalom 15y agoThey aren't really, but 1000 hour battery life with a real keyboard has it's appeal to a certain crowd. Though, I say 1000 hours, I know some alpha smarts can hit that, I don't know about the Dana. Also palm III on 160x560 screen is a bit of a curio.
- miahi 15y agoIt's the price. And the nerdery. Old cheap toys that are still useful today bring up memories. Especially when you have to hack them.
- moylan 15y agodepends on what you want from a mobile device. * faster text entry for writing a book? keyboard wins every time. * less distractions while working on a project. * runs for ages on a sniff of alkaline batteries. * easily used outdoors in direct sun light? * more rugged than a modern laptop? i'd take one of these over an ipad anytime. but those are my requirements, not yours.
- smacktoward 15y ago1) Extremely long battery life -- the newer Neo model can be used for months on a pair of AA batteries (see http://www.williamlanday.com/2009/05/29/things-i-love-the-alphasmart-neo/#.T24Ok9l5JxQ http://www.williamlanday.com/2009/05/29/things-i-love-the-al...) 2) Can run on commodity batteries -- AAs are cheap, user replaceable, and supplies are easily available worldwide 3) More rugged -- can be dropped without fear, no need for aftermarket cases/screen protectors 4) Keyboard included -- no need for aftermarket add-on, unlike most tablets 5) Cheap -- you can buy one for an order of magnitude less than the cost of a tablet, or even more less than the cost of a notebook Which isn't to say devices like these are better for everyone than a tablet or a laptop would be, just that those devices don't automatically make these irrelevant for their niche.
- jpalomaki 15y agoModernized version could be interesting. A writing device with good keyboard, designed to work together with smartphone - but not just an external keyboard. Priced at 50 bucks, maybe bluetooth for connectivity, small display and great battery life.
- zokier 15y agoI was thinking RasberryPI duct-taped on a small keyboard (eg happyhacking) and some transreflexive display. Although I'm not sure if RPI would be exactly fitting for this kind of usage. Something which could drive the display directly would be more useful.
- moylan 15y agofingers crossed somebody releases a case with a lcd screen, battery and keyboard that will accept the raspberry pi. even a build your own kit could be interesting considering the cost of the raspberry pi.
- freehunter 15y agoI would love something like this with a barebones Linux CLI distro and wifi. Just a keyboard, a terminal sized screen, and a connection to the Internet. And as I type this, I can't help but feel this might exist.
- lysol 15y agoReminds me of an Apple Newton eMate, a little.
- sp332 15y agoI think I prefer my eMate 300, to be honest. The touchscreen is bigger. It's got good handwriting and drawing recognition. My keyboard is a bit too small though. And to be honest, I have no idea how to transfer data to or from it!
- Luc 15y agoThere's a few retro computers that are a lot like this. The Amstrad NC-200 and the Cambridge Z88 come to mind.
- smacktoward 15y agoAnd the TRS-80 Model 100 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TRS-80_Model_100 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TRS-80_Model_100), which arguably pioneered the concept.
- zandorg 15y agoI wrote a novel on an Amstrad NC-100. It had a 1MB PCMCIA flash disk (from an Apple Newton!) and I saved a chapter at a time onto the disk (it only had 64KB of RAM) and I installed a new, clearer screen in it. Nice little machine!
- technomancy 15y agoIt annoys me to no end that the mess that is Bluetooth killed the much more robust, useful, and foolproof IrDA.
- moylan 15y agothis. beaming between palms and psions with irda was childs play compared to swapping via bluetooth on later devices. searching, pairing, authorising. and that's assuming the other recipient knows how to use bluetooth. these days i swap more info with qr codes than with bluetooth. convert info to qr code, have their barcode app read qr code. line of sight was so simple.
- zokier 15y agoNFC seems promising for temporary connections such as sharing vcards etc.
- zokier 15y agoIrDA robust? Requiring line of sight is highly unreliable for mobile devices. I had my connection drop many times back in the days when I accidentally bumped my phone slightly off the laptops sensor cone. And line of sight also reduces the applications. Hands-free headset would be impossible. Mouses too. GPS receivers impractical. I can't imagine in what way IrDA can be considered more useful than BT.
- fumar 15y agoThe Dana, was a great machine. I feel bad I forgot about it. I will probably buy one. Then eventually sell it when I remember I outgrew it.