3 ms·
For context, that's around the time I entered University. I bought an HP48S calculator ($200 canadian), which I spent so much time on, it used 3 AAA batteries
by thijson 2y ago
For context, that's around the time I entered University. I bought an HP48S calculator ($200 canadian), which I spent so much time on, it used 3 AAA batteries which would last for months. There was a whole hacking community around it, someone even ported pacman to it. It helped me out during exams, because I was able to write programs for it that would for example calculate eigenvalues of matrices. I remember when I was at the place that I bought the HP48, the guy behind the counter was showing off his Apple Newton. Who would have thought what would materialize nearly 20 years later (IPhone). About 10 years later I remember playing with the Compaq Ipaq, that too failed to gain mass adoption. It took a while to find the right formula that would allow mass adoption.
- surfingdino 2y agoI had a Newton. It had good ideas, but the hardware was not there. Also the price was way too high for what it offered.
- nsguy 2y agoI still have my Newton and my HP-48SX. Yeah, the Newton was clearly ahead of its time. Maybe the main thing that "made" the iPhone was connectivity (and ofcourse having the "Internet" to connect to) - neither were really there for the Newton (or other PDAs for that matter). It's those intersections in technology Internet/Celluar network/Hardware/Software where things take off. An expensive cool PDA without the rest of it is just that. The iPhone was a little bit cheaper (again driven by hardware technologies maturing).