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The History of PDAs in Words and Pictures

Posted by timothy on from the pokeable-damageable-angular dept.

evanak writes "For the past four years, I've been studying the history of PDAs. It's all summarized in a 10,000-word article on my web site." This history is also illustrated with some pictures and photographs, which are worth it all by themselves.

27 of 130 comments (clear)

  1. 1996-2005 by donnyspi · · Score: 4, Interesting

    The whole part between 1996 and 2005 seemed to be a blur in the article. Other than that, it was a good summary with some interesting pics.

    1. Re:1996-2005 by Deinhard · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I totally agree. While the page title is "history of PDAs" the document title is actually "The Evolution of PDAs."

      While it could be argued that since the introduction of the Pilot 1000, PDAs haven't "evolved" much (except the merger with cell phones), there has been an explosion of types and functionality. The proliferation of commercial, shareware and freeware applications for the Palm OS led to the explosion of usage. Now, just about everyone can find an industry-specific application that is useful.

      Also, the form factor and specifications have improved dramatically as well. The transition from the Pilot 1000 to the Tungsten T3 is worthy of its own essay.

      --
      Successfully condensing fact from the vapor of nuance since 1998.
  2. 10,000 words by RangerRick98 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Whoa, 10,000 word article! You expect me to read that? Besides, there's like 17 pictures on there. With the conversion rate, that's 27,000 words! Forget that, buddy!

    --
    "You're older than you've ever been, and now you're even older."
    1. Re:10,000 words by Brian+Boitano · · Score: 4, Funny

      I reckon...
      When did they change the definition of "summary"?

      --
      What would Brian Boitano do?
  3. Not PDA-friendly by Tx · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Nice of the author to use a 950 pixel fixed-width table for his article, you'd think an article on this subject would be written so as to render nicely on a PDA.

    --
    Oh no... it's the future.
    1. Re:Not PDA-friendly by lheal · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Sometimes web designers fall in love with their own creativity and forget that the content is what matters. It's surprising to me that more HTML coders (or CSS coders or autogenerators) don't do this the "right" way:

      <table border=0 width="99%">
      ....
      </table>
      With a percentage-width tag, the box forms to the width of the window and you avoid a lot of problems.

      Then, of course, is the question of why there has to be a box at all.

      --
      Raise your children as if you were teaching them to raise your grandchildren, because you are.
    2. Re:Not PDA-friendly by donnyspi · · Score: 3, Insightful

      CSS people know that table tags are only for presenting data, not for formatting a web page. Try DIV instead.

    3. Re:Not PDA-friendly by Saeger · · Score: 4, Interesting
      You know why newspapers are written in multiple columns, instead of flowing to fill the page? It's faster, easier reading when your eyes only have a short distance to dart to get to the next line.

      This is the #1 (valid) reason people still use fixed width designs when they could use a completely liquid layout instead. It's hell to read a 100% width article on a large monitor even after blowing up the fontsize. The preferred solution is to use use min-/max-width CSS.

      --
      Power to the Peaceful
    4. Re:Not PDA-friendly by roystgnr · · Score: 2, Insightful

      It's hell to read a 100% width article on a large monitor even after blowing up the fontsize.

      By "it's hell", do you mean "I have to shrink my browser window horizontally"? Those of us who like reading 100% of our screen width can't widen fixed-width pages, but a page that respects the reader's browser preferences can be as narrow as you want it to be.

  4. Forgot One by ryants · · Score: 4, Funny

    Redneck Palmpilot.

    --

    Ryan T. Sammartino
    "Ancora imparo"

  5. fascinating... by k4_pacific · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Quite an interesting article. I never realized that Thomas Edison built the first PDA in 1906. It was called the Edison Automatic Electric Calendar. It weighed close to three tons and could remember up to five appointments at once.

    They've come a long ways since then...

    --
    Unknown host pong.
  6. Microsoft devices? by David+Horn · · Score: 4, Interesting

    You seem to have missed out the whole Microsoft / Palm battle, and the newest evolution of Pocket PCs, with VGA screens, 3D accelators and 624MHz processors.

    You can even get a Playstation emulator to run smoothly on the newest ones.

    --
    PocketGamer.org - For the gamer on the go!
    1. Re:Microsoft devices? by Aphrika · · Score: 4, Insightful

      There is a complete lack of Microsoft stuff in the article which leaves what I'd consider quite a gaping hole in the history of PDAs.

      The reason is simply because when Microsoft entered the market, it was the first time a compatible desktop architecture and design had been ported across to a PDA. To a certain extent, they have also been instrumental in turning a PDA into a fully fledged, compatible and capable platform, adding Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, colour screens etc. Palm would certainly have rested on their laurels more if it wasn't for MS entering the market and we'd probably still be using black and white 2MB Palms.

  7. Are you asking for a little slashdotting ? by alexhs · · Score: 2, Funny

    Did anyone else read the news as "Please slashdot my web site" ?

    Sadly, the pictures might not be big enough for that.

    --
    I have discovered a truly marvelous proof of killer sig, which this margin is too narrow to contain.
  8. Last paragraph by aardwolf64 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    That's seriously annoying. The guy writes an article on PDAs, then dismisses the past 15-18 years with one paragraph. What about the introduction of color?

    Here is the history of the PDA. I've spent 940 words on calculators, 40 words on actual PDAs, and 20 words on the massive changes that have occurred in the past 15 years.

  9. re: Partial List of Handheld Computers in sci-fi by mynameismonkey · · Score: 5, Interesting

    There are six words missing from this 10,000 word essay; "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy".

    It featured hypertext, multimedia content objects, a wiki-like browsing interface and of course collaborative document editing (which sounds bad but was mostly harmless).

    Sturdy, rugged, built to take all kinds of knocks, apparently easily recharged despite country (or planet, for that matter) and quite affordable. All pre-1980.

    --
    -- Religion is not an exact science
  10. PC-6? by FlyByPC · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The Tandy PC-6 would be IMHO a good addition. I had one in junior high in the mid-80s; it spoke BASIC and assembly. Not too impressive these days, but back then a pocket calculator -- with 16K(!) of memory, and which spoke BASIC was amazing. I even wrote a crude 3D version of "Hunt the Wumpus" for it.

    The On-Hand PC is also pretty cool. I bought one a while back. While it goes through CR2025 batteries like they're candy -- and two at a time -- the idea that you can program yourself a new watch when you get tired of the old one is very cool.

    --
    Paleotechnologist and connoisseur of pretty shiny things.
  11. Missing Option: Psion 5 Series by G4from128k · · Score: 4, Interesting

    To me, the Psion 5 series is the ultimate PDA. It has a full suite of Office and PIM applications, compact size, a usable keyboard, decent screen size, and stellar battery life (35 hrs on-time with off-the-shelf AAs). Detractors might point to the lack of hand writing recognition, color, and MP3 playing, but I have absolutely no use or interest in those features (apparently, I am in a very small minority).

    Currently, there is absolutely nothing on the market that is remotely as good as the 5 series -- everything these days sucks in battery-life or keyboard or both.

    --
    Two wrongs don't make a right, but three lefts do.
  12. Atari Portfolio by rindeee · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I had an Atari Portfolio back in 1990 (I think it was 1990) and I still like it better than any other I've had. Mind you, it's not that it worked better, or was more capable. It's more an issue of capability for it's day and the fact that it was made by Atari of all companies. It was just an amazing little device that I could use in place of my laptop at the time (a Dell 386/SX-16). I wish I still had it just for fun. What a neat little device.

  13. Wikipedia by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    This article belongs in Wikipedia.

    That is all.

  14. this disgusts me... by 0110011001110101 · · Score: 5, Interesting
    FTFA - In his early 20s, Pitroda received the patent. "There was no contest at all. I got all the claims in one shot," he said. He shared the idea with colleagues at American Express and with Noyce, but neither pursued it. Lacking other investment resources, Pitroda put the invention aside. "I think it was too far ahead of its time. I didn't have the muscles to do it myself," he said. He moved back to India in 1982 and returned to Chicago in 1991, where he saw PDAs becoming commonplace. In court, he won royalty settlements from Casio, HP, Radio Shack, Sharp, and Texas Instruments.

    So not only did this guy give birth to the idea of PDAs.. but also to the idea of patenting something general and sweepingly broad, and then suing later when somebody who isn't too lazy implements his idea... wonderful!

    --
    Don't anthropomorphize computers: they hate that.
  15. Wikipedia Version by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personal_digital_assi stant

  16. One notable absence... by Aphrika · · Score: 2, Interesting

    The Microwriter Agenda. While the linked article incorrectly mentions it was the first PDA, it did have one very inetersting feature; built into the right hand side of the device was a 5-key microwriter input system which allowed for 'blind' input. This is a variant of a chorded keyboard - quite an interesting read.

  17. What, no mention of IntelliSync/sync software? by mveloso · · Score: 3, Interesting

    One thing that everyone forgot about is that in the early days of PDAs there wasn't a really good way to move information between your PIM (Personal Information Manager) and your PDA (Personal Digital Assistant).

    For those lucky enough, you could get your secretary to do it. For everyone else, well, the process involved a lot of typing. And PDAs weren't really made for data entry, as you can imagine.

    Enter IntelliSync, by IntelliLink. They were the first (I believe) data synchronization software independent of the manufacturer or OS. In fact, they were often rebranded by the manufacturer.

    They made it less painful to synchronize with your PDA. As a bonus, it was possible to move between handhelds by synchronizing to your data from one source to another.

    This, of course, was before the Palm Pilot, which probably had the best information synchronization feature of any PDA to date. Instead of being an add-on, it was "part of the package" and worked really well. That, coupled with the small form factor and massive (for the time) data capacity made the US Robotics Palm Pilot a must-have.

  18. Comment from the author... by evanak · · Score: 5, Informative

    Hey,

    Well, I appreciate all the feedback, kind and otherwise...

    I wish some people would READ it all before commenting. For example:
    - Per the article's headline, it only covers the really evolutionary years, from 75-95. So I didn't "miss" from 96-now as one person said here.
    - A few people said I should've include the Hitchhikers Guide. I did, read more carefully.
    - "You didn't include [x] PDA." That's true. The article only includes devices that truly pioneered some new step forward, that did something others hadn't done before.
    - "The Newton Rulz"... I'm not going to touch that one. Already wearing my anti-Reality Distortion Field vest.

    As for the (many!) of you who sent me kind and insightful personal replies -- thank you, I do appreciate it.

  19. One Word by GIL_Dude · · Score: 2, Funny

    Tricorder...

  20. You forgot my favorite... by callipygian-showsyst · · Score: 2, Informative

    ...the "Tandy 100". Portable (but not pocket sized) and widely used as a mobile typewriter by news reporters in the mid 80s.

    --
    Best Buy can have you arrested