Agent Jones · 2019-04-17 12:49
Does anyone here have experiences using PDAs from the late 1990s and early 2000s?
Motivation: I'm looking to build my own PDA as a fun project using a Sharp memory LCD and whichever flavor of microcontroller I find interesting.
I want to replicate the UX and UI of PDAs, particularly something like the Psion Series 5, Sharp Zaurus, or Palm Pilot. However, I have no experience with these devices. Were they as good as people claim?
Drifter · 2019-04-19 09:06
I used a an IBM clone of a palm pilot I stole from a thrift store (but claimed I found while dumpster diving). It was a mid-2000's device which did not have as many features as later models (and didn't even have a color display) but worked very well as a PDA. The booklet it came with stated it had a dial-up modem you could purchase. Eventually I got a Palm Pilot keyboard but it was incompatible, seemingly because it was so much newer.
I believe the device was from 1993-1995. Do recommend for a personal organizer.
Masami Eiri · 2019-04-21 08:39
>>16734
To clarify what I accidently said, I meant to say a mid-1990's device. Unsure why I typed mid-2000s
Masami Eiri · 2019-04-27 01:34
>>16722
I can't say that I have used them anywhere near enough to have any in depth experience with them, but I had a recommendation, it would probably be to use a palm pilot, if you want to get some more experience you should probably just order one off of amazon or ebay and then mess around with it and get used to it.
Project 2501 · 2019-05-10 20:01
>>16722
Limited capacity and clunky by today's standards. They were good because they had a significant benefit over other mobile devices - laptops were still too large&heavy, and phones too under powered&small display.
UX UI?
Each was different. Screen real estate was very limited. Color a bonus. This led to a basic no nonsense style of interaction - there was no ability to animate in dialogs with graphic effects.
You could probably get one cheap to play around with.
t. Sharp & Palm experience