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How many PDAs have you had before your iPhone?

I

iphonewiz

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jan 30, 2008
133
0
Hey, just curious as to how many old school Apple Newton and Palm owners who are now proud iPhone owners. I see a lot of Newton in the iPhone.

Let's see, over the years I've had:

MessagePad (First pda)
MessagePad 120
MessagePad 130
Motorola Marco (anyone remember that)
MessagePad 2000
MessagePad 2100
Sony Magic Link (Magic Cap)
Palm VII (wireless)
Palm Tungsten
Palm Treo 600
Palm Treo 650
iPhone
 
I had a couple of Palms. One was the m100, which was kinda neat but was hard to sync. The other was a Palm something, which I got for free with some tires. It died about 6 weeks later.

The iPhone blows both of these out of the water. Half the usefulness is synchronizing with stuff like Mail, Calendar, Address Book, and iPhoto. I will FINALLY be able to write down appointments (like from a doctor) when I get them instead of waiting 6 months to think I have one Friday at 11 a.m. Ahh, freedom.
 
I had a few Vadem Clios running an early version of Windows CE. They still work, and I take one out occasionally for Solitaire or for use as a prop on my fake new programmes. I also have an old HP Jornada 720.

I never used those as much, however, as I used my Palms Zire and Zire31. Both were pretty cool, but I never had a use for PDAs until I got my first smartphone (which was a Danger Sidekick.)

PDAs are useless without the internet, and are inconvenient if they don't have phone capabilities. Also, I never really listened to my iTunes collection much on the go until I got an iPhone. As cool as they were, I never used my iPods as much as I do now.
 
Loved the Windows CE based Jornada 720. Still have mine on a charger.

Fast cpu for the time (2000), CF and PCMCIA slots, and a 56K modem. Lots of apps. I even had voice recognition on mine. Just click a button and say "open CNN" or "start Word".

It had the first really usable portable browser, long before the iPhone, with Internet Explorer 4.0. Combined with the wide keyboard and 640x240 (half VGA) touchscreen, you could almost surf as well as on a desktop. (Put in an Ethernet card and it really rocked!)

I had a Verizon CDPD wireless card that gave me 19Kbps Internet anywhere, and I would bid on eBay remotely with it back in 2001 (although I turned off graphics for speed sometimes).

They're still being refurbished and sold, even now.
 
Handspring Visor....forgot all about it and only used for about 3 months
Sony Clie' NX 70
Treo 650
The Treo went to the trash after I purchased the iPhone and I still have the Clie' along with the extra batteries, accessories and cases. Its a really super PDA and served its purpose very well for about 4 years when I was a Recruiter. I thought the Treo would give me the replacement value I was looking for by combining PDA/Phone functions...what a joke...the only reason I used it for two years was because of the contract and there wasn't anything I liked better until now.
 
Had a sharp wizard that I used to take notes in class.

Followed by an m100 with a foldup keyboard, again for notes.

Followed by a Zire 71, which I sold and bought a dedicated digi cam.

Then decided I wanted a PDA again, and bought a Tungsten E.

Followed by a Palm TX.

Then a Palm Treo.

Now my iPhone, plus my dad's old Tungsten E for work-stuff and ebooks. Currently waiting on an ebay order of a pocket pc (a few years old but still useful), for the better screen for ebooks.

Hopefully come June with the SDK I can ditch the PDAs for ebooks and just use the iPhone...but since I keep my work and personal stuff separate I think I will have to carry a PDA for the foreseeable future.
 
I'm 25 years old, bought an iPhone on June 29th, and it has been my one and only pda/smartphone ever owned.

Owned is the key word as I've had ample opportunity to play with / borrow / examine / study every other similar to device that has come out in the last 15 years.

I never actually bought one with my own money because I never really enjoyed using any of them. A few have had some convenient features, and I certainly drooled over the concept of "internet in your pocket" with some of the first and most recent smart phones.

The cost of one of these devices, both initially and monthly, never seemed to be justifiable. The iPhone, somehow, blows this concept out of the water.

I consider my lucky to have the priveledge of paying for the iPhone. Its that good.
 
Just one. It still looks brand new and the battery is pretty good. Its Sony Clie PEG-N760C.
 
I had a Palm m505. Bought it pretty much as soon as it came out. Paid hundreds. I never used it. Years later I gave it to a coworker for $20.
 
I had an Apple Newton when they first came out.

Then, when I worked at Philips Media, I wound up getting a Philips Nino which, at the time, was a pretty good little PDA but wasn't very known I guess as it was discontinued shortly thereafter:

http://goinside.com/98/8/nino.html


nino2.jpg


Now of course, I have an iPhone since day one...
 
Great thread, I love this topic. Love reminiscing about old technology ! I really didn't get interested in PDA's until about 1999, really liked the Palm V, but then found out about the Microsoft versions (color screens, lotsa memory, etc), which I believe was called the Palm-sized PC, and then eventually called Pocket PC. Wanted the Casio Cassiopeia E-100, but didn't get it. My first PDA was a Pocket PC called the Audiovox Maestro, which I got in 2002. Then my second PDA was the Palm Treo 700p, my third and latest is of course the iPhone, which in my opinion is the coolest tech gadget of all time (so far).
 
palm v
sony clie n710c
sony clie nx70v
treo 600
tapwave zodiac
tungsten t5
treo 680
iphone

i still have the t5, but will probably sell it off soon, though i can't quite come to grips with that since i'll have no other way to read ebooks then. i'm hoping we can get ebooks on the iphone soon, or that the kindle will get a re-design by the end of the year so i can buy a non-hideous ebook reader.
 
Palm m100 (I think)
Sony Clie NX60
Motorola Q
iPhone

The m100 I only had very briefly before I got the Clie. I liked the Clie because it was so capable. It worked as (in addition to pda) a video/audio player and an eBook reader. The Q was adequate but really pales in comparison to the iPhone.
 
Let's see:

Palm III
Palm V
HP iPaq == which I returned after a month for full refund
Palm TX ==> didn't buy the extended warranty, so naturally the screen stopped working within about two years
Palm TX *again but this time with the extended warranty*
Proud owner of an 8 Gig iPod Touch from day one

Looking forward to getting iPhone once Rogers in Canada gets off its collective ass and negotiates with Apple
 
Wow, lots of memories in this thread.

Palm Pilot Pro
Palm III
Palm IIIc
Palm m505
Sony Clie 710c
Compaq iPaq 3950

...few years later...

iPhone 8G

After I sold the iPaq in 2004 I realized the missing link in a PDA that I wanted was the internet. No point in keep buying items that can't fulfill the need.

Got an iPhone and "all [my] wildest dreams [came] true" -Pedro
 
Palm Pilot
Palm III
Palm Zire 72 (Palm) (can you believe that people have these still new on Amazon for over $200!!!!!!!!! :eek: )
Treo 650 - I loved, loved, loved this phone (except surfing the net)...there are so many ways to customize it and add programs!
iPhone - Love it even more than the Treo, but incredibly eager to get those 3rd party apps!

This did bring back lots of memories!!!
 
For all those who used more PDAs than I did, does anything even compare to the iPhone? That awfulness of graffiti, the monotone screens, the lack of a bazillion features (Internet access, knowing what the heck it's doing while syncing, needing 30 different 3rd-party apps to actually sync). Just ouch. I had given up on all such devices before this thing.
 
Michael CM1 said:
For all those who used more PDAs than I did, does anything even compare to the iPhone? That awfulness of graffiti, the monotone screens, the lack of a bazillion features (Internet access, knowing what the heck it's doing while syncing, needing 30 different 3rd-party apps to actually sync). Just ouch. I had given up on all such devices before this thing.
Click to expand...

No.

In my opinion, PDAs are useless without internet access, and you're less inclined to use a PDA or iPod if it's not tied into your phone, which is the device you use the most and carry with you everywhere. Multi-touch, YouTube, a camera, one-touch weather & stocks, etc. are all just icing on the top.
 
Michael CM1 said:
For all those who used more PDAs than I did, does anything even compare to the iPhone? That awfulness of graffiti, the monotone screens, the lack of a bazillion features (Internet access, knowing what the heck it's doing while syncing, needing 30 different 3rd-party apps to actually sync). Just ouch. I had given up on all such devices before this thing.
Click to expand...

The newer PDAs were much better than it sounds like you experienced and actually do some things that PDAs are supposed to do much better than the iPhone. Disclaimer: I love my iPhone! I'm not complaining!

Back to your post, however, the newer PDAs (like Treos) didn't need graffiti, it was available, but not necessary. Color screens available, of course. It did have Internet access which was not terrible, but a screen half the size of the iPhone which was limiting...and not able to open more than one browser screen at a time was frustrating. Syncing didn't need 3rd party apps anymore...it synced great with Outlook. You could see what the sync was doing on the PC.

Some things that the Treo did great that the iPhone could do better:
- Calendar functionality was more robust, including color coding items. Month view that allowed you to see which days had appointments scheduled. Maybe I have this wrong, but if I add a birthday to a contact on the iPhone it doesn't show up on the calendar. If I add it through Outlook, it shows up on the calendar.
- Task lists are great...the iPhone does need one.
- The notes functionality needs to sync. It was great to be able to cut and paste into notes on Outlook and have them sync. I used them for Technical notes and other random information (like Christmas lists).
- Saving pictures from Web pages was awesome!
- Bluetooth functionality was much more robust - bluetooth syncing was very nice, although I don't mind the dock too much. Being able to bluetooth ringtones, files, contacts, calendar appointments, etc.
- Voice dialing was great - it was a 3rd party app, but worked great with no "training" it to recognize my voice. It worked on all of my contacts.
- Using the Treo as a modem was great for the laptop when out and about.
- Thousands of 3rd party applications available. Of course, we'll have that soon enough on the iPhone!

That being said, the iPhone does everything that it does in such an incredibly elegant, slick way that make it an awesome device, especially for being out less than a year! It holds such promise for what it can offer in the future that it is exciting to be in on the early stages! The Treo looks terribly old-fashioned, even when it is doing stuff that the iPhone can't. However, I can understand why some heavy business users might have a hard time with the transition if there are functions that they already have and don't want to give up.
 
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