Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Thoughts on Next-Gen Newton

iindigo

iindigo

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jul 22, 2002
772
43
San Francisco, CA
Today I was thinking about a next-generation newton, and somewhere in my line of thought, the question "What type of interface would it use?" came to mind.

Which do you think a modern newton would be served better by: a modernized version of the original Newton interface, or a full blown "mini OS X"? Also, what features do you expect a machine of this type to have?
 
gangst said:
I thought Steve Jobs made it clear Apple weren't going to make one??
Click to expand...

Yes, but that doesn't prevent a third party from creating one or something very similar - for example, BeOS was abandoned three years ago, yet there are several developers working on it. Same principal here.
 
iindigo said:
Yes, but that doesn't prevent a third party from creating one or something very similar - for example, BeOS was abandoned three years ago, yet there are several developers working on it. Same principal here.
Click to expand...

apple will never release their rights ot the newton names or technologies...
 
saabmp3 said:
So then it would be a palm pilot or MS PDA?

Yeah....

BEN
Click to expand...

No, not at all. This new device would use many of the same ideas and concepts of the Newton, as well as many Mac-like ideas and concepts - something PalmPilots and PocketPCs will never have.
 
Well, right now there is an emulator of the Newton called Einstein. The creator wants to eventually make it run on other Arm based mobile devices: like the iPaq. It still has a lot of work, but it so far, so good.

Here is a link: http://www.kallisys.com/newton/einstein/
 
iindigo said:
No, not at all. This new device would use many of the same ideas and concepts of the Newton, as well as many Mac-like ideas and concepts - something PalmPilots and PocketPCs will never have.
Click to expand...

It'll be just another PDA.

The only real difference is that this has a link to the Newton, so it would get all the Mac fanboys interested.

And if the OS in the link above didn't have any inspiration from the Newton, an Apple product, you wouldn't even be interested.
 
Abstract said:
It'll be just another PDA.

The only real difference is that this has a link to the Newton, so it would get all the Mac fanboys interested.

And if the OS in the link above didn't have any inspiration from the Newton, an Apple product, you wouldn't even be interested.
Click to expand...
Ouch!
I thought the newton has been widely recognosed for having a great os, but was before it's time in terms of technolgy?

Who's that going trip-trap trip-trap....

I think the idea of an apple-made PDA excites people, just as they have a mp3 player, screen, mouse and keyboard made by the same company, the seamless integration of another device would be welcome!

I have a Palm Tugsten T3, and it's good, but was a pig to set up with my Macs due to the shoddieness of the Palm installer. The iSync conduit does it's best, but is not great in the end (calendar types not preserved etc.).

I think a trollish comment like that is unheeded, just as Mac users (isn't this a Mac user's forum!?) will buy an iPod over an iriver (better integration), I can see why they would buy an apple-designed PDA over a Palm.

If such a device existed, that synced Mail, Safari Bookmarks, Calendars, Contacts and the like with my Mac, I would have certianly given it a good look before considering a Palm.

Just because it's made by apple doesn't make it superior, but from past evidence apple deviced just work better with apple computers! (Airport express & extreme, displays, iPod etc.)

I don't think that meerly the "fanboys" as you brand them, would be interested, I thikn anyone who owns a mac and wants to use a PDA could benefit.

Try to consider all the angles/advantages/dissadvantages of the apple-designed PDA before labelling it a fanboy fantasy!
 
Abstract said:
It'll be just another PDA.

The only real difference is that this has a link to the Newton, so it would get all the Mac fanboys interested.

And if the OS in the link above didn't have any inspiration from the Newton, an Apple product, you wouldn't even be interested.
Click to expand...

Quite the contrary. The newton was and still is much more than your average PDA. Also, one key factor that a lot of people liked was its screen size - it allowed it to be a viable replacement for a paper notebook. It's very hard to do this with a Palm or even a PocketPC with their very small screens. I know what you're gonna say next: "Get a tablet PC then!". This doesn't work well either, since tablet PCs are too large/clunky and far too overpowered for their task (not to mention price - eeek!). A device like the newton now would be very thin and light, and most likely cost about the same amount as the previous newtons (the MessagePad 2100 was about US$300 retail, right?).
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back