Why Steve Jobs Passed on the PDA

[FullAction]

The idea of the Newton was ahead of the technical possibilities. At that time the device was too bulky and heavy for the needed power. Of course it was also too expensive.
Would the Newton be realized with today's technical standards, it would most possibly blow away all the other PDAs.

[wasatch]

What would work for me is two devices with just one phone number. One bill plan etc.

For work, corporate trips,and probably most of the time I would use a Plam with as big a screen as possible that can also be a phone, for quick and dirty messages or retrievals. A T3 would be an ok size. I would like a better screen than the Treo 600.

Then I would like a small flip phone with some PIM info on it that would sync with the Palm - the bigger unit with the same number -, as well as the computer. I would use this at night and more at leisure.

[imported_twolf]

I just lost my Tungsten a couple weeks ago and am really lost (been using Palms since 1996 and have gotten rather dependent.) I found a great deal on a T3 - but it won't be in my hands for another 4-6 weeks :-(

I have a SE 610 cellphone with Bluetooth. Although I probably just use it 1-2 per day and I've never had a cellphone since last year, it's become even more indispensible to this single parent than the Palm!

I need a single device that has the capabilities of a Palm and the ability for me to make/receive voice calls. A T3 with cellphone capability (and better battery life) would be the optimum solution for me. But alas, the closest thing - the Treo 600 - has such a puny screen :-(

I'm not sure why smartphone vendors insist on such small formfactors that make good screen sizes impossible. With the advent of Bluetooth, it doesn't really matter that your cellphone is a "brick" - just keep it in your pocket all the time! That's what I do! I voice dial or use my Palm's address book and receive calls simply by pushing a button on my Bluetooth headset...no wires, no big phone pressed up against my cheek. The only time my SE 610 comes out of my pocket is when I need to dial a number that's not in either my Palm's address book or in the phone's voice dial directory...and it disappears back into my pocket as soon as the dialing is done.

So I want a Treo 6xx with Bluetooth, a bigger screen, and maybe 802.11 capability via an SD card :-)

[Vidge]

Originally posted by tnmike1
I'm one of those who runs a retail business six days a week, hardly ever mobile anymore--altho I was once travelling across the country in sales--and whose cellphone is used only on weekends to call the kids during my "5,000minutes free" long distance time.

Therefore, my cellphone sits dead most of the time.

I have no use for an all-in-one device and I just wonder how many others of us there are out there? Those that hve a T3 mainly as recreation, or as a true "digital assistant" to keep track of stuff I use to keep track of on a notebook--and that's long hit the dust pile now that I have the T3 with wireless keyboard, Docs to Go and other "notebook" related excel kinda stuff.

In short: I'm not all that mobile. Still, I LOVE the T3 and the whole Palm concept. Would hate to see it transmuted into something where I'd be forced to integrate into another communciation device--cellphone or who knows what else??

I'm pretty close to this. I'm not that mobile, either. I spend most of my time at my desk, near my computer. To give you some sense: my office manager and I share 400 anytime minutes on our cell plan and we never go over. I would not want to have a combo unit. My T3 is used to keep track of everything - and I can't imagine being without it - it really is my "other" brain. (My X30 is my entertainment device!)

[ipaqrat]

Is it true that the Palm is based on Apple's Newton technology?

No.

Palm Started out making a single little application - Graffiti. It was a separate program installed on a Newton to fill in for the early Newtons' less-than-stellar handwriting recognition. We now know that Palm got the goods from Xerox PARC. (Like Apple itself got a lot of it's material.)

[dej]

Originally posted by ipaqrat
No.

Palm Started out making a single little application - Graffiti. It was a separate program installed on a Newton to fill in for the early Newtons' less-than-stellar handwriting recognition. We now know that Palm got the goods from Xerox PARC. (Like Apple itself got a lot of it's material.)

here's a little history on Apple and Xerox PARC... (plus MS Windows, but you can skip that part)link

(the letters from Bruce Horn and Jef Raskin are interesting)

[Nine]

Thanks dej - interesting link