Re: [NTLK] Student Question

From: Larry Zasitko (l.zasitko_at_sasktel.net)
Date: Sat Feb 14 2004 - 10:16:34 PST


Jeff,

There are many reasons why the Newton is popular, after being
discontinued so many years ago. I can't speak for everyone but will
give you a few of my thoughts....

Screen size. To me this was one of the big pluses, the palm pilots and
most other pda's since then have been quite a bit smaller, yes they are
colour but I never minded b/w. I have tried palm, hp and few others and
was always in the end disappointed at the small screen, try doing a
spreadsheet on a palm or new pda, can be painful. The Newton's is big
enough that working on a spreadsheet or reading text etc is good.
Because it is b/w batteries tend to last a lot longer.

Text recognition. I never seemed to have many problems, even with my
OMP, but then I print for the most part which really help recognition,
all that drafting that I have done over the years :-) The recognition
gets better over time as it learns from you.

Assist. One of the best features! Type in lunch with Joe Schmoe and it
will make an appointment for you. If you do not tell it a date or day
it makes it for the next day, if there are more than one Joe Schmoe's
in your contact list it will ask which one. If you tell it dinner on
friday it makes the appointment for the next friday. Heck, you can even
ask it where Elvis is and it will tell you :-) Very slick programming
for it's time and in the PC world is just now getting used.

Programs. For it's time there was lots of programs made, just have a
look on UNNA. Development still continues to this day and that is one
reason there is still a lot of people using it. We can use cf cards for
storage, connect to the internet, get our email, send faxes. There is
also a program that lets you connect a digital camera to the newton and
transfer your pictures or send them to a desktop. Even though the
Newton is b/w doesn't mean that it can't store colour images.

I basically put off buying a portable for a few years as I could do
everything I needed on the Newton. I do have a portable now (Toshiba PC
and an iBook) but I still take my 2100 everywhere. I have tried HP,
Palm, Psion and I keep going back to the Newton.

Defying Gravity is a book on the making of the Newton and is well worth
looking at.

On Saturday, February 14, 2004, at 10:14 AM, Jeff Howard wrote:

> Hi all,
>
> I'm working on a student project. I've been looking into the history of
> the Newton and was surprised to find this group.
>
> I'm too young to remember when the Newton was launched, so I don't have
> a lot of first-hand perspective on its ups and downs. I'd honestly
> appreciate any insight into why it's still compelling enough to support
> such an active online community.
>
> // jeff
>
_______________________________________________________________________
Larry Zasitko
Newton OMP, 110, 120, 2100, eMate
iMac, iBook, various Amiga's and PC's

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