My PDA history

This is a list of the various electronic organizers and PDAs that I’ve owned over the years. (Hey, judging from some peoples’ forum post sigs, some folks are interested in this kind of stuff for whatever reason! :D )

List updated 2004-10-25
List updated 2010-04-12

PDA and Organizer History

  • Sharp 128K Wizard (Gave to a former girlfriend)
    OS: Proprietary
    CPU: Unknown
    RAM: 128 KB
    Screen: 16 character, 4 line black and white display, no backlight
    Misc: Keyboard input, clamshell case
  • Casio 256K B.O.S.S (Stolen)
    OS: Proprietary
    CPU: Unknown
    RAM: 256 KB
    Screen: Black and white, EL backlight
    Misc: Keyboard input, clamshell case
  • Texas Instruments Avigo 10 (Sold)
    OS: Proprietary
    CPU: Unknown
    RAM: 2 MB
    Screen: 160×240 (I think) 4 grayscale, EL backlight
    Misc: Built-in protective flip cover, touch-screen stylus input, on-screen keyboard, and T9 predictive input
  • Uniden Unipro PC100A (Sold)
    OS: Microsoft Windows CE 2.1
    CPU: 33 MHz MIPS
    RAM: 8 MB
    Screen: 240×320 4 grayscale, EL backlight
    Misc: Built-in 28.8 Kbps modem, CF II slot
  • Palm m505 (Sold)
    OS: Palm OS 4.0
    CPU: ?MHz Dragonball
    RAM: 8 MB
    Screen: Reflective TFT, 160×160 16-bit color
  • Casio Cassiopeia E-200 (CompUSA warranty exchange for Toshiba e740)
    OS: Microsoft Pocket PC 2002
    CPU: 266 MHz Intel ARM
    RAM: 64 MB
    Screen: Reflective TFT, 240×320 16-bit color
    Info: I went through four defective units before finally deciding to make use of my CompUSA TAP to get a different model Pocket PC.
  • Toshiba e740 (CompUSA warranty exchange for HP iPAQ h5455)
    OS: Microsoft Pocket PC 2002
    CPU: 400 MHz Intel Xscale
    RAM: 64 MB
    Screen: Reflective TFT, 240×320 16-bit color
    Info: Two defective or malfunctioning units made me use another CompUSA TAP to get the following Pocket PC…
  • HP iPAQ h5455 (CompUSA warranty exchange for HP iPAQ hx4700)
    OS: Microsoft Windows Mobile 2003 for Pocket PC (Upgraded from Pocket PC 2002)
    CPU: 400 MHz Intel Xscale
    RAM: 64 MB
    Screen: Transflective TFT, 240×320 16-bit color
    Info: The first h5455 I bought had a defective touchscreen, but the second one performed virtually trouble-free for about thirteen months. It developed a problem with the charge/sync connector which I lived with for nearly another year. When plugged into a PC, Windows would display an error bubble which stated “Unrecognized USB Device.” I tried three different cradles on four different PCs with both Windows XP and 2000 with the same results. Additionally since the connector was damaged, I could no longer charge the device in a cradle. Instead, it had to be placed flat on the desk with the charge cable plugged directly into it. In order to make contact, something had to be placed under the charge connector to hold it up at an angle. Aside from that problem, I loved owning this device and had no complaints whatsoever. To date, I owned that Pocket PC longer than any other PDA.
  • HP iPAQ hx4700
    OS: Microsoft Windows Mobile 2003 Second Edition for Pocket PC (Later upgraded to Windows Mobile 6 via cooked ROM)
    CPU: 624 MHz Intel Xscale
    RAM: 64 MB
    Screen: Transflective TFT, 480×640 16-bit color
    Info: Wow. Just wow. This is, by far, the best Pocket PC I have ever owned or used. The large VGA-resolution LCD is simply stunning. The CPU is speedy and for everything that’s crammed inside, it’s remarkably thin. It’s also nice to have dual card slots back so I can use large CompactFlash cards again.
  • Palm Treo 700w (Sold to former coworker)
    Carrier: Verizon Wireless
    OS: Microsoft Windows Mobile 5
    CPU: I don’t remember
    RAM: 32 MB
    Screen Transflective TFT, 240×240 16-bit color
    Info: Aside from the front-facing keyboard, this phone was very disappointing. Not enough RAM and the tiny screen really killed this one for me. Simply loading a Web page in IE would consume so much RAM that all other apps running in the background would quit.
  • Verizon xv6700 (Still have, but never use.)
    Carrier: Verizon Wireless
    OS: Windows Mobile 5 (Upgraded via cooked ROM to Windows Mobile 6, which really revitalized it and got rid of a lot of the useless Verizon crap. I used this phone for almost another year because of that upgrade.)
    CPU: Don’t remember
    RAM: Enough to get by
    Screen: Transflective TFT, 240×320 16-bit color
    Info: Slide-out keyboard. Very brick-like, even for its time, but a very capable phone. The keyboard backlight was blue, and very difficult to see. I believe the Sprint version had a white backlight, which would have been much more usable.
  • Samsung BlackJack II (Still have, use for testing.)
    Carrier: AT&T Wireless
    OS: Windows Mobile 6.1 Standard Edition
    CPU: Don’t remember
    RAM: Don’t remember
    Screen: Non-touch transflective TFT, 320×240, 16-bit color
    Info: Probably the best non-touchscreen Windows Mobile device made. Lack of touch really got frustrating, though.
  • Palm Treo Pro (Sitll have, use for testing.)
    Carrier: Unlocked, use with AT&T Wireless
    OS: Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional Edition
    CPU: Don’t remember
    RAM: Don’t remember
    Info: Best. Treo. Ever. (In my opinion.) Still like this phone, but finally so frustrated with Windows Mobile that I felt I needed to move to something else…
  • Google Nexus One
    Carrier: Unlocked, use with AT&T Wireless
    OS: Android OS 2.1
    CPU: 1 GHz Qualcom Snapdragon
    RAM: 512 MB
    Screen: AMOLED 480×800, capacitive touch
    Info: My first non-Windows Mobile Phone in almost twelve years. I was expecting the transition to be painful, but I miss only two things about Windows Mobile: seamless Exchange support, and S/MIME support for e-mail. Seriously, that’s all I miss. This is one amazing phone. It has some growing pains to get past which I hope will be addressed with a future software update, but I really love this phone quite a bit.
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