Monthly Archive for October, 2010

From The Economist,

For years, your itinerant correspondent toted a palmtop computer, rather than a laptop, to do his e-mail as well as to file stories while on his peregrinations abroad. The first pocket-size computer he bought back in the late 1980s was a diminutive DOS machine made by Sharp of Japan. It weighed under a pound (454 grams), had a tiny six-inch (15cm) monochrome screen, a two-thirds-size qwerty keyboard, a painfully slow dial-up modem, and a rechargeable battery that lasted for just about 12 hours. Though limited in performance, it got the job done—and was an easy compromise to accept when laptops and their paraphernalia weighed in at over 12lb.

When, after a decade of use and abuse, the trusty little Sharp finally broke beyond repair, it was replaced with a more up-to-date equivalent made by Hewlett-Packard of California. Likewise, the HP Jornada 720 weighed little more than a pound, had a two-thirds-size keyboard, a battery life of around 12 hours, and could be slipped just as readily into an inside pocket.

With higher resolution and colour, the HP palmtop’s six-inch touchscreen could handle graphics as well as text. Its pared-down version of Microsoft Windows allowed it to sync files with Microsoft Office and Outlook on a server or desktop PC. And a wireless card gave it instant access to the internet whenever an open WiFi signal was within range. An active developer community devoted to the platform provided, invariably for free, all the applications, utilities and games needed to make life easier still. The Jornada 720 became such a faithful companion that your correspondent even slept with it under his pillow at night, allowing messages from half a world away to be read and answered while still in half sleep.

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