A walk down memory lane and over 80 mobile devices
I was working on some reviews this weekend and took a look at all of the devices in my current collection and started reflecting back on my mobile device history. Mickey recently asked me about my PDA/phone history on TCPJ Unlocked Show #004 and I thought a few of you may be interested in seeing what devices I have owned over the years. I also used many more devices during 2 week to 30-day evaluation periods that would easily take me over 100 mobile devices used of the last 11 years. Check out the image gallery of all of my devices.
Image Gallery:A walk through my 11 year history with 90 mobile devices and commentary. | ||||||
I was a Lieutenant Junior Grade in the U.S. Coast Guard in 1996 and was then transferred to Washington, D.C. to serve at the Marine Safety Center. I was selected and trained to be a member of the salvage team in early 1997 and started assisting with responses to vessel casualties. I had carried around a Franklin Planner for a while and was using this to document my responses, keep track of all my vital contacts, and take notes as cases unfolded. Another member of the team and I then contacted U.S. Robotics about a new mobile device they were promoting and they sent us 2 Palm Pilot 1000 units to test out with the salvage team. I quickly became the mobile device expert as I fell in love with these mobile computers and replaced my Franklin Planner shortly after as I used the Pilot 1000 for taking notes, keeping my contacts handy, and more. I then figured out how to use AvantGo and was reading sites offline as I commuted on the D.C. Metro system.
I then became an avid Palm site junkie and was reading UGeek.com (now the Geek.com site I write for from 2001 until 2007), PalmStation (this was probably my favorite Palm site), Brighthand, Palm Tipsheet, Calvin’s PalmPilot FAQ, and more.
Once I was bit by the PDA addiction bug I then saved up my money and bought a Palm III for myself as I started loading up my device with 3rd party applications and trying to see what these things could really do. It cost a pretty penny at the time, somewhere around $300 and I had a tough time convincing my wife I really needed it. I then learned I could do well selling devices on ebay and started my system where I would sell my old device, after keeping them in mint condition, and purchase the latest and greatest. After the Palm III I sold it after about 6 months and moved up to a Palm IIIx. I then found a cool accessory, the axxPac that very few people probably ever heard of, much less used. This attachment gave me an external storage card slot, using SmartMedia, for storing my ebooks and other files. The axxPac was quite rare and I was able to get a good price when I sold the IIIx and lots of accessories to a buyer in Australia using ebay.
I then moved through many more devices, including the incredible Sony CLIE Palm OS devices. I purchased all of my devices in the early years and just over the last couple of years was given the opportunity to use Nokia Nseries devices on long term loan for evaluation before sending them back as I continue to use other devices. I also received a few devices from manufacturers at Mobius events, with no requirement to review the devices or any other strings or expectations attached. It has been quite a ride and as you can see below, I have now owned over 80 PDAs and mobile phones. I have also had a few other devices, like my Tablet PCs and notebooks.I may have missed one or two devices, but this should be a list of the rest.
Even though I have had so many devices, I can still remember quite a few vivid details about most of them and the anticipation of purchasing the devices. The devices with an asterisk by them in the list below are ones still in my collection. They are sort of listed in order of ownership, with a few in areas where I think they were picked up.
- US Robotics Pilot 1000
- Palm III
- Palm IIIx (installed axxPac with MMC card support)
- *Palm IIIe
- Palm IIIc (first color PDA)
- Apple Newton MP130
- HP Jornada 548 (rock solid metal PDA)
- Compaq iPAQ 3600 (won on PDABuzz photo contest)
- HP Jornada 568 (one of my favorite PDAs ever
- Palm Vx (Palm was ahead of the game with this form factor)
- *Palm m505
- Apple Newton MP2000
- Sharp Zaurus SL-5500
- Sony CLIE T615C (my first CLIE that gave me the desire for more)
- Sony CLIE NR70
- Sony CLIE NX70
- Dell Axim X5
- HP iPAQ 3970
- HP iPAQ 1910 (now this was one compact PDA)
- *Nokia 3650 (my first Series 60/S60 device that served primarily as a Bluetooth modem)
- T-Mobile Sidekick (device that addicted me to wireless data)
- HP iPAQ 2215 (drove 2 hours to Frys in Oregon to get this one)
- HP iPAQ 1945
- Handspring Visor Edge
- Sony CLIE TG50
- Sony CLIE NX80 (only had for a couple of days before trading up for UX50+cash
- Sony CLIE UX50 (paid about $800 for this baby)
- Motorola MPx200 (first Microsoft Smartphone, my wife took it over)
- HP Jornada 728
- NEC MobilePro 900c
- Tapwave Zodiac2 (very impressive Palm OS device)
- Palm Tungsten T3
- Orange SPV E200
- Sony CLIE UX50
- Sony CLIE UX40
- HP iPAQ 4350 (great QWERTY keyboard and form factor)
- MDA II (first Microsoft Phone Edition device
- Dell Axim X30
- Sharp Zaurus C760 (I just didn't have enough time to tweak with it)
- T-Mobile MDA III ($850 online for this one)
- Palm Tungsten T3 (missed this device so I bought another)
- Toshiba e805
- Fossil Palm OS watch
- Dell Axim X50v
- i-mate PDA2K
- Orange C500
- Motorola MPx220
- *Newton MP2100 (I wanted to relive my Newton days)
- *Sharp Zaurus SL-5500 (I wanted to add a Zaurus back to my collection)
- i-mate JAM (super compact Phone Edition device)
- Nokia 7610
- Palm Treo 650
- Dell Axim X51v
- *Nokia N90 (first device from Nokia Nseries program)
- Nokia N70
- *Nokia N73
- *Nokia N93
- Nokia N91
- HTC Wizard (QTEK 9100)
- *Nokia N95-1
- Nokia N80ie
- *Nokia N81 8GB
- *Nokia N800 Internet Tablet
- Nokia E61
- Sprint PPC-6700
- Nokia E61i
- HTC TyTN
- i-mate JAQ3
- *Sony CLIE UX50 (couldn't give up on it and will keep this one)
- *T-Mobile Dash (3 of them, with 2 broken after drops)
- *Apple iPhone
- *Nokia N95-3 (I bought this after loving the N95, but wanting US 3G)
- *T-Mobile Shadow
- *HTC Advantage 7501
- HTC Touch Dual
- *Nokia N810 Internet Tablet
- BlackBerry Pearl
- *HTC Advantage 7510
- *HTC Touch Diamond
- *Nokia N82
- *Nokia N78
- Apple iPhone 3G
- Nokia E71-1
- *Nokia E71-2
- *Palm Centro
- Samsung OMNIA
- Sony Ericsson G900
- MWg Zinc II
- *BlackBerry Curve (Sunset color)
- *Palm Treo Pro
Devices that I am considering soon or that I have already ordered include the T-Mobile G1 Anroid device, BlackBerry Bold or Javelin, Nokia N810 WiMAX edition, HTC S740 Standard Smartphone, and HTC Touch Pro.
Do you have any fond memories of your mobile devices?