Where are all the decent handheld scribbling tools?

Handheld PCs...

You're looking for something useful as a decent business tool primarily, rather than a shiny gadget. Unfortunately, the last pieces of kit that focused on the particular sort of work loads you're wanting rather than looking pretty are about a decade old in my view. What did for these things was the insistence that colour screens were a necessity: they're not.

I've got, and still use, a Psion 3mx, 5mx and HP 200LX. Yes, I actually still take notes on these things because they work, they run on 2 AA batteries, and they are usable and will exchange data with my PC. I am still slightly amazed that the 200lx does what it does so well, and that they keyboard - which should be useless - is to my fingers better than the 5mx! The Psion 5mx is just brilliant: the OS allows embedding of word processor documents in calendar entries, meaning it's simple to take meeting notes and know what meeting they relate to. The keyboard isn't great, but it's not half bad.

I actually took notes last week on my 200lx in a meeting in Sweden. People were amused, bemused and slightly pitying as they stabbed ineffectually at their fondleslabs, but it just works.

The other device I use is a Sigmarion 3, which is great but suffers from battery life issues. And a Japanese OS. And it has just died. But other than that it's not bad. Speaking of Japanese OS, I also tried the Zaurus range - twice - but ended up going away from them as the damn things kept crashing. (But we know linux never crashes...)

The Viliv n5 will be on my christmas list. The battery life somewhat worries me, but it's worth a try.

Yes, I know I need to get out more, but I collect these things... From the Psion 1 and Agenda Microwriter (kudos to first post!) to the Libretto u100 so far. Tried an OQO, sold it.

Keep the handheld faith!

I have an NC200. Lovely, lovely bit of kit. Fantastically clear mono screen, a full size, full travel and extremely comfortable keyboard, and 10 hours on battery. (Admittedly, it did run on 5 C cells.) The screen was 80x16 and pixel addressable so it was easily big enough for real work, it had a 720kB 3.5" floppy drive and used standard DOS format floppies, and the internal storage was enough to get reasonable documents on.

The OS was pretty nasty, with a word processor that was limited to in-memory documents only, which on a 64kB address space Z80 wasn't much. But it did come with a kick-ass version of BBC Basic for the Z80, including integrated Z80 assembler...

Nokia N810 or N900?

agreed that Psions are/were the zenith of this whole genre, indeed I still have 2 5MXs and wont part with them. The issue with them now is the screen and connectivity.

As a modern alternative, look at the N810. 4.1" touch screen, Linux based & can run debian in a chroot. Wlan, bluetooth connectivity and a miniSD slot for storage. dirt cheap on ebay now.

Or the N900 - also a true powerhouse,although with a smaller screen than the N810.

Sharp ?

Sharp had a line of pocket computers in the early 1980s. These typically had two line displays, a small alphanumeric keypad and removable RAM packs. The primary programming language was BASIC but it was possible to package programs in such a way that they could be distributed as standalone apps using the memory cartridges. (Those cartridges also stored applications data so with a bit of ingenuity you could transfer this data to and from an early PC.)

If you need a compact, versatile, input device then the obvious choice is a stylus. If you're on a smartphone then you should be able to input text using the same kind of gestures that were used with a Palm Pilot (assuming Apple haven't patented them, of course).

So what made *these* machines so good?

Well..

A decent keyboard seems pretty important (I quite like the idea of supporting backlit keys for those dark environments).

Running on standard batteries, rather than some exotic, non standard (and quickly outdated) battery pack (that cannot be replaced in a 3rd world store) is another. Battery life in *days* not hours (ideally *weeks*).

*Adequate* apps, connectivity (especially to the PC) and display. I'd suggest these days *nearly* anything can be had with either a USB or a memory card interface. The software should be good enough that you don't *need* to dig under it to get it to work properly (but you *can* get into ti if you need to).

Mic/speaker/cameras? Not *possible* with the tech of the TSRs, Z88s and NC100, but *necessary*? Voice notes and diary pix?

The *tricky* one is form factor. Small enough for a pocket (breast? side?) so you don't have to *plan* to carry it, or something with more screen area (no one seems to have tried A4 with a split *longways* but that introduces a hinge, which *can* work well but often hasn't ).

The TSR 100 went with basically an A4 page and accepted the limited display. The Z88 (IIRC) used a neat trick of using a small area which mapped each character of a "virtual page" into weather they were covered or not.

But what about the cordless display/keyboard combo? Something like a 2 part Nokia communicator that pops apart?

Now can you convince some VC money suppliers that there is a *market* for this?

Don't dismiss Android

I recently discovered a good implementation of Graffiti handwriting for Android - I used Palm's for over a decade and got very slick at it.

I'm now using it on a San Francisco phone *without a stylus* - it works just fine using a fingertip and has excellent predictive input.The Note Everything app lets me take small notes faster than the onscreen keyboard, and I just switch input method to the TouchPal keyboard later to clean them up. I reckon that on a 7" Android tablet this would make an excellent note taker.

Epson HX-20

The HX-20 had a decent editor in the form of FFoswriter - it could even save up to 50K of text using the optional built-in microcassette drive. The keyboard was also excellent, with proper double-shot moulded keys, and a twin spring mechanism. Finally, the battery would easily last for over 50 hours of use (much less with heavy use of the printer, RS232 port or external disk drive).

Thank you to m0rt and Nick L

... though Nick: I did read the first post, what you meant to suggest was 'follow the link on the first post", since it contained no description.

Not long ago, El Reg had a story about some boffins who created a form of key-logging software that could steal passwords from a touchscreen device by interrogating its accelerometers... if they can determine the location of your finger in any one of roughly 36 places to an accuracy of, 80%, then it seems that they could implement a version of the Microwriter quite easily since it only has 6 positions. Or they could just use the screen's digitiser.

Similarly, haven't we seen wrist-mounted sensors that detect (nerve impulses? ) and in effect give you a virtual glove? Then any device can function as a microwiter- though colleagues in meeting might think you fidgety.

Great Article

Ever since my first Amstrad and Z88 I've collected similar beasties. The NEC PC8201 and Olivetti are also pretty similar to the Tandy. I've also got the lesser spotted WP2.

There's contention whether the Epson HX10 and HX20 should be included because of the little printer and tape drive.

A one-piece machine for bashing out words on the move is a great idea. Sadly though, as the makers of the TRS-80, Z88, NC100, etc. discovered, once you've sold (or quite likely, given) one to every journalist that could use it, there's no-one left to sell the other million units you made to, because hardly anyone else wants this kind of thing.

So yes, it's probably back to a tablet/smartphone plus a Bluetooth keyboard...