Going Back Before Mobile Gears

I spend the day moving around. Again. It was tiring.

It was a day of shopping. South Coast. Grove. Beverly Hills. I was only the driver. Nothing more. I am a guy. I don't go shopping. I go buy things when I need something specific.

I had my mobile gears with me. Thank goodness for devices with longer battery life. Like the iPad.

I tried to remember what it was like before smart phones. So I tried tracing back.

Before Android and iOS, there was the MacBook. It had decent battery life but it would have lasted me three hours of use.

But I was out from nine until four. I would have ran out if juice a while back and ended up carrying a 5 lb. dead weight from about lunch until I got home. I might have been able to find a plug here or there at a Starbucks or bookstore. That would have helped.

What about before that? Well, there was a PowerBook and a Sony Viao. But the situation would have been about the same as the MacBook except I had extra batteries to lug around.

Well, what about before laptops? There was the Palm Zire, a Dell Windows Mobile, and a 2 MB Palm V. The battery life for these devices might be enough for my use. I remembered helping out my family business on weekends with the Zire.

It was good enough for ebooks from eReader.com. Remember those days? Yeah I think more than a few of you do.

The thing about the Zire is that it had a camera as well as an expansion slot. That came on handy because it allowed me to load more apps and files. Even some videos.

Oh, and the Zire had color. So did the Dell handheld. The thing about the Dell was that it was bulky and the battery life was erratic.

Then there was the Palm V from early 2000. Boy, that was one awesome PDA. The battery life on that little thing would put to shame most mobile devices out there given what it was created to do.

And before that?

If I remember correctly, it was a Sharp device that worked like a Dayrunner and has a small keyboard like some of the ones we see smartphones like the G2. It was a clamshell design with a black and white display with really bad resolution. I mean you were going to be doing much on it besides keeping contact info, calendar, and writing notes.

And it was mainly the notes portion I needed it for. It was at a time when I was creating and writing RPG adventures.

I had it with me during the early part of my college days. It was a good diversion to have around when I had to be somewhere that I didn't want be at or require long bouts of waiting.

And before this Sharp device that was likely the ancestors of today's iPhone and Blackberry?

Books and a couple sheets of papers for notes. That combination was my only solace from being dragged out the door on shopping trips.

How about you? Did you have a similar experience?



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