I contemplated on my drive home and realized I’d forgotten a couple of oddballs from those early years.  Here are some of those for you, with some emphasis on Windows CE clamshells and similar systems.  Keep in mind that at one time or another I owned each of the machines shown here and in the other posts.  Not bad for an ordinary dork.

Sharp Mobilon PV-6000 TriPad

This was one of the better evolutions running Microsoft’s Handheld PC 2.11 software.  This was a varient of the Vadem Clio, but unfortunately, it was the slower version.  Later models of the Clio had more memory and a punchier processor.  One of the first convertible tablets, it could be configured as you see it here, like a laptop, or folded down into a tablet.  When stored, you’d flip the screen down towards the keyboard to protect it.  It ran versions of Word, Excel, and so forth, but it was sluggish.  Still, the battery life was tremendous, in the neighborhood of 8 hours, if I remember right, and it did most of what the laptops of the day did.  I got a lot of mileage out of this before selling it and getting the ePlate.

Psion Revo

Actually, this was my wife’s PDA for a while.  Diamond (of graphics card fame) sold these as the Diamond Mako.  It had a very similar design to Psion’s Series 5, but without the CompactFlash slot.  If I remember right, the keyboard wasn’t as well done either.  It was considerably less money than a Series 5 or 5mx, however, and quite a bit smaller and lighter (not the 5 was large or heavy, but still).

Casio Cassiopeia A-22T

I had one of these very briefly, probably in an attempt to sell it.  I might have had two or three.  This one was a little slower, didn’t have much memory, and wasn’t as well made as the Psion, the Clio, or the Jornada clamshell series.  I didn’t have it long before getting rid of it.  I was probably spoiled with the Psion; every other clamshell handheld afterwords always felt a little clunky while typing, with the possible exception of the Jornada 690.  The monochrome screen was alson sort of an anomoly by this late in the game.  Color was becoming the norm, and these were really only an option for a budget handheld. 

HP Jornada 690

This handheld, along with its later siblings,  became perhaps my favorite mobile device.  It was fast, had a great screen, and one of the better keyboards.  It ran the SH3 processor, though later versions upgraded to the quicker StrongArm.  It had a full PCMCIA slot as well as a CompactFlash slot, so there was an option to access the internet wirelessly, which worked quite well.  It was an excellent note taker; it had far better battery life than a laptop (about 8 hours) and only weighed 1.1 lbs.  I think even today it would be a great tool for a student.  The docking station was a little clunky, with a weird spring-activated catch and a release button.  The voice recorder was fair, and it had quick-access buttons on the front so there was no need to open the screen to record a quick note.  This was the classic Windows CE clamshell.