Privacy

They're shockingly useful today as a tool to manage ADHD, since they have a buncha organizational software baked into the OS, with plenty of other productivity apps still available for download off of PalmDB, without the connectivity nor distractions of a modern smartphone. I'm using a Sony PEG-UX50, which uses PalmOS 5, has a built in keyboard, and expandable memory (in the form of Sony Memory Sticks, cause Sony was addicted to format wars at the time.)

The III had an IR sync as well, but you had to initiate it and it was line of sight with the IR port on your computer.

I had it working with my Rev. B iMac.

Man, I miss my Palm III. Left it in a jacket pocket too close to a wall heater. :(

Laptops were offline devices that only synced with any computer when put on a phone cable.

On a single charge? The Palm Pilot used 2xAAA batteries. You could use rechargeables, I suppose, but they would have been NiCads, not Lithiums, in the 90’s. More likely you were using disposables.

My palm treo 650 was the most badass phone ever

Got to put a carefully cut strip of scotch magic translucent tape over the stylus square for both protection and friction enhancing

Always practice safe graffiti

I had the Palm VII, which had a mobile data connection and an antenna you would flip up. I felt like a god. When i “upgraded” to the Compaq ipaq i felt that the world was my oyster!

Now i hate my phone.

they (or at least the later palm pilot) had a surprisingly robust system for recognizing handwriting! individual characters had to be single strokes, and you needed to write each one a buncha times to calibrate initially so it has something to compare against, but i remember it being notably faster to type with than other contemporaneous tiny keyboards.

Not to spoil the nostalgia vibes but wanted to share the Palma2, popular enough that they made a second version. Briefly: its an e-ink reader, in the form factor of a 6 inch smartphone. It runs Android for compatibility, no cell data only WiFi and even has a basic camera for document scanning. It's definately not privacy protecting but it is resistant to endless online slop traps, which I think is part of what makes a modern smartphone problematic. I'm not recommending it but just noticed the similarities to some of the classic PDAs, especially the high contrast interface and reduced animations.

My t5 tungsten didnt have wifi, but there was bt and ir. and you could buy a wifi card.

Loved my Palm III. Simpler days.

It really is too bad that commercial solutions for true privacy focused syncing and wireless backups will only get worse if they were ever good at all. I think of products like the Ring Doorbell where there's no reason the doorbell itself can't be it's own local server. The only reason to tie you to a cloud is to implement monthly fees while also harvesting your data. The idea of an open standard where multiple devices could connect to any cloud service (self hosted Next Cloud or commercial solution etc) will likely disappear with the direction we're going. It's a sad time for tech and an even more sad time for society worldwide.

I miss my Newton. :(

Those were cool! I inherited my pop's old one when he upgraded.

I have a IIIXe (very similar to the one in OP) somewhere. Really limited in what it could do, but very cool for the time. I also have a later model Zire somewhere that had enough horsepower (with a mild overclock) to play Quake.

I wish I still had the dock for mine, I still have my Palm pilot.

I still have my m100

Smartphones are nothing more than gentrified PDAs...

Holy crap, I have the exact same model still somewhere in the basement. It was so incredibly cool at the time. I felt like I was living in the future. Until I got my first mobile that is. Carrying two gadgets was just too much.