HP 95LX versus XDA Exec

[biglouis]

My son joined the Windows Mobile community this week when he purchased a XDA Exec (HTC Universal). He was only 7 years old when I purchased my first PDA - possibly one of the first PDAs ever produced - the Hewlet Packard 95LX.

I thought it would be interesting to take some photos comparing the granddaddy of them all with the latest innovation in the 15 year evolution of pocektable devices.

http://www.louisberk.com/95lxvsjasjar.jpg

A strict side by side comparison would be pointless. Memory has expanded significantly - the 95LX has 512K and the JasJar 128MB. Most noticeable is the high resolution colour screen, although it is interesting to see just how clear and readable the monochrome, low-res 'character'-only based display is in these photos.

I'd also make the point that the form factor of the HP remains very usable, with a much more tactile and comprehensive keyboard - including separate numeric input, navigation and dedicated function keys - than the Universal. I'd definitely take the HP keyboard over the Universal, any day!

http://www.louisberk.com/connectivity.jpg

Connectivity has clearly improved greatly since 1991. This shot shows the two options on the 95LX, IrDA and a serial connection, versus the mini-USB connector on the Universal. I'd be hard pressed to connect my 95LX to my Shuttle PC because it does not have any 9-pin serial ports, which is now a common omission on most PCs (it also does not have a parallel port or a floppy drive!). I'd definitely take high-speed USB 2.0 over the old serial connections which might just be cranked up to 128Kbps before keeling over, if you were lucky.

http://www.louisberk.com/expansion.jpg

Expansion is another massive improvement over the last 15 years. The 95LX sported a single Type I PCMIA slot, which allowed some expansion through flash cards of very low density - nothing even close to the 2GB SD cards which are now quite affordable for the Universal to utilise.

http://www.louisberk.com/lotus123.jpg

Very few people nowadays are aware of the fact that Lotus Development Corp (who I worked for in the late 80s/early 90s) were the market leader in spreadsheet technology before throwing away their dominance by a syndrome we later christened "Windows Denial".

The 95LX sported a fully working version of Lotus 1-2-3. Not a cut down, artificially restricted version. For that matter, it also sported a fully working version of DOS 5.0. Compare that with the cut-down applications and operating system of WM5.

HP's first partner in the PDA market was Lotus but by the time its second generation palmtops appeared in 1994 they had ditched Lotus for Microsoft.

http://www.louisberk.com/excel.jpg

The result is the dominance of Microsoft in yet another area of our lives. I actually think that the lack of innovation by Microsoft has held back the development of the PPC. Rather like the way the use of COBOL held back the evolution of programming for at least 25 years (imho).

To be fair to Lotus, who made some bad decisions back in the 90s, I've worked for dumber companies. My first IT job was programming in Pascal on Apple IIEs, so Lotus are not alone at throwing away their livelihood.

Nothing last for ever with the possible exception of Taxes and Microsoft!

What other points strike me when I compare the two devices?

Firstly, the build quality of the HP is superior to the HTC Universal. Despite the advances in materials, the HP has a solid feel and I know from personal experience it is darn near indestructable.

Secondly, faster and more powerful may not necessarily get the job done. The interface on PPCs is rich and versatile but is it as simple to use as good-old DOS combined with keyboard based commands? I'll leave that up to you to decide.

Finally, I love my K-JAM and I'd gladly give houseroom to a second HTC Universal, thanks to the connectivity and versatility which has (of course) improved out of all recognition since 1991.

Looking back, though, I can't help feeling that we should actually be even further ahead than we are. By now I would have expected to be able to purchase a fully functioning PC in the form factor of the 95LX, with a GHz processor, GBs of storage and full Microsoft Office 2003 applications capability.

[Ed Hansberry]

Great review. I was very close to buying the HP95 back then but after playing around with one, I came to the same conclusion about Lotus 1-2-3 on the device that I often come to on the Pocket PC today regarding Excel Mobile.

1) formatting can still be lost. By the time the HP95 came out, the WSYWYG addin was the defacto standard where I worked and being unable to keep the formatting between desktop and device, something that would get out of whack as soon as you added/deleted a column/row or moved data around. Strike one.

2) Most of us in the office were using Lotus 1-2-3 Release 3.1, which supported multiple sheets in a file and the release 2.x versions of 1-2-3 that were out, including that on the HP95, couldn't even open a single sheet version of a 3.x file. Strike two. No strike three needed.

The Pocket PC today is about as useful when it comes to spreadsheets. It can open just about every file, but you have to be careful about making changes if formatting is important, and some functions and features aren't supported. The difference for me is the Pocket PC is pocketable and thus serviceable in so many other areas. The 95 was just too big to take everywhere and its most impressive feature, Lotus 1-2-3 R2, was just too lmited for how I would have needed it to work. Maybe if it had come out in 1987 or 1988.

[Patrick Y.]

Great reviews and comparison!! You know, I believed my dad has one of those thing too. I can't remember the model number, but he has some kind of HP PDA that looks like this. Though, I never get to play around with it. :cry: I think he threw it away before I was "mature" enough to play around with electronics device (I once jammed my uncle's VHS with something nasty).

BTW, anyone want to guess what these are? (No cheating, you know what I mean)

http://www.besta.com.tw/product/images/product_cd826.jpg

http://www.besta.com.tw/product/images/product_cd816.jpg
[img]http://www.instant.com.tw/instantdir/image/product/main_md201.gif
http://www.besta.com.tw/product/images/product_cd88.jpg

http://www.instant.com.tw/instantdir/image/product/main_md6000_1.gif

[Nurhisham Hussein]

Those look like the mobile Chinese dictionaries I see all over the place.

[MadBison]

I had the HP95LX, then the HP100LX, and the HP200LX. I still like the 200LX, and think it was way ahead of its time.

I agree that I would have expected full blown PC functionality in the HP200LX size and format by now. That keyboard was very useable. I used to be able to type emails using the 200LX keyboard while standing on in a train in the London Underground. No way I could do that with the touch screen devices now.

I REALLY wish I could get an application for WM 2003 SE that duplicates the functionality in the "Solver" App ont he HP200LX. If anyone knows of an app for WM2003 SE that performs the same functionality of the solver app, I would be very happy if you would let me know about it.

I have my old 200LX set up as an automatic IR device for my air conditioner, seing as the brand new aircon does not have the ability to set up forward schedules for on and off! Anyone else found a use for their old gadgetry?

David

[Tim Rapson]

I had an Atari Portfolio. It never quite made it as a mobile computer. It was just too much work to get any kind of file from the Atari to the desktop and though the Atari could run many standard DOS programs, it had so little memory it just wasn't worth it all.
My first truly useful handheld was a Psion, then and Ipaq, Clie, and Palm Zire.
I really like the looks/features of that HTC Universal. Definitely has it all.

[ctmagnus]

Slightly OT:

Not owning a Jasjar/XDA Exec/O2 Exec/whatever-any-given-company-calls-their-version, I must ask what the icon between the connectivity and speaker icons in the Excel Mobile screenshot is? Is it a USB connection icon?

[saru83]

By now I would have expected to be able to purchase a fully functioning PC in the form factor of the 95LX, with a GHz processor, GBs of storage and full Microsoft Office 2003 applications capability.

Awesome review biglouis, but u might wanna check out www.oqo.com coz this almost what u r talking about. :)

[Patrick Y.]

Those look like the mobile Chinese dictionaries I see all over the place.

You're good. 8O

[shivafool]

I had an HP 200LX, an amazing machine, and it was my first taste of having a real full fledged computer in my pocket. I have an universal now, and I feel I have finally surpassed where I was with the 200LX.
Windoze made it take much too long to once again have a computer in my pocket.

[msafi]

Jornada 720 makes the universal look like paperweight.

hehe, just kidding!

seriously though, if the jornada 720 was updated. with it's 9-hour of use battery time, touch-typeable keyboard, PCMCIA and CF slots, it can easily be a laptop replacement. and a great one for that.

[DaleReeck]

Slightly OT:

Not owning a Jasjar/XDA Exec/O2 Exec/whatever-any-given-company-calls-their-version, I must ask what the icon between the connectivity and speaker icons in the Excel Mobile screenshot is? Is it a USB connection icon?

On my Universal, that's where the phone signal strength indicator should be. Since the shape of that icon looks like a SIM card, perhaps that's an indicator that the SIM card is missing from the unit? I don't know what mine should show since the first thing I did when I got it was put the SIM card in.

[Janak Parekh]

On my Universal, that's where the phone signal strength indicator should be. Since the shape of that icon looks like a SIM card, perhaps that's an indicator that the SIM card is missing from the unit? I don't know what mine should show since the first thing I did when I got it was put the SIM card in.
Yup, that's the "invalid or missing SIM" icon.

--janak

[BevHoward]

One interesting note is that while there is a major difference in "form factor" the units are almost the same weight... 11.1 oz for the LX (w/batteries) and 10.2 oz for the HTC

[Nurhisham Hussein]

Those look like the mobile Chinese dictionaries I see all over the place.

You're good. 8O

Nah, it's just that I run across them nearly every day.

To get back OT: Nice topic, I'd never had the budget to get any of these babies back then, sure wish I had though.

[KTamas]

Nice and interesting review. I remember seeing the PDA and HPC reviews in the beginning of the 00's, and i always wanted...a HPC. Times are changing i guess ;)

(Although sometimes I'm still dreaming of a Jornada 720...)

[Jason Dunn]

Interesting post! It's funny timing, because today I was bidding on eBay for a Philips Velo 1, and I was going to do something very similar - take some pictures and talk about how things have evolved (or haven't).

[dMores]

you know, i think this makes the old thing look really good.
because the newest, coolest, most bestest device on the planet now goes back to a layout, that has been introduced in the last millennium!

[ipaq_wannabe]

Great reviews and comparison!! You know, I believed my dad has one of those thing too. I can't remember the model number, but he has some kind of HP PDA that looks like this. Though, I never get to play around with it. :cry: I think he threw it away before I was "mature" enough to play around with electronics device (I once jammed my uncle's VHS with something nasty).

BTW, anyone want to guess what these are? (No cheating, you know what I mean)

oh... these are electronic dictionaries...

and no - not only a single specific dictionaries, but about at least 20 different dictionaries, ie., A-language-to-B-language (and vice-versa) in several publishers, How to Write a Business Letter in A-language, etc. etc.

so - did i get this right?

[rlobrecht]

I also had a 95LX. That thing was fantastic. I loved it. I sold it about a year ago (along with an Irda thermal printer) for about $100!

[ipaq_wannabe]

btw, is anyone familiar with the Sharp Zaurus (not the presently available Linux-based ones)?

http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/Sharp%20Zaurus

i still have my PI-7000 in super-mint condition, and this comes equipped with handwriting recognition for japanese, a built-in english/japanese (vice-versa) dictionary, a complete PIM (ToDo, Contacts, Calendar, Action Planner), a word processor, a small propietary spreadsheet (downloaded), a fax modem (with included software), a IR slot, a external card slot, a serial IO port, etc.

and you can program it with BASIC!!!

[tendomentis]

Being the geek that I am, I still have my originals (or have repurchased for nostalgia's sake) PDA's going back to when I was thirteen.

I still have my GM DataRover (which is STILL more rugged than any pda on the market) and my Casio E-11 pocket pc (one of the first IF NOT the first pocket pc's).

I stupidly gave my Sony Magic Link PIC-1000 to my little brother who ended up throwing it away (grrrrr!!!), but I'm looking to replace that.

Now if I could only find an NX-6000 Casio Planeo color touchscreen organizer, I'd be set. That came right after my Sharp Wizard OZ-7000 (which I proudly have on display with a working IC dictionary card).

It's revealing how technology has changed (if not completely evolved) from where it was ten or fifteen years ago. When "handhelds" were little more than glorified rolodex's, now they're all essentially pocket media centers.

I don't know what handheld's will be in another ten years, I just know my hw6515 will still be in my hall of fame as one of my all time favorites when I upgrade.

[Perry Reed]

I worked at HP back when they released the 95LX. My boss got one and I liked it so well I started hounding him to get me one. After all, since it was a company-internal purchase, we could get quite a discount. He wouldn't go for it so I continued to hound him. And continued. And continued. Eventually the 100LX was released which was far superior to the 95LX. And I hounded him some more.

Finally he relented and ordered one not just for me, but one for everyone on the team.

Of course, being the grateful kind of guy I am, my first response was, "Now, you're getting us the 100LX and not he 95LX, right??" :)

I still have my 100LX and there are a lot of things about it that nobody has improved upon to this day.

[Deslock]

Ah the memories. I had a 200lx that I ran Derive on (being able to do symbolic calculations on a palmtop was sweet!)

I switched to a Pilot because navigating was faster and the device was smaller.

It is somewhat sad that Palmtops haven't progressed beyond what they are today. The HP's task-switching was reliable... it *never* crashed on me. The spreadsheet was full-featured. It's true that we do more intensive, complicated stuff today, but there really is no excuse for how quirky most computers are (both mobile and desktop).

I'm still hoping that someday Sharp will produce a hdd-less version of their Linux clamshell-PDA with an 800x480 screen, wifi, and a decent GPU (for video playback). I'd give up my X50v for that in a heartbeat.

[biglouis]

Thanks for all the posts. Interesting to read through them.

I wonder where we'll be in 15 years from now? In my case, hopefully above ground!

I'll be very disappointed if memories and displays have not progressed out of all recognition.

LouisB

[Hal Goldstein]

My company publishes Smartphone & Pocket PC (formerly titled Pocket PC[/i). From 1991-99 we published [i]The HP Palmtop Paper, which was devoted to users of HP95LX, 100LX, and 200LX users. I still consider that time the golden age of handheld computing. HP had a team of brilliant HP Calculator engineers engineer these DOS Palmtops. If it weren't for multi-media and Wi-Fi capabilities, I would still prefer an HP 200LX to a Pocket PC.

For those interested, the archives of the magazines (thanks to the help of volunteers about 5 years ago), are all posted at www.palmtoppaper.com. The first couple of years focussed exclusively on the HP 95LX.

If you check out our links page, you will see there is still an active LX mailing list, plus a great site for downloads. At out Web site, we still have a strong business buying, selling, upgrading, and repairing LX palmtops, as well as software and accessories! I am almost sure (I am currently out of the country), we still have an inventory of 95LX's that are almost new.

Hal Goldstein
Owner
Thaddeus Computing, www.thaddeus.com

[msafi]

Mr. Goldstein,

you seem to really appreciate the HandheldPC formfactor, and i think you have great influence in the windows mobile community. can you use your influence to help revive the HandheldPC?

the htc universal has proven that people could get excited about that formfactor, but the universal is still not a HandheldPC in the pure sense of the concept. imagine, an Axim 51v in the body of a Jornada 728 or NEC MobilePro 900c. What do you think?

sincerely,

msafi,

[Patrick Y.]

oh... these are electronic dictionaries...

and no - not only a single specific dictionaries, but about at least 20 different dictionaries, ie., A-language-to-B-language (and vice-versa) in several publishers, How to Write a Business Letter in A-language, etc. etc.

so - did i get this right?

Did you cheat? (peeking at image property) Anyone, you're right. In fact, these things are more than just dictionaries. I've a Besta CD-55, and it's like a mini black and white palm pilot. Also, there are at least 20 different dictionaries and references preinstalled. The newer color ones even let you read e-books, view images, use different language dictionaries and encylopedida. The problem is that these things are not very flexible. Though, I'm quite impressed by their capability as dictionaries. The built-in dictionary applications are far better than the available dictionaries for Pocket PC.

[Macguy59]

Speaking of throwbacks I recently got my hands on a Clio C-1050 and I have to say I'm amazed at how useful this little sweety still is. Yes the GUI is dated and the performance is mediocre but with the available slots I have had it on my wireless network and the battery life is much better than any PPC I've owned.

[Hal Goldstein]

Mr. Goldstein,

you seem to really appreciate the HandheldPC formfactor, and i think you have great influence in the windows mobile community. can you use your influence to help revive the HandheldPC?



Unfortunately, I have no influence at least in this area. I have editorialized many times in our magazine (for example http://www.pocketpcmag.com/_archives/jul03/pocketview.asp).

I have spoken to HP and Microsoft higher-ups on numerous occassions. The answer is always a version of -- we tried that in the 90's and there was not enough demand.

When Windows Mobile 2003 2nd Edition came out, with support of Landscape and keyboards, I thought handhelds would make a comeback. Then it was pointed out to me that the spec did not support the Jornada 720 or NEC 900 or the old Jornada 820-sized screens.

Making lemonade out of lemons (at least for our company) we started www.usedhandhelds.com. Our most important product in the Jornada 720, which we now buy, sell, and repair.

[sacosta74]

Apple as usual with creations way before its time missed the boat with the Newton. What happened? What went wrong for a PDA that today or may 5 to 10 years ago could have been a hit.

[biglouis]

Apple as usual with creations way before its time missed the boat with the Newton. What happened? What went wrong for a PDA that today or may 5 to 10 years ago could have been a hit.

I agree. The Newton was an excellent PPC and well ahead of its time. It was. imho, a true 'windows' PPC with a very slick interface. The ergonomics, although slightly larger than today's PPCs felt absolutely right, even down to the proper pen-sized stylus.

Main problem was lack of apps and the fact that you really did need an Apple to hook it up to.

It completely beat the pants off the competition, e.g. Palm, HP, Casio etc.

My recollection, from talking with industry sources at the time, was that Apple was (a) financially strapped (as per usual) and had to make some tough product choices and (b) John Scully hated the Newton, thought it was an uncessary distraction, wanted it killed off and suceeded.

To be fair, the Newton was probably about 10 years ahead of its time. The demand in the market place for any form of PPC was still at the early-adopter stage, not where it is today.

IMHO, by pulling out of the market, Apple in effect created the opportunity that Palm filled so successfully until recent years. And to be fair to Palm their device was smaller and simpler to use. Unfortunately, if you want to conquer the mass market, simple is the best way to go.

At the time they were axed I was selling them over the internet and for a period afterwards I sold as many as I could get hold of, mainly into Japan, for some reason.

Apple are very, very lucky that Scully departed before they invented the iPOD or goodness knows where they would be today!

LouisB

[airconvent]

pardon me for going slightly off topic here but I just inherited an LX200 from my uncle. he has not sync cable or charger. just the pda and manuals.
everything works. it has 2MB RAM. I inserted a CF with an HP 10MB card (yes, 10MB!!!) and it seems to be able to see the folders there but not the files.

anyone here still use the LX95/100/200 series? what do you use it for?
seems cumbersome to use without the stylus and *gulp* colour screen...heh heh any website resource for these palmtops ?

thanks in advance...

[desertrat_blog]

I have spoken to HP and Microsoft higher-ups on numerous occassions. The answer is always a version of -- we tried that in the 90's and there was not enough demand.

Of course there weren't. Back then people were buying Psions -- top notch builtin apps, extremely memory efficient, rock solid multitasking OS -- everything that WinCE is not.