This was my first real PDA. The one before that was a Casio organiser which was really too bulky for anything except the labcoat pocket. Despite the "dim by current standards" LCD display, it was very useful and it was at least a touch-screen LCD. I loved the simple and quick built-in applications. There was no IR or fancy communications stuff but Hotsync was a great way to backup the Palm on my PC and I always felt safe with my data. In fact I have not lost any Contact data since 1997!! The Pilot was actually in working condition until sometime in 2003 when it suddenly decided to die. The LCD just went blank and nothing seems to be able to revive it.
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This is my Pilot as it appears sitting on the cradle. I fancy the old style cradles are steadier. The Pilot sits firmly and does not wobble. Removing it from the cradle does not give rise to "cracking" sounds like the m500 series does. Note the US Robotics logo - these were the days before 3Com bought over USR and way before Palm spun off from 3Com. There were no professional screen protectors back then so I had to modify some plastic from a bookwrap to protect the screen. |
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I had a slim leather case. The Pilot had a piece of velcro stuck on the back and it was attached to the leather case only by the velcro. Seemed a bit flimsy to me but it worked. This is one PDA where I never lost the stylus! |
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The rear of the Pilot with the battery cover removed. Funny how USR put the springs both on one side whereas you would expect the springs to be on opposite sides since the batteries were aligned that way as is for most electronic equipment. The memory card had a cover which could be removed easily. I had a TRG Superpilot expansion Ram installed which gave me a humongous 4MB Ram. |
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| All the covers removed exposing the electronic parts inside. I guess it's simplistic by today's standards. USR were the real pioneers though and this really is piece of history in anybody's electronic museum. For more on the history of Palm Pilot Computing you might be interested in the book Piloting Palm which chronicles the history of Palm and it's founding father Jeff Hawkins. | |