I do likey this. The guys that made the original Psion devices are doing a revamp after 17 years.

 

https://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/02/28/inside_the_new_psion_gemini/

 

As usual I have no real use for this but I do want one lots. I did love my Psion 5.

 

 

It looks like it's flat but it has a development of the Psion hinge that tilted up the keypad to make it usable.

Not sure I'm so keen to drop $300 on a kickstarter but they do have a prototype working at least.

 

Will run Androind and a Linux variant.

 

Edited 1 March, 20179 yr by Aspman

I have an original PSION 3 that I keep thinking about sticking on eBay, may get round to it one day.

Yep I like that.  I have an old palm tungsten PDA that used to be great but I can't connect it to my work laptop anymore as the latter is locked down which is a shame as I used it regularly when I could...

Yeah I sold on my Psion 5 because compatibility was getting to be an issue. I've still got a couple of fully working Palm Mx PDAs. Again no software for them.

Think this will be on my buying for the hell of it list. 

Put it with the rest of my impulse IT buys.

 

I have a psion 5 Mx sitting here and an Atari Falcon 030, maybe I should start a museum ? 

Think I might have one of those, I'm sick of trying to type on a tablet at work. 

I've always been more of a PDA person than a mobile phoner and I rarely even use the phone itself. My devices are first and foremost a pocket computer.

I had a Psion Revo, back in the day. Had to get a second one when the first karked it. The kicker was the internal battery, which meant you lost any data if the battery died completely... and I used it to hell and back, so my battery died, taking with it some utterly irreplacable journals.

 

I did try an Orange SPV M5000, which as a form-factor is utterly awesome and was also a phone... but by this stage, everyone else was using iPhones and things, so it was as useful as a Spectrum 48k. I still have it, in fact. Not a mark on it!

 

I'd love it if the Psion form-factor took off again, or indeed anything with a usable physical QWERTY keyboard (I even loved the Pandora design), as large plates of glass aren't really my idea of a portable computey device... but I think people are so stuck on wafer-thin touchscreen junk that breaks when you sit on it, that I don't think these will be viable any time soon. Quite saddening, really.

20 hours ago, Ttaskmaster said:

I've always been more of a PDA person than a mobile phoner and I rarely even use the phone itself. My devices are first and foremost a pocket computer.

I had a Psion Revo, back in the day. Had to get a second one when the first karked it. The kicker was the internal battery, which meant you lost any data if the battery died completely... and I used it to hell and back, so my battery died, taking with it some utterly irreplacable journals.

 

I did try an Orange SPV M5000, which as a form-factor is utterly awesome and was also a phone... but by this stage, everyone else was using iPhones and things, so it was as useful as a Spectrum 48k. I still have it, in fact. Not a mark on it!

 

I'd love it if the Psion form-factor took off again, or indeed anything with a usable physical QWERTY keyboard (I even loved the Pandora design), as large plates of glass aren't really my idea of a portable computey device... but I think people are so stuck on wafer-thin touchscreen junk that breaks when you sit on it, that I don't think these will be viable any time soon. Quite saddening, really.

 

 

why not just buy a logitech bluetooth keyboard - a lot cheaper

2 minutes ago, domhnall said:

 

 

why not just buy a logitech bluetooth keyboard - a lot cheaper

 

 

I've never used a small keyboard that was as usable as the psion one. Full travel non chiclet keyboard.

 

Allegedly some of he folding ones aren't bad but I've never tried them.I gave up on tablets as a tool and went back to netbook equivalents (much cheapness Lenovo 100S which I'm using right now). I hardly use a tablet now. 

 

I might replace the lenovo soon as it is struggling with some of the weightier websites. But I'll probably get another small form factor laptop or 2:1.

 

The Indigogo appeal has passed it's target so in theory this should get made, however the chap in charge apparently has a bit of a dubious history with this sort of thing and there are already suspicious happenings around company registrations.

12 hours ago, domhnall said:

 

 

why not just buy a logitech bluetooth keyboard - a lot cheaper

 

Bluetooth = More batteries to worry about.

It also is a separate unit, rather than a handy and solid all-in-one so easily used as the Psions.

You kinda need to have used a Psion to know why they're so good, especially the Revo!

1 minute ago, Ttaskmaster said:

 

Bluetooth = More batteries to worry about.

It also is a separate unit, rather than a handy and solid all-in-one so easily used as the Psions.

You kinda need to have used a Psion to know why they're so good, especially the Revo!

Had a 5 and a 5mx

4 hours ago, domhnall said:

Had a 5 and a 5mx

So how is a bluetooth keyboard in any way better?

8 hours ago, Ttaskmaster said:

So how is a bluetooth keyboard in any way better?

 

 

Depending on how you like to work being able to separate the two maybe suits some people. Not everyone likes the keyboard attached to the screen. Also with a bt keyboard you can get bigger ones or just different ones that suit.

 

I've not used one I like but I have a general hatred of the chiclet keyboards that have been of fashion for the last few years. My keyboard at work is a very elderly clackity dell one (it's not mechanical), but I find it much better than anything newer.

Edited 5 March, 20179 yr by Aspman

8 hours ago, Ttaskmaster said:

So how is a bluetooth keyboard in any way better?

Bigger screen, colour, sound, bigger keyboard, battery is fine, easy connectivity to Internet etc etc  etc. My 5mx is sitting unused on a shelf. 

28 minutes ago, Aspman said:

 

 

Depending on how you like to work being able to separate the two maybe suits some people. Not everyone likes the keyboard attached to the screen. Also with a bt keyboard you can get bigger ones or just different ones that suit.

 

I've not used one I like but I have a general hatred of the chiclet keyboards that have been of fashion for the last few years. My keyboard at work is a very elderly clackity dell one (it's not mechanical), but I find it much better than anything newer.

 

The whole point of the Psion, and PDAs in general was a single unit that was easily used both in hand and on desk. Separating things out is the domain of larger laptop style devices.

 

14 minutes ago, domhnall said:

Bigger screen, colour, sound, bigger keyboard, battery is fine, easy connectivity to Internet etc etc  etc. My 5mx is sitting unused on a shelf. 

If you need bigger screens, get a laptop or stay in the office.

These things are supposed to be small and portable, but highly usable. 

I don't think we're arguing.

 

The Psion was it's own form factor and there hasn't really been anything like it since.

Lots of people will have moved on and will prefer a small 8" tablet with a bt keyboard or a 10" netbook.

 

But there does appear to still be a market for the Psion type device.

 

I quite fancied a Sony Viao UX for a while, but other than the price it just wasn't as practical as something like a Psion.

 

 

Edited 5 March, 20179 yr by Aspman

21 minutes ago, Ttaskmaster said:

 

The whole point of the Psion, and PDAs in general was a single unit that was easily used both in hand and on desk. Separating things out is the domain of larger laptop style devices.

 

If you need bigger screens, get a laptop or stay in the office.

These things are supposed to be small and portable, but highly usable. 

 

Smart phones do all of that. The blackberry probably killed the Psions. 

 

Interesting to see the blackberry key one coming to market. Combines the best of blackberry and Android 

 

1 hour ago, Aspman said:

I quite fancied a Sony Viao UX for a while, but other than the price it just wasn't as practical as something like a Psion.

 

 

I did have one of those, briefly. As a form factor, most UMPCs were awesome... but the hardware just couldn't deliver the level of OS for the duration it needed.

 

1 hour ago, domhnall said:

 

Smart phones do all of that. The blackberry probably killed the Psions. 

 

Interesting to see the blackberry key one coming to market. Combines the best of blackberry and Android 

Smartphones do not have full size QWERTYs any more. The HTC Desire Z was about the last time any integrated keyboard made a phone into a useful PDA. Blackberries never had anything on that, not in portrait orientation. Not even the Motorola Flipout was that good, and that had a better keyboard than a Blackberry.

IF you put a clamshell keyboard onto a smartphone, that would be perfect. Already they're so thin I need an Otterbox Defender to keep from dropping the damn things, so clamshell bulk is not an issue.

1 hour ago, Ttaskmaster said:

 

IF you put a clamshell keyboard onto a smartphone, that would be perfect. Already they're so thin I need an Otterbox Defender to keep from dropping the damn things, so clamshell bulk is not an issue.

 

I think a bit like the 'old cars better' thread what you are deeing there are the phone companies delivering what people want not what they need. Because most people are idiots they want things like ever thinner phones but ever larger displays,so you get fragile phones with awful battery life.

 

People say they want to work on them but then don't want an attached keyboard.

 

It's a minority of people that want their phones to actually fulfill a function other than looking nice while plonked on a table. Usually engineers who probably use old Nokia candybar phones and a backup laptop. So the phone companies don't care about them. They won't buy the next £1000 iPhone.

1 hour ago, Aspman said:

 

I think a bit like the 'old cars better' thread what you are deeing there are the phone companies delivering what people want not what they need. Because most people are idiots they want things like ever thinner phones but ever larger displays,so you get fragile phones with awful battery life.

 

People say they want to work on them but then don't want an attached keyboard.

 

It's a minority of people that want their phones to actually fulfill a function other than looking nice while plonked on a table. Usually engineers who probably use old Nokia candybar phones and a backup laptop. So the phone companies don't care about them. They won't buy the next £1000 iPhone.

 

 

I have a 5.5 inch reasonably thin phone which has at least a 3 day battery life. Oh and it costs less than £200 :-) 

 

2 hours ago, domhnall said:

 

 

I have a 5.5 inch reasonably thin phone which has at least a 3 day battery life. Oh and it costs less than £200 :-) 

 

 

 

 

22 hours ago, Aspman said:

 

I think a bit like the 'old cars better' thread what you are deeing there are the phone companies delivering what people want not what they need. Because most people are idiots they want things like ever thinner phones but ever larger displays,so you get fragile phones with awful battery life.

 

People say they want to work on them but then don't want an attached keyboard.

 

It's a minority of people that want their phones to actually fulfill a function other than looking nice while plonked on a table. Usually engineers who probably use old Nokia candybar phones and a backup laptop. So the phone companies don't care about them. They won't buy the next £1000 iPhone.

 

Most people don't want a phone that thin because they break too easily, but they have no choice because companies dictate the technology. Many do not want touchscreen-only but they have no choice in the matter because companies stopped making them.

We went the same way with MiniDiscs, which actually stored 4-8 times what a CD could, but IBM had already done the deal to use CD-ROM and so it forced MiniDisc out of the market.

 

PDAs were the thing, but got cut off by a world where phones and similar devices were getting smaller and smaller (Samsung SGH Z500-V being almost the ultimate and the best phone I've ever had). Now we're back to large screens, the PDA and all the amazing advances made are all gone, so there's nothing in the minds of the goldfish designing these things to be drawn upon for inspiration. Phones are just generic slabs of glass that all look the same - My current phone is a newer model, but looks exactly the same as the one from about 2 years before. Even the case fits both perfectly.

 

 

Edited 6 March, 20179 yr by Ttaskmaster

42 minutes ago, Ttaskmaster said:

 Phones are just generic slabs of glass that all look the same - My current phone is a newer model, but looks exactly the same as the one from about 2 years before. Even the case fits both perfectly.

 

 

 

I've got an iPhone SE, the fact it is identical in all dimensions to the iPhone 5 were used as a selling point.

 

I think you've forgotten the power of the 'focus group'. Which is to get a bunch of people in the room who think the same as you to confirm what you've done and save time on any actual innovation.

2 hours ago, Ttaskmaster said:

 

phones and similar devices were getting smaller and smaller (Samsung SGH Z500-V being almost the ultimate and the best phone I've ever had).

 

 

 

I had something similar but probably cheaper - Sagem MY C5-2V - tiny flip phone that did what it said on the tin...   same as piccie below but with an internal aerial.

 

I'd probably still be using it if the numbers hadn't worn off the keys...

 

 

Edited 6 March, 20179 yr by skomaz