I had a Laptop made by Canon with a built in injet printer, I think from memory, it was a 486 processor and it was the first machine I ran Linux on...yes I'm old, I think it was called a a NoteJet.
Oh another one I had, was the Tapwave Zodiac, at the time, this was the most stunning handheld console with almost no games for it, but the few there was, were far better than anything else on the market, and better than anything many years later, ran PalmOS.
Back in the day? It's still part of the Microsoft 365 suite, we use it at work to modify our PostgreSQL in a more graphical way and to store temporary data. One of our clients was still using it for time management up until 2021.
Entire companies were (or still) based on MS Access. There was always this one dude who knew his way around it, fiddled his strange VBA macros together and was therefore irredeemable.
Good video and nice device. One thing - Windows CE is not based on Windows 95. It is completely separate codebase based on different kernel, not based on Windows 9x or Windows NT. It was created by Microsoft for devices like PDA, mobile phones (mobile Windows up to Windows Phone 7 was based on Windows CE), embedded devices etc. It also doesn't run desktop Windows software. I guess this was the reason why this device wasn't very popular.
I had a Compaq iPAQ and an HP iPAQ with windows CE. A few years later I bought an HTC Phone with a sliding keyboard. I used them as an MP3 Player, to work with Excel sheets and for directions and maps with the Rand McNally road atlas later I used Google Maps.
Exactly this. Windows CE was the kiss of death for any product. No one took it seriously outside of a small handful of enthusiasts. Microsoft tried to bring the same Kiss of Death to the Dreamcast and caused Sega to back away so fast it would make your head spin.
YOOOOO. OK, so I remember seeing a picture of one of these things appearing in a magazine at my mom’s hair salon when I was in middle school. That was the only time I ever saw any evidence of this thing existing and then NEVER heard about it again, but I remember seeing the ad and thinking it was the coolest computer I’d ever seen and for like a year I wanted it more than anything I’d ever wanted in my entire life at that point (it’s since been replaced by a desire for affordable housing and a viable sense of self-worth, but I digress). After awhile I forgot about it entirely and life went on. I randomly thought about it again sometime in my early 20s during the netbook craze and thought about going online to look for one, but I couldn’t for the life of me remember the model number and nobody I asked had any idea what I was talking about. Completely frustrating. When I tell you as soon as I saw the thumbnail for this video my heart STOPPED. I DIDN’T imagine it after all, it really WAS a thing that existed! VALIDATION
Also known as “Clio” by Vadem, the company that developed it. I owned one, and used it actively for a few years. Quite usable for basic “office” functions, like word processing, spreadsheets, email, etc. I really liked the keyboard feel although not full-sized. I often used my fingernail on the screen instead of the stylus. The location of stick-like battery also served as a handle to make it easy to grip and hold with one hand in tablet mode, unlike recent iPads with “edge-to-edge” screen. When I pulled it out in a public place, people would ask me about it because it was mostly unknown even when new and being sold by Vadem and Sharp. It failed because it ran Windows CE, the light-weight mobile version of Windows that never caught on.
1998 was in the decade where decent usb ports didn’t exist yet. that form factor was related to the i-opener, an internet appliance with the same form factor but not portable. it was mean to go in the kitchen or desk and hook with a landline for internet. folks back then were hacking it by multibooting it and making a full blown pc for under $200. that was big back then when average pcs were considered very expensive.
Yeah but you could say the same thing about the iPad. iPads didn't run full Windows software yet they took off. Why? Because people actually built programs for them. Windows CE wasn't the problem, it was the lack of apps. The same thing that killed Windows Phone, Windows RT, and what will kill Windows 11 in S mode. Also, the iPad was treated as a standalone device. Apple didn't expect you to have to plug it into a computer in order to do anything meaningful with it. Just the fact that they felt the need to have this device (and all Windows CE devices) plug into a computer shows you that they didn't take Windows CE seriously as a standalone operating system.
@@thomas_xsg Yep, it is a DB-9. A VGA is a DB-15. The cable in the box is probably a serial cable. Most likely a null modem cable so you can attach it to your serial port on your desktop and sync the data from Outlook CE to Outlook on your desktop.
@@kc7klz wow! This is such a throwback. I used those cables to get emails into my palm device back in the day. Back then it was totally normal and accepted to get your emails via a cable from your desktop. 😂 How far we have come…
Hey, I said that when I watched it. You used it to attached to your computer and dump you e-mails and documents that you composed on the road to your desktop computer.
these devices do not have persistent storage, so once the main battery charge is gone, it uses the coin battery to keep the data. once that is gone too, all your data and apps are gone. basically factory reset. you could save some files to flash memory card, but that can be accessed with any card reader in another device.
From today's perspective it was modest, but not back then. Windows CE ran on many devices that required little power and were designed for specific purposes. Especially, diagnostic devices and POS systems. It was also real-time capable. But it wasn't a universal operating system, but rather modular. If necessary you could also just install the kernel. And this device was probably intended more for warehouse management.
I had no idea this thing existed and I'm genuinely impressed. Apparently I wouldn't have needed much more power from a computer back in the day because all I did was use Internet Explorer (or AOL) and play those pre-installed games
At 10:30 -- Now that this is older tech, it's actually almost charming and pretty funny how the audio recording and playback sounds like an early-1900's phonograph.
I’m the same vintage as your Dad so was there at the time. These types of devices failed for a number of reasons. They were outrageously expensive and you could put that money towards a desktop and get way more functionality - mobile computing was a poor experience to say the least. Devices like this tried to sell a dream. They were horrible at networking, as Windows at the time was horrible at networking just in general. They were janky in that there were lots of drivers and updates, installing applications was tedious and not always completely successful and printing was not enjoyable to say the least. So while this device might trick you into thinking it was an iPad of its day, to compare the two devices is like comparing a Tesla to a potato. I’m not shocked they never succeeded.
Access was a database. And if your database out grew it used Visual Basic Script (which was very powerful, if a little clunky) and could ODBC into SqlServer, Oracle, etc. I automated my companies entire data production system using it.
In the late 1990's, I was working for a company that did barcoding equipment, and mobile/handheld computers. With my heavy PC background, I was the one who worked on the PalmOS devices and WindowsCE devices. The touch screen setup screen brings back found memories, and a few nightmares. If the touchscreen won't calibrate, the OS won't boot. The worst part is when the touchscreen calibrates wrong. It is impossible to factory reset the device. I replaced a lot of them in the day.
Back in the 90's a friend got a brilliant job testing and selling this sort of gear.One time he came home with a tablet that was A4 size,had a stylus like the s-pen which plugged into the screen.It was nearly 1" thick had its own shoulder bag,weighed a lot! and was never released as it had too many faults.At the time though it was straight out of Star Trek-and he knew it,posing everywhere.He worked for them about six years and retired before he was 40 a full blown millionaire.
I had the MainSteet Networks Clio version of this device. Loved it except for WinCE. Not sure why I don’t have it today as it was a great form factor. Lack of WiFi was also a challenge, so was much more useful with a wifi card. Thanks for allowing me to reminisce. - Typed on a Handspring Prism with the cellular Springboard module.
Electrical engineer here: If the battery has a proper BMS then it definitely can last this long in storage. Those cells can sit at a low SOC for a long time and still work when you try to recharge them, as long as the BMS or self discharge didnt pull the cells under 2.8v. The only degradation that would happen otherwise is callendar aging, in which these batteries are good for at least 25 years if you dont really use them much during that duration.
In my opinion, this is the most practical form of a tablet pc. I really need this kind of device. Apple won't make their ipad like this. Because that would make the Macbook obsolete .
My cousin worked at Vadem and brought the Clio to my house that I got to borrow for a couple weeks when it was just released on the market. At the time I had a Newton MP2000 so he knew I would be interested as the PDA niche was extremely geeky. Other than the larger color screen and the nifty folding mechanism, it was inferior to the Newton mostly because of limited software capability. But to this day I still wonder about having an iPad version of the Clio with the obvious silicon improvements made over the last 20+ years.
I had one of these that I bought at a yard sale. It had never been used. I was always amazed at the battery life. I had a serial to usb dongle, which made it easy to interface with a pc.
hey Luke it would have been cool to review those word/excel/powerpoint pocket editions to see how far/close they are to the desktop counterparts, and if they were anywhere close, it'd definitely one-up the iPad.
People seem to conveniently forget that Microsoft and their partners were in the tablet game for over 15 years before current day Apple was ever making these devices (I say current day because they did have the Newton, but it was also a failure). Between PalmTop PCs, PDAs, and even the Sega Dreamcast, Windows CE was everywhere and was the basis of Microsoft's mobile platform until Windows Phone 7. Even post-Windows CE there was always an effort to run regular Windows on tablets dating all the way back to Windows 3.1 which had a specific version called "Windows 3.1 for Pen Computing". Windows XP had a dedicated Tablet PC Edition as well, and starting with Windows 7, full multi-touch support was added (even though the UI wasn't suited for it). People only remember Windows 8 "copying the iPad" which was never true. Sure, they adapted regular Windows with a mobile-oriented touch UI, but as far as Microsoft's efforts in the tablet game, they've been there since day 0 in the early 1990s. It's a shame they never actually succeeded.
yea but the problem was that windows was clunky with a touch screen and they kept trying to do silly things like handwriting recognition instead of an on screen keyboard. and the screens themselves were bad there is a reason why crts were the norm untill the mid 2000s
I used a Sharp PDA back in the late 80's and early 90's, and then late 90's I used PDA like HP, NEC, etc running Windows CE, and they weree great products. Of course when come to comparing the iPad launched back in 2007 and later, these vintage PDAs were going nowhere, but they did a great age for mobile Digital Assistants to tons of business executives. Thanks to Sharp and a few good companies like HP, Compaq, Microsoft, etc.
7 месяцев назад
since it's a windows CE device you can install a lot of full desktop software you just need to extract the .msi from the .exe and manually install it.
Unfortunately, that's not possible, as most desktop programs were written for x86, whereas WinCE devices were primarily ARM based like MIPS. In fact, you actually had to know which CPU your device had because not all appliances were cross compuled.
I actually grabbed a Vadem Clio badged version of this off eBay to get through last couple couple years of college. Super cheap way to get office suite. I used a PCMCIA to SD adapter for file transfers and then later a PCMCIA D-Link wireless card once I had a home server going. This was around 2007ish when a new vista laptop was $900 and ran like trash out of the box.
It is interesting to see how old devices proven to really be future proof with less technology since they can operate FOREVER without needing updates and just needing batteries to fully operate and do what they were designed for, still so much to learn about what really tech is and how things can last… Bests regards from a Venezuelan follower in Panama!
My favourite at the time was the Psion range of PDA’s. Their Symbian operating system also powered the many Nokia “smart” phones in the late 1990’s early 2000’s, before Apple blew them all away with the first iPhone. Great video, thanks.
Hey Luke! Experiencing déjà vu in your video! I distinctly recall Windows XP tablet PCs from the early 2000s, roughly between 2001 and 2003. So, tablet PCs definitely existed back then. It feels like DELL and HP were the top hardware manufacturers during that time.
I worked at a hospital around 2000 and was tasked to maintain about 30 of these for our medical staff. They were nice, but they had their limits. When the batteries were totally drained they lost all data, that was the biggest catch. Also wireless didn't exist so they had to be wired by ethernet though dialip didn work well. When I went on call I took one with me and used it for a few years with a Windows CE RDP client or Citrix client to dial into network and remote into servers or apps. It was a nice drive and yes way ahead of it's time. If screen was better, fewer issues with batteries, and if wireless was a thing then maybe it would have lasted better. Amazing doe business use, not so much for consumers.
wow this device was waaaay ahead of its time, so future proof! I am not surprised that it failed to sell because it was way ahead of what people needed back in the late 90s.
It was affordable too. The list price was around $899 or $999. It had a lot of RAM memory for the time at 16MB but no hard drive storage. Maybe that was why it failed to sell.
the problem was that windows ce cant multitask or run normal windows programs and you need to get everything off cd so that would get very annoying. if it ran windows 95 it would have been better but then you still have the cd problem
Had I known that this existed then, I would have bought it, but here in Belgium they are always far behind with modern stuff, but with the arrival of the Internet it has improved and so you keep up with the times.
HO NO, it's 1998! You will have to cope with the millennium bug 😱 Planes will fall from the sky, cars chill crash into walls, we're all doomed! Get your survival underground shelter together and arm yourself. Good luck!
Great Video i wish i had 1 of those at that time , my 1st computer was a Nokia Ngage Phone/Game Deck it took me over a year to learn all the basic features it still runs today i bought it in 2004 i still love to use it for game play when i can even though im 56 🙂👍
When I owned and used a Newton eMate 300, this product was the natural choice for a replacement. It would have only got me halfway to the iPad Pro with Magic Keyboard in 2018 though. I suppose the 11-inch MacBook Air could maybe fill the gap in the second decade, but it had terrible battery life compared to ARM, whether in Macs, Newtons or Windows CE.
Oh I remember that device, or rather the original,it is based on. I believe the original was called the Vadem Clio (updated: oh nostalgia, Vadem licensed their orototu]yep design. To Hsarp, so sharp was first, Vadem re-acquired the license to their design and released 2. Versions of the Clio, both 640x480…a 3 version was planned running the Handheld PC version of WinCE and would have featured upgrades to the screen 800x600 and the switch to an ARM processor! My dream! Sadly it was a dream and never made it to production. Really though, the concept is solid; if Apple could engineer a hinge on the
I had one of these. It was great - for a little while. Eventually it was really only useful for very basic word processing and playing what games you could find and that would run at a decent speed. Speed was definitely and issue. Windows CE with lack of compatible apps was another issue. Also connectivity. I remember it being finicky to sync and so very slow when it did work. It does have a PC card slot and I did find a network adaptor that helped with browsing speed. Overall, it was a great idea and design, but the hardware just wasn't quite ready yet rendering it as little more that a big PDA. This was also when Palm Pilot and Windows CE handhelds were on the market. Better supported and more portable.
I used a NEC MobilePro in College and it was like a half laptop. I recall using it as a main computer for a while because my VPR Matrix Laptop was always in for repairs.
I had one of these and they weren’t cheap compared to a fully powered laptop. I think retail was $1200 and I got mine new/on sale a year or two after they came out for $800. Windows CE was a huge limitation. Basically it was a big Personal Digital Assistant. I absolutely loved the form factor though. I think it was about 3lbs with most of the weight in the hinge/battery. It’d be cool to mod an iPad mini into the screen or something. The keyboard was small but I enjoyed it. Cool to see that dug out of the ashes. I wonder how much Luke had to pay for it?
I remember when this came out, my first year in the US. I almost bought one but I had to buy a car and furnish an apartment etc. such a cool device for the time.
It's mostly about timing and price. This was probably very expensive and ahead of its time. It also ran on Windows CE, which was great, but limited for compatibility to any apps on regular Windows.
Your dad was alive in 1998! Impressive. That sounds mathematically... correct. This is the same WinCE I had on my HP Jornada. Look it up. It was super kewl, and impossible to touch type because they forgot one thing: you can't shrink human hands. Same reason the Toshiba Libretto never caught on. Look that up too. It's called "Human Factors" in Psychology or "Ergonomics" in Engineering. The 1990s was the computer miniaturization Inflection Point. We could finally make a laptop and keyboard smaller that the human hands could use. Final example of kewl but too small: HP Omnibook 800. It even had a pop out mouse! But the computer was way too small to use. BTW, you forgot to lose your mind at 3% battery. Cheers.
To me this would have been something I'd totally get. It's design is pretty cool. I wonder how videos look playing in it. You could have used it like a tablet in the car
I haven’t googled it yet but do you remember the Microsoft “table” idea thing. It was this tabletop they were gonna sell that was an interactive display for board rooms and stuff I think. I remember people in forums already thinking up non-enterprise ideas that seemed cool. No idea why this old Sharp tab reminded me of that.. been at least a decade since I had a thought about it. Edit: for 1998 this is pretty advanced. I was 13 and very nerdy and had a Fujitsu Lifebook DX.. Zip drive hot swappable, extra battery, cd-rom. But it was the size of a briefcase dang near lol. This failed because it was Sharp.. this era there were a few big foreign players in America people trusted for PCs and Sharp wasn’t one of them.
Luke you need to go back in time to 1995 and go forward from there when box computer stores were nearly everywhere you would be amazed what was coming out back then.
I owned an HP convertible laptop around 2006. It was Intel-based and ran full operating systems. The worst feature was its resistive touchscreen. The touchscreen made the actual screen appear much dimmer, had a plastic flexible covering (hence resistive), and you had to press down with the stylus to get it to work. My HP overheated and died about a month after warranty. Ugh. I also had a rental car a few years later with Ford Sync, running MS software on a resistive touchscreen. That was even worse without a stylus while driving.
I wouldn’t necessarily say Ultrabooks didn’t exist until 10 years after this. The Sony PCG-505 was released in 1998, and at the time that thing was HOT! Like a Macbook Air but from Sony. Every other laptop was massive in comparison. It might not even been the first. But you have to remember, laptops had not been around for very long at that point. Realistically, modern GUI laptops probably running Windows 3.1, had only been around for 10 years. Innovation was happening at a dramatic pace, even if it all seems archaic now. No one really had heard of the internet at that point, it definitely wasn’t as widely available as it is now, and dial up mostly at that. The modern current style smart phones were a decade away from this thing. THAT amount of innovation in the next 10 years and everything that came with it…… thats a neat story! That said, ya this thing as an iPad type device, yes most definitely. Windows CE was designed as a mobile first OS. Laptops back then were running OS designed for a desktop first in mind. Still be years before proper laptop functionality would be built into operating systems for power management etc.
It's no surprise that it's still functioning flawlessly after all these years, even amidst advancements in technology. The reason? It's Japanese craftsmanship at its finest!
I'll tell you why the battery still charges. Because we got led to believe that once a battery spends too much at 0%, it will die. It's a lie. It's a gimmick manufacturers do to kill devices. That and the fact that even plugged into a wall socket, some devices will only take juice from the battery and not directly from the charger, killing devices without a "working" battery. I got a Nokia 3410 with its original battery and it works. I got a 2005 iBook G4 on its original battery and it works perfectly. Nowadays, we get devices and high tech with crap lithium batteries. The capacities might be greater than in the past, but in the long run, the newer the device: the lesser it will last. Mark my words.
Access at some point was (and still is for those who didn't upgrade) almost like Visual Basic 6. I cannot believe now they provided all that custom Windows forms capabilities in it.
It is nice to see someone from your generation appreciate what wowed us when we were your age. It is insane though that the Magic Keyboard is not that magic!
Basically, it is same (primarily due to Windows CE) as Compaq iPaq, just with larger screen and a big keyboard. Saying that, I always thought that the iPaq was way ahead of its time and pretty much set the stage for all of the smart handheld devices that followed (Palm Pilot V, BlackBerry, iPhone, etc.).
After watching the other two, of your videos on the subject (first beeing from July 4th, 2015), I'd say the second one is the best produced one. It's going more deeply into the technical aspect of that device. But one can clearly see, how much you are personally into this little machine, considering you went to the trouble of purchasing a brand new device for your third video. :o)
Could’ve been the price that made it a niche thing. These apparently ran for $899 when they first came out which is a little over $1700 today that’s double what most iPads cost.
