A Newton MessagePad, the grandfather of all PDAs, is a funny thing to carry around with you when most people are sliding super slim, constantly connected, application rich smart phones into their pockets. Compared to the iPhone a Newton MessagePad looks like a green brick, and I have been accused more than once of stealing the ruggedized signature pad from a UPS delivery man while showing off my Newton. Despite what my Newton lacks in portability, connectivity, and applications it makes up for with a unique set of features no other mobile device can match.

Battery Life

MessagePads have a battery life that can be measured in weeks and not days. While most modern smartphones struggle to make it through a twenty four hour period, a Newton keeps on ticking due to an energy conscious design that continues to impress more than ten years later. Best of all when a Newton runs out of juice a simple replacement of AA batteries will get it back on task while a modern smartphone must take a three hour break before returning to work. Sure a Newton might not be able to do as much as a smartphone in the same amount of time, but when it comes to writing and note taking a Newton’s closest competitor is the longevity of a pad of paper, and not your smartphone.

Handwriting Recognition

Randy Murray makes the argument that In Meetings, Pen & Paper, Not Glass and Fingers help him connect with his clients and keep technology from getting in the way. He points to the iPad as being a distraction while taking notes, and I agree it must be hard to concentrate on your client when your eyes are focused on a virtual keyboard. The Newton eleviates that problem by recognizing your handwriting, and letting you take notes in the time honored fashion we all grew up with.

Want to start a new note? Just draw a horizontal line across the page. Add bullet items and hierarchy to your thoughts the same way you would on paper. Because you are concentrating on your speaker, and not the Newton your content will write itself. And because the Newton is a computer those notes, bullets, and hierarchy can be reorganized as many times as you like without crossing out lines or throwing away paper. Searching through your Newton is far easier than searching through a Moleskine. And when you are done no transcription is necessary just email, sync, or send your notes back to your computer or printer. Show your client what you captured from the meeting before leaving the room. A Newton allows you to preserve the natural behavior of note taking, without the adaptation required for technology, or the transcription required for traditional handwriting.

Document Centric Workflow

When you turn on a smartphone you are presented with a grid of applications that represent tasks your phone can do. When you turn on a Newton you are presented with your content. On a Newton their is no workflow to follow to get back to your writing because you are already there. There is no file system past a simple index. No open or save dialog boxes because what you write and read is always in front of you. A pad of paper never gets in your way because there is nothing between you and the content. In this respect a Newton is the same as a pad of paper.

Share Everything

If you have ever created something on an iOS device you know your data is stored in the app you created it in. You know how to access it by tapping on the app, but do you know how to get it out and share it with other applications or the rest of the world? On the iPhone sharing your creations is different for every single application. Not only the methods of sharing, but the process of sharing as well. On the Newton everything is sharable, and shared in the same way. You can fax, email, beam, and print anything from the routing button. As new methods of sharing are installed they too are added to the routing button. Because the process is the same for any type of data you create sharing on the Newton is almost as easy as ripping a page from your notepad, and the best part is you get to keep the original.

Expandability

The only reason the Newton is still with us today is because it has managed to keep up with the times. Introduced before the popularity of the World Wide Web, the Newton community has developed both a web browser and and an email client for its users. No small feat for a device that was designed without the ability to network past infrared beaming and analog faxing. Later MessagePads have even gained the ability to print via IP, connect to Wifi and Bluetooth hotspots and in limited cases communicate through cellular modems. These achievements might sound like old news compared to modern smartphones, but the real message behind a Newton’s expandability is the community that brought it this far.

Community

The Newton is a great note taking device with a long lasting battery life, that puts your content first and allows you to share it with the world. Those features alone might sell you on the platform, but the Newton is no wonder device. It is over ten years old, and far past its prime. The reason I still carry a Newton is because of the community that makes the Newton great. NewtonTalk is a mailing list of passionate users that embrace a Newton’s philosophy of putting your data first while expanding the platforms capabilities for another generation of users to discover and enjoy. If it wasn’t for the Newton’s community I would never have found the Newton in the first place. I still carry my Newton not only for what a Newton does for me, but what I can do for the community of Newton users that embrace technology in the same way I do. Egg Freckles despite its various subjects is my way of celebrating the Newton’s unique capabilities, and the community of users that are responsible for pushing the Newton forward.

Photo Slogan Credit Riccardo Mori.