Posts tagged “shift”.

Possible Newton replacements

March 19th, 2009

htcadvantage

Tony Kan over at My Apple Newton discusses three possible Newton MessagePad replacements – the HTC Advantage, the HTC Shift, and eBook readers like the new Kindle from Amazon.

Tony considers what features make the Newton so worthwhile – form factor, OS, battery life, third-party software, etc. – and then seeks a comparable product available today.

For me, the PIM applications, reading and generating new MS Office documents, must also be added in for consideration. Of course Value for Money must also be included. But this is a final but not insignificant evaluation which can only be carried out after having applied all the other tests.

He notes that the HTC products are stuck with the Windows Mobile platform, but features like superior wi-fi connectivity and handwriting recognition make them worthy competitors.

I often wonder if any Newton “replacement” will hold water with the Newton community. The platform has such a unique personality and does what it does so well, it’s hard to imagine a product that will ever be accepted with such vigor and passion as the MessagePad. Perhaps we’ll see if Apple’s rumored netbook/tablet can serve as a sequel – though if it lacks handwriting recognition, I doubt it.