Back in the late 90’s and early 00’s in the days before smartphones were really a thing I used to carry a PDA everywhere with me. Before the days of Palm, I had Psion. A Series 3a, and then a Series 5.
Psion had it nailed. The finest British innovation from Silicon Fen in Cambridgeshire, back before we became a nationalist hell-hole and decided that being an island suited us thankyouverymuch.
The beating heart of the Series 5 was a rather fancy ARM chip. In the 90’s ARM chips were so new that hardly any devices used them. Created by ARM holdings in the 80’s and debuted in the Acorn Archimedes around the time I was in 5th form at Comprehensive School, the ARM was mind-blowing. Destroying the Amiga and ST with 32 bit power in an era of 16 bit 68000 processors.
But I digress…
The form factor of the Series 3 and 5 was something I truly loved. Small, pocketable, and for such a small keyboard the one on the Series 5 is still legendary for being the best keyboard ever fitted on a pocket device.
Spin on to 2021… The third iteration of the Galaxy Z Fold arrives with us. The folding screen device has always intrigued me, but never been on my wish list for two reasons:
1. No IP rating
2. No S-pen
Enter, then, the Galaxy Z Fold 3. The first iteration with both of the above. Ok so the IP rating is IPx8 which means the dust ingress rating still isn’t there, but it has stylus support!
Mine arrived on Friday. Apparently demand for them has been stunningly high! It looks like everyone else has been waiting for the above to be a thing.
So, why did I refer to the Psion above?
Well I’m currently typing this post with mine in “flex” mode, half folded. It feels like I’m using a Series 3 again!
I remember some of those clunky things from the 1980s. Never got a decent one like you had in the U.K.
The series 5 was a stunning device. I’ve still got mine! Although like many devices of the time with the rubberised coating it’s now started to go bad and peel away.