More productive than your current iPhone or Android phone?
That's some seriously rose colored glasses.
And I had $800 "smartphones" pre iPhone, and they were all crap...
I know a sizeable number of people were extremely productive on their PDAs. Yet I think there was heavy downsides that were only overcome by sheer dedication from super users:
- laughable battery time, difficult to extend compared to other portable devices
- cell connectivity was just not a thing, or it would half the already thin battery time (tried with a compact flash modem)
- carrier support was super limited where I was, I had to get a new contract from a geeky carrier just for the device.
- downloading and running software from the device itself was possible yet there was very few stuff that could be downloaded, making the device mostly a side companion to a computer
I used a Toshiba PDA on and off for a year, tried a Compaq one as there seem to be more enthusiast on it, it still felt like it wasn't going anywhere with really little to no engagement from Microsoft from a standard user perspective.
Disclaimer: it was in Japan, but comparing PDAs to feature phones, phones had:
- a workable camera very early on
- a decent ecosystem of Java apps downloadable from the phone without any computer reliance (and they were fairly easy to code)
- decent battery life, easy to extend
- fast and efficient mailers (though lack of attachment support and alternative accounts was a pain)
- very good connectivity, of course
- decent calendar/reminder/contacts features (not auto synced though, which was a PITA)
Genuinely, in a lot of aspects, feature phones were more 'professional' and productive than PDAs for anyone in the go or heavily relying on a mobile device. Just like the iPhone is now, really.
The windows CE phones were a step in the right direction, but they still didn't get major carrier buyin, and battery life was still way lower than their generation's feature phone who were starting to get GPS, MP3 players, payment apps etc.
Pieces of a perfect productivity tool are, or were, all there, scattered across time and devices. PDAs, feature phones, modern smartphones. For some reason, they were not put in a single package so far.
I personally think it's because they just weren't worth it for the general public (including pros). Keyboards on android devices didn't convince, interestingly stylus and heavy multitasking are kicking and alive on the Samsung Note series, but only on the iPad for iOS.
'PDA's for specific, dedicated use cases are still a ton in the wild, just as custom android devices also flourish in the manufacture, retail or goods management world (basically "true" productivity-oriented worlds). They found their niche in that respect, the same way Google Glass also went to the business world in face of customer resistance. I see it as a natural evolution in that respect.
PDAs and 'smartphones' didn't become mainstream pre-Apple, but their design was also more productive. Were it to catch on, we'd have better tools. Microsoft still makes superior tablets, and the only OS for tablets that's usable for productive work.
I only wish they didn't rush to market with Windows phones. Their UI language was a breath of fresh air, and they had a chance to make good smartphones for pro users and professionals. People usually blame the app store, but based on my brother's experience with an early Windows Phone, IMO they released the OS with way too little built-in features compared to contemporary Android systems. It could have survived longer were it more functional out of the box.