What was the Earliest Touchscreen Handheld?



#10

Hi,

I was wondering if anyone knows the intro date and the identity of the earliest consumer handheld device with a touch screen. I somehow don't think it was the Apple Newton (introduced Aug 1993) . According to Wlodek Mier-Jedrzejowics' book "A Guide to HP Handheld Calculators and Computers", the HP Omnigo 100 was introduced in October of 1995. And of course, the 95/100/200LX series (starting in '91) did not have touch screens. Perhaps it was a programmable remote control? I am curious and any help is appreciated.

Thanks,

Jake Schwartz


#11

This old FAQ seems to suggest that a couple old models of Sharp Wizards were released in Oct. 1993:

http://scout.wisc.edu/Projects/PastProjects/NH/95-03/95-03-27/0001.html

As I vaguely recall, the OZ-9500 was their earliest touch-screen model, with 256 KB RAM. I had one for a couple years when I was in 6th or 7th grade. I actually did school work on the thing, and printed directly to an old HP Deskjet with the infrared printer interface Sharp sold.

The Wizard and the first Zaurus units (the ones before Sharp recycled the name for their Linux-based PDAs) didn't have any sort of hand-writing recognition, which makes sense, as they had a full keyboard anyway, and didn't have the ability to fold the screen all the way back, like the HP OmniGo.

#12

Maybe the CASIO PF-8000 (1980) with a touchpad or the CASIO IF-8000 (1986) with a touchscreen.


#13

Well, it looks like the PF-8000 only had a touchPAD which was not a display. The IF-8000 probably meets the requirements except I wonder if they actually put touchable controls on the LCD in addition to allowing one to write on it.


#14

I'm not sure, but I don't think so. Some other remarkable early touchscreen devices:

- CASIO PB-1000 Pocket Computer (1986)

- CASIO VDB-1000 Wrist Watch (1991)

- CASIO TC-50 Wrist Watch (1983)

- EPSON RC-20 (1984)


#15

I think that the Casio TC-50 watch definitely fits the requirements.since it provided soft keys for a touchscreen calculator where the top portion of the LCD served as the single-line numeric display. If it actually dates back to 1983 (or earlier), we might have a "winner" (until someone locates something from an even earlier time.

Thanks,

Jake

#16

Not quite the same question but the earliest touchscreen calculator might well be the TI Business Edge which was introduced in 1987.

#17

Certainly not the first, but worth a mention:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palm_(PDA)

#18

Hi Jake,

In 1989, Poqet introduced the PoqetPad, which was a handheld MSDOS touch screen computer. I think it was mainly designed for vertical markets with custom software overlaying the dos. A few years ago, I has one that also included a bar code wand. Unfortunately, I never had any software for the wand. A very interesting msdos machine.

Bill


Possibly Related Threads…
Thread Author Replies Views Last Post
  HP PRIME: TOUCHSCREEN Damien 0 888 11-11-2013, 10:19 AM
Last Post: Damien
  Oldest HP 41c aka earliest Serial Number Gene Wright 23 6,054 09-05-2013, 03:45 AM
Last Post: Geoff Quickfall
  HP charger 82002c for handheld calculators Dave Burson 2 1,597 05-19-2013, 12:51 PM
Last Post: Dave Burson
  New Updated Version of The "PPC DVD" of HP Handheld Calculator Materials Available Jake Schwartz 2 1,207 04-08-2011, 09:45 PM
Last Post: David Hayden
  What's the place of a handheld calculator? David Hayden 21 4,909 03-05-2009, 11:43 AM
Last Post: Ed Look
  HHC2008 HP Handheld Conference in September Jake Schwartz 43 10,041 06-07-2008, 06:12 PM
Last Post: Namir
  HHC2007 HP Handheld Conf 9/29-30 in San Diego Jake Schwartz 8 2,276 04-29-2007, 08:07 AM
Last Post: Rich Messeder (US)
  Handheld Calculator Helps Solving Kahan's Integral Symbolically Gerson W. Barbosa 3 1,237 02-26-2007, 11:28 AM
Last Post: Gerson W. Barbosa
  Rewiring Handheld Products Card Reader RAM Mike 19 4,548 05-22-2006, 11:39 AM
Last Post: Matthias Wehrli
  Handheld Calculator Power Supplies John Limpert 4 1,421 03-23-2005, 11:01 PM
Last Post: Palmer O. Hanson, Jr.

Forum Jump: