macolyte.net

To preface this post, let me just say that I am an avid fan of the Newton and follow the goings-on in Newtonworld with great interest. It is a great device, easily 15 years ahead of its time. The fact that it still, to this day, has a flourishing community not only of users, but also of incredible developers, is truly a testament to the technology and design that went into building the little green guy. We have BlueTooth and WiFi [now with source code!]. And let’s not forget the awesome and ambitious OpenEinstein emulator, which also just went open source. These three things alone are phenomenal and I tip my hat to Eckhart, Hiroshi and Paul; I certainly couldn’t come near to accomplishing what they have. But that’s not all, unna.org houses literally thousands of Newton software packages, most of which are free to download.

With the advent of the iPhone, the NewtonTalk mailing list has been abuzz with conversation about this new Apple mobile device. Comparisons with the Newton were to be expected [by me at least]. Folks, for the most part, seem to have lined up into two camps: those who think the iPhone is a great device and a reasonable successor to the Newton and those who despise the thing because it is not a Newton. I generally find myself in the former group. Despite my love for my little green friend and everything the Newton community has done, my Newton is beginning to show its age. Getting on the internet is flaky at best. I have error messages popping up at random times. I haven’t even bothered trying to sync it with my MacBook Pro because it’s such a hassle. And I think my battery is shot.

Actually, let’s talk about batteries for a bit. This seems to have spurred the greatest bit of “controversy” on the NewtonTalk list. Yes, if my Newton’s battery has kicked the bucket I can always go on the internet and buy a new one or load up my battery tray with some AAs. J&K Sales sells new Newton batteries for $45. I think that’s quite reasonable and if I should, indeed, have to replace the battery I will buy one from them. Yes, I could never do that with my iPhone. If the battery ever goes on it, I will have to send it to Apple and pay the $30 to rent a replacement until it’s fixed. But here’s the thing to keep in mind: I will be getting AppleCare on my iPhone. That will cover any battery replacement costs for the next three years, excepting the aforementioned rental. And by the time that period is up, I will certainly be ready to buy the latest and greatest iteration of the device. So really, I don’t see what the problem is here….

I suppose that in a very DIY community, such as the Newton has, the closed nature of the iPhone was bound to draw some ire. Despite its lack of handwriting recognition and the fact that you can’t develop real applications for it, the iPhone is an incredible mobile device and I think it’s worth every penny I paid for it. Is it perfect? Of course not and I’ll have more to say about that in a later post. But it’s the best we’re going to get from Apple in the way of non-laptop mobile devices.

There are two things that Steve Jobs will never, ever do. He will never license OS X to run on generic PCs and he will never bring back the Newton, or even something very closely resembling the Newton. I’m sorry my fellow Newtoners, but that’s the reality of the situation.

Update: I thought of something else the Newton can not, and will not ever, be able to do. It can’t do PDFs. At all. There are “workarounds” but they never seem to work for me. It’s a real shame too, because the Newton’s form factor would make it the perfect PDF reader.