Evolution from calculators to pocket computers, the progenitors of today's smartphones …
Original material by Duncan Geer
If you are somehow following technology, and even if not, then you may have heard a variation of the saying “It took less computing power to launch a man to the moon than what you currently have in your pocket.” And it is true. The processor in the recently released iPhone XS is about five million times faster than the computer that controlled Apollo's flight. But the axiom has been true for much longer than people think.
I recently came across a great discussion in Twitter about the 'Great Calculator Race' in the 1970s. It also described some examples of devices (beautiful and ridiculous) that manufacturers have put on the market. The first computing device that actually fit in a pocket (a man's pocket, or rather) was CalTech, a prototype created in 1967 by Texas Instruments. However, most early models of pocket calculators still required a constant power connection rather than running on batteries. The CalTech looked like a black square, but was incredibly 'slender' compared to expensive desk calculators like the bulky Casio Model 14-A.
Casio Model 14-A (1957), a typical example of a calculator of the time (Daderot // CC0 1.0)
CalTech prototype with mains power cable, Texas Instruments, 1967 (National Museum of American History).
One of the small computers of the Apollo navigation and control system, which was on board each control module of the ship and lunar modules and is comparable in performance to home PCs of the late seventies (NASA)
In 1969, as people roamed the moon, tech companies were already working on thinner and faster calculators, such as the 1970 Sharp QT-8B Micro Compet. It was the first battery-powered pocket calculator to be mass-produced. It had red, white and blue buttons with a lamp display hanging over them. The Hewlett-Packard HP-35 (1971), equipped with a bright red display and 35 yellow and blue keys, worked even faster. Its microprocessor was capable of calculating the values of trigonometric functions and exponents. It was the first scientific pocket calculator and the verdict for slide rule calculations, but it couldn't compete with the Apollo computer, which was about 200 times faster.
The successor to the HP-35 – the HP-65 – was even more ambitious: it used magnetic cards to 'save' and 'load' programs and supported up to one hundred lines of code. It came with algorithms for hundreds of other use cases — differential equations, stock prices, statistics, and more. The bottom was thinner than the top to fit better in a shirt pocket.
Sharp QT-8b Micro Compet (1970), the first battery-powered pocket calculator in the charging dock (Mister rf // CC BY-SA 4.0).
An advertisement for Hewlett-Packard HP-65, which praises the use of this model by American astronauts during a joint mission with Soviet cosmonauts (Hewlett-Packard, 1975).
The HP-65 was also the first programmable pocket calculator in space, and was taken aboard the Soyuz-Apollo test project, a colossal USSR-US collaboration that could be considered a declaration of the end of the space race. The HP-65 was on board as a backup in case of problems with the main computer. Six years after the historic flight of Michael Collins, Baz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong, the calculator was considered capable of replacing the 'iron' that brought humans to the moon.
The HP-65 'heralded' a new era as silicon processors became cheap and widespread. Speak&Spell, выпущенный в 1978 году компаний Texas Instruments, не был просто каноничной игрушкой – в нём заключалась треть вычислительной мощности компьютера Apollo, и он стоил всего 50 долларов (191 доллар на сегодняшние деньги).
Between the seventies and the eighties, the 'great calculator race' evolved into a boom in handheld computers, and devices acquired more and more functions: by 1979, many devices could be connected to a calculator, as evidenced by, for example, the HP-41C with a barcode reader , a floppy disk drive and a printer as optional modules. The device even accompanied the first nine space shuttle missions to perform basic computing and backup computer functions.
Speak&Spell, Texas Instruments, 1978 (FozzTexx // CC BY-SA 4.0).
An advertisement for the HP-41C in a magazine, showing connectivity to other devices such as a portable printer (Hewlett-Packard, 1979).
At the end of the seventies in the Soviet Union, in parallel, there was a program for the development of programmable calculators, which started in 1978 with the launch of the flashy 'Electronics B3-21' model on the market, followed by a similarly cheap-looking 'Electronics B3-34', released in 1980 and sold for 85 rubles (2,300 rubles at that time and 7,000 rubles adjusted for inflation in 2018, however, currency conversion from the times of the Iron Curtain is not always accurate). It was the first computer in the USSR, many people used it, they wrote various programs for it – from scientific and business programs to adventure games. In 1985, the journal 'Technics for Youth' published a science fiction story 'The Way to Earth'. It was accompanied by programs for B3-34, with the help of which it was possible to simulate a journey from the Moon to Earth. The calculator sent people to the moon in fiction, albeit not actually. The 'Electronics' series of calculators, among other things, was known for 'errorology': if an error message was deliberately generated, and then certain commands were entered, then it was possible to access previously closed 'pieces' of code. Exploring the 'insides' of these calculators helped Soviet programmers develop their skills, and many of the first Russian hackers began their careers with the B3-34.
Electronics B3-21 '(1978, Andshel // CC BY-SA 3.0)
'Electronics B3-34' (S. Levchenkov, 1980).
The term “pocket computer” was originally mentioned in the context of the Sharp PC-1211 enclosed in a metal case and sharpened for a business audience, which was released in the USA under the name TRS-80 Pocket Computer. He used the BASIC programming language, was equipped with a full-fledged QWERTY keyboard and numeric pad, and was able to make annoying sounds. I remember that my father had a later model of this series, which he loved very much. My brothers and sisters and I found her while cleaning the house last year, but decided not to leave her, let her be alive in my memory, and not lying in a dusty box. Over the eighties, these varieties of pocket computers have become even more powerful. In 1984, the British company Psion released the Psion Organizer I, calling it 'the first practical handheld computer', and 15 years after the first manned landing on the moon, the device's processor was able to match the power of its competitor with Apollo. For the Psion Organizer II released in 1986, even analogs of today's applications were available – a database, a diary and an alarm clock, this list could be expanded by using user-written programs. Organizer II was widely used, for example, the device was used by the staff of the British supermarket chain Marks & Spencer, as well as by representatives of the UK authorities, who calculated additional payments to employees. These devices were already full-fledged computers, not just calculators.
Sharp PC-1211 (1980) in its carrying case (which included space for a printer). This device was advertised by Isaac Asimov, he is holding it in the image at the beginning of the material (Rama // CC BY-SA 2.0)
Psion Organizer II (Snowmanradio // CC BY-SA 2.5, 1986).
On March 26, 1981, in a New York Times article, Andrew Pollack explored the prevailing picture of the 'personal computer' at the time. He raved about a $ 250 computer that could fit in a jacket pocket, and cited a quote from Portia Isakson of Future Computing, a Dallas-based consulting company, who predicted the “mind-blowing rise of personal computers.” She told him that business people would soon be able to “dictate letters, type and edit reports, access company files, and send information to the company's headquarters while on the road.” What did she call such a device? 'Pocket computer-Swiss knife'. Of course, to send information to the company's office from a car, the computer needed a way to transmit information wirelessly. At the dawn of the nineties, handheld computers still used bulky proprietary ports to transfer information over the wire. For example, the Sharp Wizard OZ-7000, a gray plastic pocket organizer, could connect to a PC on Windows, Macintosh, or a printer, and could even back up information to cassette tape. At this stage, such devices were often seen in cities of advanced economies – the Wizard even became the hero of its own episode of the TV series 'Seinfeld', although it was called there a 'tip calculator'. The merger of pocket computers with telephones was only a matter of time, which was predetermined by a revolution coming from the outside. In 1990, while at CERN, Tim Berners-Lee wrote the first web browser, which became available to the public a year later. Thus was born the 'world wide web' of the Internet.
Sharp Wizard OZ-7000 advertisement with accessories (Sharp, 1989)
Advertising Wizard OZ-9600 with a new touchscreen (Sharp, 1994)
Soon the market for handheld computers began to divide. One branch of evolution was, by and large, pocket notebooks, increasingly feature rich and powerful machines that became known as 'laptop computers'. This group included the world's first laptop, the bulky Atari Portfolio. It was originally marketed in the UK as a DIP Pocket PC until Atari bought out the rights to the device. This computer was used to break into an ATM in Terminator 2: Doomsday. There was also a thinner HP 95LX, which could communicate via infrared. The Poget PC could even run MS-DOS, but if there was no keyboard input, it would stop the processor to conserve power.
Atari Portfolio, 1989 (Atari)
HP 95LX (W.T. Shymanski)
Poquet PC versus its competitors from 1989 (Fujitsu)
Pop Another path has led to devices that hide complex elements from the user, such as Casio's Digital Diary series. Rather than offering miniature programmable desktop PCs, manufacturers pre-loaded these machines with basic software tools such as a calendar, address book, and alarm clock. One of these devices was the already mentioned 'tip calculator'. The most popular computer of the nineties was the Psion Series 3, which fell between the two categories described. Science and technology columnist Charles Strauss extolled him for his “outstanding ability” and called him “a real computer that can do almost everything that a regular desktop PC can do, and that you can put in your pocket.” Series 3, released in 1991, came with its own software, but also allowed users to create their own programs. People traded this shared software on the nascent internet, and many programs are still available today.
Psion Series 3 (Puffball, 1991)
Advert Apple Newton MessagePad (1992) talking about its versatility (Apple)
In January 1992, John Scully, CEO of Apple Computers, announced Apple the Newton MessagePad and coined the term 'Personal Digital Assistant'. But the innovation of the device, which included support for handwriting recognition and a touchscreen, was not enough to compensate for the high cost and poor performance. By and large, the only thing that remains of this device for a long time is the term PDA, which soon lost its meaning as PDAs merged with modern smartphones. Just months after this announcement IBM at the COMDEX show in Las Vegas, it unveiled its prototype PDA, codenamed Angler. In addition to the pre-installed calendar, address book, notepad, touch screen and batteries, the device can 'skillfully' send and receive faxes, emails, pages, and make and receive calls. Angler eventually became IBM Simon and was released in 1994. It can be called the first smartphone, the term was first used by Pamela Savage of Bell Labs.
'First Smartphone', IBM Simon (Bcos47)
By the mid-nineties, it became apparent that the smartphone would become the pocket computer of the future. Be that as it may, it took manufacturers more time to hone the form factor and wait until the speed of the mobile Internet was fast enough to maintain a constant connection. For example, the Nokia 9000 Communicator (1996) had a 9.6 kilobits per second modem, a web browser and business applications that included an electronic 'editor' and spreadsheets. At the time of announcement, it was priced at £ 1,000, as was iPhone X, which will be out in more than twenty years, but users still had to manually set up a dial-up connection to get online. The Communicator was a success in Europe, but due to technical disputes between Nokia and American telecom operators, the device never crossed the Atlantic Ocean – the Americans had to wait for the start of the smartphone revolution until 1998. It came in the form of Qualcomm's pdQ Smartphone, a PDA that could receive and make calls. At the same time, PalmPilot was already available on the US market. Palm is an American company that in the second half of the nineties released a series of popular PDAs based on its own excellent operating system – PalmOS. Their most prominent feature was Graffiti, a one-click form that allowed users to quickly write a note with a stylus after examining the desired symbol patterns. Even today, there are users who require Graffiti support to be enabled in iOS and Android. Around the same time, after a ten-year absence, Steve Jobs returned to Apple and completely closed the Newton line. “I had a gut feeling that it had good pieces of technology, but they failed because of poor leadership,” he later tells the biographer. “By closing Newton, I freed up some good people to work on new mobile devices.” Meanwhile, released in November 2000, the 'slender' Sony Ericsson R380 was the first touchscreen smartphone in the size and weight of a regular mobile phone.
Nokia 9000 Communicator (1996) open and closed (Nokia)
Sony Ericsson R380 with touchscreen display and physical keyboard.
In the early 2000s, companies around the world began to gradually take control of regional smartphone markets. A line of low-cost internet-enabled phones enabled Japan's NTT DoCoMo to have 40 million users by the end of 2001. Nokia's Symbian platform came to dominate Europe, while Research in Motion Windows Mobile and smartphones BlackBerry competed in the US, and have been particularly popular among the business sector in the past few years.
Advertising for the fleeting T-Mobile Sidekick This did not stop individual companies from trying to create a disruptive device that would please the world, such as the dead-end Danger Hiptop line (known in the US as the T-Mobile Sidekick). It came close to that goal LG when it presented its Prada in 2006, which won many design awards. The device was thin and had a large touchscreen. It looked like a modern smartphone.
With the exception that LG Prada was not a smartphone. On January 9, 2007, Steve Jobs took the stage at the Macworld Conference & Expo in California and made handheld computers a part of history.
Original material by Duncan Geer
Sometimes it's nice to flip through the pages of technical history and get to know it or remember those devices that you were lucky enough to use. The evolution of technology is accelerating, we can see this in the MWC announcements, but all this could not have appeared without old pocket calculators.
What devices from the era before smartphones do you remember?