The PSION pages
It's quite funny actually, but we're 2008 (I just looked) and I'm creating or hosting a couple of
pages for the Psion 3 & 5 series. Why? Well, since there's a serious Psion hype going on at the
moment, and as with most hypes they just explode and suddenly take-off!
I have a great Palm PDA and I'm really happy with it. A couple of my friends are as nuts as I
am about PDA's and other little electrical paraphernalia.
We have state of the art machines
with light speeds and millions of bright colours and state of the art applications... some of
us even have a PDA mobile phone (or is it mobile phone PDA?).
About the same time (with
one day interval) me and my four other friends suddenly switched back to our old Psion machines
(without telling each other at first). Amongst us we have and use a Psion 3a, a Psion 3c, a
Psion 3mx (2), a Revo, a Psion 5 and a Psion 5mx. And they're in use each and every day!
Why? Well, the answer is quite simple: battery life! Yes, our new and awfully modern and up
to date Palm machines only last for about two to three hours on one full battery charge.
Our Psion 3 and 5 machines (we tested this to the full) last for +60 hours (on one set of
batteries). This is great for those long train and plane trips. And we can change the type AA
batteries ourselves, so we don't have to take chargers and docking stations with us.
And what about the software? Well, our Psion machines are exact replicas of our Palm
counterparts. We installed the same software (not the same programs, but software that does
exactly the same thing), such as conversion programs, a subway program, maps, a couple of
utilities, a biorhythm program, ... and a couple of games (there are thousands of applications
available for the Psion series). The word processor and spreadsheet programs (which are built
in) are converted to our desktop PC in a snap! Yes, we're quite enthusiastic about all this.
And yes I know, we can't watch a DVD movie on our Psions, and we can't edit video
footage with them or play MP3's. But hey, they're small, light, and keep running for hours
and hours and hours on one set of batteries. And if we want to connect to the net we use
our desktop machines or we visit an Internet shop in the city that we visit. So no problems
on that front either.
A brief history
Psion (UK) was founded in 1980 by David Potter as a publisher
and developer of software for home computers (such as the Sinclair ZX81). They only started
to develop hardware in 1984. Their first 'PDA' was the Organizer I. In 1986 they released the
Organizer II and in 1991 the first Psion 3 came on the market. In 1993 followed the 3A and in
1996 the Psion 3C (a slightly improved 3A) and the Siena were released. In 1997 the series 5
came out and a year later the Series 5mx (better screen) and the 3mx (a faster 3C) were
released. In 2000 Psion launched the Revo and the Series 7.