Newton MessagePad 110

[beachycove]

Picking up an early Newt at the weekend. I have never used anything earlier that NewtOS 2 (MP2000, 2100, eMate 300), so it will be interesting to see an early iteration of both hardware and software in action.

I am not sure I've ever even seen one of these in the flesh, despite having used my Newtons and so "been around them," as they say, since 1997. It's in perfect shape, too, I am told.

 

[Concorde1993]

Congrats, beachycove. Hopefully this 110 is in fully working condition.

 

[beachycove]

And I picked it up this morning, along with an "icurve" laptop stand for varied proppings up.

Having played with it for a couple of hours, I have to say that I rather like the Messagepad 110. It's slower, with much poorer handwriting recognition than the NewtonOS 2.1 devices (I had read this often enough, but am still surprised at how much worse it is in actual use), with a smaller screen (physically smaller and with maybe half the resolution?), and no backlighting, either — but you know what? It's still better as a device into which I could put things like schedules, notes, names, etc. on a mobile basis than an ipod touch. It is also a good deal smaller than a 2000/2100, which is also an interesting finding, given common complaints about the size of the latter.

Not that I am going to use it for much, mind you. For most things Newton I have my daily 2100. But it's nice to be able to round out the collection: MessagePads 110, 2000, 2100, and eMate 300 so far.

 

[Concorde1993]

How is the sound on your 110? Is it audible, or very faint? I can hardly hear anything on my H1000, so I'm wondering if the capacitors on these older MessagePads are starting to give up.

much poorer handwriting recognition than the NewtonOS 2.1 devices

It is. It really is.

Btw, did your 110 come with the Newton Getting Started card, or any other cards?

 

[beachycove]

Sound is fine; no cards.

 

[Concorde1993]

What about a manual, or anything else besides the Newton itself? It can't be that different from the H1000.

 

[beachycove]

I came with two manuals, one for the NewtOS1 in general, which is useful because there are some significant differences between it and v.2.1, and with a MessagePad 100 setup guide. Whoever owned it must have had more than one at some time.