Let it be said that I am a huge PDA fan, and my Palm Treo was one of my favorite devices of all time. Years before the iPhone, Palm showed the world what a smartphone could look like, while BlackBerry offered a glimpse of staying connected through email.
Before the Treo and the iPhone, the IBM WorkPad 20X was an early opportunity for many people to live with email, calendar, address book, and even a calculator with a stylus. Branded by IBM and created by Palm, this was IBM’s second entry into Personal Digital Assistants.
Thanks to outstanding coverage by Lazy Game Reviews, or LGR, we’re seeing what it would have been like to use this device daily.
There is no question that this device and those like it acted as a precursor to smartphones. It was clunkier, had no color screen, and couldn’t play Balatro, but it was useful. Let’s take a look.
Palm Everything
It’s important to remember that when this PDA was released, IBM was still a dominant player in the personal computing world. As a result, IBM influenced its computer owners, especially those in the business world, to match their IBM laptops to an IBM PDA. Released at $299, it was expensive for what it could do, but there is no question it was revolutionary for those who used it.
Rugged Design
Compared to its predecessors, the WorkPad 20X weighed only 147 grams and had a very durable case. While it wasn’t recommended, if you dropped it while walking, you could confidently pick it up, dust it off, and keep going with your day.
The LCD screen measured 3.5 inches diagonally in usable space with a 160 x 160 resolution and four shades of gray. The resistive touchscreen could be frustrating, requiring pressure to activate, but this was well before the capacitive touchscreens we know and enjoy today.
Shortcut Menu
Below the touchscreen were four dedicated shortcut buttons for Applications, Menu, Calculator, and Find. Sandwiched between these shortcuts was a rectangular box that you could use to input text or numbers using the included stylus. Palm included instructions in the box on handling its “Graffiti Power Writing Software,” which you wanted to learn for the most optimum stylus use.
Battery Life
If you try using any modern smartphone for 10 hours straight, there’s a good chance you’ll use up plenty of battery life. This wasn’t the case for LGR, who used the Palm for 10 hours straight while filming and barely nudged the battery meter. Of course, this device used two AA batteries, a far cry from the USB-C world we know today.
Business Life
The sync feature lets you easily match your calendar and contact list between your PDA and the computer. You can also install new programs, such as games and applications. Ultimately, smartphones will adopt all of these functions and become a staple part of our daily lives.
Gaming Everywhere
Before you used the WorkPad 20X, you had to sync it with your Windows 98 PC. Using “Hotsync,” it just took a single button to connect. Put the device into the dock included with your purchase, install your software on the PC, including a bevy of games, and you’re off to the PDA races.
Before the App Store introduced the world to mobile games, Palm and IBM included some ways to kick back and relax after a long work day. Hardball was a Breakout clone, and LGR shows off the video just how silly and addictive this title can be. Minehunt is a Minesweeper clone, and it’s just as challenging to learn as its Windows-based counterpart.
Of course, third-party games were the real key to life with the WorkPad 20X. SpaceTrader and SimCity were popular games you could amazingly run on this device. Blocks was a Tetris clone that played exactly like the game that made the Game Boy the best gaming handheld ever.
Popular games like BeJeweled also helped many business users find another reason to skip work and play all day instead.
Check Out LGR
There are thousands of YouTubers out there reviewing old devices and computers. However, only a few are as prolific and enjoyable to watch as Lazy Game Reviews. Over 1.73 million subscribers would agree that his reviews are enjoyable takes on these devices and some of the best you can find online.
The image featured at the top of this post is ©Chepko Danil Vitalevich/Shutterstock.com.