WHATEVER YOU WANT to call these things, in this feature we’ll be exploring the history of the ultimate in tiny computers—not including the now-ubiquitous smartphone. We’ll start with early and ground-breaking models in the 1980s, through to the more mature models in the ‘90s. We’ll also take a look at the UMPC craze of the 2000s and the wilderness years that followed, and dive deep into the resurrection of this form currently taking place in China, examining the models that are on the market today and where they’re going in the future.

So how do you classify these computers? Well, to pull some rules out of nowhere, we’re going to define these as something that can fit ideally in your pocket; has some kind of integrated keyboard; and something that has a screen that comes in under 9-inches, at a stretch, though less than eight would be ideal.

For simplicity’s sake, we also need to establish what to call these things too. We’ve decided to settle on “pocket computers” for smaller machines, and “ultra-portable” for the bigger offerings, though it’s worth pointing out these are pretty interchangeable terms, too.

Of the many super-small computers out there, we’ve had to whittle down the choices to just a select few – sadly, there are only so many small machines we can cover, but hopefully it’s enough to give you a flavor of the ultra-portable history. If there are any machines you particularly wanted to see, write in and let us know.

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THE BEGINNING OF POCKET COMPUTERS

DEFINING THE FIRST pocket computer is difficult due to the popularity of electronic organizers in the 1980s. Nevertheless, the title of first real pocket computer is generally awarded to Radioshack’s TRS-80 Pocket Computer (aka. Tandy Pocket Computer), so let’s start there.

INFANCY

The TRS-80 Pocket Computer was launched in July 1980, for $249. Despite the American branding, this machine is actually a re-badged Sharp PC-1211 from Japan.

This 6oz (170g) handheld may look like a normal scientific calculator, but it also packed a QWERTY keyboard, 1.5KB of RAM, and two 4-bit CPUs running at 256KHz. Most importantly, it included Sharp BASIC, making it the first genuine pocket computer.

But this is a far cry from a x86 “IBM-Compatible” PC. For that title we need to turn our attention to the DIP Pocket PC—better known as the Atari Portfolio. Released in June 1989, the DIP Pocket PC was the first PC-compatible pocket computer, manufactured by DIP Research, UK. DIP’s machine caught the eye of American computing giants Atari, who re-badged the machine as the Atari Portfolio, or Atari PC Folio in continental Europe.

Sporting a 4.9MHz 80C88 processor, the $400 Portfolio had 128KB of RAM, half of which was used for system memory, the other half for user storage. Housed in the Portfolio’s 256KB ROM chip was DIP DOS 2.11: an MS-DOS compatible DOS clone from DIP Research. The unit measured only 7.5 x 4x 1.25in, and the lack of an LCD backlight, hard disk, or internal floppy drive allowed for excellent power efficiency, requiring only three AA batteries to operate.

But 128KB split two ways is a tiny amount of memory and storage, so Atari sold RAM extenders, plus other add-ons such as serial data transfer modules, and software ROM cards. The weird 240x64 pixel display means there aren’t many games for this machine. None of these drawbacks matter, because the Atari Portfolio is a film star, ever since its famous cameo in Terminator 2.

In October 1989, the Poqet PC was launched by the Poqet Computer Corporation. Of all the machines here, the Poqet PC is probably the most technically impressive for its time, but at $2000 (around $4000 in today’s money) it should have been.

The Poqet’s stylish red-on-charcoal case is a bit wide at 8.8 x 4.3 x 1in, but it uses that space perfectly with an excellent keyboard. Powering the machine was an Intel 80C88 processor @ 7MHz, with between 512 and 640KB of RAM. CGA-compatible graphics were run through a nonbacklit monochrome display. MS- DOS 3.3 was built into ROM, with an internal 22KB RAM drive.