So, the precursor of the Pipboy?
There were pop boys in fallout 1, no? That was '97
Edit: I just engaged my imagination and realized you might mean the precursor in our timeline
Going to the comments is always a humbling experience. I literally had your exact train of thought before I opened the comments lol
For warehouse workers right?
I’ve seen devices just like this in picking warehouses, usually attached to a finger-worn scanner.
Yup, I had one while working at FedEx. It was pretty neat - I would pretend it was a raygun when I didn’t have any packages coming down the line.
I did that too!
Pew pew!
You can at least describe your previous work experience as ‘corporate cyborg with finger laser’.
You can see the cable going to the finger scanner in the picture, too
Motorola made the wrist LoJack-a-mater?!
“Looks a lot older.”
No, it doesn’t.
Colour screens on mobile started becoming a thing in the early years of the 00’s. I think my first colour phone was in 2002, a tiny resolution, and it was rather bougie tbh compared to the phones my classmates had.
And this in Finland, so we were a bit ahead when it came to getting mobiles.
That does seem a bit ahead. I remember being excited about different color backlights around 2004, maybe.
Yeah, it was right when it hit the market. We weren’t rich, so having one bougie item others were jealous of was kinda fun for a change.
It was the improved model of a Nokia 3510, 3510i. This is a rare thing, but you’ll have to translate the article as Wikipedia didn’t have an English article on that. Oh it was marketed as the Nokia 3595 in the States, announced in 2003.
So yeah, this post is one of those “ohgodimold” feels because the current generations views on how old things from my childhood look like are coming out.
Hell, one day someone guessed my age. They guessed “a bit shy of 40?” and at first I was offended but then I remembered they are technically correct and it was rather depressing of a feeling. “No, haha of course I’m not… wait… yeah, actually… that is correct (screaming internally).”
The first color phones were also small and didn’t have a screen that looked more like a black and green computer monitor from the 1970’s. This things design looks closer to a calculator watch from the 1980’s than it does from a phone today.
Genuinely no offense, but were you actually there in the early noughts? Like with enough age to have a cognition about what went around you?
Because I have a few things here which would disagree with you.
How does would this fit that description of yours?
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nokia_9210_Communicator
Colour screen, not that small a device
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nokia_9500_Communicator
2004 model
I’m old enough that I had one of the wristwatch calculators back in the 80’s. We’d put stuff on layaway at Kmart and if you owned a cell phone it’s because you were like a lawyer or something and it had to be carried in a bag, so most of us had pagers, or nothing.
Yes. I remember the stuff in your links. Notice the colors are more than green and black. Also, those weren’t popular devices, either. It was all about the Motorola razr back in 2004. It stayed that way, or you had a blackberry until android and iphones started to come out around 2008, for the most part. It was fun watching phones get smaller and smaller and smaller, and then bigger and bigger and bigger.
The first color phones were also small and didn’t have a screen that looked more like a black and green computer monitor from the 1970’s.
Communicators aren’t small, and the “black and green screen” is the non-colour version.
These look remarkably similar to the wrist device, and definitely aren’t small.
Yeah, they were for pretentious businessmen. But also, I am from Finland, and they were much more popular here in Europe whereas they were a niche item in the US markets.
I kind clearly said I’m from Finland and we were a bit ahead in these things, what with Nokia and all.
HTC Dream came out in 2008 and looks like this
Also rather similar to the image in the original post.
Except the keyboard stayed hidden away until you flipped it out. That was the first android phone. My first smartphone came out the following year and flipped out the other direction. The Samsung Moment. Also, both were much smaller than the wrist monstrosity that warehouse workers used.
It was also made by one of the people behind the Dance Hiptop (T-Mobile Sidekick in the US). Which is why the Dream resembles the Hiptop line.
Diy cyberdecks are definitely a thing. Hell, just strap a smartphone to your arm and you’re 90% of the way there.
That’s literally what the Fallout 4 collectors edition Pip Boy was. Essentially a ‘case’ you put your phone in then wear. It also had an app that connected to the game as well and let you change gear and take meds, etc.
Not sold after 2013 is overstating it a bit. The current equivalent is the Zebra WT6300, but you could probably build your own for less than 10% of the price.
Yep, the only reason Motorola stopped producing them is because Motorola sold that business out to Zebra. Hell, zebra still supports the 4000, the 6300 is quite literally just a newer version.
Same deal with the MC33 scanner. My warehouse has an assortment of Zebra and Moto branded devices and Zebra handles servicing them all. Embedded industrial PCs don’t change much.
God, these things get uncomfortable after a bit. And they smell. We would pull them of the rack and they would still be wet with the previous shift’s sweat.
What are/were they used for?
Porn
I used them when I worked in warehousing in recieving and in picking. They also had a scanner module that was worn on a finger and connected to the device. They were neat at first but they never cleaned or replaced the straps and everybody sweats.
Well, not Bruce Lee
You guys were doing it wrong. ¯\(°_o)/¯ We had these devices in hip-holsters that would attach to a belt, which of course had a few of its own caveats, but it was free-swinging at all times. Plenty of airflow. No smelly, sweaty equipment except for possibly the handheld scanners that went with them.
It looks like those police-car terminals
There are also smartphone arm- and wristband holders. Usually marketed towards sport activities, but if you just want that pip-boy-esque experience…
Looks like the thing Turunga Leela wears
Her first name’s Turanga??
Yes
“I’ll just look it up on my wristlojackimator”
summon demons with that mf
[Angry Mechanicus noises]
Did some time in a warehouse that had wrist mounted scanners like these. Had a little laser that also velcro’d to your fingers for easy scanning. Granted it was just so you could move boxes like a mule without dropping your scanner anywhere, but it was amusing to use while fallout 4 had just released. The conveyer even sounded just like the vault doors every time it started… Was prime low-key larping time.
Biz Lightyear to Space Command. Come in Space Command
Orbital strike inbound!!
