Psion 3

The Psion 3 was one of the first truly useful Personal Digital Assistants or PDAs. Its purpose was to replace the oldfashioned paper agenda and rolodex, but it could do much more. Besides its agenda with multiple views, it featured a database, a word processor, a spreadsheet with charts, world times and more. The Psion 3 had a very original way of managing files: the available program icons are shown on a horizontal line and the associated files drop down beneath them.

With an optional modem, it could connect to the internet and it could be programmed in OPL (Organiser Programming Language), with easy access to menu and graphical functions.

Four versions of the Series 3 were marketed by Psion: the Series 3 (1991), the Series 3a (1993), the Series 3c (1996), and the Series 3mx (1998). In 1998, a total of 1,5 million Psion 3s had been sold.

Shown is the Psion 3a, which featured a NEC v30h CPU (running at 7.6MHz), 256kb RAM, a 480x160 screen, an IO port (for modem, printing and PC synchronizing) and room for two flash cards.