Casio Caleid XM-700 Mobile Navigator (1997) | Hacker News Reader

Casio Caleid XM-700 Mobile Navigator (1997)

blog.gingerbeardman.com

77 pointsmsephton37 comments

I remember seeing a Japanese designer, possibly current or ex-Sony, talking about a Walkman. They were saying (via subtitles) something along the lines that that the device needed to feel like something you wanted to hold, regardless of what it was meant to do. There was something about understanding the physicality of the object itself which stuck with me. We only see glimpses of this now, since there is only a single object that people hold, and it's just a cuboid. I would argue that early to mid Ive-era Apple continued this in two-dimensions. But something has been lost in the last decade or so. Is it a move to video and events instead of things, words and thoughts? I don't know.

One of the things I really liked about the Nintendo Switch was just how cool it felt to grip the device and how natural playing it felt. That aspect of the Switch's industrial design is something Nintendo really nailed... even if they cheaped out on the sticks...

I never enjoyed holding a switch. I got the controller grip adapter thing specifically because of how cramped everything feels. I can grip it better but the button layout still sucks. Even the pro controller feels too small and cramped. I enjoy the 360 and PS4/5 controllers a lot because they just fit my hand rather than some rectangle that feels like I'm trying to hold a phablet. I'm sure the switch is fine for kids which makes sense since Nintendo is geared towards the younger demographic.

And what Ive did was only a continuation of the work Dieter Rams was doing his whole career.

Down voted for saying Ive and Dieter were in the same school? This is a known, accepted fact

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.cnn.com/cnn/style/article/d...

I know what you mean. It's a desire to simplify in the name of progress, not stopping to think if simpler is better. I don't think it is in every case.

There's a great book of Sony's 90s design that you should check out. Highlights: https://twitter.com/gingerbeardman/status/163686795858357043...

More often than not, it’s a desire to cut costs.

the device needed to feel like something you wanted to hold, regardless of what it was meant to do.

It's the reason I miss the original iPhone. It just felt good in your hand. Exactly the right size, shape, and especially weight.

If I could get its battery replaced (I'm not capable), I would use it as an iPod every day (since 2G service is gone).

It felt great, and it was actually difficult to drop because of the phone surface area touching your palm!

The phones keep getting heavier, thicker, and sharper edges. While the iPhone/3G/S was the most comfortable of all of them they continue to get worse with each new generation. Steve Jobs would not be impressed.

I think it will come back. There are things like the TP-7 already:

https://teenage.engineering/products/tp-7

I really want to hold this in my hand but it costs a leg unfortunately

It looks cool...but where the fuck do I put my fingers? That's the difference between the old Walkmans and something like this. The Walkman was designed to fit in my hand and also realized my hand has some fingers that need to go somewhere. It can't just have a bunch of easily triggered buttons under wherever my finger might rest.

I find this to be a problem with a lot of modern ID. The fetishization of touch sensitive controls or just overly sensitive controls makes it just hard to hold a lot of gadgets. It also makes me paranoid about putting them in my pocket. Most Walkman designs had nice physical push buttons that you were in no danger of manipulating accidentally when they were clipped to your pocket or belt.

Such products are still sold for professional markets, e.g. Panasonic has their Toughbooks. Harris with their radios, etc...

I agree, since I moved from iPhone 11 to 14 and the display margins became even smaller I frequently accidentally move the youtube slider (when in landscape) by just holding it. Very annoying when watching long-form content

I find the effectively bezel-less iPads difficult to hold because there's nowhere for my fingers to rest.

Around then, there seemed to be a cottage industry of importing electronics that were developed for and marketed only to Japan. Japan had a lot of neat innovations that you couldn't otherwise get in the US.

It's still a thing.

You pay a premium, but it's cool to bump into an end table and have your alarm clock shout earthquake warnings in scratchy digitized Japanese at you.

Or casually keep a personal cartoon-themed radiation monitor on your desk.

Neither of those are particularly innovative inventions.

A great write-up for an obscure process, But the question consumes me, What does the "DUST SHOOT" do?

It is given a very prominent place in the ui with that amazing aperture icon. If I had to hazard a guess it is a drop pocket used to discard synced items. coupled with some loadwords that no longer exactly make sense in english(american. I know british has dust bins, does anyone call them dust shoots?)

My second thought was to clean the camera sensor, but that makes no sense at all given the device and the era it was in. I mainly mention this because I was laughing at myself for even thinking of it. "Yes we will give an obscure service action only found on professional cameras a beautiful icon, right on the front page of our sync app"

Most likely shoot is a misspelling of chute, and "dust chute" is wasei-eigo for "garbage chute" or "rubbish chute".

https://ja.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/ダスト・シュート

It is indeed the "trash" mechanism.

Friendly note to the person that changed the title: CALEID was only ever used capitalised.

In the same way as VAIO, etc.

What a delightfully weird product!

Exactly! :)

From the same year: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casio_Cassiopeia

I still have two of these (A-10) and they were great in their day.

Oh man, what a fun era of tech. I had a REX 6000 that I adored.

> I wonder how many other people have played this game in the last 25 years?

I presume all the people who have played the game have played it in the last 25 years.

What happened to Casio? In the early 80’s they had some really cool products and then decline.

They achieved perfection and retired undefeated.

Casio watches are timeless.

I'm wearing one of their calculator watches now, it's my daily driver

...they don't sound like very good watches then

*bum-tish*

They're still around, still trundling on selling watches, calculators and musical keyboards aimed mostly at learning.

This PDA was a product of their calculator division.

  I'm the operator
  With my pocket calculator
  I'm the operator
  With my pocket calculator

  I am adding
  And subtracting
  I'm controlling
  And composing


  I'm the operator
  With my pocket calculator
  I'm the operator
  With my pocket calculator


  By pressing down a special key
  It plays a little melody
  By pressing down a special key
  It plays a little melody

電卓!

They actually made a Japanese version: https://youtube.com/watch?v=ZbmFeXTN7GA

I wonder if it has to do with i-mode. A lot of consumer brands were pushing out flip phones that were 10 years ahead in hardware and same amount behind in software, clearly burning cash and talent during 2000s. Then the moat started filling with iPhone and they came walking over the ashes.

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