Less ridiculously https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psion_Series_5
The Psions were reasonably successful too. My hunch is we are going to experience a slow rediscovery of the benefits of non touch interfaces.
Mechanical interfaces are superior, yes. But touch-capacitive is so cheap that I don't think we'd ever go back.
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Honestly, the Blackberry, Palm Centro, LG Optimus Enlighten were all good items I've used personally. The speed at which I could type / move around on those systems is absurdly faster than the slow, inaccurate, capacitive screens of today.
But I know a thing or two about manufacturing costs. Capacitive is just too cheap to compete against.
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Resistive screens (Gameboy DS bottom touchscreen) have benefits for relatively simplicity and better accuracy in my experience. But you lose on pinch-to-zoom or other multi-digit tracking. There's just been more work on capacitive touch that its the cheapest way to implement things today in practice.
Especially in things like cars, where "giant ipad centre console" for a long time was some sort of luxury-differentiator, when in fact it's a terrible, distracting, cost cutting measure. At some point the return of mechanical knobs and switches -- done stylishly and ergonomically -- will become the luxury signifier instead.
It's the #1 thing turning me off buying any Tesla, and I know I'm not the only one.
Slapping a touch screen in something to replace physical interfaces tells me a company not only cheaped out on components, but on design & UX research. It's hard work to design and lay out quality mechanical components.