I had assumed that “netbook” was a recent term that grew out of the evolution of UMPCs, MIDs, origami and EEE PC clones. And in my defence, the wikipedia article for “Netbook” says:
The term netbook was introduced by Intel in February 2008 to describe a category of small-sized, low-cost, light weight, lean function subnotebooks optimized for Internet access and core computing functions
I didn’t realise that the term has been around for a while though, until I came across an eight or nine year old bit of mobile tech history in Roo’s old office – a Psion Netbook.
I’ve had a couple of Psions before (a Siena and a Series 5), but I’d never heard of the Netbook before.
It’s a similar size to my EEE PC, although a little heavier. It has a decent-sized keyboard, a 7.7″ 640×480 colour backlit screen, Opera 3.62 (with support for HTML 3.2), a Java 1.1.8 runtime, and a bunch of PIM-type apps. No bluetooth or WiFi, but it does have RS232 and infrared.
I’ve got no idea what is gonna happen to it – I will ask if I can have it, although to be honest this is largely for geek nostalgia, as I’m not sure what I’d practically do with it. 🙂