Though the Neo has been around for a while, it’s important to note that other, similar and better systems have been around for longer. They have never taken off. They do too little for the price.

I have some perspective on this, as a heavy user of “instant on” technology. The original Alphasmart machines were awfully similar to the Tandy WP-2 (I used to have one), and that was a modificiation of the ultimate simplicity of the Tandy Model 10x series (the 102 was thinner than the 100, and they maxed out at 24k unless you went to extraordinary steps to get memory, and I liked my 102 more than my WP-2). These machines are still available on eBay or online, connect easily via a parallel printer port cable, and rock. You turn them on, you type. There is no font choice. There is nothing other than typing. The Model 100 and 102 even had modems (300 baud, baby!) and were used heavily by certain journalists. Similar results come from a PDA with a Stowaway.

As I said, they never took off. One reason is simple: you can type, but you can’t see what you are typing. Scrolling sucks. If you don’t need to read what you wrote, don’t need a paragraph overview, you’re fine. But if you need to think some, re-read a previous statement, etc., they actually stink. Believe me, I’ve used many of them.

Another reason they’ve never taken off is that you can get a lot more power for not much more money… and with a Mac, you get nearly instant on from sleep, and you can TURN OFF what you don’t need. No internet? Shut off the airport. No other programs? Quit them (or use multiple desktops to allow focus on a single work space). Too powerful a word processor? Use a text editor in full screen mode. These provide the same focus on machinery you already have, while allowing more when it’s needed.

I think the linked article has it wrong when it makes the parallel to the Hipster PDA. Primitive writing is pen and paper. Using a Neo/WP-2/102/PDA-with-Stowaway or any other form of primitive writing tool is simply not equivalent. I still use my Newton for writing, it rocks, it’s the best PDA out there… but I don’t confuse it with pen and paper.

Ok, first thing to note is that alphasmart’s products are mostly designed with education in mind. You’re paying for durability and battery life more than functionality and, sadly, you are paying a bit too much.

A few years back, I got myself an Alphasmart Dana, which is the somewhat more powerful version of the Neo - similar form factor, but running an older version of the Palm OS, modified to use the widescreen. End result was that you could do some fairly powerful word processing without worrying too much about the device. I can attest to it’s physical durability - it will casually survive drops of a few feet, and its battery life, which is phenomenal. What’s more, it was full of smart design decisions. The KB felt pretty solid. The built in battery was the same size and shape as 6 AAs so you could swap it out as needed.

Unfortunately, for all those benefits, it’s something that fell by the wayside for kind of sad reasons.

First, the display is simply not that hot. Think Palm V sort of LCD and you’ve got the right idea. While the font and size controls helped address this to some extent, it never really overcame the fact that the screen was basically short and narrow (Doubly bad since that’s the reverse of what is most comfortable for people to read).

The form factor was great for typing and use, but awkward for transportation. The upcurve of the screen meant it sat awkwardly in any bag, and would frequently get turned on accidentally, and while the battery life was good, nothing could take that kind of abuse.

Did I mention it was also expensive? About $500 at the time. I justified it thinking that the distractions of a laptop would be counterproductive, and I just wanted something simple, and I ended up with serious gadget remorse.

In the end, it was too much to pay for what was a single-use tool. Ironically, what I ended up replacing it with were these neat notebooks I found at a small bookstore, Moleskines or some such. ;)

I actually tried to break it out again recently, specifically to contrast to my experience writing on laptops of a variety of sizes and oh sweet god, it felt limiting. The instant on is nice, but not when it’s Dig out of my bag, instant on, open up a new tab, type something, peer at it, save it to be safe, then put it away again. For that, paper or a convenient handheld is going to do much much, much better.

Now, lest I imply it’s all bad, I do have to admit that it may be the single best note-taking tool I’ve seen short of a full-on tablet PC, so I think it is still very well suited to its intended purpose (students) but not so much beyond that.

“As I said, they never took off. One reason is simple: you can type, but you can’t see what you are typing. Scrolling sucks. If you don’t need to read what you wrote, don’t need a paragraph overview, you’re fine. But if you need to think some, re-read a previous statement, etc., they actually stink. Believe me, I’ve used many of them.”

This is a bit like saying that hammers will never catch on because they suck if you try to use them to saw lumber.

I have owned a number of Alphasmarts and similar products from other companies, such as the Quickpad. The Alphasmart Neo is the best of these so far for a number of reasons.

First, battery life is phenomenal. I bought mine almost one year ago and despite regular use, I am still on the original set of AA batteries that the device shipped with. My laptop is optimized for battery length, but even it gives out after 5-6 hours and runs hot as hell. The Alphasmart just keeps going and going without all that heat.

Second, the weight issue. Sometimes I need to go to a meeting to take notes, and don’t want to drag along my laptop, power cord (in case battery gets low), wireless mouse, etc. The Neo weights about a 2 pounds and feels much lighter than that.

Third, the Alphasmart Neo can partially adjust your issue by allowing for the size of the text display to be configured to different text sizes. I typically have mine configured to display 6 lines of small-type text which gives you about the last 50-60 words.

I’m not so sure what the objection to scrolling is, esp. as that’s necessary even in a lot of PC applications once you get past very small text files. I have no problem scrolling back and forth even in very large documents within my Neo. I would not use it for producing the final version of a 30 page report, but it rocks just to take it off somewhere and type out a first or second draft in one sitting and then take that back to a computer later for more thorough editing. I know a lot of people who say they can’t properly edit on a computer either — they insist on doing all editing only on a printed version of a document. In both cases, it is something you get used to after awhile.

Finally, there’s the “no internet” issue that Merlin mentions. Not only is their no Internet, but there’s no solitaire, etc. It’s a lot like Google, except that rather than just a simple text entry arear for search, there’s a simple text entry area just for writing with limited distractions.

Which is not to say there aren’t drawbacks to the Neo. The biggest one is the screen, which is not backlit. This is definitely not a solution for very lowlight situations. Second, there’s no expansion — I really wish someone would build one of these with a USB slot that I could stick a thumb drive into or perhaps just add an SD slot. The Neo also uses a dumbed down file system that probably works great with kids but really sucks for adults.

The first thing I thought of when I saw this was the old Newton Emate devices… But this offers less than even those 10 year old beauties.

There is something to be gained from limiting yourself to a single task sometimes, to put on the blinders and not let anything break your concentration, but there are better ways.

If you have a Mac, setup another user account, turn on simple finder, limit the available apps to Textedit, Dictionary, and that’s about it. Change users when you need to lock yourself down, and move back to your real account when you are done.

Interesting thread and comments.

Like many in this thread I’ve used and/or owned pretty much every battery powered keyboard since the RS model 100 including many that never saw the light of commercial day. It’s a category of writing tool that has always interested me, very much akin to tape or digital recorders.

I think many commenting here are being a bit unfair to AlphaSmart products (the Neo is the latest in a line of similar products).

All of the AlphaSmart keyboards were designed primarily to support writing in K-12 education. The fact that professional writers have adopted them is a great thing but that’s not where AlphaSmart’s design energy goes.

The fact that any model of AlphaSmart or Neo connects to a computer via a standard cable and does keyboard emulation to send into any writing environment, coupled with the fact that they have virtually no operating system to wade through I think make them a bit different and in many ways more interesing devices than competing products.

The Neo has a lot more memory than earlier models as well as a much nicer keypad. I think the Neo is a fantastic tool and I use mine in places I’d never take my PowerBook but where a voice recorder might be inappropriate.

Disclaimer: I’ve been an advisor to AlphaSmart since it was founded and know the founders well.

I simply like the way their products work and I know I can give one to my granddaughter without having to spend a lot of time teacher her what’s what.

If the poster would like a Neo, get in touch.

I bought a Neo with our last tax refund, and I’m really impressed with it. Lightweight, long battery life… yes, it’s built mainly for kids/educational purposes, but that means it’s kid-resistant (and I have two of those running around).

I like the feel of the keyboard a lot. It’s easy to type on. No internet means fewer distractions for me, and it’s extremely easy to upload into Word or any other document program for later editing.

Ran into someone at a Borders using one of them - He was really, really, nearly-fall-down-giddy happy with it, and had been using it a couple of years, and was apparently in the process of writing a book on it.

AlphaSmart also makes something with similar hardware that runs PalmOS. (The Dana and Dana Wireless) The OS extensions and Dana specific apps were done for them by HandEra, IIRC.

Here’s what I thought would be a good Alphasmart product (I did e-mail them about it, and got a noncomittal “our engineers thought/are thinking about that” e-mail in response)

1. Dana functionality with Palm OS and wireless connectivity.
2. Clamshell form factor like Jornada 728, Diamond Mako/Psion Revo, etc. and similar half-VGA-sized screen

This would be a laptop replacement for a lot of things, with the instant-on advantage. It would not be a gamer, a multi-processing-many-apps=at once machine, but it would handle e-mail, IM, maybe browsing, and minimal word processing (think WordPad vs. Word).

I have considered buying a Jornada or some of the other HPC devices to get this functionality, but I’m risk-averse and don’t want to buy one if they’re not manufacturing them anymore.

I have one. I think of it as primarily being for text entry, not text editing. It’s great for getting the first draft of something written.

In that context, I’m very happy with it. I find computers distracting when I’m trying to write something of any length. Also, It’s durable and the battery life is so long that I saw no point in buying the rechargable version.

On the other hand, don’t buy one expecting it to be useful for more than just writing.

Many people have responded to my negative tone, and in re-reading what I wrote I see that’s warranted. I need to point out that I use a machine equivalent to the Neo as a simple, basic writing tool. I have 2 Newtons (in case one breaks) and 2 eMates. For first draft writing, they are good. Text entry, as Michael Magin said. Sure, why not? But for most of my writing, I don’t do first drafts. I work through, I collaborate, I share and then revise, and an eMate or Neo won’t help me there. I like Kris Browne’s suggestion for how to create a focused environment on a Mac, by the way.

I disagree with saying that “This is a bit like saying that hammers will never catch on because they suck if you try to use them to saw lumber.” That’s a strawman - I would never use a typing program to do graphics (though I did my fair share of dumb ASCII pictures in the 80s). A better analogy would be to say that a hammer without the nail pulling side isn’t as useful. You get the nail puller AND the nail hitter on most hammers, so why restrict yourself? Pulling nails lets you “edit” your construction. And you can still hammer all you want.

As I said, on a computer, it’s easy to turn off the distractions. You just have to choose to do it.