I found a bunch of my old gadgets today. It's interesting how (relatively) little the form factors have changed from my first tablet, PDA and digital camera I got 20 and 16 years ago.
My Nexus 7 is slightly larger than the Newton MessagePad 100, but a much larger screen, and dramatically thinner.
Same with the Galaxy Nexus vs. the PalmPilot.
Amusingly enough, the actual screen on the Newton is just a few millimeters larger on the diagonal than the Nexus 5.
The camera form factors have changed the most with the Agfa ePhoto 307, my first digital camera, in the center. The pocket Nikon is most similar to the kind of camera the ePhoto was, and is much smaller, but of course I use my DSLR a lot, which is not that different sized than the film SLRs of 15 years ago. And, of course, the camera I shot the picture with is really small and a totally different form factor.
My Nexus 7 is slightly larger than the Newton MessagePad 100, but a much larger screen, and dramatically thinner.
Same with the Galaxy Nexus vs. the PalmPilot.
Amusingly enough, the actual screen on the Newton is just a few millimeters larger on the diagonal than the Nexus 5.
The camera form factors have changed the most with the Agfa ePhoto 307, my first digital camera, in the center. The pocket Nikon is most similar to the kind of camera the ePhoto was, and is much smaller, but of course I use my DSLR a lot, which is not that different sized than the film SLRs of 15 years ago. And, of course, the camera I shot the picture with is really small and a totally different form factor.
For that matter, phones/PDAs were mostly smaller between the first (Palm Pilot) and current and the form factor was more different whether flip phones or blackberry style keyboards.
So, it's less that the firm factors haven't changed that they've come full circle.