- What? - What's this?
- What are you giving me? What is this?
- What? - (gasps) What the hell?
- Ew! - (React) What is it?
- I don't have any idea what this is. - Is this a phone?
- (React) Have you seen something like this before?
- Ah! - This is a calculator.
- Ew, why is it so weird? - This is bringing me back somewhere.
I don't know where, but it's-- I'm there.
Do you know what I mean? - (React) Nope.
So, this is a 1996 personal digital assistant, or PDA.
- Ah. - (React) Now, the most popular brand
of PDAs was the PalmPilot. Have you ever heard of a PalmPilot?
- I have not. - (React) I'm gonna have you
explore it in just a second, but let's go back in time
to the '90s real quick for a little history lesson.
♪ (furious piano playing) ♪ - Oh my god.
- Oh, the commercials in the '90s. - (woman) Puh-lease.
- Puh-lease!
- (woman speaks French) - Okay.
- (woman) But for really smart, check out this Palm handheld
from CompUSA. - Okay.
- Ooh, it's this. - (woman) ...gets email.
Ooh, here's one! The Fed needs me to lecture
on our monetary system. Again? - (laughs) This is funny.
- (React) Ever seen that? Ever heard of this?
- Never. - (React) Let's learn a little bit
about the history of Palm. - Oh, lovely.
- (narrator) The history of Palm is a remarkable story.
The Palm brand has gone through many changes over the years.
In 1996, they launched the PalmPilot, the first ever.
- It got a pen! PDA. - This is like phone 101,
like 1.0. - (narrator) ...affordable,
and, you guessed it, simple. Their relentless focus
on function and simplicity created a cultural movement,
making Palm a household name. - (React) So, first impressions.
What do you think about this? - It's so ugly.
- Everything started from somewhere. And it's just exciting
that I get to see it in front of me.
- (React) Palm pilots were the first wildly popular
handheld computers and are thought to have kind of
ushered in the era of smartphones. - I'm actually very happy
that I was actually introduced into the generation with iPhones
rather than this. - Wow, I am really blessed
with an iPhone.
- (React) Do you notice any similarities?
- Yeah. - There's no similarities.
Okay, first of all, it looks like a box
compared to my phone.
Second of all, the apps are like so digital.
- On the iPhone, it has this menu bar at the bottom.
And I think they have this menu bar going on right here.
That's also touch screen. - (React) What do you notice
it doesn't have? - There's not even a camera
on this thing. - A camera!
How do I Renegade through this? - (React) Also, do you notice
that your phone lights up? This one does not.
If you were to cover up the phone and look in there,
you will not be able to see inside. - Yeah, I can't see anything.
What the?
- (React) Now, I'm gonna have you go to the Welcome section
and follow along with the tutorial.
- I'm lost. Where's Welcome?
- Okay, Welcome. Found it. It's the door.
- You can enter data on your handheld in three ways.
Use graffiti writing, use the on-screen keyboard,
use your computer keyboard. - The graffiti writing area is deno--
blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Don't care. Just try it.
(boom) Maybe I should've
read that before, huh? (laughs) - (React) Since this was kind of
thought to be the device that inspired smartphones,
we're gonna have you complete some tasks on the PalmPilot
that you may be used to doing on your smartphone.
- Oh, god. - (React) All right. Are you ready?
- Okay. - (React) First, let's have you
add yourself as a contact. - Oh, easy.
Obviously, I'm gonna go to the phone, because contacts. Hello.
- Okay, let's start with going back home.
- Okay, so I would assume it's Address.
- Oh, look, Jayka! And Myles!
- Girl. - Okay.
- Address? Address. - Okay.
This is not what I meant. - Okay. First name.
- Huh? - Obviously, I'm gonna go
to the phone. - What is this?
- No.
- It's asking for my address. - Okay, let's go down.
- How? N. - What?! How do I go back?
- Hot sync. Sync. Contacts. Sync contacts.
Maybe? Hot sync. We're getting somewhere.
That is not it. No, that is not where I wanna be. Okay.
- How do I delete? - Okay, I skipped a step.
I'm completely lost. And I'm a little bit panicked.
- First name. J-A-Y-K-A.
- (React) You didn't wanna do graffiti?
- Nah. Heck no. - What?!
- We're not going that-- how do I go back?
Back. Okay. - (React) Did you hit Done?
- Oh. (gasps) There I am.
- We're gonna go L. That's a four.
How did we get to numbers? I don't know.
Okay, we're gonna go back.
- I did it! That was like perfect.
- (React claps) - That was-- oh.
- (React) All right. Now, add shooting this episode
of React to your calendar. - We're gonna go to my calendar.
- I guess Date Book. But Date Book Plus--
what does that even mean?! - So, home.
- (React) Mm-hmm. - Date Book.
- Dude. - (React) All right.
Where do you think calendar would be?
- Date Book Plus. - (React) What is frustrating
about it? - It's so slow!
- Wait, what's Date Book Plus? - First try. We don't mess up.
R-E... (snickers)
Going back a bit. R. - (React) You can just put React.
- What time is it? - (React) It is 3:54.
- All right. let's see. Around three o'clock. New.
- (React) Just hit React. - This is too much for me, guys.
I'm so confused. - Monday.
Let's do five-- wait, what time is it right now?
- (React) 5:58. - Okay, so we'll do six.
- (React) Mm-hmm. - A. Okay, that's not--
okay, A. No. - Yeah, so let's do R.
- A. A. A. Okay, we're gonna do an uppercase A.
- This is really difficult. The stylus is not helping me out. Ah!
- Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh. - E-A-C.
- We're gonna skip the A. We're gonna go T.
- Oh, how was T done? - (React) What's the other thing
you notice every time you click something?
- That annoying meh, meh, meh, meh. - (laughs)
That worked! - (React) There you go!
You're a natural. All right. Well done.
Now, your final task: send me an email.
- Okay! Yeah, of course. - Tch!
What's your email? - No. There's no way
that this is actually gonna be able to send an email.
- (laughs) Oh my god. Okay. - Okay, New.
- How do I-- wait. - I'll say I have something
really urgent to tell you, like my dog's pregnant or something.
- Okay, Mail. - Uhh...
- So, we're gonna do New. - New.
- (React) Now, are you wondering how to send this?
- Send. - Send to.
- Nope, Sim. Where'd you get Sim? - Bro.
- Oh my gosh. - Love you. (laughs)
Send. Ahhh! Did it send? - (React) Did you send it?
- I don't know. It doesn't-- it didn't ring
or something. It didn't send a little notification
that I sent something, so how am I supposed to know?
- Who did it go to?! I said I love you to somebody.
And it's not you! - (React) What's required
for an email to go through? - Wifi.
- (React) This does not connect to wifi.
- What does it connect to? - (React) Well, wifi did not exist.
So, this has no capability to connect to wifi.
- Then why is this an option?! - (React) You need a modem
to connect to the internet, or you would have to
plug it into your PC and connect your PC
to your modem. - What's a modem?
- (React) So, a modem is a separate thing
that attaches to it that allows you to connect to wifi.
- I give up. I'm not doing this anymore.
I don't wanna do this anymore. You are a terrible thing.
I'm so happy that you are in your prehistoric time
because I don't have to see you ever again.
- (React) You tell it. - Oh my gosh.
- (React) All right. Well, go ahead and turn it off.
(clock ticking)
- Ah! (laughs) I was like, "I need a moment, Sierra.
Please hold." - (React laughs)
All right, so what do you think life was like back before--
- Rough. - (React) Like, before people had-- this was all they had
to navigate everyday life. - Rough.
- I mean, people that grew up with this?
I mean, you were just literally suffering.
- (React) Well, have you ever thought about life
before your iPhone? - No, 'cause I probably
could not live without it. - (React) So, this was
the first of its kind, but do you think that other things
drew inspiration from it? - No-- yes.
Yes, definitely. - (React) Did you know that?
- No, I had no idea. I thought that the DS kind of
was the first of its own, but it most definitely
got inspiration or direct keys from old devices like this.
- This is crazy. - (React) Can you imagine
a world without text messages? - No. FaceTime calls are my life.
Without FaceTime calls, that's-- - (React) Not a bit.
- Thanks. For. Watching. This. Episode.
- What technology should we react to next?
Let us know in the comments. - Thanks for watching.
Bye! - Bye!
- Bye! (laughs) - (React) It's off. (claps)