[NTLK] Siemens Notephone 2

Grant Hutchinson grant at splorp.com
Sun Jan 13 14:11:22 EST 2019


> On Jan 13, 2019, at 11:24 AM, Christoph <newtonhonk at posteo.de> wrote:
> 
> I own a Siemens Notephone (https://newtonhonk.de/hardware/notephone) and I love it. 
> 
> Now when browsing the Newton Gallery! (https://msu.edu/~luckie/newtgal.htm) I saw a picture of Siemens Notephone 2 (https://msu.edu/~luckie/siemens.jpg<https://msu.edu/~luckie/siemens.jpg>). Has anyone seen this thing in real-life? I really want to have this device :)

The NotePhone 2 (also known as the NotePhone II, NotePhone 2000, Online Access Terminal, OAS, and @net) started out as a project officially called the Siemens Online Terminal. Several low-resolution photos of the device exist, including this red version:

<https://www.flickr.com/photos/sonnyhung/sets/72057594061321300>

I was always curious whether this device ever shipped commercially, so I did some deep digging in late 2017 and documented it in the Newton Glossary.

<http://newtonglossary.com/terms/siemens-online-terminal>


The Siemens Online Terminal was a prototype device positioned as an “all-in-one communication terminal” ... not just a phone attached to a PDA. The prototype’s user interface was based on Newton OS and combined wireless telephony, fax, voice messaging, web access, and email.

During the research, I contacted Niels Vejrup Carlsen who was part of the internal team that spearheaded the project.

Here what he had to say about the device:

“I’ve included a few photos that show the final version of the @net ... plastic design finished ... just prior to tooling on the production line. As the Newton platform was terminated, we switched to Windows CE. A hard blow to us Newton fans in the team :-). Therefore, the final version had a keyboard. The phone was never released to the market. As I recall it, the project was stopped in the beginning of 1998.”

“Joachim Maass (CEO), me (Niels Vejrup Carlsen) and later Rony Vogel (sales) started the project as an internal ‘corporate startup’ named Siemens PN KE VIP in 1996. The prototype @net based on the Newton OS was first demonstrated in public at the CeBIT convention march 1997. Other names include Siemens Online Terminal and Online Access Device. I do not recall NotePhone.”

“As far as I recall, the Newton OS was version 2.0 ... or rather a variant of it specifically adapted for a phone. We worked closely together with the team in Cupertino at the time.”

“I think we started out on an SA110 (MP120 platform) processor ... then shifted to the SA1100 (MP2000 or 2100 platform) whereafter Apple stopped work on the platform.”


Photos of his personal prototype:

<https://www.dropbox.com/sh/zpeavfp5waxbj7y/AAAXPmHVDc14kM8uq6C0MZ3Ma?dl=0>


g.




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