First PC versus current 2010 smartphone

Technology History Jul 5, 2010

This topic came up yesterday and I was intrigued by what some quick research showed.

My first PC was an IBM JX, circa 1985.  My new smartphone is a HTC Desire.  And now to the numbers:

Item PC JX HTC Desire smartphone
CPU speed 4.7 MHz 1000 MHz
ROM 96 KB 500,000 KB
RAM 0.5 MB 576 MB
“Disk” storage 1 MB 16,000 MB
Screen resolution 640 x 200 800 x 480
Screen colours 16 16. Well… 16 million.
Price (approx AUD) $2500 $650

Then there’s Ethernet, WiFi, GPS, Bluetooth, 3D graphics acceleration, ‘mouse’, touch screen, multi-tasking…okay I can stop there.

Notes:

  • “Disk” storage:  Non-volatile data storage (survives with power off) My JX used diskettes. No hard drive (!)  Maxed out at 2 x 360 Kb (3”) + 1 x 360 Kb (5”) drives. So about 1 MB total. Desire supports user-changeable microSD cards. I have 16 GB.
  • JX had a special 720 x 512 graphics mode, but only in 2 colours (!).
  • JX screen was physically bigger, of course.

This wasn’t my first computer, I deliberately said “first PC”.   I can’t quite recall, but I think the first one I used regularly was a Commodore 64, but I don’t think it was mine; maybe one of the brothers’ (?)   A bit later, I know I then paid for a Commodore Amiga.   Pre-dating both of these, I’m sure someone had a Sinclair ZX-81 that I used to briefly tinker with, maybe a neighbour.

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