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In the third season of For All Mankind Apple fans suddenly ran into an old acquaintance. The Newton MessagePad 120, originally launched in 1993, has been given a completely new look!
For All Mankind is set in an alternate timeline, in which technology developed significantly faster than it actually was. How did the makers manage that?
Apple Newton MessagePad 120 in For All Mankind
The Apple Newton MessagePad 120 was a personal digital assistant known as a PDA. The device had a stylus and had useful functionalities such as handwriting recognition. Under the hood was an ARM 610 RISC processor and the entire device ran on Newton OS.
A special product, but the Apple MessagePad 120 did not last long. In 1998, shortly after Steve Jobs returned to the company, it came to an end. So the personal assistant left the stage after five years.
Help from the iPhone 12
In 2022, that Apple Newton MessagePad 120 suddenly reappears. In the third season of For All Mankind, Apple TV+’s alternate history series, the device is widely used. Although he is a lot more advanced in this timeline than in the real nineties. Just as we use our iPhone for FaceTime today, so do the characters in the series.
On Twitter, Ben McGinnis, part of the team, leaves For All Mankind, see how this unique product came about. What seems? The display of the Apple Newton MessagePad 120 that you see in the series is really just an iPhone 12 Pro Max.
Tech advances faster in 1990s @forallmankind_ alt-history! All us @Apple nerds had a blast creating (& playing with) our modified Newton’s removable camera & video calls! Props even fit an #iPhone 12 Pro Max inside. The #Newton POV angles in the show were #shotoniphone #Apple pic.twitter.com/wASQcG7Qw9
— Ben McGinnis (@bengmcg) June 23, 2022
At the top of the custom Newton MessagePad is a removable camera. However, this does nothing, because the selfie camera of the iPhone 12 Pro Max is used for recording the image. Or the team behind For All Mankind also used FaceTime is not clear from McGinnis’ tweet.
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How the Apple Newton MessagePad 120 was made in ‘For All Mankind’