Today, I would like to dedicate a little post to the Electronic Diary. It was small, light, and felt very special. Like having your own private world in your hands. It may look simple now, but at that time, it felt like the future!
Long before the internet, or mobile phones, there were these toys that were trying to be better than the previous ones. Every year, companies wanted to create something new and exciting for children. Many of these toys felt very modern at that time.
90s Electronic Diary: My Pocket Pal Premier New Wave
This is a My Pocket Pal Premier New Wave, my first pocket organizer/digital diary. I think this may be a European rebrand of other popular electronic diaries. Among others, it features (password protected) notes, a phonebook, adress book, and a calculator. A fun little feature that came with a lot of these electronic diaries, was the ”love test”; you enter two names and sometimes some additional data, and it would “calculate” whether you two are a good match.
Casio Casioclub My Magic Diary C-300
This is a Casio Casioclub My Magic Diary C-300, a vintage electronic handheld organizer/digital diary from Casio, released around the mid-1990s. It was marketed as cool, password-protected gadget for storing secrets, friends’ contacts, notes, and basic personal info. I feel that this particular one is more ”high tech” than the My Pocket Pal Premier, as it has a little battle game on it, in addition to the ‘standard’ love test.
I think the 90s had a lot of innovative products – dolls with changing hair color depending on what temperature you use on the hair, a Tamagotchi with a “living, breathing” creature who depends on you, the Furby who speaks back to you, robot puppies, and many other fun gadgets. These toys were not just simple items to play with. They could make sounds, move, and sometimes even “talk” to you. For kids, it felt like magic!
