Forget a Clear Backed Smartphone, I Want This Clear Plastic Apple Newton

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A few days ago we were all oohing and awing over a Samsung Galaxy Note 5 that was modded with a clear back panel revealing some of the components inside. But it can’t compare to the nerd lust some of your are probably feeling over this incredibly rare Apple Newton.

A Newton MessagePad 110, to be exact, just popped up on eBay. And while they’re not impossibly hard to come by these days, this one is unique because it’s actually a pre-production model, featuring a completely clear plastic housing revealing all of the ancient electronics inside.

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The person who posted this eBay auction received the MessagePad as an Apple developer during the 1994 MacWorld convention. And after using it for an entire week, they locked it away inside a safe for 21 years. Which means that not only is it in mint condition, it’s still fully functional and comes with original accessories including a charging dock, an external keyboard, and a rare PCMCIA wireless messaging card that let the Newton do primitive text messaging.

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There don’t appear to be any bids on the rare Newton just yet, so you have about six days left to snatch it up. The starting bid has been set at $850, which is probably why no one has made a move yet. Because working or not, it’s still 20-year-old PDA that didn’t exactly revolutionize the world when it was first introduced.

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[eBay via Boing Boing]

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