Personal Digital Assistant

## Lore Overview

A **Personal Digital Assistant**, or **PDA**, is a portable wrist-mounted electronic device. Pioneered in the late 2010s and early 2020s, PDAs slowly emerged from being basic information displays to small computers with a wide variety of technological applications for use in all career fields and regular activities. Military production models would be far superior and give a wide range of information such as detailed battle maps and radio communication. Following the Flash, PDAs would become more uncommon for the average wasteland survivor to acquire, and many who would stumble upon them chose to sell or scrap them for the valuable materials that were inside.

## History

### Pre-Flash

The first PDAs would be introduced in the civilian market in the early 2020s, designed and marketed to be a lightweight and portable. However, it was clear that the new invention was not a popular alternative to preexisting electronic devices such as cell phones and tablet computers. Shortly after their introduction, most if not all leisure usage of PDAs would be nonexistent, with its usage solely remaining in professional workplace environments. They would be found most commonly in the hands of school teachers, scientists, doctors, occasional businessmen and industrial-related occupations.

In the mid-2020's, after it had fallen mostly from civilian use, its potential for military application was explored by numerous defense contractors such as the Desert Corporation for the United States Military and its allies. The military models would be of much higher durability compared to its civilian counterparts and reliable by their users, with many variants for differing usage with more specialized units. Furthermore, members of the Asian Continental Military Force would also steal and produce copies of the PDA for use by their own militaries during the Third World War. By the conflict's end, most soldiers of NATO and ACMF were outfitted with PDAs.

### Post-Flash

After the Flash, PDAs saw continued usage by survivors and military personnel alike. Military-grade PDAs would retain most of their previous abilities and were highly sought after for their durability and impressive range of applications, and were mostly found to be in use by powerful military factions such as the USCPF. Various improvements to PDAs would follow in the decades that followed by more well off factions, such as changes to the shape or body and differing radio frequencies. Much of their value came in the electronics and materials used to produce them, with many civilian-grade models being sold off or scrapped. Their use in the hands of average wastelanders would only continue to decline as time went on, as the parts and maintenance required to keep them functional would become more scarce.

## Technological Applications

### Civilian Models

Over the course of their initial debut to the public and the halt of production following the Flash in 2032, PDAs went through a variety of designs and differing technological applications in the civilian sector. Initially, models were more simplistic and bulky. For most of its history, however, most models contained similar attributes to that of a smartphone, such as touchscreen navigation and slimmer body. While models vary, their most common functions included:

* Internet Access
* Time, Date, and Weather Information
* Satellite Navigation
* Note Writing
* Video Recording
* Picture Taking

### Military Models

PDAs produced for military use were the most prominent models out there, and were far superior to their civilian counterparts in every way. They contained most of the previous features their predecessors contained, with further improvements in durability and battery life. Various other models depending on the specialty of the user were produced, such as rare special forces variants. Overall, their added features of military-grade PDAs involved:

* Detailed Satellite Maps
* Radio and Video Communication
* Built-In Messaging System