The term personal communicator has been used with several meanings. Around 1990 the next generation digital mobile phones were called digital personal communicators. Another definition, coined in 1991, is for a category of handheld devices that provide personal information manager functions and packet switched wireless data communications capabilities over wireless wide area networks such as cellular networks. These devices are now commonly referred to as smartphones.

• AT&T EO Personal Communicator, 1993
• IBM Simon Personal Communicator, 1994
• Nokia Communicator
• Wireless PDA
• Smartphone

• Concept genesis, Aug 1991
• The Executive Computer; 'Mother of All Markets' or a 'Pipe Dream Driven by Greed'? NYT, July 1992
• EO Inc. Describes 'Personal Communicator' Devices, New York Times,1992
• Motorola expands family of personal communicator products, Mobile Phone News,1993
• Bellsouth, IBM unveil personal communicator phone, Mobile Phone News,1993
• The EO 440 And EO 880 Paradigms For Personal Communicators, Mobile Computing,1993
• The Return of the PDA, Marketing Computers,1995