firecat

Lately I sometimes find myself idly shopping for a digital camera, an e-book reader, or a device that will put Google and email access in my pocket. I already have an iPod (the touchless variety) that I like because it's big enough to store my entire music/audiobook library, a cellphone that's nothing special except it has a qwerty keyboard, and a digital camera that I like because it's tiny and don't like because it doesn't have image stabilization.

It occurs to me that if I follow through on this shopping, I have a fundamental choice:

Carry one device that does a mediocre job of most or all of these things and has one battery and power cord and computer cable and takes up one pocket in my backpack.
Carry four or five devices that all do their respective functions very well and all use batteries and power cords and computer cables and backpack pockets.

It also occurs to me that people I know have solved this issue for themselves in various ways. So I'm soliciting anecdata. (Hey, it's cheaper than actually buying anything.)

Do you regularly carry portable device(s) that serve any of these functions? Why did you choose the devices you did? Are you happy with your current solution?

Digital camera
E-book reader
Cell phone
Wireless Internet
PDA
Music player

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From:

ckd

I currently do all of those things with an iPhone 3GS, which eventually replaced a total of three separate devices and added a camera. (I do have a small Canon digicam, but don't take enough pictures to carry it around under normal circumstances so I don't count it.)

I was carrying a Palm TX (E-book reader, Wireless Internet, PDA), an iPod, and a Sony Ericsson cell phone (which the TX could use to get Internet access via Bluetooth). I replaced the TX and iPod with an iPod touch in 2008, and then replaced both the iPod touch and the phone last year.

I'm very happy with my current solution, because it fits my usage model nicely.

Wireless Internet, PDA, and e-book reading are the main things I use it for; the iPod touch lost points here for not being able to tether through my phone (unlike the Palm TX).

Music (media) player: I'd like more capacity than the 32GB I have, but it's good enough for my day to day listening and watching...on longer trips, I take a laptop anyway.

Cell phone: I don't use it that much as a phone, though now that I don't have to put up with the T9 keypad stuff I send more texts than I used to. Since I need to have a cell phone, though, having it fit inside my PDA/etc device is helpful.

Camera: I use this mostly as a toy, for quick "look, I'm at a con!" posts to Facebook and such.

Most important accessory: I have a "Gum Pro" external 4400 mAh battery pack that can recharge my phone about 3x, which I keep in my backpack. If I'm really heavily using it, that means I don't have to find a spot to plug it in; I can put the battery in my pants pocket, and run the charging cable out to where the phone sits on my belt. :-)