First-world problem; or, ceci n'est pas un marketing survey

[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

Comments

[trixtah]

I have a phone with internet (it has Java, so I've installed the Gmail client) and a camera. I'll be getting one of these Android phones shortly. However, when I'm travelling properly, I carry a small digital camera and an Asus Eee netbook as well.

I have an iAudio music player, which is about as large as a couple of matchboxes side-by-side, and which holds 22GB of music. I want an e-book reader as well, a small one like the Sony Pocket Edition but with expandable storage! I don't need an online bookshop. This will replace the one-or-two books I generally carry about. I had a PDA about 5 years ago, but that's been replaced essentially with my phone and/or netbook.

So for usual, I carry my phone, music, and hopefully an ebook reader. Travelling for more than a couple of days, I supplement that with the camera and Eee. I have also been intending to buy one of these multi-chargers forever, but it's not too bad. My music lasts for a week (yes, 8-hour days) and charges via USB, as does my phone. The Eee has a small power cord with no power pack, so that's not too bad to cart around. My camera the only PITA, in that it only takes expensive Ni-Cad batteries, and not the rechargeable ones either (won't be buying one of those again).

[trixtah]

Oh, and if isn't obvious, I'm not really big on device convergence. I would be able to play my music on my new phone (I rip it in a funny format), and probably also read e-books on it. However, I want something to read ebooks on that has a reasonable screen size, and using something that large would feel silly for a phone (sure, there are bluetooth headsets, but still). Also, I frankly would be seriously peeved if my phone died, and I had no music. Or anything to read. Multiple devices means some redundancy. Of course, some people love their iPhones and large Android phones essentially because they are PDAs + phone.

[zeborah]

I currently have a cell phone which I primarily use as an alarm clock so it lives by my bed, a laptop with wireless internet which I use all the time (and would use as often even without the wireless), a digital camera, and a music player which is a cheap replacement for the iPod that I lost* and so it's hard to use and so I hardly ever use it. The last three of these I carry around in my laptop bag, whose front pocket requires regular cleanouts.

I am thinking of getting a new iPod** and considering whether I want it to also be a video camera and/or to also be an e-book reader and/or to also accept notes or what. The latter: it'd be handy if I could use eg an iTouch instead of carrying the laptop everywhere, but there's weighing up laptop vs iTouch weight and ease of use for reading/writing, and iTouch vs iPod size for when I'm just wanting music. So I'm still dithering.

* Free advice: if you occasionally spend several days/weeks without using your iPod, don't put it in a plastic bag where you also sometimes put fruit and then forget to eat it until it goes rotten and you throw the whole bag out, having forgotten that the iPod was there. --At least I think this is what happened.

** I was waiting for a while in case the old one turned up, but it doesn't seem inclined to.

[sqbr]

When I was doing shiftwork I had my PDA with me at all times to coordinate my life around my shifts.

Now: I have my phone with me (including camera, not that I use it much) most of the time. I bring my music player and/or handheld gaming device (you missed that option :D) when I'm going to have to amuse myself for an extended period. I don't read ebooks or the internet on portable devices (apart from my laptop when I'm on holiday).

[submarine_bells]

My recently acquired smartphone is a Nokia 5800 XpressMusic, bought with the intent of doing the gadget convergence thing. As such, it's a reasonable success. Here's a breakdown of its performance function by function (at least, the functions that are important to me):

Phone: does very well

Music player: superb

Digital camera: adequate. Not as good as my dedicated digicam, most notably because it has a digital zoom rather than an optical zoom, and as due to this the end result when combining zoom and low-light corrections are *ugly*. That being said, it does surprisingly well in moderate-to-bright light, and being physically smaller is more likely to be in my pocket at times that I might want to grab a quick snapshot.

Wireless internet: adequate. As a cellphone, it's a lot slower than doing internet on my laptop, even if loading pages that are optimised for cellphones. Even so, though, it's delightfully portable, and there's nothing quite like whipping out your cellphone to look something up on google/wikipedia in the middle of a conversation. :-)

Calendar/organiser: the software it came with was a bit brain-dead, however the charm of a smartphone is that one can get all sorts of apps for them. A bit of hunting around found a very nice calendar app (costing IIRC around $20) that has all the functions I wanted and then some. I'm very happy with the result.

E-book reader: I don't really use them a great deal, so it's hard to say. Of all the functions, this is the one I've had least success with, simply because what I want in an e-book reader is one reader that can cope with most common formats, and my reader-of-choice from my Palm days (Mobipocket) doesn't seem to be available for Symbian touch devices like mine. I dare say if I was keen enough to find several different readers for the various formats I might want, it'd do the job acceptably, but I've not so far got around to tracking them down.

SatNav: pros and cons. Big advantages of the 5800XM are that downloading updated maps is trivally easy, and it plays nicely with Google Maps, which also brings the benefits that come with that such as public transport info and so on. Disadvantages: unlike my dedicated satnav, the satnav software it comes with doesn't provide verbal directions ("in 300 metres, turn left" etc) as a default; however if I wish I can subscribe for a small amount per month to a service that will do that. Also, the screen is smaller than my dedicated satnav, ergo a bit harder to see details on while driving. Overall I think it comes out more-or-less even, factoring in all those pros and cons.

Gaming: it's an *excellent* portable gaming platform. Doesn't have as many games available for it as my old Palm did, but then it hasn't been around for as long as PalmOS. And touchscreen/accelerometer based games have a lot of potential.

Data storage: as well as the on-board phone memory (I forget the amount, less than a gig) it has a MicroSD card in it. IIRC, the standard amount is 8Gig but you can put 16Gig in it (or maybe it was 16/32? I forget, I've got a migraine. If you're keen you can look it up.) At any rate, when in a synchronisation malfunction (user-instigated) I accidentally downloaded every bit of music from my laptop onto it, the phone took it all in with acres of space to spare. And that's like a day and a half's worth of music, played back to back. It's got plenty of space, even in the out-of-the-box configuration.

Overall, I really like my 5800XM. The interface isn't quite as slick as an iphone, and there don't seem to be quite as many apps available, but it cost me a third of the price of an iphone so I'm not complaining. :-) And while it doesn't have the metric butt-tonne of apps available that the iphone does, that's not to say that there's nothing to be had - far from it. Some of them are even handy and/or fun! Like the spirit level app I put on mine, or the music wiki app that is basically a music player that accesses the web for the lyrics of any song played, and outputs 'em on the screen karaoke fashion as the songs play. All good fun!

[jenett]

I'm a Mac user, so bear that in mind with some of my choices. I'm also not a big camera user.

I have:

- cell phone (very basic model) that does include a (not very good) camera. I carry it regularly, but I dislike unexpected phone calls, rarely text, etc. and the ringer is usually turned off.

- iPod Touch, which is my combination PDA, music player when I'm away from the laptop, ebook reader, and general tool.

I also have a laptop (and in practice, usually have it with me in places I might want 'Net access, unless I'm just out shopping or something.) and a digital camera, which I carry only at times I think I might want to snap shots. (It's an older model and fairly sizeable: if/when I replace it, it'll be with something smaller.)

I use the iPod Touch *all* the time. It's not my primary reading source, but it's incredibly handy when I'm stuck standing in line somewhere, or waiting at the doctor's office, or whatever. (Smaller than hauling in my bag or a couple of different books) and I'm really looking forward to that use for travel.

And I use the apps on it for all sorts of things - notes about things I want to read next, a grocery list app, tracking apps to help with taking meds, an alarm clock if I'm away from home, etc.

[amadi]

I recently upgraded to an iPhone. It does everything I honestly need to do when just going about my life. If I need to do business reports, etc. then I still need my laptop. If I want photographs (or keepsake video) as opposed to snapshots and video clips, I still have a very nice Canon digital camera that's often in my bag. But as I predicted when I bought it, now that I have the iPhone I don't carry the laptop or camera with me as often as I have in the past. I have a flexibility with it that no prior phone offered.

If it's at all a consideration, I'd recommend going to an Apple Store, telling them that you need to really test one out and to let you fuss with it for a while, and then go to town with what's there. And then remember that there are 100k other apps you can add. (Including a Kindle app. I use another eBook reader, mainly because I dislike Amazon's terms for Kindle downloads.)

[firecat]

and iTouch vs iPod size for when I'm just wanting music

For what it's worth, I've used both a small and a large iPod for audiobooks/music, and I find the large one isn't much more cumbersome than the small one. I finally gave away the small one because I never used it.

if you occasionally spend several days/weeks without using your iPod, don't put it in a plastic bag where you also sometimes put fruit and then forget to eat it until it goes rotten and you throw the whole bag out, having forgotten that the iPod was there

Ack! :-/ Very helpful advice!

[firecat]

handheld gaming device (you missed that option :D)

Yeah, so far I haven't felt the urge for one, so that simplifies my decision in a very minor way. :-)

[firecat]

Thanks! (What is the name of the music wiki app?)

[firecat]

Thanks! If I choose a feature-convergence solution I'll probably get the iPod Touch (I'm also a Mac user).

However, I tried the iPod Touch for a day and I hatedhatedhated the onscreen keyboard. Did you have trouble getting used to the keyboard, and do you find it easy to use (and/or hardly ever necessary) now?

[firecat]

I probably won't end up getting an iPhone because the plan is so expensive compared to my current cell phone plan, but I have played with the iPod touch. I really hated the onscreen keyboard. But I liked other stuff about it. Do you find the onscreen keyboard easy to use?

I would not buy a Kindle for the same reasons you mention.

[amadi]

The plans can be pricey. I am paying $76 and change per month (with all the taxes) because I'm getting a 21% (post-tax) discount via my employer, and that's with just the basic data package and the cheapest voice plan and no texts, for I am a loather of the texting, indeed.

I am getting used to the keyboard. I would like it even more, especially on my very arthritis-y days, if I could use some kind of stylus, but Steve Jobs hates disabled people styluses, so that won't be happening.

[submarine_bells]

It's called TuneWiki.

[jenett]

The keyboard is definitely not my preferred entry mode. That said, it's gotten easier as I use it. I do tend to prefer apps that let me do entry in landscape mode rather than portrait, especially if I'm doing more than minimal text (like with my notes program: I use Awesome Note, which I like a lot.) Or programs where, once I enter the text, I don't have to retype, like the Grocery Shelf app I use.

I've considered trying a stylus instead, but haven't gotten around to it yet.

[flarenut]

I'm a cheap bastard, and the only carrier with decent coverage here is Verizon, so my choices are constrained by that (e.g. their data plans are horrifically expense for no bandwidth to speak of around here, they brain-damage most of their phones so that you have to do stupid things like email low-res versions of photos to yourself because bluetooth and usb transfer are disabled, blah blah blah). Even so, I've just never liked the idea of cellphone as real camera. So for that I have a canon a710. If I were buying today, I might well get a fuji with similar specs (6+ mp, 6x or more zoom, blah blah) or a newer canon or someone else. I think cameras at that price/capability point are pretty much interchangeable for specs, so it's about what fits your fingers and your brain.

For internet and PDA/ebook I have an n810. It's basically a low-end netbook in terms of computing power, but touch screen and slide-out keyboard. When I was seriously doing stuff with it, I would have it on my desk with three or four terminal sessions running from my desktop machine. I've read most of the gutenberg sf and detective fiction bookshelves on it, along with all the out-of-copyright PG Wodehouse. I don't know if I would make the same choice today; a netbook would be nice and I seldom travel without a pack, but then again I seldom open the pack so I'd probably have to get a smarter phone etc.

Also, I don't listen to music much because of lifestyle, but in a dock there's a last-gen ipod nano, and the 810 also has a bunch of music apps both stored and streaming.

So usually when I go out: dumbphone and n810. If I know there will be visuals, camera. No idea if that helps.

[firecat]

Thanks! The OH has an N810 too and really likes it. On the one hand, I can't seem to get used to it. (Not that I've tried very hard.) On the other hand, I couldn't really get used to the iPod Touch after a few hours either, and the N810 has a real keyboard.

[flarenut]

fwiw, when I had an n800 I had a bluetooth keyboard to go with it; for any serious typing it worked well, and it's about the same size folded. A lot depends on what you want to do with such devices -- reading and navigating are easy, but typing of any significant amount of material is a pain. And they're not quite powerful enough for voice recognition...

I wonder whether in another 5+ years someone will come up with a solution where the cpu lives in a pouch somewhere and communicates wirelessly with all the lighter, smaller, unfolding parts you have to look at or touch.

[firecat]

That would be cool!

[clever-doberman.livejournal.com]

iPhone

not the best PDA, but adequate, and sync-able
not the best camera, but fine for snaps.
fine in all other categories you list.

and more (GPS is the biggest one, others are smaller, but still good).

I can't imagine living without the machne now.

[tylik.livejournal.com]

I'm using an ADP1 (which is more or less identical to an Android G1).

I use it a lot for reading livejournal and newspapers - not so much as a ebook reader proper. (I have a touchbook, which makes a much better ebook reader, but most this is a schedule thing.) It has a 3.2 mp camera, though I have only started using it recently - it's easy to get good clear pictures, not sure about the color matching (though that's easy to correct).

It's a good phone, though I use it more as a data device. It works great as a router (I currently have it set up as a wifi or bluetooth access point) though there are possible issues with tmobile, and works very nicely as a PDA. Oh, and it has the qwerty keyboard.

I don't use it as a music player, though it would function as such and I keep meaning to try it. (Well, mp3, but also internet radio. I might start listening to BBC Kazakhstan again...)

And, of course, it's a linux device, so it happily talks to all my other boxen, and it has GPS and various other toys.

[mama-hogswatch.livejournal.com]

I have a netbook, a Palm Centro and an iPod.

I don't have a data plan on the Centro (PRICE! I live in rural New England and that stuff is expensive). But I do use it to read books a great deal, and the Palm interface is quite a good PDA. I also have a camera on it. It's okay. All those bento pics I take? Usually my phone.

My netbook is really my computer. I use it that way all the time. It HAS a webcam, but I never use it.

I use my iPod to play music.

As far as portability? I'm taking a weekend trip this weekend, and everything I need for the weekend fits in one backpack. When I don't need to bring clothes, everything does fit just fine in a purse.

[papersky.livejournal.com]

I don't have any of them. Wow, I really don't.

Z's very happy with his iPhone.

[e4q.livejournal.com]

i am looking forward to this coming out http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2010/02/12/hp_europe_smartbook/ since i want a travelling laptop, mine is too swanky and heavy to take places.

i currently settled on the sony ericsson w995 because i got pissed off with the teething problems of iphone and the non mac one i tried. i got it cos it has an 8mpx camera and because it has a massive memory, and is loud enough to listen to on trains, like a real walkman.

however, i am now reconsidering my position re cameras. i like having one device, ideally for everything or at least to travel v light because i don't like to carry bags (or anything much) but want a bit more control with photography. i am actually considering a digital slr, but a good pocket one with a decent sized lens would probably be better for me. i'd really like simple controls but good quality - the olympus trip of the digital world if there is such a thing - one person, 2 people, 3 people or the mountains, and everything in wide angle would be acers.

[tedesson.livejournal.com]

I'm happy with my Motorola Droid phone for:

Digital camera
Resolution is ok, flash is amazing. I never carried a camera with me before

E-book reader
Works great for both libravox and text books

Cell phone
Google voice works well, gives me email, sms and voicemail transcription

Wireless Internet
G3 and Wifi

PDA
Integration with google calendar rocks

Music player
Works great for this

Also:
Gps with audible turn by turn navigation,
handheld gaming platform,
browser
shared shopping lists, synced to the phones


Get a model with a keyboard, the onscreen is ok, but real typing is better.

Battery life is good.