Mobile Blogging

I am writing this entry on my newest gadget - an ipaq 110. The ipaq is a PDA - no phone, just a PDA. Sales on phoneless PDA's have been abysmal over the past few years, especially in comparison to smartphones. I am purposely going against the trend.It's not that I don't see the benefits of having one device, the problem is that when it comes to purchasing smartphones in this country, I see nothing but a bunch of bad options. Let's see . . .

- I could've taken the standard path - buy a smartphone that is subsidized by a service provider. After paying a chunk of money, I would've been stuck with a 2 year contract, a phone that would not have worked on other networks, and a monthly bill that was inflated by data costs. To cut down on data costs, I could've gone with a wi-fi enabled phone, but phones with wi-fi are more expensive.

- I could've bought an unlocked phone which would not be limited to one network. I would've spent a LOT more money, and once again I would've been forced to choose between extra data costs and expensive wi-fi.

- I could've bought a network subsidized phone and then used one of the various unlocking methods to get rid of network limitations. Depending on the phone model, unlocking can cost money and it can be risky - just look at the horrible experiences many iphone users had with unlocked phones.

None of these options seems worth it to me, especially considering the alternative - a plain old PDA. My ipaq 110 has wi-fi and bluetooth. I can get online, work on my website, blog, write lyrics, and more - and I don't have to deal with any monthly fees or contracts. Counting shipping costs, the ipaq cost about $280 (www.datavis.com) - comparable to the initial cost of some of the cheaper smartphones. If you want to factor in the other costs, you could add the data costs for the 2 years of contract time (I believe it usually starts around $20/month) and you'll find that a $280 smartphone really costs you $568. Ouch! I think I got a good deal.

So, my hope is that my ipaq will make me more efficient. There have been many times when I wanted to do some writing, but I was not at a computer or the computer I was at didn't have the file I wanted to work on. Now, that won't be a problem because my computer is with me. My e-mail is with me, my RSS feeds are with me, my schedule, my lyrics - it's all here in my hand.