Happy 2nd Birthday Carrypad.

Two years ago I submitted the first post on Carrypad after spending weeks trying to analyse exactly what device I wanted when my 2 year Vodafone contract was finished. It turned out that nothing fitted my needs and so the definition of a Carrypad was born.

Here’s the first few paragraphs of the first post:

The simple fact is that you’ll never get everything on one device. It wont happen until we evolve better eyes and smaller fingers.
You cant watch a video for any length of time on anything under 3.5″ across.
You cant type at an efficient speed on anything less than a mini-qwerty keyboard.
So why bother trying to cram it all in to one device? i guess the marketing people can answer that question and its probably something to do with customer perception.
If you do buy the all-in-one device though, I can guarantee you wont get the best out of it.

Which runs along the same lines as the two-device strategy post I made yesterday.

The Carrypad definition still holds true. The two defining features – large screen and mini-qwerty keyboard – are the core of a good Carrypad although I have made one important update to the requirement. 3G cellular data access. I would have previously accepted a tethered solution (Bluetooth to mobile phone) but having had devices with it built-in, I know how much more freedom it creates.

Two years on, I still haven’t found the Carrypad. Devices like the Raon Digital Everun get very close but the hole in the market for the ultimate Carrypad device is still there. The LG Xnote, Digifriends and Gigabyte MID’s are looking promising though and i’ll be looking forward to tracking them down at CeBIT in a few weeks.

As for the Vodafone contract, I took a Nokia 6280 then and this time round its a Nokia N82.