I’m back to using the N82 as my smartphone. This amazing device that I bought in Jan 2008 is locking me in like no other device has ever done in the past. I was close to buying a Motorola Milestone and after upgrading my Omnia Pro B7610 I though I might stick with that but no, the Xenon flash captures moments and the Ovi Maps guides me to moments that no other device is able to. And it’s small!
One of my big issues with high-end smartphones is their size and price. You don’t buy a Ferrari to go to work in a town office because it’s not practical. You don’t (or shouldn’t) use a 4×4 either. It’s a waste of space, uses too much fuel and is difficult to park. I feel the same way about phones. They need to be phone sized, economical and good value. I need to be able to park them in my pocket. I need them to have fuel to get me home. The N82 is a great, practical smartphone.
Around the house I use the Archos 5 Internet Tablet. It’s like a quad bike. Useless forpublic roads but great for some jobs around the locality. Fast web, long battery life, big screen, great social communications apps and entertainment in a very small package. I published a big review of it the Archos 5 IT this week which highlights how multi-faceted it is.
Away from the house I’m using two devices. The U820 (AKA Loox U/50) is my short-term productivity device. My UMPC. It’s the device I carry with me if I don’t have any work planned. I’m able to use it almost anywhere and it’s been a fast, reliable, ultra-mobile solution. It sits on it’s docking station ready for action. I’m not sure how I could improve this device right now. The Mifi 2352 usually charges alongside the U820 and comes with me everywhere the U820 does.
I’ll usually take the U820 to work away from home too but mostly I would be using my Gigabyte T1028M. It’s a modded 10 inch touchscreen netbook that has fantastic 3G reception, a rugged and fast runcore SSD drive and an extended battery. It’s a device that I’m looking to upgrade. I need to keep the same features but advances in technology and falling prices mean that I think I can now get all of this with more processing power and a bigger screen for a smaller size. I’ve been looking at sub 1.5kg 12 inch devices to replace it and actually, there aren’t many in the market yet. The Sony Vaio X11 is offering a lot of what I want and I’m itching to test one out. Saving 600gm (40%) in weight would be amazing but is it worth 1400 Euro? Over 2-years of increased productivity I think I could justify it but i’ll wait until I’ve done some more testing on the Viliv S10 first. If Viliv make a 2.0Ghz, SSD, 3G version of that available for under 1000 Euro, I’m in!
New article: My (Current) Working Mobile Device Line-Up. http://bit.ly/6U77Pi
RT @chippy: New article: My (Current) Working Mobile Device Line-Up. http://bit.ly/6U77Pi
You use a very similar setup to me,
My phone is currently E71, being replaced/complimented with N900 tomorrow.
My “always with me” device is the Fujitsu u810, or Aigo depending on where I am going.
My T91 spends most of its time in my backpack for when I need a bigger/better keyboard.
Apart from that i’m using my Gigabyte M704 around the house (soon to be installed into kitchen cupboard door) for casual surfing, twitter monitoring etc.
And the MiFi 2352, well, I only got mine a few days ago, but I can already say it is the mos valuable device in my collection, it allows me to stay connected pretty much anytime anywhere. The only problem I found with the WiFi is that it has now allowed me to purchase a UMID M1 :)
I’ll be interested to hear how you get on with the N900. It didn’t work out for me as a phone.
My phone for a long time before the E71 was an Eten Gloffish m810, exactly the same size and weight as the n900, slide out 3 row keyboard, WinMo and i used it almost exclusively in landscape mode, so, (i think) i’m prepared for the n900.
In order to replace the Gigabyte T1028M you should take a look to the new Acer tablet (Acer Aspire 1820PTZ) . For instance it will be soon sold in France under the Packard Bell brand for 500€.
http://www.blogeee.net/2009/12/le-packard-bell-butterfly-touch-en-stock-a-499e-chez-carrefour/
For this price you get a device:
– which is convertible and with touchscreen
– with much more horsepower than any Atom-based device
– bigger screen but still not too big (11 inches)
– better resolution at 1366×768
– which uses 2.5″ HDD like the Gigabyte, meaning you could keep your RunCore killer SSD
– reasonable battery life, it seems to be up to 8 hours in power-saving mode, on high-performance mode with Wifi and all you should be able to get more than 4 hours, from what I read
– not that pricey for what’s included
– HDMI & VGA outputs, don’t know if you care about that
For the downsides:
– 1.65 Kg
– no 3G, don’t know if that would be easy to add — Is there a free mini-PCIe slot? Is it easily accessible? Is the device pre-wired with 3G antennas?
– no ExpressCard slot, but were you using the one in the Gigabyte?
– Acer/Packard Bell brand are not well-known for build quality, have to wait for the first reviews to have an idea on that — however the Acer TimeLine users seems to be pleased, so there’s hope!
– I guess the display will be ultra-glossy, again have to wait for some user-reviews in order to know exactly
Or if you’re looking for a non-convertible device the Asus 12″ netbooks are under the 1.5Kg I think. But they won’t be very powerful:
– Asus EeePC 1201HA with Atom/Poulsbo Z520 (1.33GHz)
– Asus EeePC 1201N with nVidia ION and Atom N330 (1.66GHz dual-core) promises to be more powerful but also more power-hungry
– Asus EeePC 1201T with the new AMD/ATI platform will be probably much more powerful but probably with a poor battery life, and maybe heavier
Hope that helps!
Or there are the Acer TimeLine notebooks, the 11 inches ones are just under 1.5Kg if you don’t take the extended battery. Basically they are the same as the one I spoke about but not convertible.
There are also MSI devices with 11 inches displays and using AMD/ATI platforms. They are too much more powerful than Atom-based devices but unlike the new Intel CULV platforms they are also much more power-hungry. Of course they are 65nm CPUs instead of 45nm for Intel’s, plus maybe the power-management features of Intel’s are better; and the Intel’s 4500 line IGP are also less powerful than the ATI’s but still much better than the GMA450 and GMA500 that usually comes with Atom.
1.65kg is an absolute deal breaker for me. I won’t go heavier than current solution!
high-quality 3G is a must. I have the Mifi but I need built-in too.
Battery life needs to be 6 hours working (with extended battery)
I’m actually prepared to lose touch and convertible as long as I get multi-touch mousepad.
3D graphics not important (ION just wastes battery in my use cases)
Thanks for the suggestions.
I bought Fujitsu P1620 for exact the same reasons. I needed high quality internal 3G (altough i am using Mifi if i need to share one SIM) with a fair amount of cpu power, tablet functions and decent battery life all packed into a relative light and small package. The only thing missing is the Webcam which i personally can live with. Its a great machine. The only downside in my opinion is the price tag. The P1620 itself is changing the owner on ebay for a good price, but new models like P1630 are unfortunately a bit expensive.
My (Current) Working Mobile Device Line-Up. | UMPCPortal – Ultra … http://bit.ly/5FHSTN
You can try Asus UL20. Meets your screen, battery, processor and weight requirements. Liliputing has a good review of it. Unfortunately 3G would be a DIY mod, but I imagine it’s possible since the UL30vt has 3G built in.
so do you hear anything concerning s10 from viliv lately?
pixel qi screen? ulv processors? looks like we’ll have to wait till CES at very least…
Something came through today. Cant give details but there should be something to tell (and maybe show) by end of next week.
that’s good news, cause i’m at the point of loosing patience waiting for the viliv product and going for any of those new CULV packing, 8 hour lasting goodies out there.
Chippy that’s a pretty good mobile solution you are using. I agree you must use what works for you best as the user. I use the BB Storm 2 and for my computers. I have the Sony P which I use if I know I will be working on light stuff or know that I will just need to use it for web browsing. Really like how small and keyboard is great to type on. For my main Netbook I use the MSI Wind only because I have Leopard and Win 7 Ultimate on it and use it for work pretty much daily and sometimes use my Toshiba NB205 which is a great Netbook. Great battery life, keyboard, speed, etc… I recently got the Archos 5 and installed the Android Market, google maps, and the Dolphin Browser which is really good. See the video I did. http://www.youtube.com/user/MrHG78#p/a/u/0/2fJ6mCbT7ek I also tested the google maps with the GPS and works good also to look up for places, stores, etc… and fits in your back pocket.
I tether the Archos 5 to my phone and its actually working very nice and can view word, excell, pdf’s on the road so I have been using a lot lately. For my main computer I use my MacBook to a 22″ with BT keyboard, and BT mouse.
I haven’t had a chance to test that browser yet but it looks like it has powerful features. Thanks for the sharing your details.
you use a phone to make calls?
I use T1028G and wait for Viliv S10!
Was at J&R in NYC this morning. Looking at the sad — and big! — array of underpowered netbooks. It hit me that Intel has a vested interest in NOT making Atom a kick-ass CPU. It’d steal their high-end business. So do people have to look to AMD or ARM for faster, stronger, power-stingy chips? Really, the form factor is still great (loved that Samsung N120, even though I didn’t buy it) — but the OOMPH! just isn’t there. When do we get the OOMPH!?
i use sony ux 280p for 1 hour browsing , lenovo s10-2 for more than 1 hour browsing, lenovo r61 for vb/php coding.