CES bloggers and their mobile kit

I think I’ve said this before and maybe I shouldn’t say it again; I’m a sucker for a kit-list. I always enjoy reading what about other people are taking on their tech travels and I can never resist showing off my own kit either. It’s definitely the boy scout in me. Here’s a selection of kit lists from people getting their bags ready for CES 2009 this week.

James Kendrick has gone for the Macbook for on-table operations and the iPhone for mobile operations. There’s a mini-tripod in there, a cam, a travel router and some battery packs. A great set of kit. The Macbook will give James a good efficient way to work with his video and audio media but is the iPhone really going to be enough for the floor? The cam is near useless (IMO) and there’s no easy way to transfer images or videos from the digicam without having to sit down with the big laptop.

Jenn Lee has, ahem, covered every angle. At least that’s the best way I can put it. Its a superb selection of kit and I like the way she’s going to use the Xperia for live blogging and photo posting via the Flickr to blog service. The cam will be good enough quality for blogs and the keyboard will help. She’s taking a Kohjinsha SC3 onto the show floor as the main PC which is what I did at IDF. I don’t recommend the SC3 for this scenario personally as it embarrassed me a number of times during the IDF event by losing wifi, taking to long to boot, being slow to start up applications and running out of battery. In the end I switched to a XP-based Medion Akoya netbook which was rock solid and had a much nicer keyboard. Feast your eyes on Jenns hotel and backup kit though. Awesome! If she needs to swap out the SC3, I’m sure she’ll be happy with the TZ.

Warner Crocker is going for a similar setup to James. He’s taking a Lenovo X200 tablet PC and two phones. The E71 he has is capable of some reasonable photos but he’ll have to resort to pulling out the tablet PC if he wants to upload images or videos from his Powershot and Flip Mino.

Kevin Tofel is also going for the laptop / smartphone route although he’s undecided about whether he should take a Macbook or MSI Wind. For video, he’s taking the Kodak Zi6 HD which, having seen his video test and having heard good reports from others, is something I’m also thinking of getting (although there’s nothing like a long lens for picking out strange things in keynotes!) He’s taking his trusty iPhone too. I’d go for taking the MSI Wind on the floor but if he’s working with 720p H.264 video then it has to be the Macbook.  He’ll need processing power and H.264 codes and there’s nothing like an Apple product when it comes to H.264 video.

It interesting to see each of these bloggers highlighting their smartphone as a key component and going for, effectively, a two-device strategy. The laptop, in every case, will allow them to use their normal working practices which is so important when you’re under pressures of time, space and power.

Unfortunately I won’t be at CES as I’ll be at the desk while my ‘contacts’ do all the walking but if I was going today, I’d definitely take a Nokia N82 for the best instant photo/flash and post capability in a relatively open smartphone (plus two extra batteries) but for the computing element I’m not sure what I’d do right now. I’ll decide on my Ultra Mobile reporting Kit 5.0 after I’ve taken a few devices round Europe in a few weeks!

If you spot any other CES ‘kit lists’ out there or have any tips, let everyone know. I’m particularly interested in how to tackle the video/cam issue. I’m thinking about the Canon SX10 as I don’t want to work with HD video when I’m mobile and I just can’t give up the long lens and great mics that I’m used to with the S2 IS that I currently have.