One of my favourite gadget blogs is jkOnTheRun, and in James’ latest post, he discusses one of the quandaries of being a gadget reviewer: which one(s) do I take with me today?

Once I decided to bring a full-sized Tablet PC with me I had to decide between the Fujitsu P1610, the Lenovo x61 and the HP 2710p. The P1610 was my first choice being smaller and lighter than the other two but since my work was going to be writing I felt the smaller keyboard of the P1610 might not be the best choice. I can touch type fine on the Fuji but for extended touch typing sessions the small keyboard can get a little uncomfortable so I decided a bigger device would better serve me this time. I thought about bringing the Lenovo with me because it’s such a sweet, fast device but it’s also the biggest of all these devices and I’d have to bring a bigger gear bag than I wanted. That would entail having to transfer anything in my smaller gear bag to the larger one and that’s a hassle for a simple trip to the coffee shop. The HP 2710p is a fast and smaller Tablet so I decided to take that one for this trip.

My dilemma’s actually a different one - not so much which device I bring (as I tend to standardise on one particular device of each type for weeks - even months - at a time), but how many. If I could get away with it, I’d bring them all with me, in which case I’d need a small shopping trolley to carry them all! My iPod and/or Zune for listening to music, Artie for writing, surfing the Net and playing Scrabulous, my Nokia N95, my Canon EOS 40D for taking photos, my Panasonic HDC-SD1 for shooting video, my Canon M80 for backing up my camera’s memory card, my Nintendo DS Lite for playing games and - of course - my Battery Geek Portable Power Station to keep everything charged.

This is all my own stuff, by the way, although my 80GB iPod is currently hiding from me - too scared to hang out with the other gadgets, maybe - especially with the new iPods now out? If I started to throw in review products, I’d have a medium sized Best Buy outlet on my hands! I’ve got a few trips planned over the next couple of months, so I guess I need to start thinking about a really good bag to carry all this stuff in!

6 Original Responses to “The “perils” of being a gadget reviewer”

1. 1 mas90guru Sep 17th, 2007 at 4:22 am

   So much for all-in-one devices…

   The promise of one device that does it all just , well, seems to permanently be a vision that never arises.

2. 2 turn_self_off Sep 17th, 2007 at 6:44 am

   all in one? that would depend on the requirements a user have.

   from what i see jenneth is a high-end user, up around the area of someone that does something for a living.

   still, i would merge some devices for her.

   the N95 should do nicely as a music player unless she has filled said ipod to the brim. and that to me is a concept that on its own gives me gray hair. i have a 2GB card in my phone right now and i have maybe 500MB of music on it, tops.

   if the umpc (artie) had the right card reader, she could probably forgo the dedicated camera backup device. but iirc, those cameras use a card type thats unusual to find support for on laptops or even some desktops, so forget it being on a umpc.

   as for going for both a digital SLR and a separate video camera well, see above.

   for most, that can live with a compact camera, the latest mobiles is getting within the same range. 5Mpixels, auto-focus. only thing missing is analog zoom. but thats hard to do on a compact device without adding bulk (some sony cams and similar have it, using mirrors and other internal solutions. but then there is the phones battery that gets in the way).

   and with more and more compact cameras doing video, and phones to for that matter, well…

   in the end it has more to do with what level of quality you find acceptable, then anything else.

   thing is that a lot of people think that what level of quality you accept says something about you as a person. as in, if your trendy/in or boring.

   at least thats my take of why people buy HD tv’s, SLR’s and other stuff. not to really use them, but to look as if they are up to speed with the times, even if they dont really need it for their use. in essence, people over-shop to make themselves look good, even if its only in their own mind.

3. 3 Jenneth Orantia Sep 17th, 2007 at 6:51 am

   True. But I kinda like having lots of toys to play with

4. 4 Jenneth Orantia Sep 17th, 2007 at 9:24 am

   “at least thats my take of why people buy HD tv’s, SLR’s and other stuff. not to really use them, but to look as if they are up to speed with the times, even if they dont really need it for their use. in essence, people over-shop to make themselves look good, even if its only in their own mind.”

   You might be right. I try not to make generalist assumptions about other people’s motivations myself.

   As for my own motivations, I write about this stuff for a living - not just for Gear Diary - so it behooves me to have the latest devices at my disposal.

5. 5 turn_self_off Sep 17th, 2007 at 10:19 am

   yea, i should avoid generalizing, but i have found that one to fit more often then not. hell, it may fit myself some of the time.

   or at least, i have seen one to many people (men most often) get offended when one ask what said person really needed something for. its kinda like one asks for their reason to live, or question their “manhood”…

6. 6 i-bystander Sep 17th, 2007 at 10:56 am

   That DS Lite stands out like a sore thumb… a white Lite?!