Gadgets, gadgets, gadgets … What to do?

Posted on March 14, 2008 by Bruce Keener

Most of the gadgets I’ve owned over the past few years have been sold to friends or via eBay so I could make room for more gadgets. But, I have held onto a few handheld gadgets, including my

  • iPod Touch (recent purchase)
  • BlackBerry Curve
  • Dell x51v Windows Mobile Pocket PC
  • T-Mobile Dash
  • Palm TX

Lately I have been thinking of selling all of this but the Touch and getting an iPhone to replace the Curve. But, today I decided I really like the Curve.

Also, I still regularly use the x51v. And, finally, I am reluctant to get rid of the Palm because the darned things are so reliable … when all the other devices croak, it will still be around and will work well. Besides, my first handheld gadgets were Palms, so holding onto one is sort of a sentimental thing to do.

In thinking this through, the only device I can’t convince myself to hold onto is the Dash. And, there’s nothing wrong with it. But, it is just going to waste. So, I will probably offload it.

Finally, I have convinced myself to hold off for at least a few months on the iPhone. If I remember right, I paid something close to $350 for the Curve. It seems to me I ought to get a year’s worth of use out of that before I move onto something else.

That’s where my “head is at” with my (handheld) gadgets. What about you?

Share


 

This entry was posted in Gadgets. Bookmark the permalink.
  • Pat

    Bruce,
    Thanks to implementing my “Life Flow” utilizing ideas from your book and articles on the Zen Habits site I have simplified my gadgets to just 2 mobile devices. I use and iPAQ 111 for all my work and personal mobility requirements and an old LG 3100 cell phone. I run Pocket Mindmap, Outlook Mobile, and Checklist Pro to manage my work flow. I have a Tablet PC at work and use MyMobiler to dock and sync the iPAQ. I have a laptop at home that I keep all my files synchronized on using Synctoy with a USB flash drive. I have developed a Mindmap Dashboard to provide a weekly set of both work and personal objectives. The iPAQ contains all my mindmaps and files so I am able to work on anything anywhere at anytime. I have used a Pocket PC running some form of Windows Mobile for the last 5 years and have also refined and personalized my workflow from ideas in Covey, GTD and DIT. I guess if I was limited to just one device the Pocket PC has become my most useful gadget. I sail during the summer and have car, boat and celestial navigation programs on my iPAQ along with SBSH Pocketbreeze, Pocket Weather and iLauncher with iLauncher optimizing the iPAQ for touchscreen control. In addition, I have about 100 family photographs, 100 ebooks, 30 classical albums, various podcasts and 12 hours of miscellaneous recorded TV programs available on an 8 GB SDHC card when needed. I guess if I had to recommend one thing it would be simplify as much as possible.
    Pat
    P.S. Thanks for all the great ideas!

  • http://www.keenerliving.com/ Bruce

    Pat
    Thank you for the walkthrough on your setup. I trust that you are liking the HP 111, as HP has made some really great WinMo devices.

    I too have a lot of programs for my Pocket PC, close to 90 or so. Of course, I use far less than that, as many of them are different vendors implementations of similar programs (For example, I have Spb Diary and Pocket Breeze, which are similar, Pocket Informant, Agenda Fusion, Agenda One, and a couple of other PIMs, four or five database programs, and so on). It’s just hard to give up something that you have so many useful programs for. I also have lots of photos and ebooks on my Pocket PC, and use it a lot for that.

    Despite how great the Pocket PC platform is, there may well come a time when the iPhone/Touch platform beats it, with lots of useful programs. I think that is highly, highly probable. But, even if and when I do get an iPhone, I’ll still hold onto my x51v.

    Thank you also for the compliments, and thanks for mentioning Zenhabits. Leo is such a fine young man who has been doing a fantastic job for his readers. Like you, I find many of his posts to be helpful and insightful.

    Take care Pat.