Lose The Laptop Challenge

So you have packed your bags, they are in the cargo hold, and you are 30,000 feet over the glistening ocean, and you start thinking...did I pack the [fill in the blank]? Suddenly you get that big hole in your stomach and you know that you didn't hit an air pocket. It's an "oh crap" moment.

Let's face it, I have it pretty easy. With a family of 5, my wife handles all of the packing for 4 of the 5 family members, not that we go on many trips. Most of these are road trips so we have the luxury of over-packing the minivan and taking almost every conceivable item possible. My wife is good at packing, really good. The kids have all their items carefully itemized and packed into their individual bags.

I'm usually on my own when it comes to packing so I have no one else to blame. What's my task aside from organizing my own bags? Well, I'm also tasked with packing all of the technology items, mainly because I'm the gadget addict of our family. I would expect the other members of my family could survive without the "tech", but I can't. So when it comes to a road trip, I have a big bag dedicated to all of the battery powered or electronic devices.

When it comes to a plane trip, however, and the fact that you have to pack light or get charged for extra bags, my tech packing becomes strained and a monumental task...that of picking and choosing just the essential devices to bring.

I'm not going to bore you with the crazy events leading up to going on a trip like packing toothpaste or clean underwear. And you can usually buy sunscreen at your destination. What I am talking about is the assembling of the special luggage that contains:

power cords

batteries

camcorder

cables

camera

chargers

headphones

wifi devices (I have a travel wifi router)

portable DVD player

portable gaming devices

iPod

Oh, and of course, my life-blood, my laptop. I mean, how could I even think about going on a trip without taking my connection to the world. Who knows when I might want (need) to check my email, read some blogs, record a movie of my family on the beach, send a tweet, post photos to Facebook, check in to Foursquare (hey robbers, I'm not actually on a sunny, tropical island somewhere, I'm really sitting in the dark by the front door with a shotgun in my hand just waiting for you - KIDDING!), write a blog post, listen to some music or a podcast, take a bunch of photos, watch a movie, play a game or just surf the web! And, gasp, what if I were to actually "lose the laptop" on the trip!!! I would be crippled. 

Ok I really did a good segue there didn't I! Wouldn't it be great to be able to pack much if not all of the functionality listed above into a much, much smaller bag and device? I'm thinking that the HTC Tilt 2 can do it! Here's why:

Email- use the native Outlook app which is part of the Windows Mobile 6.5 professional

Internet Explorer- yep, you can read a bunch of blogs in portrait or landscape format

Opera- but wait, there's more, you also get the super optimized Opera browser

Twitter- er...well, I hate to say it, there really isn't a "killer" Twitter app yet for Windows Mobile (hint hint, hey WinMo developers, there is a HUGE opportunity here, especially with Windows Phone 7 around the corner) but I did find a few Twitter apps that I can use.

Facebook- the Facebook app is actually not too shabby either...and you can do something that you can't do on the iPhone (for example), upload videos to Facebook, now THAT you need to be able to make all of your friends jealous!

Foursquare- hmmm, need to check that...yep, looks like there is a beta app

Blogging- well there are lots of ways that I can do that, using Pocket Word 2010, for example or Evernote

Music- you wouldn't believe how many mp3 files you can put on an 8 GB microSD so no need for an iPod

Photos- the Tilt 2 comes with a 3.2 Megapixel camera

Movies- if you shrink down your movies, you can put those on the Tilt 2 as well, and you can film some family movies too!

Gaming- the Windows Marketplace has a bunch of games - load up on a few before you hit the road, or just download them over the air

That means that with one gadget, you can leave a bunch of other ones at home. Packing light is key, packing smart, or for example, packing a Smartphone is critical. I'm throwing my HTC Tilt 2 in the bag first, to be sure not to forget it!

Oh, and I do have some travel adventures planned for April so be sure to ride along!

I'm hoping that you will help me "Lose the Laptop" by reading, sharing and voting for me!

April 5, 11:23 am

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I recently had two very cool trips. First, I spent time at the Dyson headquarters in downtown Chicago checking out their very cool vacuums. I was glad that I had my Tilt 2 with me because I forgot my camera at home. I used it a few times to snap photos of what was going on.

Here is a photo of my new mini-vac!

A couple of days later I went to San Jose, CA and visited the Ebay headquarters. How cool is that??? My Tilt 2 came in very handy. I used it on the plane to keep myself busy.  I had loaded up a bunch of music onto the 8gb mini-sd card, so I had sounds with the included stereo earphones. And since I sync my email from Gmail via Activesync, I had all my email up until the time the plane took off and I had to switch to airplane mode. I was able to reply to many emails while on the plane and once we landed, I turned the 3g connection back on and all my waiting emails sent.  I felt very accomplished! LOL.

I also used it to play games. If it were not for the American Airline rules, I would have used it to take photos on take-off. I love the view as we pull away from the ground. I look forward to using it on more trips.

April 2, 9:42 am

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My sister and her friend look forward to Black Friday every year. They pore over circulars and map out a plan for how to get the deals they're looking for. I decided to think about how the HTC Pure could make Black Friday shopping easier. Here's what I came up with:

1. Browse the online circulars at any of the popular Black Friday shopping sites.

2. Maintain a list (via Notes) of the items you want to buy, or take pictures of the paper circulars and keep the list in the photo album.

3. Use a browser to compare prices to make sure you're getting the best price possible.

4. Use MapQuest or Google Maps to map out a route with all of the stops and use the turn-by-turn directions to navigate.

5. Store your favorite music on the Pure to listen to while you're standing in line.

6. Take a video of the other crazy people standing in line with you.

7. Text your friends (or call them) to ask them to pick up extra items at the stores they're shopping. Send a picture so they get the right thing.

8. Use the calculator on the Pure to make sure you don't spend more than you've budgeted. Voila! Quick and easy Black Friday shopping. Now if only you didn't need to get up at the crack of dawn...

November 25, 3:14 pm

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