I’m working through my technology solutions for the year ahead and would love reader input. There are some travel items that I’m thoroughly happy with.
I love my Tom Bihn Checkpoint Flyer laptop bag, it’s a great bag with plenty of room and the right pockets for me and it unclips to sail through the TSA without taking out my laptop. Sadly foreign countries that require laptops to come out don’t recognize “TSA Approved” laptop bags, even when they enforce “TSA Silly” liquid bans. I wish they’d follow the US lead in those few customer-friendly initiatives that exist, not just in the stupid ones. A laptop bag may not be electronic, but a good one fits my definition of travel technology.
I’m happy with my five year old D-Link wireless pocket router, which has been useful for plugging into a hotel wired connection and creating a wireless signal. It’s less and less important to have as wireless has increasingly become the standard at hotels, but there are still too many properties where the wireless signal doesn’t reach all the way to my room especially at the end of a hallway, where I’ve found myself perched in the doorway (or sometimes in the bathroom, if that’s in the doorway, at least there’s a place to sit!) in order to try to grab a signal. So a wired connection can still come in handy, and it’s great to make that wireless, and especially when traveling with my wife so we can both be online at the same time.
I also still carry my compact travel power strip, outlets are too often scarce in hotels rooms, even if there’s one or two at the desk that may not be enough. I want to plug in my computer, my phone, maybe my wireless pocket router, and what if my wife is with me and has electronics as well?
But the biggies are where I’m doing my re-think.
- Laptop. Seven months ago I moved to the Samsung Series 9 ultra portable. It’s a sleek looking machine, but I’ve found that it dents easily, I guess I’m hard on a laptop even though I don’t actually take it out at checkpoints in the U.S. The battery life is poor, I can just make it through a mid-con flight with wireless internet running unless I power the screen down to pretty dim levels which doesn’t always comport with the level of light in a cabin. And through no fault of my own, a couple of the keys are peeling! Samsung won’t warranty it (and that’s without showing them the casing with all of its dents and dings, hah!). The hard drive is also pretty small, but that’s fine as long as I don’t load the machine up with movies and music, I can stick about four DVDs at a time on it without too much trouble and if I want more I have a pretty nifty terabyte portable hard drive and a fast USB cable. My requirements in a laptop are lightweight, that I can work on in a coach seat that’s not economy plus, but that’s big and powerful enough to be my desktop as well. It needs to have decent battery life, ideally it would last a cross country flight with internet. And it needs to be sturdy enough so that getting dropped occasionally won’t destroy it, something that my last two Lenovos were great about. Any good ideas, with the caveat that it needs to be a PC and not the Macbook Air?
- Smartphone. My Blackberry Bold 9700 is two years old. It’s still perfectly functional but I feel like I’m missing out on all the things that phones can do these days. Now, my primary uses for it are email and actually making calls. So it needs to be a good phone and I really value Blackberry’s physical keyboard even at the expense of screen size. The device doesn’t have nearly enough memory to do much, and I detest web surfing on it. I’m reluctant to switch to a device that lacks the keyboard since I tend to write several paragraphs-long emails even from my phone, I’m not sure that I’ll manage just dictating to Siri. Part of me thinks it would be a good idea to wait it out for the new Blackberry 10 operating system, though I’m not hopeful about it especially since it’s been pushed back from the spring to “later in 2012” — my fear is that Blackberry is a dying platform and that they won’t be able to save it. What do the experts out there think?
- Camera. I beat up a camera pretty good, just like my laptop I suppose, I leave it in my laptop bag and not in any sort of a case so after a couple of years it’s probably time to look for a new one. I’m a terrible photographer. I’ve never invested in learning to improve my photo taking abilities. And I probably won’t. What I need is a really good point and shoot camera, something that is going to take great pictures automatically, in spite of me. And especially in low light without a flash, regular readers know I like to take pictures on planes and I want to do it discretely. In my ideal world I’d be able to jettison a device, and have a really good camera included in my smartphone. The blackberry camera certainly isn’t that. I also want it to be small, not credit card sized necessarily but something I can stick in my pocket easily. There have been many great reviews of the Canon S95, and it certainly takes great pictures for Lucky’s blog, but I figure that new technology must certainly have surpassed it. What’s the latest and best camera that meets my description?
Hopefully View from the Wing readers can help me sort out my technology needs in the New Year. And thanks in advance!
I love my Panasonic toughbook – I use it as my everyday computer, small and light enough to go in my purse, and yep, designed to take some rough handling. More expensive, but worth it IMO.
Get a MacBook Air and run Windows on it.
Seriously, no one else can make an ultrabook (the kind of machine you’re looking for). PC OEMs simply don’t have the vertical integration necessary to make it happen. There have been a multitude of stories on this, and Intel itself is even dropping $300 mill just to try to make it happen.
Also, get a Canon S100. It’s probably the perfect travel camera and the successor to the S95 (I have the S90).
You’d be surprised how easily you can type with the iPhone on screen camera. If you turn it sideways when you type it is wider than the blackberry keyboard I used to have. I am pretty sure I can type as quickly and as accurately on it as 75 percent of blackberry users.
I checked this blog post and typed out the comment using the iPhone. I think if you give the iPhone a shot you will be amazed that you lived that long with such a limited bberry device. I was a long time bberry devotee / anti apple person, and in retrospect I should have given it a shot earlier.
Gary,
Why not MacBook Air? You can install Windows 7 on it and run it as a PC, or keep a dual boot? It works perfectly well – that’s what I ended up doing, and am very happy with that solution (I was considering the same Samsung at one point, but luckily read some reviews before making a mistake of buying it). There is a slew of new ultra-laptops coming out from ASUS, Acer
oops I meant on screen keyboard, not camera. The iPhone was functioning perfectly there but my brain was not. lol.
(sorry, hit post accidentally before finishing)
and some others, but so far they failedto deliver on the promise. At this point, nothing on the market can beat MacBook Air as a hardware piece (weight, sturdiness, screen, touchpad, battery life, etc.), and it can be run as a very powerful PC with i7 – best of both worlds…
Happy New Year!
I investigated running a PC virtual machine on the Macbook Air as a solution, but it cannot be expanded beyond 4 gigabytes of memory and both Windows and Mac OS are pretty memory hungry.
Then the Asus UX21/31 were released. They’re native Windows machines that are effectively copies of the Air (with slightly higher specs). I plan on getting the top level model later this month (after I get my next round of credit cards; I want it to help satisfy the required spending on one of them).
For a camera the S95 has been superseded by the S100. This has one additional important feature for the kind of photography you do — it offers 20% more zoom at the wide end (which is useful for taking in expansive scenes where it is impossible to reposition yourself to get more in the frame.
Gary, If you can break the addiction to the Blackberry, the iPhone will change your life.
And it will help your readers also. You can download the Boarding Area app and blog on the go. Its very easy to snap a picture and write a blog post right then and there, where ever you are.
iPhone 4S is the best phone I’ve ever owned. It has an 8mp camera that takes amazing pictures and video even in low light. i rarely use a separate camera anymore. And my favorite feature is being able to save a google doc just like an app on my home screen. This has been a lifesaver for my business! Several people can be working on a spreadsheet or document simultaneously and changes are saved and visible instantly! Great for sharing ongoing lists or information with family members, too! And all my music is stored in playlists and readily accessible. The 4S is so functional, I can actually leave my computer behind on short trips.
Gary, I second Eugene’s comments. The ultraportables that Acer and Asus have out now are very appealing in terms of specs and probably could be had for a few hundred less than the Air. I purchased a Asus UL30A (13.3″, no optical drive)2 years ago and have loved it ever since. I would tend to believe that they built their new line just as well.
If your budget can stretch that far, the Thinkpad X220 is the way to go! Four pounds, fast as hell, and you’ll get seven or eight hours out of the standard battery (depending on usage, of course). More info here: http://www.engadget.com/2011/03/18/lenovo-thinkpad-x220-review/ – they’re 10% off through January 4th.
I’m on my 6th Thinkpad in 15 years, and they’re practically indestructible – I still have the most recent five, going back at least a decade, and they all still boot!
Get a Droid 3 (or wait for the Droid 4 with LTE to be launched). Rumors are the Droid 4 will be out very soon. The Droid 3 has an outstanding keyboard and rumors are the Droid 4’s keyboard will be even better. And, LTE rocks.
I also greatly prefer Android to iOS.
“Blackberry is a dying platform and that they won’t be able to save it.”
I hope not, still have shares in RIM.
For budget travelers, I got a refurbished ASUS EEEPC netbook. It’s small and light, plus it has great battery life. The box advertising 11+ hours. I’ve never tested it for that long, but it has lasted me on a 6 hour transcon with plenty of battery to spare. The small form factor is good for using on airplane tray tables. There’s even room for it in Y when the person in front of me is fully reclined in (and there’s no danger of breaking if they recline especially violently).
It’s a little on the slow side, but it’s fast enough for me to use as my main machine for internet, word-processing, and email. I just plug it into an external monitor and keyboard when I’m at the office.
If you don’t use the camera on your phone, then the latest and greatest in terms of ultracompact point and shoots is the Canon ELPH 300 HS. Canon has dropped SD and IS from their naming system for the new ELPH lineup as their whole lineup takes SD cards and the whole lineup has image stabilization. “HS” is Canon’s new technology for faster shooting and better low light photos. This camera will definitely give you the best pictures under automatic settings in the ultracompact point and shoot market.
The macbook can run Windows directly. No virtual PC is necessary. It’s called Boot Camp. Here’s a quick video demonstrating what you need to do. Memory issue: Solved.
http://youtu.be/TIMp6QLsLpg
Easy Peazy.
The iPhone could potentially solve your phone and camera problem. I have a Canon 20D. It’s great but bulky. The best camera is always the one you have with you. The new iPhone takes great pics. And has 1080p video.
I second the Lenovo X220 recommendation! Light, super fast, ridiculous battery life (with 9 cell batt) and it looks like a business computer. It has an available docking station which allows you to easily connect it to a larger display or other peripherals. It is also surprisingly affordable.
X220 hands down.
Phone: Galaxy Nexus (love the camera and the 1080p video camera on it)
Camera: S95 (much more cost effective than the s100)
Laptop: I’ve always been a fan of Lenovo
Toshiba Tecra Series. 4 lbs. and 10 hour batteries. Nothing beats them.
I’d stick with your blackberry awhile longer and see what happens by Spring with RIM. My company is forcing me from a Blackberry to Iphone and the lack of keyboard is a real problem for me. If you wait just a little while longer it should pay off and let you know what direction RIM is headed in my opinion.
I’d wait a little later into the year before reassessing your laptop situation. With Windows 8 coming out hopefully toward the end of the year, there’s supposed to be more ultraportables released with it to compete against each other.
hey Gary! I just want to throw in my 2c with everyone else: why PC over Mac? I was PC-only for years and years and then switched to my MacBook and couldn’t be happier. I run Windows on it (using a piece of software called “Parallels”) and it’s perfect, so for the few times when I NEED Windows (KVS Tool, Quicken) it’s there for me. Otherwise, I can do everything else (web browser, Microsoft Word/Excel, etc) with the Mac versions of those programs. The biggest difference I’ve found is the Mac is far, far more polished than Windows, and it doesn’t have the constant virus/updates weirdness that seems to plague Windows.
Anyhow… there’s my 2c. Oh, and the Canon S95 or S100 are both fabulous 🙂
Safe travels in 2012 and hope to see you down here in February!
best
Eric (& John), St John USVI
For a camera, I would highly recommend a Nikon P300. Its one of the fastest cameras out there for low light shooting, its much cheaper than the competition (You can get it as low as $229) and has a pretty good battery life. I have been using it for the past 45 days and absolutely love it.
For cameras, I travel with the Sony TX7 – they have a great new sensor chip that enables you to take great low-light picture and video – perfect for traveling where you don’t want to look like a tourist with a bright flash going off everywhere. I like the TX7 because they lowered the number of MP the camera could shoot in order to up the low-light performance. The new TX10 looks promising, as it is water-, dust-, freeze- and shock-proof and still utilizes the low light sensor.
I also have the iphone 4S and think that it does a decent job as a travel camera, but still like to carry the TX7 when I’m on the go. It doesn’t do anywhere as good as the Sony does in low-light scenes, but it works in a pinch.
@Dan in STL sadly Blackberry 10 is delayed and won’t be available until “later in 2012” rather than spring…
Laptop: MacBook Air formatted to run Windows 7. This is pretty simple to do and will give you the full 256GB of storage. I have done this for a few heavy travelers and they love it! If you need a TPM chip (some encryption & VPN software requires it) take a look at the HP Folio ultrabook.
Smartphone: BlackBerry is dying a slow death so isn’t a matter of if you will switch but when. You can’t go wrong with the iPhone 4S although the on-screen keyboard will take some getting use to. If QWERTY keyboard is a requirement check out the Motorola Droid 4.
Camera: I had similar requirements and ended up with the S95 a few months ago – would buy the S100 today.
I used the same D-Link wireless pocket router for several years. It worked fine but recently replaced it with the AirPort Express and have been very pleased. Performance is faster and more reliable with wireless-n, supports WPA2, and has far better range.
hi gary! i love the sony laptops. they have a new ultra light solid state one. i’ve found them to be durable. i disagree with others on going the macbook air with windows route. it doesn’t work well and the mac keyboard is very different and is missing some keys i really like (backspace and delete are both necessary for me!). there are so many great PC laptop options, you don’t need that hassle
happy new year! 🙂
i am a die-hard windows guy but the macbook air dual-booting (boot camp) windows 7 and osx is probably the way to go. the air will probably refresh in april or so but some good prices on apple refurbs can be had now. i have played with them and have many users that use them and they are great.
the lenovo x220 is very sexy as well (great battery life) and the new asus’ are nice.
i have an asus netbook and love it for what it is but it is not my everyday machine. i have a nice desktop at home for that.
i honestly think it is not if rim will fail but when. my girlfriend was a huge blackberry fan and really likes her 4s now as her company finally supports it. but somethings you still cannot do, lookup other peoples calendars being one of them.
i am a droid person with the droid 2 global with slideout keyboard. i like it a lot and am looking forward to the droid 4 which will be global and lte. i rarely use the slide out though and use swype and love it. the nexus’ bezel is huge and it is super cheapy plasticy samsung feeling.
we have a couple different canons and have always loved them, i agree the 100 is probably the way to go but maybe check out a couple camera related blogs.
as far as the mac keyboard a couple buttons work differently (backspace and delete) and you can map buttons easily with a program.
http://lifehacker.com/5872334/fully-use-your-apple-keyboard-in-windows-with-apple-wireless-keyboard-helper
Camera: I am a big fan of the Panasonic Lumix with Leica lens. It is tough and takes great pictures. To be clear: I don’t take great pics but everyone compliments my photos and it is all due to this camera.
I don’t care if the iPhone could make cappucino while detecting speedtraps, there’s no way I’d buy any smartphone that doesn’t have 4G LTE.
My friend was in the same boat as you and bought the Asus ultrabook instead of the Apple, since he was going to run Windows on it. It’s had some driver and reliability problems, and he wishes he’d bought the Apple and installed Windows using bootcamp.
I’m going to second the people who are saying to give up the physical keyboard. After a couple of months you won’t miss it. Blackberry is dead. Go android or iPhone. Also, pick one with a good camera, and you won’t need a separate camera. The one on the iPhone 4S is phenomenal. I’d also recommend the iPhone, but there are many good Androids out there too, like the Galaxy S II.
The iPhone (3GS, have not upgraded yet) is like a part of my arm now. I run the battery down twice a day. Fantastic if you awaken at 3 am and can’t sleep. Even has an excellent alarm clock feature.
I used to be in the computer business and have been very impressed with the robustness and bug-free nature of the iPhone/Mac software. I used to spend half my life screwing with Microsoft drivers and virus protection and such. Apple software works so well.
The Lenovo IdeaPad is the best of both worlds. It’s the PC equivelant of the MacBook Air – just a tad cheaper. I think the model number is U300.
A jailbroken Iphone 4. Why? Because you can download MyWi and create your own Wifi router from the phone, using your phone’s data channel. I have saved a LOT of money not having to buy wifi in hotels. I just turn on MyWi and my laptop connects to it. I don’t like the keyboard on my Iphone either, but it has so many other incredible apps and functions so well that I put up with it. I got rid of a Blackberry and won’t look back. I don’t think Blackberry is long for this world anyway, so you might as well get off before it goes under.
Just stick with a Canon camera of some kind. iPhone and Andoid- based phones like Motorola Droid series or Samsung Galaxy series are both way ahead of Blackberry. I prefer the android phones because I use a lot of google services like gmail for my email, calendar, and contacts, and because I think Apple is becoming a patent troll which I consider immoral. Anyway, when you get a modern phone, you will find all the apps and fast browser are very useful. Modern phones also make great GPS devices which can be useful for travel. Google Navigation on Android is great at taking voice commands, and if you just say something like Sams Brewhouse, Kinkos on Main Street, or whatever it will usually figure it out and direct you there. If you won’t have a data connection, you can buy a GPS app that downloads maps to your phone for $40 or so, maybe more for international maps. Yelp, tripadvisor, all the airlines, etc have useful apps, many more than blackberry. I don’t know which ultra-portable is best, and I am ok with windows, but eventually it is best to get platform-neutral and do more on the web and through cross platform cloud apps, because eventually you may want to move to using a tablet like iPad or an Android tablet sometimes, the battery life is really good on those too. Also, TSA seems to have decided iPads and similar tablets are more like cell phones than laptops, so they don’t have to come out of your bag.
Here’s another vote for a cheap netbook. For about $200 at Microcenter or often at Target you can buy a netbook that is small and run on batteries for 7 hours.
I recommend upgrading to 2 mb memory instead of 1 and making sure to dock the Taskbar (right click “start”, go to properties, then “task bar” then autohide”)
and you can pretty much do anything, though the intel atoms aren’t great for video. (Acer has some amd’s that are better for that)
Pick the phone first because it will drive your laptop decision: if you get an iPhone, you’ll want a Mac, done deal. If you get an Android, it doesn’t really matter. Nothing worse than supporting apps on multiple OSs, everything with different connectors and power cables/connectors, software that works differently depending on what platform you’re on, etc… So, pick the phone first. Wife has an Android phone and I have an iPad. I’m getting an iPhone within the month going to be sad to see the Treo go. As for the keyboard, you’ll quickly get used to the virtual keyboard: iPhone’s keys are slightly better, Android’s a bit better with the cursor-stick, landscape’s better than portrait. Your thumbs aren’t that fat so you should be fine.
Regardless what I said above, just get the MacBook. 🙂 If you have a Winapp you need to run, get Parallels or VMWare, or heck, dual boot (less flexible really but you might just have the one app in the world that won’t run virtualized). If you’re dead set against Macs, acer and asus are probably the best bets for Wintel.
Having run my own IT consulting business for many years i don’t hesitate to recommend any of the HP Business model laptops. They’re very sturdy and reliable.
Find your screen size you like then work out the best power vs cost model you like. You can generally spec them up with extended batteries which don’t add much weight at all.
That said for any laptop your looking at, if you go for a smaller screen then its a very worthwhile investment to pick-up a docking station and separate monitor/keyboard and mouse for when your in the office.
You can get all manners of docking stations/monitor holders/ combinations of the above depending on what you like. The one i’m currently using allows a 24″ Monitor to be mounted to it and has a platform with docking station attached mounted at the same height. This allows me to walk in, drop my laptop onto the docking station and immediately have all my peripherals (printers, scanners, camera cord, card reader, wireless mouse & keyboard, network cable, external hard disk etc) connected to my laptop – plus it connects to the big screen giving me two screens to work on. So much more productive and way less hassle messing about with plugging/unplugging cables!
Phone wise – definitely have a play with a few at the shops as its usually a very personal thing. Whatever your comfortable using is the best choice. When your on the road the last thing you want to be doing is stuffing around trying to get your phone to work properly!
That said – do take a look at Windows Phone 7. Its the new phone OS from Microsoft. Yes the previous versions of Windows Mobile/ CE / … were crap – no really crap! At least in comparison to the blackberry/iphone’s today, the new Phone 7 OS is actually very good. It has some very good benefits to the Microsoft user in the ability to sync documents etc via MS Sky Drive. You can open/edit Office documents on your phone.
If your into social media – IE twitter, facebook and the likes there are some new fancy integrations that have been done in the new release. You can see your communication history with your contacts whether it was on twitter, facebook, sms or email and easily switch between the different methods. IE you could be on wifi chatting via twitter on the plane, hit the ground and switch to txt, there’s no having to refer back to the previous conversation as its all there.
But best of all – its a users phone. I found Android and to some extent Blackberries to be kind of complex for a phone. Some basic things end up being relatively complex purely because there is so much functionality built in.
That said maybe that functionality is something you use/need, it’s a personal thing. But i found i didn’t use majority of the features, and they were more of a hindrance.
Gary,
For someone so smart why do you have such a lame laptop and phone setting? Samsung 9 and Blackberry? Are you kidding me? Why not just have an old Compaq and the free Nokia from AT&T? If you are giving good advice one must take the lead technologically, my man!! 🙂
Asus EEEpc netbook running Win7 64bit and 4gb RAM. It’s got incredible battery life, is TINY, will do everything a traveler will need. Also includes built in webcam and mic. Get a newer model for less than $300.
If you want something more robust then I’d go with the Thinkpads, Lenovo bought a robust platform from IBM when they bought the PC division.
If you buy a Mac keep your corp IT team happy and run Windows on it.
I dropped Blackberry after about 4 months way back in 2005…best decision I ever made. Stick with Android and you’ve got a wealth of stuff at your fingertips. Install Amazon’s app store, free paid app daily.
I’ve had Canon cameras for years and haven’t seen anything better for the price. I don’t, however, shoot much low light content.
If you want to stay with BB, get the Bold 9900. You get a touchscreen plus a great keyboard. The screen resolution is awesome; web browsing isn’t quite as annoying as in the past. (I’m not getting into the debate of comparing the BB to any other product, just saying that if you want to stick with BB and a keyboard, you should upgrade to the 9900).
MacBook Air, iPhone 4S. Set of Apple international plug adapters. Problems solved.
Seriously, you won’t believe how much less stuff you’ll be carrying!
The iPhone camera is plenty good. I no longer carry a separate camera, and I’ve taken some very, very good photos with my iPhone. If you’re not a professional photographer, you don’t need anything better.
You will now have one (lightweight) cable for the laptop. The international plug adapters fit neatly onto it.
You can charge the phone through the laptop’s USB port (so you don’t even need the plug-in module for the phone, just the USB cable).
Now you need only ONE outlet to charge everything, so you’re no longer carrying a power strip.
I used to have a set up almost exactly like yours. I changed to the MacBook Air/iPhone combo two years ago and never looked back.
Android has a great voice-to-text feature, so in some situations you might be able to skip typing altogether. Don’t know if iOS or Blackberry have similar?
Here’s the rest that never made it to my post. formatting? urls in post?
Canon has the current “it” pocket cams and will keep it that way for the foreseeable future. The S95 and S100 are great if you want to grow a bit or know what you’re doing, but all the ELPH and PowerShots are good and all use the same menus/settings/etc…
Note that compacts aren’t really fast enough for photos of people or pets unless you can get them to pose for the photo. The rest of the post is about the S90/95/100 cams.
Amazon has a great little case logic case that fits these perfectly – and has a little pouch to hold a spare battery & SD card. Search term is “TBC-302”. I hang mine around the neck with a spare badge lanyard (95 is better than the 90 for this). I bought the S95 when it was $229 a couple weeks back, wife’s getting the hand-me-down S90.
S95 is a year old but still current tech. S100 adds a slower lens (sarcasm), 4mm at the wide end (useful but realize that 4mm buys you maybe 3 feet of width at about 10 feet distance, i.e. not too useful for a shot of first class but massively useful in landscape but then, the worst use of a wideangle lens is the “get it all in” effect), zoomable 1020p video (upgrade from non-zoomable 720p, yawn for me), GPS (double yawn) and some other fluff that won’t take better pictures but sound cool. It comes down to: is HD video, GPS and 4mm worth $150 to you? Your call but either one will set you up for 3-5 years.
Oh yeah, all metal body too…