March, 2008:

Long story short, my day-job is locking down our company laptops leaving me with no computer for personal use when on business trips. Not really eager to carry two laptops on a business trip and already having one laptop in the family,  I’m not really considering buying another full-blown laptop. However, I am potentially in the market for a small, portable, Internet capable device or an alternative. Here are my options.

Nokia N800. This ultra portable device can be had for $220. It has built in WIFI, Bluetooth, and webcam. It has a touch screen and an onscreen keyboard and is also compatible with a bluetooth keyboard which can be had for about $50. It has upgradable SD Card storage and features two slots to make using only one of them as removable storage a breeze. There is a huge user community and lots of available applications as well. Plus, it’s linux based, so it’s a hackers dream come true. Assuming the audio on it is decent, it could also potentialy replace my iPod and maybe even let me trade my smartphone (currently a Blackberry) in for a tetherable dumbphone. To be fair, however, I’m going to need a few SD Cards for storage. 8GB SDHC cards run $40 right now.

Nokia N810. Very similar to the N800, this device includes a slide-out keyboard, a GPS receiver, and 2GB of internal flash ram. On the down side, the webcam is in a fixed position, it looses one of the card slots, and only accepts MicroSD. Additionally, the keyboard is very small and would be difficult to use for any real typing. I already have a Bluetooth GPS receiver if I need that functionality. And, at $400, it’s almost double the price of the N800.

Asus EeePC. On the surface, this appears to have a similar feature set to the N800 and N810. However, unlike the handheld, pocket-sized N800, this device is quite clearly a laptop, although a very small one. It has a larger screen (though the same resolution), a faster processor, a full (though small) keyboard, and a built in wired ethernet port. It looses the touchscreen in trade for a touchpad and also loses bluetooth connectivity. With a more laptop-like stance, this device comes with more offline style applications and the processing power to handle running them. Like the N810, I can pick one up for $400, if I’m willing to go with Pink.

Linux bootable flash drive and my work laptop. I would have to have a fairly large card and a VERY paired down Linux distribution. Storing data on the laptop’s hard-drive is not an option due to part of the lock down. Additionally, a full-blown portable hard-drive is not an option because it takes up both of my USB ports and is far more wires than I’d care to deal with. The plus side is that this would be fairly inexpensive. At average prices, I can probably find a 16GB card and small card reader for $80-140. The downside is that I’d have to roll my own when it comes to fine tuning the Linux installation. My work laptop is a bit lacking in features so this would mean I’d have to find PCMCIA wireless drivers, and the bootable flashdrive would take up one of my two available USB ports.

iTouch.  For $300, an 8GB version of the iTouch can be had. This has the apple seal of approval, which all of the apple kids say is a good thing. I’m not too familiar with anything other than my iPod which I find acceptable but not exceptionally so. While there are very few 3rd party applications available, Apple’s recent release of the SDK means there is likely to be many more on the way. With what little time I’ve spent with the iPhone I can say that the user-experience is quite simple, intuitive, and fluid.  I have no doubt that the applications that come with the phone will be easy to use and perform as expected, if not better. The touch-screen keyboard isn’t the easiest thing to use from the get-go, but iPhone users say you get used to it pretty quickly. I lose the Bluetooth connectivity offered by the N800 which means that a fullish-sized keyboard is not possible and neither is a mobile, tethered network connection. Additionally, I lose the ability to expand my available memory or swap out my storage by using SD Cards. To counteract this, a 32GB iTouch can be purchased, but the price goes up another $200. While this is the “coolest” option, it is also most likely the least flexible, least future proof, and most expensive option of the bunch.

So, what are your thoughts? Is there an option I left off? Which of these makes the most sense?