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General discussion

What mobile device do you refuse to travel without?

Oct 11, 2005 4:18AM PDT

What mobile device do you refuse to travel without?

Notebook/tablet
Digital camera
Cell phone
Handheld
MP3 player
Satellite radio
Other (tell us what you'd choose)

Discussion is locked

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Check boxes, not radio buttons
Oct 11, 2005 8:38AM PDT

This poll is too limited...How can I choose from only ONE of my all-important gadgets!
When I go on vacation, my list of gadgets include, but are not limited to:
Laptop
PDA
Smartphone (blackberry)
GPS
Canary wireless network finder
MP3 player
digital camera
memory card hard drive to copy my flash cards onto
digital voice recorder
bluetooth headset
and of course, various support items like batteries, chargers and the cables to interconnect all these things.
Needless to say, this bag is *NOT* checked...and takes several passes through the x-ray machine and usually needs to be hand searched!
Ed
web/gadget guru

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re: Check boxes, not radio buttons
Oct 11, 2005 8:50AM PDT

Whew! I'm tired just thinking of lugging all that crap around! I'm flying across the US in a couple weeks and I'm debating whether to take just my laptop and cell phone. It's not just those items but all the cables and adapters and all the other periferal junk one needs to recharge batteries both in car and at hotel, plug laptop into the airplane's power, etc. Too stressful!
svanessa

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I agree
Oct 11, 2005 9:35AM PDT

This survey should have been "Check Boxes" as I always travel with three of the items on the list (so I voted three times). I also so believe that a GPS should have been on the list, as I almost never travel without it.

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uhmmm, so what about short trips?
Oct 11, 2005 9:38AM PDT

What item(s) do you take when you go to the supermarket, to work, to clasee, etc.?

20 minute trips and such?

Can't imagine some1 would also take their laptop and digicam with them just to buy some food

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Cell phone OR handheld? How retro...
Oct 12, 2005 1:03AM PDT

Should have had a smartphone category. That's all I'm sayin'.

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Other Device:
Oct 11, 2005 8:39AM PDT

Simple: An Organizer

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Why?
Oct 11, 2005 8:43AM PDT

None! Leave IT all behind... (pun intended)

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Mobile devices...
Oct 11, 2005 9:05AM PDT

I use technology for my convenience not for anyone else's convenience.

I have absolutely zero mobile devices that I refuse to travel without.

I refuse to be a slave to technology or anyone who thinks that it is ok to always be "on"!!

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Same here
Oct 22, 2005 1:04PM PDT

I don't go around with any electrion devices at all.

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The Treo 650
Oct 11, 2005 8:48AM PDT

Handheld, cell phone, camera, mp3 player, Audible book player, ebook reader, mail, Web and multiple other apps in one device. Oh, and mobile TV as well!!! Why on Earth would I EVER go anywhere without it! Happy The Treo 650...jack of all trades and enough of a master at all of them to keep it with me at all times.

Mark

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Treo 650
Oct 12, 2005 4:48AM PDT

never leave home without it (Any Where).

And the best part is my company pays for it.

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take the camera, leave the phone
Oct 11, 2005 8:51AM PDT

I always take my camera. You never know when there is a picture that you have to take. As far as the phone, i got rid of mine, my wife kept hers. I just got sick of going our on the ocean to enjoy a day of fishing and getting unimportant, unnecessary calls. Sometimes you just have to get away from it all and enjoy the human connections of life.

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re: take the camera, leave the phone
Oct 11, 2005 8:56AM PDT

I agree...phone stays in the car for emergencies only. It's not for general use so very few have my number. The camera goes everywhere with me! The laptop was purchased for travel but I get so tired of lugging it around it stays home if I fly. No blackberry, PDA, MP3 player or any of the rest.
SVV

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re: take the camera, leave the phone
Oct 11, 2005 9:13AM PDT

I guess they should have specified what type of trip. For a vacation trip, the camera would be first choice. The phone would stay in the car unless I'm going hiking. Few people have my mobile number as well, but I have the ability to control which calls come in. Of course the problem I have is that my camera takes good shots... except for sunsets and sky, and that's about the only thing my phone does better in the photo department.

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take the camera, leave the phone
Oct 12, 2005 4:40AM PDT

who needs a phone when you're hiking, or fishing, or just plain sight-seeing. But leave the camera???? No way jose!!!! Then I couldn't bore my co-workers with the 300 shots of all the cool stuff me and my family did on vacation. Even on business travel (which I do take my phone, by the way) my camera is critical to the work I do, construction project management. PDA is nice to review photos and work on documents, and Blackberry keeps me in touch with other project and teams. But I really do love the photos!!!!

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No phone?
Oct 11, 2005 12:33PM PDT

I agree with your thoughts about not being disturbed by unnecessary calls especially at inopportune times. However, my solution is different. I use the o f f key.

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Mobile device
Oct 11, 2005 8:53AM PDT

When I travel back and forth to Europe I download the area I'm going to into my Magellan hand held navigation unit with my car mount and hang it on the windshield of my rental car. This allows me to backtrack to my hotel or vacation rental so we don't get lost.

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I always take my cell phone
Oct 11, 2005 8:56AM PDT

I have used my phone more than once in an emergency just going back and forth to work. I can't imagine going anywhere without it.

We are planning to purchase a laptop and once we do I am sure it will be #2 on my list.

I have an excellent digital camera but I often leave it home as it is bulky and I end up taking few pictures. If I am on a vacation trip then it goes too.

Lisa T

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re: I always take my cell phone
Oct 11, 2005 8:59AM PDT

I like to have my camera in the car...never know when you'll need it. I was involved in an accident last year..some A.H. slammed into the rear side of my car I feel on purpose as he was trying to pass as lanes narrowed to one...didn't make it. Over $5,000 damage. I had my camera, took LOTS of pics. His insurance paid in full. Happy
SVV

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cell phone
Oct 11, 2005 9:13AM PDT

I do not leave the house without my cell phone

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Mobile devices are blurred together
Oct 11, 2005 9:18AM PDT

I refuse to go anywhere without my Treo 650 and as a result my answer to your poll is Digital camera; Cell phone; Handheld; MP3 player and sort of Notebook/Tablet. The future will only make this more common as devices get more powerful and smaller. Calling **** Tracy.

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re: Mobile devices are blurred together
Oct 11, 2005 9:31AM PDT

There are times when a converged device would be just right for me, but most times it work out better if I can pare down the load and leave the handheld behind. Both devices together weigh about what the 650 does, but the phone is less than half the size and still does most everything but Excel. If I do take both, I have the extra memory and ability to watch movies (on the Tungsten T3) in widescreen format with stereo.

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GPS
Oct 11, 2005 9:36AM PDT

I take a GPS receiver on any trip.

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Mobile Devices
Oct 11, 2005 9:38AM PDT

I'm afraid I don't carry any mobile devices. I have lived 50 odd years without them...so I guess I can do without them for the time being. That's not to say I disapprove of anyone else doing so.

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my PDA
Oct 11, 2005 9:41AM PDT

20 minute trip for takeout, 3 hour trip to the mall, or 1 week vacation. PDA stays with me.

I also take my cell phone, but sometimes i forget that but still remember the PDA. Furthermore, I've had my PDA 4 years before my first cell phone.

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take my PDA everywhere
Oct 11, 2005 9:54AM PDT

I'm the president of a Buddhist temple as well as a deputy director for Emergency Social Services in my community. I need ready access to cell numbers, e-mail addresses and government contacts and radio frequencies etc. My PDA has it all. I can check e-mail through its WiFi capability. It goes with me along with my emrgency pager, cellphone, digital camera and amateur radio hand held.

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None
Oct 11, 2005 9:42AM PDT

I am not eat up with mobile. I really hate having a cell phone

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Re What we take when traveling
Oct 11, 2005 9:42AM PDT

There are two things that I take with me now. The first is my Digital Camera. This goes back to the time that I was young and always had a camera with me. My first camera was a Kodak Box Camera 620 film size. And now at the age of 70 it is just too hard to break old habits. Besides over the years I have taken some very fine pictures.
The other thing that I take with me at this time of my life is my digital Phone. The only reason that I take the phone with me has to due to my declining health and it`s just a good idea to keep just a phone call away from Emergency Services. ~Yellowhand~

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Cell Phone
Oct 11, 2005 10:09AM PDT

I cannot leave the house without a cell phone for long distance trips. Having a disablility it is a necesitty.

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My noise canceling headphones
Oct 11, 2005 10:17AM PDT

and darn cell phone - wish I had a 'berry though.

Tom