Laptop and Cell Phone Combos – How necessary?

Coming better DCaD!

You start to realize that your time, your life are more important than others opinion. I agree with you that marketing gurus push new things, most of the time the wrong once, but money direct their system of thinking. Let them do, and let others to pay for nothing or very little advantages. I use a cell-phone without home-phone because my business but after 22:00 the evening I close it, and open only after 7:00 the next morning. Good chance without combos, Gil.

Aw shucks,

Why should I have a cell phone and a portable computer if I can just use the laptop, MID, UMPC what have you instead. My laptop was capable of cell phone use 7 years ago but the systems were ready yet. Next time my cell phone contract runs out I'll switch.

Great Idea...using the portable computer as a base station.

Dear bwire!

You can do what you want but think about the difference between cell-phone or just a telephone and a lap-top. One is a communicator without memories, the cell-phone, and the other is both. It's your choice to get one or both. Personally I have my cell-phone to communicate with people I want to communicate. My brain remember what I want to remember. My business computer is for the business with outside people to communicate with memories, and the inside computer is for research and development, costing, and other inside and confidential works. Again, marketing gurus are very efficient to drive "better" ideas into our brains but we can resist to them. It's matter of perception. I personally perceive differences. All the best, Gil.

And spam what do you do with that? On your phone? pay, pay pay...?

I held off as long as I could but finally got a cellphone (hand-me down, used with a prepaid plan and ONLY for emergencies). The population is getting more and more "virtual" as it is constantly 'hooked-up".

Our government has just passed a law making it illegal to hold a cell phone while driving so everybody went Bluetooth. That'd be somewhat fine if the device would be confined to the car but now everybody is walking around like zombies with an electronic "ear" attached to their head and talking out loud to NOBODY (that we can see, anyway). The BORG is slowly becoming a reality.

I like my ME time waaaaay too much to be assimilated. Much rather talk to my real (no virtual friends here) friends and family in person.

Hello Combination peson!

I personally, and I am not alone, am against all combination machine, concepts, and ideas. The world is populated with individuals with individual needs, wants, and problems. Solution for individual need, want, and problem is a unique one and cannot be generalized. In many combination machines when one function doesn't work, most of the time the other functions are stopped too. I have a cell-phone to make calls. I have one computer for the Internet and another for bureaucratic works. A car is made for transportation of people and small objects and truck are designed to transportation. The hipe is on the combos like at MacDonald but the best business is a one product to sell like Coca Cola. The automobile industry demonstrated that making everything to everyone is doing nothing for nobody. Let the hipe deflate and choose things for a unique function for efficiency. Let me know if I am right or wrong, Gil!?

I personally, and I am not alone, am against all combination machine, concepts, and ideas.

That would include a bathroom separate from the house too?

Dear bwire!

I respect the way you think but between you and me, way of living: the house or appartment we like and the way we communicate with others, the cell-phone or your lap-top, there is a big difference. I can communicate without lap-top or cell-phone but today I have difficulties to accept to live in the nature without a roof, floor, and four walls with some holes to get in and out. Now, we can laugh, Gil.

Even though I make my living in the industry, I cannot help but agree with the posts so far in this blog.

On one level, these devices are tools, nothing more. They do enable rapid communication. They are easier to haul around than a laptop and provide the same capacity/capability (mostly). So, they make is easier for folks to travel and do their jobs. Good so far.

On another level, they are addictive. People can get SO engrossed in using the device that they cannot leave the device alone. Even when no longer working, they use the device for entertainment and personal communication. That's alright to a degree, but as others have pointed out, we do need to take time to be human and enjoy the company of other humans and ourselves lest we become mere extensions of our devices and our jobs.

Interestingly, this is not really a new issue. Henry David Thoreau observed that most men were slaves to their possessions in Walden, published in 1854.

Personally, when I travel, I relaxe and read a book - I read San Antonio, a French author in French language - and believe me I enjoy every second of the travel. If you need to use the computer during your travel, you are a slave of your incompetence to do what you suppose to do before or after, or slave of the machine in front of you. These are your choices and I respect them but I don't want to become uni-thinking person. Just business and no life, no thanks. This life is not for me. When you enjoy your life, you can enjoy your business, and you will be successful in both, Gil.

Agreed I have a case I keep communication equipment in when traveling and it stays in the case.

I hate combos...

One of the Primary Laws of Life is, he who has the most toys at the end, wins. So, I have a separate laptop, camera, cellphone, Palm, GPS, and I am looking for more gadgets to add to the bag. Of course, I don't actually TRAVEL with all of them- when I travel, I only carry the ones I think I will need. But according to the Law, if one goes in for combo devices, one loses, because one has fewer toys in the end...

Inferring from Murphy's Law, the device you don't take will be the one you need the most!

But, cwarner, you make an interesting point. The idea is to take the tools you need to do the job. Whether these tools are in "combo" format or not is immaterial. You need them, you take them, you use them.

We have actually had two conversations going on here. One is whether or not to combine tools into multi-use devices, and the other is how to separate work life and personal life. I would submit that both are best addressed at a personal level.

As far as multi-use devices go, the question is: can the new device do the job I need? Sometimes, functionality is lost. For example, on my Palm cell phone, I can get e-mail from my business exchange. That's good, but I can only look up e-mail addresses in the corporate global address list -- not phone numbers. In order to get theta functionality, I would have to buy another client application. More expense, more memory utilization on the device which can potentially affect other programs on my Palm cell phone. Think of it like a knife. You have a regular cutting blade on one edge. You could put a saw blade on the other edge, but would it work as well as a regular saw? The blade and the cut would be thicker. Depending on how long your knife blade is, you could only cut things that were a certain thickness.

As to the separation of work life and personal time, the tools don't matter. That is an issue of knowing when to quit one and start the other. When that time comes, you may have to shut off several devices or, if you have multi-purpose device, only a few. The thing is knowing when to shut them off!