Okay, I need some help from the more technically-inclined of you out there.
I'm thinking of getting a Blackberryish thing, so I don't have to lug my laptop all the way to London when all I really want to do is check my emails. I have a pay as you go mobile, so ideally I'd like something you don't have to pay a monthly contract for (especially as I may only use it a couple of times a month), although I appreciate this might not be possible. Anyone got a email-readable thingy that they think is any good? Or rubbish? I don't particularly want to use it as a mobile phone as a) you look like a plum, and b) muggings.
PP is urging me to wait for the iPhone, but as that won't come out for another six months at least and will then almost instantly explode, I'm not convinced.
Also, in consumer news, not sure I'm going to be able to get a proper rucksack-travel-bag thing from the 200-year old leather shop (quote: 'I'm not sure he can really be bothered to do that sort of thing'), although it may have cost about a million pounds anyway - still might have a laptop bag made up though, as the leather is beautiful. So I'm going to wade through all those links people put up a while ago (and put them up in a new post at some point).
But yes, emaily things. Argh. Help.
UPDATE: thanks for the help, have made opening bids on a very nice manbag. And completely unrelated, but there's an acetastic mashup comp over at go home productions. Summery and lovely.
UPDATE 2: bidding went from £18 to £62. Too rich for my blood.
22 comments:
I had a Blackberry for work and have given it back because it's rubbish at working with a Mac (and because tossers end up emailing you work things at midnight and then it buzzes at you and makes you feel guilty 'cause you haven't dealt with it yet).
Thanks Jayne - mac compatability would be a bonus. The Treo 650 has mentioned, am investigating further.
You should wait for the iPhone... has Mr Jobs ever let us down? (Don't answer that). Although, saying that, you may be disappointed by the iPhone, since although demand for it will almost certainly explode into the stratosphere- the phone itself will be reassuringly unexplodable. Unless you try to take it onto a plane as hand luggage, of course.
Not sure that compatibility with mac is an issue with Blackberries. I think you just set up your e-mail to forward to them. Or something. (Not sure because mine is a corporate one so I don't have to get involved with that side of it.)
Also, it needn't buzz (actually sounds more like a moo) at you each time you get a mail. You can turn that off.
you can configure quite a lot of normal mobiles to receive email, it's quite easy. i know my new one does it: http://shop.o2.co.uk/shop/o2uk/jsp/handset/ViewHandset.do
Another bag link to add
http://www.nomadtravel.co.uk/store/customer/product.php?productid=21358
You have to get a man bag! Ever since I read your first post about it, I've been salivating over the thought of going into meetings trailing the confidence inspiring, manly smell of worn leather, projecting the aura of trustworthy authority that only expensive leather can project, and that distinctive leathery creak that whispers "talented craftsman".
However, in true writerly fashion, I also agonise over whether I am in fact good enough for such a bag, and maybe I should stick with the grubby, badly faded and slightly torn nylon ruckie I got on sale in Gap for a fiver 5 years ago, and which I use in the classic self-deprecatory writer's bluff; his bag is sh*t, therefore he must be brilliant, for his mighty artistic brain does not have space for such flippant considerations as the type of bag he uses.
I need you to road test one and tell me whether or not you feel too much of a w*nker. I fear appearing to be one of those Soho c*cks you see strutting down Berwick Street with an impressive bag that you just know is filled with the outlines of dreadful ideas they will use to scrape some cash together with one of their equally talentless but shameless 'producer' friends who made this really great short, yeah, that won a silver mongoose at the 3rd Papua New Guinean Festival of Short Films With An ! In The Title, yeah?
In fact, I need you to buy one, wear it in enough to give it a patina of use, a couple of bruises where it might have been hurled once too often into a corner as the muse irresistibly mugged you, and a couple of intriguing stains that could conceivably be whisky and/or the bodily fluids of a glamourous French actress stunned into sexual abandon by the brilliance of the silences between your glittering dialogue.
Then decide it's too good for you after all, and give it to me, so I can use it and feel like Hemingway.
Blimey, how could I not get one now? I'll see what I can do, mark g...
I've seen some rather tasty leather bags with long straps in john lewis. They're sort of a briefcasey satchel cross, but they're nice. Other than that i'd recommend going to a antique or second hand market, I managed to pick up a nice leather satchel there for about £20 (twas a shiny shiny bargain admitedly)
Oooh or try ebay of course!
Ah don't mention it, im glad I can be helpful! I've had all I can take of daytime tv for today...that is until come dine with me comes on at 4.30...
ah the joys of being a student
Thanks for that! Will go and have a look...
UPDATE: that last one might be a winner actually - just what I had in mind. Bid made.
Blogs rule - and blog readers rule too, obviously.
Technology is a many splendoured thing- I think the positives of the internet are often overlooked.
If I fail my A levels next week I could always go into a career as a personal bag shopper...
And now we all know your ebay id.
Yes.
Good point.
ooh very nice bag, hope you get it :)
Bags* be your second client, Kalista.
*sorry. I haven't had my coffee jag this afternoon.
Now you can't take hand baggage on planes there may be a reduction in the demand for manbags maybe the prices will go down. Just a thought.
Mark g you certainly can!
There was a thing in G2 about man bags a few weeks ago- the best of the bags sort of thing. It has a list of the do's and don'ts of choosing a bag. Here's the address, never been able to figure out how to put links in comments.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/style/story/0,,1808525,00.html
Hey,
Manbag may be good (nay, even necessary) but technologically you're not really taking a step forward, so....
Forget the Blackberry to start with. Unless you're going to use it as a phone as well (which you've just said you're not) then you're gonna by paying up twice for the same functionality.
I'm presuming you have access to some sort of webmail option....
Check your current phone for GPRS capability. Got it? Well, you're done, you can check webmail on that using the in-built browser. Result.
Upgrade your phone if you need to - there's a few out there which do all sorts of singing and dancing as well as being a 'phone' so you'll lots to choose from/get confused by.....
Or get one of these babies:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B000F2YHSY/sr=8-22/qid=1154637594/ref=sr_1_22/026-5899859-7114024?ie=UTF8&s=gateway
Cool thing is you plug into any internet capable PC and you get all your settings, Mail, OpenWord some files etc etc and then as soon as you unplug - et voila - back on the USB stick and you're away. And the person who lent you the PC is none the wiser. (The only downside is either having to find a kind person at one of your meetings to let you use their PC, or else become one of the internet underclass who have to use internet cafes.)
Personally I'd choose the GPRS enabled phone for you - hassle factor = 2 to 5 (depending on how much you know about phones - and I'm thinking not a lot if you didn't already know you could get mail on 'em.)
Good luck with it anyway.
Ax
Thanks A - it's looking like a GPRS phone is going to be my best bet. I might poke about next time I'm up in Tottenham Court Road...
Post a Comment