tokerud's technology treats

Handheld Device Size Matters

As Christian Hauck pointed out in his comment to my last TIQIT post, "Since the size of humans does not change, it's the size of the devices...if the Newton was too big years ago, it's too big today. If the Optio fits into my pocket, it will fit forever." Chris apparently has not yet tried cargo pants. I'm serious, cargo pockets are working great for me. I use the regular pockets for wallet, P800, change and keys and then put things like my Minolta Dimage X camera and small books in the cargo pockets. I bet there's a reason this style of pants and shorts has become popular. Lots of people want to fit several gadgets in their pockets. I could carry a TIQIT in a cargo pocket without too much difficulty. The weight would be more of an issue than the size.

But let's assume we don't have cargo pockets for the moment. This size matters thing has been around ever since there have been organizers like Daytimers. People like different sizes. Some get a full-size 3-ring binder (subnotebook). Some get Clipboard or a book-sized binder (Newton, TIQIT) and others go for pocket versions (PDAs and smartphones). This is not a new problem! As soon as people figured out that it really helps to have your calendar, address book and categorized notes with you all the time, size became a problem.

If you work in an office - and stay there during the day, you might like the big version but you may still hesitate to take your subnotebook with you to lunch when you are eating out with others (unless they are geeks). Then, what do you do? You need a PDA at minimum and you might want your cell phone too. The two devices or single device should be pocketable - out of the way.

I think you could carry an intermediate-sized device like a Newton or TIQIT around with you (in one of your cargo pockets) almost all the time - if recording your ideas, messaging, surfing and reading was really important to you. I'm in the minority, the vast majority would be content with the highly functional P800 alone.

Until I discovered cargo-style shorts, I was carrying around a small leather shoulder bag most of the time so that I could carry my load of devices with me (camera, PDA, cell phone, iPod, headphones, etc.).

If you move around a lot on foot like I do, you want something light - a TIQIT is about the maximum practical size for regular use. I often walk to Starbucks in the morning to get my coffee and take a longer walk towards the end of the day to Peet's Coffee in downtown Mill Valley.

Let's talk about how many devices you want as an intensive knowledge worker. How about a notebook (or subnotebook with docking station), TIQIT and smartphone? An alternative would be desktop, subnotebook, smartphone.

As an intensive knowledge-worker, I want a third device to fill the gap between my P800 and my PowerBook. I want a bigger screen workspace and more than a gig of storage so I can have lots of files and documents with me without having to plan ahead. To me the middle device could be a tricked out Tungsten C or a OSX-lite-based TIQIT. The P800 gives me a single, small, take-anywhere device with the bare essentials including internet-anywhere and a camera. If I'm going to spend a few minutes in the coffee shop, though, and I have the room, I'll schlep a TIQIT-sized device because I'll really enjoy the extra screen real estate, functionality and storage for surfing and concept-drawing. But then, I'm a geek. Posted by tokerud at July 8, 2003 06:45 PM | TrackBack