Portable Productivity for Road Warriors: The Essential Gadgets

Being on the road means being portable. In most cases, we have our mobile phones with us. But, it is very easy to change this seemingly lost (and sometimes boring) life into a more productive one. This may mean carrying more gadgets for the price of additional weight. But, let's face it: either your car or the plane is carrying it, not you. You are only carrying these extra devices for small distances.

If you are smartly equipped---I am not speaking about the most expensive gadgets---you can squeeze the most out of your time. Throughout this article, I will stick to this idea and try to avoid making huge investments for our purpose. Don't mind the advertisements: they try to make you spend money, not guide you for your individual needs.

A smart phone is really essential on the road. It is a too steep of price to take out your portable computer, switch it on, and wait for at least one minute to check your emails. All modern phones let you check your email on the fly. But, when it comes to replying or forwarding, typing with the classic alphanumeric keyboard is a real pain. This is where the smartphones kick in: you have a qwerty keyboard to type with, which is incomparable to the alphanumeric keyboard. For your smart phone selection, you can either go for a BlackBerry or iPhone; this is a personal choice. I have used both, and I can safely say that the two work just fine. Personally, I recommend the iPhone for the users who slightly prefer entertainment over business and BlackBerry the other way.

A smart phone, if you made an informed purchase, will save you from carrying additional gadgets such as an MP3 player, an average digital camera, a voice recorder, a travel guide, and a GPS navigator. Consider that the total sum of all these equipment will total to at least $500. The added benefit is that, with the right software, a smartphone will keep you up with local events, thanks to the increasing number of location-based services.

Despite the various discussions on the subject, I have sold my notebook to purchase a netbook, and I have been happy since. Just evaluate your needs (not wants) before making your choice: what will you do when you are on the road? If you will check your emails, work with basic documents (word processing, spreadsheets, presentations), use your instant messaging program, and upload your travel photos, then a notebook is a big investment, both in terms of price and portability. If, on the road, you will do more than that (assume an engineer finishing designs on his CAD/CAM software), then a netbook will not do. By the way, don't expect to make 3D modeling and ray tracing on your notebook; there are workstations for that.

Just don't forget to put a mouse to your backpack: touchpads are really hard to use.