Multi-use devices are the right solutions if they work reliably

In the past three years, I stayed loyal to one mobile phone, the Nokia 6210.

Most people in Hong Kong would not be caught dead with that embarrassingly outmoded brick of a mobile phone but I stuck to it because it worked.

It stopped working earlier this year and I switched to a no-frills Siemens mobile phone that was smaller and lighter than the 6210 but was thin on features - no infrared port, no call history and an address book that would not take more than 15 contacts.

I have owned a Handspring Visor Deluxe for more than a year but rarely use it because I dislike carrying two devices.

Before the Visor, I used an Apple Newton MessagePad for years and it still works. I was using the MessagePad long before I used a mobile phone. I used it to file my stories on business trips, keep track of expenses, keep a daily to-do list and remind me of appointments.

Since the mobile phone entered my life however, I dumped the MessagePad - preferring to carry one not two devices - and kept all my contacts in the phone, went back to writing my to-do list on Post-It notes and used Outlook to manage appointments.