I am tired of carrying my laptop computer around. I travel a lot but all I really need is e-mail and the ability to show some PowerPoint slides to people. Should I wait for Apple's iPhone or is that just more hype from Silly Valley? People keep telling me there is nothing really good out there. Is that true?
Name supplied, Mid-Levels
DQ: This is a question I hear almost every day. With air travel more troublesome than it used to be, nobody wants to carry anything that's not essential. What you want is a small computer that works as a mobile phone. That doesn't sound difficult to find but it is, the reason being computer companies know little about phones and phone companies know nothing about computers.
The most tricky aspect of solving your problem is you can never test drive a device for long enough to know if it suits your needs. You go into a shop, turn on a machine and the sales assistant dazzles you with features (none of which you probably need) then you hand over your credit card. One solution is find a colleague or friend who has a product you think could be suitable and quiz them about their experiences with it. But be careful: your friend may want to perform tasks that you don't. Try to articulate all the functions you need.
Some devices let you plug in a phone or personal digital assistant to a projector. However, be cautious if you search for them on the internet as I found several items that looked good but were discontinued. That may be a bad omen. Try searching for 'iGo Pitch Duo', which is a wireless device that seems to work with most phones and PDAs.
There is, of course, a more elegant solution to this problem: put your slides on a memory stick and use a computer at the site you are visiting. You may want to ask first if they have a computer with a USB port you can use. Remember, this is a great solution for existing presentations; it would not be ideal if you are still tweaking your work.
