Travel Equipment

How did I update my travelogue on the road? What equipment did I bring? What about software? Well, this is how I attempt to do it.


HP iPAQ 4150 and Bluetooth Wireless Keyboard - I opted for a PDA rather than a notebook for this trip. Both the PDA and the keyboard is a fraction of the cost & weight of notebooks. I'm also able to scribble notes readily anytime, anywhere. In fact, most of this post is written on the plane to Hanoi.


Pocket Blogger & Diarist - Both of these Pocket PC softwares enable me to upload and edit my posts via my PDA. They're able free and the interface is easy to learn. However, both software are rather limited in their functions, which is not a big issue for quick mobile posting. I'm still figuring out which software is better.


Nokia 6230i - The bluetooth mobile phone act as a modem to connect the PDA to the internet via GPRS. I've subscribe to M1 roaming services which include GPRS roaming. The M1 staff informed that only one telco in Vietnam provide GPRS services. They have a country wide coverage but not too sure if there are a lot of blind spots. At US$0.07 per Kb, a 50kb picture upload will cost US$3.50! I'll be limiting my mobile post to words and update them with photos in internet cafe.


Canon IXUS 330 - My old digital camera. The IXUS series has since went through many generations. This earlier model in the series is capable of only 2.0 mega pixels but it is adequate for my current needs.





USB Card Reader - The card reader is for uploading the photos in my camera CF Cards in internet cafes. As only Window XP is able to recognise the reader without installing the driver. I've to find out the OS of the computers in internet cafes before I use.




Power Cords & Adapters - Many electronic devices, each with it's own power requirement.