Which of these gadgets were found more useful during your Europe tour?

1. It's time to say goodbye to my age old cellular phone and time to plan for new unlocked mobile phone, having the most useful features, prior to Europe tour.

2. I have never used i-Pod. As I understand, self guided tours can be downloaded in the i-Pod; one can store 'n' number of photographs and have some music in it. What are you using it for?
Exactly at which places of Europe, is it being used? Is it a commonnly used gadget?

'Topping'.

Robespierre, I am still confused after reading some of your replies in this forum.

Robes is not an iPod fan... a PPC has more functionality than does an iPod. He might be using a Treo or a high-end IPAQ these days. Some of those have cameras but I don't think they offer a phone. Last I recall, he was using a Razr for the phone.

I have an iPAQ 6510 that combines a Pocket PC with a quad-band GSM/GPRS phone and a GPS receiver. No camera. I got it on woot.com for $300.

An iPAQ can do anything an iPOD can*, plus a few hundred other things - such as guide me to an obscure bistro I marked on my last trip, or let me scan a travel guide file for specific text, or phone home for free using Skype.

*(Except store ridiculous amounts of music - but I do not consider this an advantage.)

My last few phones have all had a camera and MP3 player included and I never used them due to poor quality and space limitations. I gave my Treo away--no point having lots of features when they don't work reliably. You have to decide what features are important to YOU. Everyone's answers will be different.

As for the iPod, yes, some versions allow you to store photos. We like having them along, but it's a lot easier just to have a couple of memory cards for the camera (a couple of 1GB cards have always been more than enough). Photo storage is not a reason for carrying an iPod.

We use ours for entertainment during travel--very nice to have for a 4 hour unexpected layover. Travel speakers are very tiny and help make wherever we are more comfortable. With the iPod we have the usefulness of a reliable alarm and the ability to provide 'white noise' to override unpleasant sounds when sleep is necessary. We also like being able to set a mood when getting ready to go out or just relaxing.
The iPod in all its variations seem to be pretty much universal but I doubt we'd ever use it for a self-guided tour. At home and abroad, on the streets it's always safer not to have your ears plugged up. If you don't care to be able to carry a tremendous amount of music or audiobooks with you very compactly when you travel and music doesn't play much part in the fabric of your life, don't worry about "needing" an iPod or any other MP3 player.

Buy whatever quadband GSM phone has the best coverage and plan options for where you want to travel. As long as the included features are ones you'll actually use that's all that matters.

It's true -- my wife has a 60 GB iPod and has never come anywhere near half filling it. If you have the video iPod you can fill it, but how much video do you want to watch on a two-inch screen?

The iPod is very elegantly designed, both in appearance and in usability, but you can get the same music-playing capabilities for much, much less money elsewhere. I have a nasty, tiny "iRiver", which works just fine and was ridiculously cheap.

When you start moving into phone and computer capabilities, remember that the iPhone doesn't actually exist yet, while others have been in that game for years and years.

If you want people to think you're hip, just buy accessory earphones in white! Or stick with boring black, and let the other guys get robbed....

Right on. If you want music, and you don't care whether some other guy's is bigger, you can get an MP3 player for dirt.

Do a Froogle search for <b>mp3 usb</b>, sort by price, and you'll see dozens for under $30. Get one with an SD memory slot that will accept multi-gigabyte cards, so you can upgrade your playing time to many hours very economically.

&gt;hip, just buy accessory earphones in white!
They're considered &quot;lame&quot; where I live. The fashion is over, now let them jump on whatever comes next.

I have a Cingluar 8125 that I bought for a little over $300. Ilike it because the keypad slides out and is a lot bigger than, say, the ones on Blackberries, and I have to keep up with a lot of email when I'm traveling.

It has a really decent camera (though I also bring my digital) that does videos as well, and I just activate the overseas calling service when I'm traveling overseas to make and receive calls (love that because it's the same cell number I use at home). I don't access the internet much on it, but a few times that's been worth it. I haven't used it for music, but that's because I already have the music I like downloaded on my iPod, so I bring that too.

Is that locked to Cingular? Or did you not buy it from them?

I'm not sure, Robespierre. I guess I'll try putting my French or Italian SIM card in it next time I'm in Europe and see what happens. Is there another way to check? I honestly didn't think to ask when I bought it, as it seemed like a good deal and one that was finally going to obviate my need to carry all the gadgets I used to carry.

hold out until june when Apple's iPhone is released...
phone, iPod, internet/email, camera, all combined.

&quot;...phone, iPod, internet/email, camera, all combined.&quot;

Like the HP and Dells that have been on the market for two years? Without that stupid iPOD, of course.

Some of us want a pocket computer. The iPHONE ain't. Jobs knows he can't compete in the PPC space, because his margins and market share would both be too small.

Robes,
What about the iPhone is not a pocket computer?

First its a phone, with voicemail....
It has the ability to take and organize photos.....
play and organize a music catalog (clearly an advantage in most peoples opinions - especially since having an iPod also allows you to play movies, videos, audiobooks and tv shows)......
It can send email and allows for internet surfing/searching, and integration with Googlemaps for directions, satellite images, traffic info.....
text message, calendar, address book, widgets for such things as stock prices, weather.....

sounds a bit like a pocket computer to me...

Read my 12:42 - and add

instantly plot the optimum subway or bus route

convert currencies with on-line exchange rates from the European Central Bank

read a book in another language and have it automatically translate any word I touch

...the list goes on.

ok - but you are talking about an iPod in this post.
I am talking about an iPhone.

You ask what about the iPhone isn't a pocket computer? It can't do anything I've listed. And by the way, I can carry a spare battery and change it on the fly - without even powering down the iPAQ. Apple boxes take special tools. How useful.

I think iPOS* buyers are so enthralled by the amount of storage they have, they're blinded to its limitations. I've never needed 60gb on my desktop, much less in my pocket (and I'm a software developer).

* A generic term for any pocket appliance sold by Apple.

You can plan travel routes with iPhone and there are many Widget options including....one for a currency converter, as well as a flight tracker, measurement converter, dictionary, translation,

but OP talks about taking photos and music...
does your gadget do either of these?

I am not trying to argue with you.
I just think that the iPhone is better for an average person.....Apple is more user friendly, has an &quot;easy to understand&quot; interface, and has more features that a regular person would use most frequently.

Also - no offense - but the changing posting thing you are doing is really annoying..

OP didn't mention taking photos - only displaying them. Which the PC does, in addition to playing movies and music.

I haven't seen a photograph taken by a phone that was worth squat - and I will be amazed if iPhone improves on that.

Yes, typical Apple users have paid extra for a user-friendly interface for the past 23 years. And then brag about how it's &quot;better.&quot;

If you don't like posts that I've polished, just skip past my name. I'm not going to stop just because it annoys you.