Filed under: Glory, glory, glory
I have on the table before me a device designed with the utmost
brilliance. I
haven’t seen such a quietly pleasing design in a gadget-package in
recent memory. Some of you know that I was aiming to purchase
at
least a phone and a laptop this week, but I did not end up with the
Danger Sidekick I
was angling for…
The sidekick I understand – delightful design, with a number of
charming flaws, and a few unfortunate barriers to improvement; a good,
and reasonable inexpensive, 1-year purchase to replace my ailing
phone. A few troubles arose: 1) they no longer offer the
‘old’
sidekick in-store, in favor of the ‘new’ one (which is admittedly
sturdier and a better heft, but $100 more and with a less perfect
keyboard), and 2) I fell in love, just in time, with something
else.
I discovered the first functional pda-phone I’ve ever seen. And I
discovered it by chance, simply because its attachable thumb-keyboard
is so brilliant.
As I was filling out the paperwork for my sidekick, I was chatting with
the rep about good mini-keyboards (or the lack thereof) and he showed
me the attachable keyboard for the iPaq 6315.
It was light, the width of the pda, looked breakable, but had smooth,
responsive buttons that didn’t rattle or distress. crazy.
It was only then that I stopped to look at the awful pda-sized blob of
plascrete, no doubt like ever other such blob, and thought, ‘hmm, not
execrable.’ I cancelled my pending order… (more)