OK OK OK!

My friends & family expect me to stay up with the "next big thing(s)" and I've been waiting to make this jump for quite awhile.

I've purchased a UMPC! My sister didn't particularly like it... but for the most part she has believed in me while I've dragged her yelling and screaming through the various reverse knotholes that modern technology has to offer.

I sprung for a Sony UX280p that I found a great deal on at Ebay. It was slightly used but came with a bunch of extras including and extended battery, bluetooth keyboard et.al.

I have been waiting because the UMPC specs have been all over the place in terms of speed, battery life and form factor. The most expensive (which is usually the best, right? :-) was up around $2500 bucks, including the port replicator. The least expensive was down around $800 including not a whole-lot!

As my digital lifestyle has included it's acquisitions and upgrades, I realized that if I was going to blog and teach and learn and share what I'm learning, I was going to need a very good PC that was extremely mobile, relatively powerful and hopefully would include some longevity being as how I cannot just willy-nilly purchase whatever, whenever.

My first step in this direction was about eighteen months ago when I purchased my PDA Phone from Sprint - a phone that included the ability to share its EvDO (evolutionary data optimized) Internet connection with other devices through its Bluetooth radio. In other words, I can surf the Internet and get email and blog right from the device itself - and - I can carry another device that can get its Internet connection from this device and it can be bigger, more powerful and easier to blog/post (on & from) while sharing the connections from the PDA. - more later...

OK, it's later... my next step was to obtain a device that could function and display full-sized - non-compromised web pages so I could more easily read & post blogs. For this I chose a Nokia N800. The N800 is a great tool for reading RSS Feeds & Blogs - but, as I found out - not so great for posting.

My solution was to take the leap and buy a UMPC (Ultra Mobile PC. I ended up with a Sony UX280P. I chose this platform for many reasons... price ($1000 from eBay) upgradability, speed, size & platform-type being among them.

UMPC's are in their second generation now. The platform is changing as more & more manufacturers listen more & more to the folks who are starting to buy these useful little beauties. The UMPC can get you on the Internet using a WiFi connection, an Ethernet connection, a Bluetooth connection from your cell phone or an EDGE or EvDo connection from a cellular provider.

I can go from a port-replicated (docked) connection to my PC in my office using my big 19" monitor with full-sized keyboard & mouse - to the living room connected & used as a hand-held, or, I can connect in any of the various ways mentioned above and set the unit on the table using its high-res monitor and type with a wireless Bluetooth keyboard & mouse.

I LOVE it!