A week abroad with the E61
My vacation is almost over. I have a full day ahead of me today to visit Orchard Road once more, hit the electronics stores in Fu Nan Mall and Sim Lim Square and check out Suntec City, and tomorrow early morning I fly back.
Mostly I found myself using the free internet access terminal in the bed and breakfast place we stayed in to check my emails and keep my blog spam free. While staying with my sister, I have her laptop with me (which I find very cumbersome, I never got used to laptop keyboards). I mainly use the E61 in places where I have no access to computers or where I can tap into free unsecured Wi-Fi connection (hehehe). I encountered some problems with Wi-Fi though, it seems that I always get timed out if the connection is less than optimum (anything less than 3 bars won’t work).
I brought no ipods with me this time. I kept my phone in offline mode inside the airplane and I was able to watch tv episodes or listen to my music on the E61. I really enjoyed the versatility of the phone on this occasion, I was kept from being bored while waiting for buses or my flight in the airport. My travel itinerary is backed up on my phone, and what a relief this was as I almost lost my travel documents when my passport case (with all my travel docs) slipped from my pants pockets (Thank you Mr. Taxi Driver for returning it to me).
The E61 is a nice thing to have. I never was a big fan of convergence. I knew that when I needed an audio device, a dedicated ipod would be unrivaled. I don’t often watch videos on a teenie-tiny screen so an iPod Video never interested me. PIM things like Palms and iPaqs didn’t really sit well on my needs. It’s great that the E61 can do all these, but when I have the real deal in front of me (like a computer with internet access), I’ll haveno second toughts.
I guess what I really want to say is, for me, this week. the E61 is my insurance. Everything that I needed can be adequately filled in by the E61, but there’s no substitue for the real thing. 
