Tight Angles at 30,000 Feet

I'm sure I'm not the first person to think that economy class seats are getting smaller. This is me trying to do some writing on my ThinkPad when the person in front had her seat in recline mode. Forget about it. It's impossible to lift the screen any higher than this (it's a Malaysian Airlines plane.)

So what's the answer? I want something I can type on when the muse strikes wherever I am, without worrying about space or whether I'm going to be told by attendants I can't use the device because it's really a phone.

I'm trying to get a new iGo ThinkOutside keyboard (spilt coffee over the last one) and was wondering whether a Palm LifeDrive might be the answer. Any thoughts? I'd like to have something with a bit of space on the screen and on the drive itself.

Technorati Tags: flying, mobile worker, laptops, lifedrive, palm, keyboards

Comments

[John Orford]

Asus Eee - small and cheap enough to spill coffee on! ;)

[ranti]

I'd recommend to look into Nokia N800/N810 as another possibility.

[orcmid]

Now you know the third reason that the Tablet PC is a winner. You can use it as a reader, DVD player, and do work, in the tablet configuration.

The second reason is that you can do the same thing for note-taking in meetings and at events without putting a barrier between you and the others.

The first reason is ink, of course, especially if you like to doodle and mark up clippings to send to yourself or others.

John, thanks for this. I liked the Eee, but not the keyboard. The Nokia 810 seems to be a contender...

[James]

I've found the best thing to use is an old Palm TC (keyboard, wifi, Dragonball processor, 64MB onboard memory), a 1GB SD card and the smaller Think Outside Keyboard (the one lacking a dedicated number row that plugs directly into the Palm universal connector). I only use Snappermail, Docs2Go and a handful of utilities with the TC - no syncing calendar, etc. It's like a mini-word processor. The set-up is small enough to use with a large Moleskine notebook beside it on a tray table.

Oh yeah, you can also use utilities like the Merriam Webster dictionary via Palm Reader.

[David Creemer]

I've had good luck with the Nokia N800 and an iGo Stowaway Bluetooth keyboard (about $250 total from Amazon). I have stopped carrying my notebook, though there are certainly trade-offs.

[Scott_H]

If you are going to go with a Palm, I'd take the TX rather than the LifeDrive. I have a TX myself, so I'm clearly biased, but I believe it is the better of the two. If you want my complete thoughts on this, give me a shout.

However, it might make sense to go with something newer and still being developed (such as the Nokia 800/810 mentioned above). Both of the Palm handhelds are either nearing their EOL or are already EOL'd. I think my next PDA-sized device will be a Nokia.