janelane wrote:

My gut feeling is that Motorola might score if they aim higher next time. The same Engadget fanboys who booed the ROKR would probably part with a few extra bucks for a pricier model with a head-turning design and a USB 2.0 jack. But I still think marketing execs overestimate the appeal of music phones. In Cingular's ads for the ROKR, hot young urbanites multitask between dancing and dating as calls come into their beat-blasting headphones. "I associate my BlackBerry with work," a friend retorted to me. "I use my iPod to forget about work. I don't want it to fucking ring."

While I agree the ROKR sucks (100 songs on a phone that doesn't flip??), I don't agree with the above sentiment. A multitasking phone/music/internet/data storage thing totally appeals to me. I fast run out of pocket space around campus with my car keys, phone, iRiver, memory stick, and money. Hell, I don't even see why we can't combine all 5. Yada yada security, yada yada separation of work and play, whatever the hang-ups, I still think we should try.

-janelane, tech savvy by proxy

because the more things they combine, the more mediocre chimera technology you get. You end up with a shitty phone attached to a worse camera with a piss poor mp3 player and a pda that isnt altogether helpful. As laptops get smaller I think that a decent all purpose portable machine will be more feasible.

janelane wrote:
While I agree the ROKR sucks (100 songs on a phone that doesn't flip??), I don't agree with the above sentiment. A multitasking phone/music/internet/data storage thing totally appeals to me. I fast run out of pocket space around campus with my car keys, phone, iRiver, memory stick, and money. Hell, I don't even see why we can't combine all 5. Yada yada security, yada yada separation of work and play, whatever the hang-ups, I still think we should try.

-janelane, tech savvy by proxy

Thats because you have chick pockets and chick pockets have no space! I enjoy seeing the serial number on a dollar bill when you where some of your ass jeans though!

janelane wrote:

"I associate my BlackBerry with work," a friend retorted to me. "I use my iPod to forget about work. I don't want it to fucking ring."

While I agree the ROKR sucks (100 songs on a phone that doesn't flip??), I don't agree with the above sentiment.

I kinda do agree with it. Convergence is double-edged in my experience. I have a general distrust of any "Does it all!" type gadget, and that goes as much for electronics as anything else. You see those late night shows advertising some tool that can be a wrench and a screwdriver and a hammer and on and on ("Never buy another tool!"). The problem is, it's a piece of shit... it does none of those things well.

The practicality of carrying a lot of shit around is certainly a concern, but i'd rather have 5 separate devices, each of which does one job *really* well, than one device doing 5 things poorly. In fact, i do have those devices.

I'm not saying it's not possible, just not that compelling to me. I've *never* used my camera phone, and making my phone bigger so the camera can be better is *not* a viable option.

This goes double since i carry my messenger bag everywhere i might want all that stuff and I pretty much hate having *anything* in my pockets ever. In other words, i want additional space even if a phone is the only thing i'm carrying (plus wallet and keys) so once i've made the mental leap to requiring a bag, I may as well put all the other stuff in it.

One thing i'd love to see is phones that can pack multiple SIM cards so that my employer can pay for my work cell and i can pay for my personal cell but not have to carry two phones (or more, as some people have to). That's my kind of convergence. -k]

janelane wrote:

My gut feeling is that Motorola might score if they aim higher next time. The same Engadget fanboys who booed the ROKR would probably part with a few extra bucks for a pricier model with a head-turning design and a USB 2.0 jack. But I still think marketing execs overestimate the appeal of music phones. In Cingular's ads for the ROKR, hot young urbanites multitask between dancing and dating as calls come into their beat-blasting headphones. "I associate my BlackBerry with work," a friend retorted to me. "I use my iPod to forget about work. I don't want it to fucking ring."

While I agree the ROKR sucks (100 songs on a phone that doesn't flip??), I don't agree with the above sentiment. A multitasking phone/music/internet/data storage thing totally appeals to me. I fast run out of pocket space around campus with my car keys, phone, iRiver, memory stick, and money. Hell, I don't even see why we can't combine all 5. Yada yada security, yada yada separation of work and play, whatever the hang-ups, I still think we should try.

-janelane, tech savvy by proxy

I'm waiting for the iPaq 67xx series. GPRS/EDGE/3G, GPS, Windows Mobile 5.0, Wifi, and qwerty keyboard. It should be available in January/February - but will be somewhat pricey (estimated $700).