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]

RE: Slate.com -- Off Their ROKR: Why Motorola's new iTunes phone is a flop