Pros
Cons
I received a Creative Nomad Jukebox MP3 player for Christmas, and was soon hooked. I installed the Creative PlayCentre software on my laptop, plugged in the USB connector, and started making copies of my favourite CDs (also known as 'ripping' for you cool, high-tech types out there). Each CD took only 10 minutes to transfer. No need to carry a bag of CDs or cassettes along. No more fumbling with cases while strap-hanging on the MRT. I also used the bundled software to combine different albums into playlists for different moods - techno to wake me up in the morning, chill out, to cool me down after work etc.
As I started carrying the Nomad Jukebox everywhere, I began to notice its weaknesses. Firstly, it's basically a big hard disk, so it takes half a minute to boot up. Not too suitable for spontaneous listening. Secondly, it's bigger and heavier than other MP3 players, my trusty old Sony Walkman and even my Sony CD Discman, so I hesitate to take it for a walk.
On the other hand, I've found it really useful. In the office, I connect it
to Altec Lansing speakers. With up to 100 hours of music on board, I can now
reduce the clutter on my desk by clearing away my CDs (my secretary laughs). In
the car,
I plug it into my car stereo and have no need for a CD disc changer. Of course,
I had to specially order a car stereo that has audio inputs.
In the meantime, I hear that the Nomad Jukebox now comes in a 30 GB version that can store 500 hours of music, which is totally excessive, but hey, why not?
What you need:
I was inspired (or conned) after attending the Palm Congress and watching the
various speakers surf the Net and chat without wires, PC or Mac. So I took
advantage of the special 
offer on the Palm m505 and bought one. The Palm m505 is
a colour PDA with 8 MB of RAM; most PDAs you buy nowadays would meet or exceed
these specifications.
I registered with e-ideas from SingTel (e-ideas.com.sg) for a GPRS account. It was pretty easy to configure the Palm and my Ericsson T39 mobile phone to connect to the Net on my e-ideas account. The website had relatively clear instructions. This cost me S$10 for registration, and I only pay for usage at S$0.004 per kb (or S$4 per MB). Next I installed PalmScape, a shareware Web browser, from palmgear.com. The Palm comes bundled with an e-mail program and a SMS program.
Now for the moment of truth - I placed my Palm and my phone side by side (see photo), activated the infrared port of the phone (read your phone manual), tapped my stylus on the PalmScape icon and started surfing. Well, actually I had to move the phone around a few times because I wasn't sure where the infrared port was. One problem of using infrared to link Palm to phone is that the infrared ports of the two devices have to be facing each other head on, all the time. Once I established contact, the phone connected to the Net via GPRS, the Palm connected to the phone via infrared, and voila!
Due to the small size of the Palm screen, the browser had to make some compromises in display. Graphics were resized to fit, so sites that relied too heavily on graphics buttons for navigation were incomprehensible. Yahoo (www.yahoo.com) and the Business Times (business-times.asia1.com.sg/home) were fine because they're mostly text. CNN (www.cnn.com) was readable, and I could see photos side by side with text, though not the streaming video clips (maybe next year's model). I even managed to find books in Amazon.com (www.amazon.com), viewed the book covers and reviews, but couldn't buy them because my browser software doesn't support secure connections.
Since this is a publication for lawyers, I tried surfing the Attorney General's Chambers' Statutes Online (statutes.agc.gov.sg). The browser software did a valiant job handling the frames, by providing a little button to switch from frame to frame. But that meant that I had to switch screens every time I wanted to select a different part of any statute. After a while I lost track, and the relatively slow download time didn't help. I tried the Law Society website but couldn't see anything at all.
After using it for a month, I've found it useful for emergencies or moments of boredom (Long taxi queue? Waiting outside Registrar's Chambers?) But I'm unlikely to surf with my Palm and mobile on a very regular basis. Besides the lack of speed, I found it a hassle to have to keep the devices facing each other head on. Another deterrent is the cost of connectivity (IDA, are you reading this?) I used the bundled e-mail program to send and receive mail from my Starhub account easily. But at S$4 per MB, I would be in pain if someone sent me a large attachment like a MPG video file.
On the other hand, I now have access to the Net and my e-mail everywhere, without having to lug my notebook PC around or search for phone points, so I'm not going to give that up. Try it and you might get hooked too.
Benjamin Ang
Rajah & Tann