My Latest Gadget

For the past few months, my boss has been asking me to purchase a smart phone, and I've been a bit ambivalent about his request. The "no" part of me has been resistant because I work part time, and I enjoy not being plugged in to work all day every day. I've been smart phone-free for about two years. The first month was a bit difficult, but after that, I've kind of enjoyed having a basic phone.

But then again, there's the "yes" part of me... the part that missed not having a smart phone. Let's face it, I'm a geek, so I love gadgets. I like being able to play mindless games or surf the internet when I'm in line at the store. And I really like the idea of having GPS on my phone (not that I ever get lost, mind you).

My boss sweetened the deal by offering to split the phone's purchase price and the cost for the associated data plan. Yesterday I finally bit the bullet and purchased the HTC Touch Pro 2. (Click here for a review that's far more thorough than anything I can provide.)

I went with a Windows smart phone for work reasons... it has proven integration with Microsoft Exchange, so I can receive my work email, and it has Remote Desktop, which will allow me to manage work computers from virtually anywhere.

The major down side of the phone is that the phone quality isn't quite as good as my last cell phone, but you can't have everything. In exchange for slightly lower phone quality, I have a gadget that will keep me occupied for the next several months.

The coolness factor was so high that my wife and my best friend BOTH had gadget envy. I don't think that's ever happened. Like I said at the beginning of this post, it's been two years since I've had a smart phone. It's genuinely impressive to see how far the technology has progressed in that time.