What combination of devices works for you?

[Lucyloo]

I see a lot of posts about which device is best, but I haven't seen anything on here about a combination of devices. For example, I have a blackberry, a laptop, and a BeBook mini that I want to replace. I am trying to decide if I want to stick with a dedicated reader or move to a tablet, which I would also use occasionally at work (I'm a teacher.) I know my needs are different than yours, but I'm just curious what combination of mp3 player/phone/smartphone/dedicated reader/tablet/netbook/laptop/desktop are you using? What works for you? I'd especially be interested in hearing about professional uses as well as personal ones.

[montsnmags]

My effective combination will be iMac, iPad, iPhone & iKindle...err, I mean Kindle. You can, of course, substitute equivalents. My iMac I do my big work on (photography mostly). My iPad replaces a small laptop, as what I might browse in bed or on the lounge in front of the telly or the occasional travel. My iPhone goes everywhere with its apps and emergency everything (email, browsing, camera). My Kindle will be my comfortable reading-only device.

If forced to lose one, it would probably be the Kindle, as it's really just a luxury I'm buying myself.

Cheers,
Marc

[dwig]

For me, performance is very important. As a result, I generally use dedicated devices rather than the "jack-of-all-trades-master-of-none" types.

Phone: I use a simple flip phone that places the mic properly (read: near my mouth). 3G slab phones use too much squelch (to reduce noise resulting from poor mic placement) and too much data compression resulting in low quality audio.

MP3 player: I use a dedicated MP3 player (from Creative) that is small and provides dedicated buttons that can be used by feel and provides a display.

Ereader: After years (~15) of using various multipurpose portable devices as ebook readers I've moved to a dedicated eInk device (Kindle 3/WiFi).

Camera: I've had little use for the camera functions in my phones and earlier Sony Clie. When I take pictures I rely on good cameras, my old Nikons in earlier epochs and a slick little Panasonic Lumix G1 and several lenses these days.

I do rely on my phone as somewhat of a multifunction device. It also serves as my watch (I haven't worn a wrist watch in some 8-9 years) and I use the alarms and calendar functions heavily. So, other than ereader functions, my phone replaces the PIM functions that I used in my old PalmOS and WinCE devices.

[JSWolf]

If you are looking to move to a tablet, wait. Some really nice tablets are do out later this year like the Motorola Xoom and there is the rumored iPad 2 as well. So you'll have the choice to go Apple or Android. None of the current pre-Android 3.0 tablets are any good. So stay away from them. I cannot say about the iPad 2 as we don't know all the specs of it et, but the Xoom is better then the current iPad.

Netbooks are not portable enough. Battery life isn't good enough. But if all you want to do is just read on a device you can easily take with you that's not too big, I suggest also getting a new reader such as the Sony Reader PRS-650. You can still get a tablet later on this year after the new ones come out and you can make an informed choice. For now, I would not recommend any tablet at the moment.

[Elflaede]

I think a tablet is great for multimedia but I prefer a dedicated e-reader for reading because of the e-ink screen.

Not to mention you don't get distracted by constantly checking your e-mail/facebook!

[HarryT]

I use a small notebook (Dell Inspiron 11z) for editing my eBooks, and a Kindle for reading. I'm looking to replace the notebook with a tablet PC, but none has yet appeared which meets my requirements.

[Steven Lyle Jordan]

I read ebooks mostly on my smartphone, which also allows me to edit documents with Pocket Word. The phone has a slide-out keyboard, which I highly recommend.

I say "mostly" above, because I now have a Nook Color. I mainly got it to read magazines digitally, but so far, not all of my subscriptions are available digitally, so I've tried out a few ebooks on it as well (it's great).

Both of these are backed up by my laptop, which I use to purchase ebooks and magazines from whoever, remove DRM where necessary, and sideload into either device.

I use a separate MP3 player, because of its optimized controls.

[FF2]

Originally Posted by HarryT

I use a small notebook (Dell Inspiron 11z) for editing my eBooks, and a Kindle for reading. I'm looking to replace the notebook with a tablet PC, but none has yet appeared which meets my requirements.

Harry, you did not mention your ipad. Where does that fit in, if you don't mind my asking?

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by FF2

Harry, you did not mention your ipad. Where does that fit in, if you don't mind my asking?

The primary use of my iPad is for web browsing and playing video, although I do use it for reading on occasions. Since I've had the K3, though, I find myself using that as my main reader.

[fjtorres]

Me, I also favor a mix of optimized devices.
Not that I bought them all at once nor would I recommend that.
If you are starting from scratch I'd suggest starting with a popular multi-function device and then get optimized devices when/if you need more robust capabilities.

With that proviso, my current portable toolkit runs:
- HTC Star Trek (AKA Cingular 3125) smartphone with Tiny reader
- Acer A0751h netbook
- Creative Zen Media Player
- Pocketbook 360 "paperback" eink reader
- Pocketbook IQ "hardcover" color reader, running Kindle, eReader, Aldiko, and Repligo

I think I'm set for the rest of the year but if I *had* to replace any item in my kit I'd probably go with:
- Generic flip phone
- Viliv Blade
- Zune HD
- Pocketbook 360 (or the upcoming 501)
- Pocketbook IQ if the price doesn't rise, Nook Color if it does

As pointed out above, today is not the best of times to be shopping for gadgets; mid-summer would be best. Unless you have an immediate pressing need it is worth waiting until the iPad refresh in April(?). I suspect Apple *won't* be doing a 7in iPad but rather a 4x3 *eight* inch 1024x768 model at US$399 with a single core CPU and a dual-core 11 in iPad HD at $699 and up. By then, the new Win7 tabletPCs should be out in force and Pearl screens should be filtering down to the second-tier eink vendors *if* they are going to get them at all before K4 comes out in July. I also expect a whole new wave of Netbooks and ultralight notebooks and convertible Tablet PCs, some of which might even have Pixel Qi screens.

In other words, I expect some fun toys to be available come summertime.

[Caltsar]

Right now I have a desktop I use for managing eBooks, my nook for reading them most of the time, my iPhone for reading on the go, and my iPad gets used for reading occasionally. Pretty much every other computing task also is done on one of those four devices.

I've really cut down on the different devices I own for different purposes. I used to have a simple flip phone, a PDA, a desktop, a laptop, an mp3 player, a camera, and a few other devices... Now I do all the things I used to do on those devices and more with just the desktop, iPad, iPhone, and nook. (Sidenote: I do still carry a better quality camera around when I expect to be taking pictures)

As far as reading goes in practice, I mostly use my nook, but fall back on my iPhone when I want to get in a chapter or two during times when I don't bother bringing the nook with me.

[pidgeon92]

Pretty much all Apple.... I like the tight integration of all of my information/media. I've got three iMacs running (the one in the kitchen is mostly used as a multi-media machine) and a MacBook Pro. Two Apple TVs allow me to watch my ripped/rented media on my two TVs. My iPhone and iPad allow me to take all of my important data/music/audiobooks with me wherever I go, and sync flawlessly with my main iMac.

For ereading, I still prefer eink. I have multiple ereaders, but I prefer my Kindle and my Sony, both of which interface with my iMac just fine.

[EowynCarter]

That pretty much depends on your own use.

The two things I never go anywhere without :
My phone (aka HTC tattoo), to phone and browse a little on the Internet.
My cybook.
Nintendo DS for games (that I carry most of times too).
I also have an archos IT5 (to play video) and an asus netbook (to run windows app, and it have a real keyboard !), that I carry on when I need.

I never read on anything but the cybook. I used my archos at some point, but that was because the opus had to go back to bookeen.

[tubemonkey]

Desktop PC - primary PC & entertainment device (audio & video)

Netbook - secondary PC & entertainment device (audio & video)

Tablet PC = nookcolor - main computer when traveling

Pocket PC = iPod touch 4G - secondary computer when traveling

eReader = Kindle 3 - primary ereader

MP3 Player = Sansa Clip+ - primary device for music & audiobooks

Cell Phone - standard flip phone for calls and texting only

Camera = Panasonic Lumix - primary device for pictures

Pocket Camcorder = Kodak PlaySport - key advantage: it's waterproof

Television - small 7" is my only TV. I plan to eliminate TV service by the end of the month and rely on my PC's for all video. No DVD players, no gaming systems, no video boxes.

[ficbot]

laptop computer: I keep my Calibre library on my home computer, but I also occasionally read off a computer. If I am at school, the lab is sometimes the only place I can sit it I have a break, so I will sometimes read off the Smashwords website.

iPad: I use this mostly to display story books, powerpoint and video to my students when I teach, as well as keep all my MP3s for teaching music. I do read magazines on it in Zinio (or in iBooks if it's a scanned PDF) but I don't read novels on it.

Kindle: I read novels on it, and also use it when I read in French since I have loaded a dictionary for that which I can use with the built-in dictionary feature. I am also not a huge music person, so I use the text to speech feature to read at the gym, in lieu of an MP3 player.