Weighty world of wireless wonders

When you’re as connected as Doug Jensen, space can be as important a commodity as bandwidth.

“It all gets a little cumbersome,” says the Boston computer scientist and self-described “gadget king.” “I have the RIM in my shirt pocket and the cell phone on my right pants waist and the pager on my left pants waist. I sometimes carry the Palm/Ominisky in a jacket pocket, but usually it’s in my briefcase.”

That’s just the half of it. Jensen is such a gizmo junkie that keeping track of all the devices – never mind making sure they’re all properly running – can amount to a part-time job in itself. This week, he offers a rare look at his tech arsenal and answers questions about the contraptions he travels with, a fascinating exercise that suggests space is, indeed, the traveler’s final frontier.

Here’s what a “gadget king” like Jensen carries:

A Nokia 8860 cell phone. Cost: about $700 from AT&T, plus the airtime plan. Why? “It’s as small as they come, and it’s very cool looking,” he says. “It clips on your belt or pants horizontally instead of vertically, which turns out to be a good idea ergonometrically speaking.” Downside: The audio power is a little weak and the phone doesn’t drive a third-party headset effectively.

A RIM 850 wireless Internet appliance. Cost: about $300 from GoAmerica plus a service plan. Why? “It’s about the size of a pager and fits in a shirt pocket,” says Jensen. “It has a tiny but very usable keyboard – you use your thumbs while holding it with both hands, or if you’re very dexterous, one thumb while holding it in that hand. And it synchronizes with a PC using a cradle.” Downside: It doesn’t combine conventional pager functionality with Internet access, meaning you need to buy a separate pager.

A Palm V+ PDA with Minstrel CDPD modem. (The Palm V is a personal digital assistant; the modem offers 19.2 KB Internet access to any ISP e-mail account and to the Web using a 3rd party Palm V browser) Cost: about $500 for the Palm V+, and about $300 for the modem, plus the airtime service plan. Why? “I like the combination of the Palm V and the Minstrel modem better than the Palm VII,” he says. “I can read my e-mail better than with the RIM 850, but the combination of the Palm V and the CDPD modem are too thick and heavy for a shirt pocket but can fit in a jacket pocket – or, of course, a briefcase. Downside: writing e-mail may be a little tricky on the Palm V setup and connection speeds leave something to be desired.

Motorola PF1500 two-way alphanumeric pager with SkyWord Plus, a nationwide, toll-free number, operator dispatch, SkyReply, SkyMail, and SkyNews. Cost: about $135, not including the service plan. Why? “It receives numeric or text pages. Pages can be sent by calling a toll-free number and entering a numeric message or voicemail or dictating to an operator,” says Jensen. “I can retrieve my pages and manage my service with that same number; pages can be sent to me from SkyTel’s Web site or by e-mail; I can send back one of nine canned replies to the caller’s e-mail or SkyTel pager; people can send me the nine canned choices when they send the page. Et cetera, et cetera.” Enough, already. Downside: So far, none.

Jensen’s traveling laptop computer varies. Sometimes he carries a Sony Vaio PictureBook C1XS with Sierra Wireless Aircard 300 CDPD PCMCIA modem in addition to the built in wireline modem and a 10/100 PCMCIA LAN card. Cost: the C1XS and all its accessories came to about $4600; the AirCard cost about $400, plus airtime. Why? “The AirCard is worth its weight in gold, at least,” he says. “You can never find a telephone jack in meeting rooms or airports, or wherever. Even AC outlets are often impossible to find. Other times, my big heavy ThinkPad 770Z is just what I need.” Downside: The price.

One of the first things I wondered about when I found out about Jensen’s tech setup was the privacy issue. With practically no excuse to be “out of touch,” do all of these wireless gadgets slowly drive him mad?

“No, I don’t have a privacy problem,” he says. “No one asked or told me to have and use all this stuff. I want to be accessible, especially to my management and colleagues when I travel. If I want to be out of touch, I turn them off.”

What about the care and feeding of the machines? I imagine that keeping all the batteries charged is like baby-sitting a problem child. But Jensen says it isn’t that bad. “I carry two spare batteries with my C1XS in my briefcase, along with the AC adapter and a custom-made auto and air adapter – Sony won’t let anyone use their proprietary C1XS power connector,” he notes. “Batteries are not really a big problem for me.”

I know what you’re thinking. How much does all of this weigh?

A lot. “By now you might deduce that I am not one of those light travelers,” answers Jensen. “Despite traveling very extensively, I carry a lot of stuff and I think it’s worth it. My ‘briefcase’ is actually a computer case with wheels. Loaded, it weighs maybe 30 pounds. Often, I have a second carry-on that is another computer case, but a little smaller and lighter in the event that it has to go under the seat in front of me.”

He says the worst place to travel with all of these gizmos is in Europe, where he describes carryon rules as “anal retentive.”

This isn’t the first time I’ve examined the space concerns regarding travel technology. I wrote about weighty laptops in 1999 and carryon troubles for road warriors the year before that in this column’s predecessor. What amazes me is that even though the PDAs and laptops that we carry are getting lighter and smaller, our luggage is becoming heavier. Last year, for example, I profiled one traveler who carried a single setup weighing about 30 pounds – but Jensen’s could very well tip the scales at 50 pounds with all the adapters, spare batteries and wires.

Is that progress? I’d like to know what you think. Is technology moving two steps forward and one step back? Is it something you – or your chiropractor – is worried about?

Christopher Elliott is the author of Scammed: How to Save Your Money and Find Better Service in a World of Schemes, Swindles, and Shady Deals. Critics have called it “eye-opening” and “inspiring” — it’ll “grab your attention and won’t let go.” Order your copy now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble or iTunes.

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