However, that hasn’t stopped us from getting things in order to make upcoming trips more enjoyable and functional.
When we were fulltimers back in 2002-03, we had one laptop and one cell phone with Sprint service. Back then, we mostly used libraries to access the internet. We eventually upgraded to SnapDialer software that allowed our cell phone to be used as a modem, getting something like a whopping 14.4 kb speed. It was excruciatingly slow. But, with patience, we could access our emails and surf the web.
Our friends used PocketMail to send their emails out. They would type their messages into a little contraption and then take it to a payphone, dial a number and hold it up to the phone and the emails would be sent like magic. I never did figure out how that worked!
My, how things have changed! Mobile technology has improved significantly since then. Being a full timer right now must be so much fun with all the options for communicating.
We’ve been in upgrade mode and have made some new purchases, all with the mobile lifestyle in mind.
1) New laptop
We recently purchased the MSi Wind netbook. Weighing in at only 2.6 lbs, it's an ideal netbook to take on RV trips.
We purchased the one with the 6 cell battery for less than $400 online. The 3 cell battery version is available for under $300, but we liked the idea of a 5+ hour battery life. The MSi Wind comes with a webcam, 160G hard drive, 3 USB ports, 1.6ghz Intel Atom processor. And a big plus, it's on XP.
Oh, and it even came with its own darling little leather laptop carrying case.
The keyboard is just big enough to make typing not just possible, but pleasurable. We tried out the smaller netbooks but had issues with typing. The only strange thing is that the function and control buttons are swapped on the lower left part of the keyboard.
So far, it's been great for checking email, Tweeting, word processing and watching videos online.
And it will be the perfect, mobile laptop for traveling.
2) New phones
We’re on the Sprint network. And while I like the idea of lots of bells and whistles, I don’t normally use everything that a gadget is for, so I ended up going “flashy” and got the Samsung Instinct. I check my emails, take photos and video, listen to music, use the notepad, and, of course, talk on mine. Web surfing is still tricky.
Boy Bird opted for the bells and whistles with the Blackberry Curve 8330. In fact, he’s kind of addicted to it. He takes it everywhere with him and uses it for listening to podcasts, checking email, the news and the weather, putting dates in the calendar, watching pixilated Sprint TV, taking photos and video and sending word documents. He rarely uses it for talking.
One thing we didn’t worry about when it came to these phones was whether they were WIFI enabled. We figured that we could get the phones we really had our eyes on because we got the MSi Wind.
We also upgraded our Sprint Aircard that we use to access the internet on our laptop. Our previous Aircard was two years old, and this one, theoretically, should work better.
Soon, we will get to put these in action. Until then, we’ll get to have fun planning it all!
