Dosboy's Bits and Bytes

It seems that all of this purging of material goods has caught up with me. I feel an overwhelming desire to get a new phone. It's funny what tech lust will do to you (or me anyway) though. Initially I had the following requirements for a new phone:

• Good quality camera with flash
• MP3 playback
• External storage
• Ebook reader
• GSM

Also I'd like to keep it under $300, preferrably under $200. So I started searching and researching and googling and forum posting and price checking. And though I can find phones that meet those requirements and come in around the $250-$300 mark, I stumbled across the following uber-geeky device today that has me drooling.

That's right folks. It's a Watch Phone with integrated camera. It seems there's actually quite a few of these on the market right now (at least if you're willing to order from some sketchy Chinese online retailer). But seriously, isn't this just the sexiest geek watch you've ever seen? 1.5" touchscreen when you flip it open. Plays MP3s and MP4s. Built in Bluetooth and includes a Bluetooth stereo headset. Ebook reader. 1.3 MP camera. Ok, so it's definitely lacking in the camera department, but if I might be so bold as to justify this purchase, it would be one less thing that I had to "carry" (assuming wearing on my wrist doesn't constitute carrying), so I would probably bring my camera out more often. And it's just so damn sexy (in an obviously geeky and non-sexual way). Sure, there are some that are less obviously geeky and look more like a sporty Timex or Casio, but none of them have a physical dialpad. And dialing a number on a 1.5" screen using a stylus would suck, or so I believe. Actually, there is one other model with an integrated dialpad, but it's more expensive. And honestly I think it looks like a calculator watch from the 80's, only with futuristic styling.


At least the M350 (or U200i as it's referred to elsewhere on the 'net) looks relatively normal when it's closed.


So anyway, now I have to decide if geeking up a bit is worth it, or if I should just stick with my crappy Nokia. Cuz really, am I gonna read an ebook on a 1.5" screen? Actually, I probably would, but I'm weird that way. At the end of the day it's really just an excuse to geek it up a bit and live a dream that I've had ever since I was a child, that of having a wrist communicator. Worst case scenario it's useless and I'm out $170. Best case scenario I can read some books on it without somehow destroying my vision and it's a decent quality phone.

Assuming I don't go this route I'll probably end up with a Sony Ericsson K800i or K810i. 3.2 MP CyberShot (so decent quality) camera being the draw there. But that'll cost me more and amuse me less. Function or flash... What is a recovering geek to choose?