... or things that I would love to have and use but I'd better not right now... appearance in random order:
Pending
- Bellroy Hide & Seek wallet; because it looks convenient, vintage and classy!
- Microsoft Surface Tablet: What makes this tablet different from the existing ones is the smart cover/keyboard which turns the tablet into an ultrabook! This is really unique and surely useful when you want to write long texts (and the on-screen soft keyboard is not that convenient). On top of that it is Windows 10-powered (I never managed to be really productive using Android tablets...), so 100% compatible with my other laptops. A nice alternative could be Lenovo Yoga 13 but still it is also priced way too high...I already own a Turbo-X Wintab 2 in 1 Ī¤ablet 10.1" WiFi; however, while it is decent solution for traveling / business trips I could do better with a high-quality/high-spec/larger screen one :-)
- Any ultrabook with a screen size up to 13.3-inch. I travel a lot and I currently need a powerful and portable at the same time laptop in order to perform basic but useful functions during my trips, like document editing and creation of presentations, surfing the web, Skype calls. My netbook (Acer Aspire One 751h) is small and portable, with a long-lasting battery (still more than 3,5 hours after 5 years of use) but it usually exhibits performance issues especially when I need to present something to colleagues or to do some multitasking. This time I am not willing to sacrifice performance over price, so I am willing to wait until I find a nice deal on an actually useful laptop/ultrabook.
- What's a Disorganized Person to Do? [Paperback]: This will really help be more organized in various aspects (not work-wise). I like reading books anyway, and this looks really useful!
- Rollei Sportsline 62 Dual digital camera. Looks fun, sturdy and is waterproof! It must be great for outdoors use during summer and the front LCD screen will make funny self-portraits with the family a piece of cake! It will also be a nice toy for my two sons, who are not really careful with my electronic devices, so I need something really tough apart from water-resistant in this case!
Purchased/Dismissed:
- da Nomad Bag: I am already a happy owner of a dAPRO Digital Artistic Backpack , but it is quite limiting due to its dimension and sometimes (especially during trips or long days away from home) I need something larger. My previous one is rather worn-out and torn is some spots, due to the heavy weights carried during the last years. This one (or any similar, with various internal pockets and spaces - I love them!) looks nice for a commuter like myself, fitting a lot of things inside. It's rather expensive though: €60 for the bag and 20+ for shipping is really too much... I really need to get my hands on this one though, as I need a durable, waterproof and spacious bag for my daily commuting! A more professional alternative could be the Deuter Giga rucksack, which I recently saw in a shopping catalogue during a flight and seems to meet all m requirements. UPDATE: After visiting a Lufthansa Worldshop and failing to find the Deuter bag, I ended up with a Lufthansa Boeing 747-8 Collection Backpack. It looks more or less like the Deuter one, fits a 17-inch laptop and has plenty of space and pockets for organizing my staff when travelling. I considered this as an early Christmas gift for myself, in order to feel less guilty for purchasing the bag on the fly (Dec. 2012)!
- Logitech Bluetooth Multi-Device Keyboard K480: It seems that while I enjoy the performance of my 10,1-inch Windows laptop, its keyboard is one of its weak points (small and "bubbly" keys, that make typing fast a challenge). This one can be used instead, doubling as a tablet stand and bluetooth keyboard; it is slightly larger, too. An alternative would be Microsoft Foldable Keyboard: Because it is really portable and can be used with any tablet, smartphone and even laptop, making typing easier. High quality and usability; however, I would also need a stand for my tablet in this case. UPDATE: I finally made the move and got myself the K480; it has been extensively used for both professional (e.g. using social media during Conferences & Workshops) and personal (during holidays or the occasional trips to a nearby cafe) purposes and it is one of the best purchases I've ever made!
- Energizer® XP2000K Power Kit: I usually carry a lot of gadgets around with me (both daily and during my business trips), such as mobile phone, tablet, mp3 player etc. This also raises the need to carry a lot of cables and chargers with me most of the times (micro-usb/mini-usb, standard) while I may run out of battery in at least in one of my gadgets right when I mostly need it! I believe that this compact power-pack will save me in various cases (e.g. while waiting for a delayed flight a the airport or when forgetting the charger/cable pack of one of my gadgets). UPDATE: I purchased a 5,000 mAh power bank by Xiaomi; it is not as fancy as the Energizer Power Kit but surely does the job. It is compact, sturdy (sporting an aluminum case), and fully charges my smartphone pretty quickly. Nothing more than that.
- Lenses for my new camera (Olympus E-PM1): Since I am shooting mostly landscapes, I would like to have a wide-angle lens; however, they seem too expensive compared to the camera itself! One workaround would be the WCON-P01 Wide-Angle Converter, which seems to do a decent job for its money. In addition, I would like to get my hands on one really special lens for everyday use, which is the Olympus Body Cap Lens 15mm F8 | BCL-1580; a compact, not really bright lens which makes the camera really portable and produces some really interesting photos, with a special "mood". The latter is really popular and has its own big community of fans! UPDATE: After getting a Panasonic Lumix 14mm/f2.5, which is almost always paired to my E-PM1 and wide enough, I believe that there is no need for another wide-angle lens; maybe one for portraits though (about 45mm).
- Any high-quality digital camera. My old and trustworthy Olympus E-300 is currently out of order after misuse during an event organized by my company and I am not sure if it will be worthy for me to pay for servicing it instead of buying a new one...I need something more portable and as high-quality as my E-300 for daily use. UPDATE: After a long time of inactivity, we finally managed to try to repair the camera; however, this was not possible so I ended up with a display model of an Olympus E-PM1 Double Zoom kit at a really attractive price! Thanks AK for the reimbursement!
- Klean Kanteen Water Bottles: I have to admit I am a sucker for water bottles in general, and I already have an excellent "Klean Kanteen Insulated" for commuting and driving/riding during the hot summer days. I was thinking of getting a couple of them for my kids, too, so I spotted the Baby Bottle for the young one and the green "Kid Kanteen Sport" for the older one. As for me? I would go for the green "I love boobies" one, in order to support the "Keep a breast" foundation, or alternatively the "Plastic Sucks" special edition, elegant one. Why haven't I bought them yet? They're rather expensive in Europe, let alone Greece...and the P&P expenses are also horrible! UPDATE: I bought two Wide-neck 350ml bottle Sports top for my kids in a really attractive price, so it should be fine for them - the old one is already using his own! I may also opt for one of the bigger bottles (e.g this one) for me, as the price difference is significant...
- dAPRO Digital Artistic Backpack: I always carry a backpack with me daily and this one really looks better than the one I currently own. Smart space allocation, convenient pockets that fit almost everything I carry with me, waterproof cover and in addition it looks great! It's rather pricey for me though... additional info here: http://news.deviantart.com/article/126192/ UPDATE: B-day gift from my colleagues (Sept. 2011) !
- HTC Flyer: I am still not sure whether I should go for a 7- or 10-inch tablet, but my favourite 7-inch model is the HTC Flyer. Not only I have a great experience from other HTC products in terms of quality, robustness and usability, but this tablet comes with a number of advantages over its competitors. However, its price in Greece is almost 2.5x the price in U.S., so I will have to wait for that as well... UPDATE: I got tired of waiting for a price-drop for HTC Flyer so I purchased Lenovo A1 with less than half the money and I am pretty pleased with it so far!
- WD My Passport Essential 500 GB External hard drive - 5.0 Gbps (SuperSpeed USB): This one is a must: Really portable hard drive, small and light, trustworthy according to reviews. Looks ideal for storing my emails and a backup of working documents (maybe a couple of movies and photos, too for these long business trips!). I will get my hands on this one pretty soon I hope. UPDATE: I bought it pretty soon. More compact than I could imagine, but I was still missing a way to used it for storing my Windows Live Mail inbox and sync my different laptops... in the end I finally dropped Windows Live Mail Desktop for a portable version of Thunderbird, and I am really pleased so far with my mobile email solution!
- Getting Things Done: How to Achieve Stress-free Productivity [Paperback]: I think I need this to me more organized in my work... with all these tasks and deadlines running around all the time, it is not always easy to keep things organized. Looks like a valuable weapon in my arsenal! UPDATE: I finally bought it and it looks pretty nice, but I never had the time to go through it during the last months... time organization epic fail!
- A Windows Phone 8-powered mobile phone: My youngest son managed to cripple my LG Optimus 7 mobile phone (running Windows Phone 7.8) by removing the most useful button of my mobile phone (the Windows one). Even though the phone is still usable, it has lost a lot of its usability due to this fact; apart from that it still holds well. I plan to upgrade it to a Nokia Lumia mobile phone in the next months, after my LG passes away. UPDATE: After a market research for a couple of months, I got myself a Nokia Lumia 720; one of the best purchases I have made during the last years. Battery lasts for at least 2 days, large screen, Windows Phone 8, fast and user-friendly.
