One Size Doesn't Fit All, But We're Working On It!

It's hard to be outdoorsy in an electronics age. Heck, it's hard to live in an electronics age, period, where you have a gadget for everything, and a different battery and charger and memory card for every gadget. It's an exhausting, expensive, and dare I say... cluttered existence.

And if you want to carry all that crap with you when you go somewhere? Forget it. Thank goodness today's designers are making electronics more universal - one device, multiple functions, yay! (Bless you, Blackberry and pals.)

I can't tell you how happy I am to finally have a phone with email and media and a really great camera function. There was a time capturing a breathtaking view I'd spent hours hiking to was worth hauling the weight of my best SLR up the trail, but no more. Since I got a phone with a decent camera feature, most of the time my heavy SLR - heck, even my pocket-sized Canon - stays at home.

My phone is lighter, and has significantly better battery life. And let's face it, I'm carrying it with me already.

Surprisingly, I'm more than happy with the quality of the the photos produced by my 2-megapixel phone. I just haven't been happy with the lengths I've had to go to to get them off my phone. Bluetoothing them over one-by-one is a pain-in-the-neck, and MMS/email isn't really an option for me, based on my data plan and the snap-happy way I approach creating a visual record of an event.

Which brings me to my latest, neatest purchase. (You knew I'd ramble there eventually.)

I bought a Duracell Micro SD Universal Bundle. For less than fifteen bucks, I got a 2GB Micro SD card I can insert in my phone, greatly expanding storage space for photos, mp3s, etc., plus three adapters: Mini SD, full-sized SD and USB. It also came with a hard plastic clamshell case just big enough to hold all three adaptors, which I've found to be suprisingly resilient, sturdy, and water-resistent. (Don't ask how I know this - I'm rough on sensitive electronic equipment.)

Moving photos now is a breeze! I just eject my Mini and slide it into whatever adaptor best suits my needs, and use the adaptor as I would a regular version of that size card. So far, I've found the USB adaptor to be the most versatile, enabling me easily connect to my PC, my laptop, my printer, and just about any photo kiosk in retaildom.

Recently, I ran out of space on the full-sized card in my good camera while at my sister's wedding. I ejected my Mini SD from my phone, plugged it into the full-sized adapter, and voila, it got me through the reception.

Fifteen bucks was a small price to pay to achieve a sort of harmony between all my gadgets and necessaries.

Now, if I could just get a universal car charger for my phone, my iPod, and my GPS...