I just got back from Singapore with my new kool gadget. It is called an o2 atom and uses windows mobile 5. I have a 2 gig mini SD card in it at this time. Check it out at www.seeo2.com This is where phones will eventually go IMHO. Surfing the net is fast w/ its built in wifi feature and the windows mobile media player is much more functional than most mp3 players, including the ipod. For example I record a lot of digital radio from cable and XM radio. I can easily skip over songs I don`t like. It is just like the WMP on a PC. The videogame graphics are excellent. Close to the sony psp. The pool game is too kool. I can see some room for improvement with the whole unit but it gives a good idea as to where they are going with handheld devices. It was very buggy until I upgraded the rom from o2`s website. Also the camera is pretty poor. The resolution of the screen is good but is not on par with the best screen out there made by Sharp on the 903sh. When San Disk gets a 4-8gig SD card out at a reasonable price then this type of device will put a major dent in the mp3 market. Streaming tv and internet media is quite good with a wifi connection. It is pretty spectacular to behold the media power and information from such a small device. The o2 doesn`t fell clunky like a big pda and doesn`t look or feel like a brick when you put it next to your ear. I also have a set of iTech bluetooth headphones that works with the phone. I can listen to music or watch a video on the device and when a phone call comes in I can press a button on the headphones to answer the call. When the call concludes it goes back to playing my music. The bluetooth headset also lets me walk around the house, listen to music or talk on the phone with out holding the phone.

On another note my sony vaio tx-650 worked great on my 14 hour plane ride from Singapore via HK to the States. I have the extended life battery and it lasted me through 6 episodes of Rome, a movie and still had life to spare. I flew on a United 747 and they had a real poor In flight entertainment. They had the big screen and some other poor resolution tv`s mounted on the ceiling. I was talking to a stewardess and she said United was in the process of refitting the United 747 fleet with a new system with screens mounted in each seat back. She said that United was spending more on these luxuries now that they are coming out of bankruptcy. Regardless of the poor IFE the plane was packed and the airports were busy.

I am still hopefull edig will find a niche and make some money with media and handheld devices. Right now though Microsoft is at it again.