As my regular reader will know I have a bit of a thing for gadgets. I am tempted to buy a new one, the Toshiba TG01. There are a few things that tickle my fancy about this phone: a 4.1inch 800x480 screen, a 1GHz CPU, a whizzy GPU and an accelerometer plus all of the other features of my current Xperia X1. However, it does not have a keyboard, it has an onscreen one.

The partner has constantly been going on and on to me about how I should be buying an iPhone as he likes his so much. One of the reasons I’ve given is that I don’t like onscreen keyboards. I also think the screen on the iPhone has a pretty ropey resolution. When I had my Nokia N800 internet tablet the first accessory I got for it was a Bluetooth keyboard. I briefly had an HTC Touch Diamond and didn’t really like it as it had an onscreen keyboard and even the larger one it came with that was designed for its high resolution display was poor.

Before all of these I had an i-mate Jasjar (a rebranding of the HTC Universal). OK, it was a brick, but I loved its high resolution display and its keyboard. Why did I stop using it? Because I knackered it installing custom ROMs. Ah well…

So has technology moved on far enough for onscreen keyboards to be useful? Some people think so, maybe I should give them another try. One of the good things about the TG01 is that it has USB host capabilities and Bluetooth so if I really want to type a lot I can attach a keyboard.

One of the things that strikes me about phones like the TG01, and I would include the iPhone in that list, is that they are mature, convergent devices. They are phones, media players, gaming devices, internet tablets, navigation tools, cameras, PIMs and work tools. Little, connected computers in your pocket, basically. Speaking as a superannuated toddler I remember when such things were science fiction.

Thanks to my new purchase, a stereo bluetooth headset for my Jasjar, I can now make telephone calls using Butter. I just attach the microphone to his shirt and stick the headphones in my ears:

I can also give Butter commands to play music and navigate the web thanks to the power of voice recognition. I wonder what people would think if I walked around apparently chatting to my teddy bear.

I've got my wonderful toy back. My i-mate Jasjar PDA and 3G phone has been returned without a huge bill. Hooray!

I am round the neighbours at the moment, still not feeling safe. At least I can now check email and generally keep in touch whilst on the move.

I've reported on my wonderful toy, an I-Mate Jasjar, here in the past. Last thing I reported was that it had gone tits up due to clumsy toddler handling. I got a bill for repair the other day. Five hundred quid! Needless to say, this is beyond the amount of change I have in my piggy bank so I will have to remain toy-less. When my current mobile contract expires I may well get a new one.

Once again my lovely toy is broken. It is incredibly irritating. At least the SIM card works in my old 2G phone so I will not be out of touch. However, this means no posts on the blog whilst I am travelling until I can get it fixed.

I am just testing to see if I can post blog entries from my PDA. If I can I salute the mystic power of mobile internet access.=

My groovy i-mate Jasjar has been returned to me. Well, I am not sure it is that groovy as it is quite large and I look a bit of an arse when I hold the large block up to my ear to make calls. What I am still yet to try is the wi-fi ability it has. I am hoping to be able to update the spume of drivel when I am on the go thanks to its wireless ability. Not that really much happens to me when I am out and about, but rest assured if something amusing happens whilst I am in range of a hot-spot you, dear reader, will be the first to read my toddler-esque rantings.

My brilliant new toy has gone tits up. I am severely vexed, I don't mind telling you. I'd hardly played with it, only used it as a telephone and not used the 'oh fancy' features like wireless networking or Skype. Now it is dead and I am fuming whilst waiting for a reply from the local service centre. How is a toddler supposed to take pictures and update his drivelly blog on the go without a whizzy PDA/mobilephone?

My excuses for avoiding writing for the spume of drivel on my many trips and sojourns in novel locations have just decreased. I've got a new toy. When new SIM card with new telephone number activates I should be able to post to the spume of drivel no matter where I am or what I am doing. I imagine it'll all be pretty banal.