I will admit to being something of a technology geek, but only from the perspective of a user. I don't care how it works, I care what I can do with it, and how it will improve and enhance my life.

Last year, I needed a new cell phone because mine had three cracks in the screen. The replacement phone was not a smart phone, but I was able to mobile blog with it via MMS messaging. It was a Motorola RIZR v3. The photos came out beautiful for a 2mpixel camera, and I was also able to send short videos to the blog. That phone was the reason I put over 16,000 posts on my blog inside of one year!

Well, because of the phone's inability to zoom without ending up with a pic that was a thumbnail in size, I still carried my regular camera with me. It's a Canon PowerShot G5 and it does video too. It has 16 x zoom but only 4 x of that is optical, so that sorta sucks. But otherwise, it is a great camera, and if you put a multi-gig card in it, you can shoot quite a lot of video. One big drawback is that it is a regular size camera, and therefore takes up a lot of room in my park touring bag, not to mention it is heavy if I leave it around my neck. I look at other people with these little slip-of-a-thing cameras with envy, but then I remember that they probably have only 2 or three megapixels.

A couple of months ago, I decided to change cell phone carriers. T-Mobile just wasn't cutting it in my neighborhood any more, and all my friends had AT&T and five bars all the time. I was tired of losing my signal when they all still had bars. So i switched, but could not use the RIZR with AT&T. They had a special going on and I got a refurbished Blackberry Curve for only $29.99!!!

Well, now that I have a QWERTY keyboard, I don't think I will EVER go back to a phone keyboard ever again! This makes mobile blogging SO much better! Also, I can use an email account to send stuff to the blog, instead of using MMS, which means I'm not really limited as to the size of the photo I am sending. Drawbacks - doesn't do video, and this particular 2mpixel camera isn't as good as the one in the RIZR. But it still does a good job. Still no better at zooming than the RIZR was.

Since the Blackberry was so cheap, I don't feel bad about looking for another device, but I cannot make up my mind. It seems like all the phones with the GREAT cameras with video in them don't have QWERTY keyboards, and all the ones with QWERTY keyboards don't have good cameras with video.

I want a device that does EVERYTHING, and does everything really well, and is in a small enough package to fit in my pocket with an enormous amount of storage and an awesome data plan.

Am I asking for too much?

Are there any more camera/phone/video/blogging geeks out there besides me?

Anyone shopping for a new phone? Anyone shopping for a new camera? How about these "flip" video cameras I keep hearing about - what's up with them?

What are you looking for most in your device? What are your pet peeves?

Would love to hear about what everyone is using or dreaming of buying one day. I think maybe exposure to everyone else's thoughts on this subject might help me to make some decisions.

Lucky, I wish I had your problem with too many fun toys around and wanting to combine them all in one

I'd say wait for apple to come out with their newest version of iPhone that slices, dices, does your laundry, and makes you a sandwich on demand, and picks your kids up from soccer practice, and if you act now, we'll even throw in a secone iPhone for half price! That's right, you get TWO of the same slicing and dicing and sandwich making action for such a GREAT DEAL. Get one for yourself and a friend!

*waves* Hi BellTinkR, friend

ah, but can it core a apple?

That is the question!

I know a few people that have the new 3G iPhone and they LOVE it. I say go with that.

I'm still not sure if I should go for the Iphone or the G1. I even tried to use a buying guide for camera phones but I'm still not a 100% sure which way to go. We will see, maybe I stay with my blackberry in the end.

I am nothing but impressed every time I get to see an iphone. There doesn't seem to be anything that it isn't good at. That is part of the reason that I can't wait to get my iTouch, because it is practically the same. If I was going to switch from Verizon I would go to AT&T so I could get the iphone, but for now, I am going to stay where I am and hope that when the exclusive deal with AT&T runs out, Verizon gets a version of the iphone for their network.

I agree Jeff, we really love the Iphone but AT & T doesn't cut do anything for me. Heard too many bad stories of service. I wish Verizon picked it up oh well

See, for the service, I think it's all about where you live. When I lived on Long Island, T-Mobile was da bomb, but once down here in SW Florida, it was dreadful.

I've had AT&T since last summer and nothing but wonderfulness.

I read the first post again, which was last October, and I want to let you all know what happened.

Shortly after that, I was in WDW for a week at a conference, happily mobile blogging along with my Blackberry 8310. One day that week, I got a text from my friend who said the Nokia E71 was in his Amazon GoldBox for some unbelievable price, and did I want him to pick it up for me? Well, it's build like a Blackberry with the qwerty keyboard and email and all, but has a better camera and video camera so I said, "hell, yes!".

And now that's what I use - Nokia E71. There are not too many applications that have been developed for it thus far, but I love it otherwise.

I am keeping my eyes open for the specs of the next generation iPhone. Just because I like toys, and there are tons of apps available for the iPhone.

I love my IPhone 3G and can't wait for the new software update this summer. I have had Sprint, Verizon and AT&T. Sprint was awful, Verizon was good, but I didnt like the phones they offered, so when the IPhone came out, I had to jump ship. AT&T is okay for service, but what it lacks in that department, the IPhone itself makes up for it. I have all the Disney park maps, Downtown Disney and WDW Secrets all as applicatons on my IPhone and I love them all!

Elliott you live in Ohio & you get good call service from AT& T? We live outside of Washington DC & my brother in law has an Iphone & get lousy service. Maybe it all those lawmakers thinking they are helping us the tax payer lol

It probably helps that I have a cell tower only about 1/2 mile away from my house!

mmm could be. We have Sprint & it is ok but the phones are lousy. I really want an Iphone but maybe wait until I get back from St Thomas to get one. Ty

I'm pretty geeky with cameras too. I think the one important factor people seem to overlook when looking for a camera would be the size of the camera sensor. DSLRs are usually equipped with cropped sensors and camera enthusiasts especially those who came from using Film cameras would really be disappointed with it.

So really, my dream camera would be any model that has a full frame sensor. Perhaps a Nikon D3s or the lovely Leica M9. Yes, I am in love with the Leica M9. That's how geeky I am about it. I believe it is more than just a camera. It is a work of art.