Having the World at Your Fingers - Without the Weight on Your Shoulders

By Michael McLellan

Most business travelers don't get to spend their afternoons at hip coffee shops. Even with seemingly ubiquitous Wi-Fi (wireless fidelity) hotspots in major cities and so many smaller towns providing Internet access for mobile users, many business travelers need to stay connected to the corporate network at all times while on the road, not just during down times over lattes or espresso.

Yet toting a laptop and searching for a place to plug in is rapidly becoming a problem of the past, thanks to recent innovations with smart mobile phones and PDAs. These dynamic devices make taking care of business on the road easier by making essential business tasks possible and granting access to business-critical information, even when the user is far away from the home office.

Among the most critical functions that come standard with today's PDAs and smart phones is push email, which pushes email messages straight to your phone just like a regular SMS text message. Push email is critical for business users working away from the office. And really, why bring the laptop when you can send and receive full-sized emails (even with attachments) on a handheld device that can be connected anywhere anytime?

In addition to mobile messaging, most of today's handheld devices offer multiple ways to remain connected to vital information. This technology includes GSM, GPRS/EDGE, Bluetooth 1.2, Infrared and 802.11b Wi-Fi. This functionality allows users to access the corporate network for information or presentations that might be essential yet sensitive or highly confidential. The integrated range of technology allows business travelers to achieve nearly seamless mobility and connectivity regardless of their location. The various connection options can be turned off to conserve batteries and to let users operate the device like a regular PDA during flights.

But what could really propel the newest generation of PDAs ahead of laptops for good is increased multimedia functionality. Some current PDAs, such as Research-In-Motion's well-known BlackBerry, lack multimedia features. But it is not only young consumers that want to access or email video clips and pictures, such features are useful for corporate users as well. This has led manufacturers to begin offering a slew of multimedia features for their handhelds.

Today's PDAs make traveling for business a breeze. Minimal software configuration is required and configuring the email feature is painless.

Can your laptop take a picture of you and your newest client or customer, and then send it to your boss along with the contract? Lug the handheld PDA and leave the laptop at home next trip and free up your hands to carry other important traveling accessories such as your shoes, your belt, and your money for bottled water.