Weekend Use of the Q1P

This weekend I took my Q1P with me, something I usually do not do. On Saturday, I was taking my car to a body shop to get an estimate on a paint job. The place was recommended by a coworker but is an hour away. Afterward I was planning on going into Manhattan to look at apartments. So I took the Q1P with me to use as a map in case I got lost going to the body shop and also to use to browse internet sites that list apartments.

I had no problems finding the body shop so I did not need to power up the Q1P and the GPS receiver but it was nice to have it just in case. However I did use it to check apartment listings after the realtor for the one apartment I was planning to see informed me that apartment was taken. After checking other listings, I did not see any others that caught my interest, so I was able to save a trip into the city.

Today I went into the city to have Dim Sum in Chinatown with friends. After arriving at the address I found the restaurant out of business. But just to make sure, I powered up my Q1P, went to Google Maps and typed in the address that I had to confirm that I was indeed at the right location. I was and the place apparently had gone out of business! But it was a blessing in disguise as we went to another place that had dumplings to die for.

While the UMPC came in handy today, I think a smart phone or blackberry would have been better. With their smaller form factor, they are pocketable and boot up times are much quicker than for a hibernating UMPC. Though on Saturday, it was nice to have the larger screen to surf the apartment listings.