Flyer Kit – What to carry on Business travel

The benefits of USB-C are now finally realised…. I have switched from having a small USB charger and a PC powerbrick over to a single, powerful power supply to convert mains power to what I need for gadgets…

Tommox Power Center 4: https://www.tommox.com/usb-charger/48.html

Small size (a little bit bigger than my laptop “brick”, but with enough power to charge at max speed my laptop, phone, headhones, powerbank and Solis Roam (chained)

I have just switched to the Sony WX-1000XM3 wireless band style noise cancelling headphones.  They are amazingly good – and meet all my current requirements.

https://www.sony.co.uk/electronics/headband-headphones/wh-1000xm3

I was very happy with my Bose QC30 collar style headphones and my Samsung Level U Pro which were similar but less rugged and slightly better sound quality. Collar headphones can be worn almost all the time, and noise cancel while sleeping on your side, but the noise cancelling in an office or noisy street or even on the plane was not quite ideal. In addition they both use micro-USB which is away from my ideal of moving to USB-C for everything.

However, a pop-up Sony shop at Haneda (Tokyo) airport gave me a demo – and I was blown away by the improved sound quality, excellent noise cancellation and then the realization that they had USB-C charging.

Having used them now for more than two months – and about 4 long trips including a LHR-SIN-SYD-AKL run – I really love them. Enough to sacrifice the extra space they take in my bag (if not on my head!). They also keep my ears warm in winter when walking and the battery life is easily 24hrs.

Use as a handsfree device for phone: Excellent. Integration with Google Assistant: Good. “Cup hand” gesture control – slightly unreliable….

Reasons to change?  Hard to think of a reason – but if the NC could be even better, if they were waterproof or if they could wirelessly charge … that might be nice!

After a gap of more than 3 years, its time for a return to activity in 2018.

Lost of changes to document:
* Addition of Rimowa IATA Topas Titanium to the fleet (with rationalization)
* Change of laptop to Dell XPS13
* Switch to Galaxy Note 8
* USB C Charging strategy
* New Powerbank (USB C strategy)
* Bathbag change of strategy (and the 20cm rule for liquid bags …)
* The end of the tablet

coming soon …

I have started to see if I can use a Galaxy Note tablet to replace paper in my travel gear.

(1) Reduce bulk / hassle / untidyness
(2) Ensure all docs captured are synced to cloud and therefore recoverable on loss
(3) Read in the dark on flights
(4) Need less space on planes
(5) More secure vs printed dead tree
(6) nice to share with others or can add an HDMI lead & project

2 trips so far – and its looking good.

8-10hr battery life is fine – top up with Anker power pack if needed.
Use as quick email device as well – can be used while standing / eating – better than laptop, slightly better than phone.

Will let you know progress – the 12inch Note Pro is also tempting if it brings big productivity gains.

Having played with the Note 3 at a trade show, I was quite impressed, but a few moments using the S-Pen feature suddenly blew me away with the extra functionality:

– Handwrite notes on any screen or image and pass on to colleagues
– choose bits of web pages, maps, mail to collect in a scrapbook
– use the pen to enter text which is amazingly well converted to digital text (from writing)
– draw a rectangle and see an app appear in it as a floating window.

Finally, I just love the bigger screen, and the phone itself is still very pocketable,
yet you can use it “in flight” as a comfortable video viewing or kindle reading device.

Upgraded!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fe689kgpEIo