In my early days at Try and Byte, as a junior email manager, my dream was to have this Sony CLIE PDA. Practically, it made sense to have my calendar, email, and notes with me. On an emotional level, it just looked cool.
I ended up having one to play with for a week, and the dream quickly died - Wi-Fi was almost non-existent, the software was clunky, and it didn't sync with anything.
Fast-forward 20 years to today, with the rise of tablets, phones, and laptops, PDAs are extinct. But that yearning for that CLIE lived on.
When I travel for conferences, I pack light and travel with carry-on luggage. Technology-wise, I pack the minimum (14" MacBook Pro, Kindle Scribe, and iPhone). Should I need to type out an email or notes, I have to take out my MacBook Pro, which is suboptimal for an economy-class traveller or in a rush at an airport lounge.
This changed when Twelve South released the Curve Nano, an ultra-compact MagSafe stand. It is about the size of a business card and can hold my iPhone in landscape and portrait modes.
Combined with a portable keyboard, I thought I could recreate that CLIE dream and have a comfortable typing setup.
The keyboard I selected was this iClever one from Amazon, which folds in thirds and works well. Everything fits inside a roughly A5 sized Long Weekend Zip Pouch (link below) along with other small items.
And the result? With Gmail, NotePlan, and iA Writer, the setup worked well. Pairing the keyboard is easy, and it worked seamlessly. If I had to nitpick, the keyboard has a slightly bowed shape on a table, which was a minor annoyance (in both practical and aesthetic ways).
Despite this, I happily used this setup to get a good number of emails out in an airport lounge.
Did it give me that dream PDA feeling in the end? Almost. I think if I had a smaller keyboard to make a tiny laptop with the Curve Nano, I'd be closer.
The Twelve South Curve Nano was a great addition to my travel setup, I used it for:
- My tiny computer setup.
- A tripod for taking timelapses.
- Selfie stick.
- Stand for FaceTime and YouTube viewing.
- Gaming with a Bluetooth controller.
Want to try it out for yourself? Grab a Twelve South Curve Nano here.
