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I’ll come clean and say that part of the reason I carry so much kit is that I can. The digital camera comes along because I have become rather interested in photography since being able to experiment more with a digicam than I ever could before. I think I’m a better photographer now than I was, and I enjoy taking photos. Nothing wrong with that, it’s a hobby.

I’ll also accept that I could consolidate things a bit, but not to the point where I am in a ‘one size fits all’ situation for anything except the ‘day or night out’.

For example, I increasingly use the excellent TextMaker on my Pocket PCs for writing documents. The software lets me save to Word 6 or RTF format ready for emailing, which is great, but the ergonomics can be difficult. I can only use a PDA and keyboard in situations where a table is available. Often I need to write in places where my lap is my table, and only a notebook or the Psion 7 are practical.

So ‘fit for purpose’ is often as much about the ergonomics of use (screen size, data entry capability, physical conditions of use) as it is about the actual capabilities of a device.

Which is where we come on to feature bloat.

Just because, dear hardware and/or software manufacturer, you make a device capable of something, doesn’t mean anyone is going to make use of that feature.

Think about watches and pens with built in USB storage, for example. Watches and pens, both good, USB storage also good, but together in the same device - Why? Is the whole better than the sum of its parts – unlikely.

Once when I was young I was given a pen with a digital clock built into it. You could hold down a button to see the date, and there was even an alarm. It seemed amazing at first, but quickly lost its appeal. I can’t remember how much I checked the time or date, but I’d guess not a lot. I do remember that the clock technology made the pen top heavy and it failed to sit easily in my hand.

I was reminded of the pen by Fossil’s Wrist PDA. I have a sample in the cupboard, of course, but I don’t use it because, actually, a watch doesn’t seem like an appropriate place to store my calendar and contacts.

But some combinations that seem unlikely at the time work really, really well in practice. I have a Swissbit Victorinox mini pocket knife which boasts mini knife, nail file, scissors, pen, torch and 128MB USB key drive. Pretty much every element of this little gem has proved useful at some point and it is a regular travel companion.

Great as it is, this gadget could have easily been ruined by feature bloat. The addition of more utility-knife type gadgetry, or the dreaded timepiece/alarm, for example, would have added little but bulk and power drain.

I kinda feel the same way about mobile devices. I’m happy to carry several as long as they are all fit for the purposes for which I am using them. I don’t want to hunch over a tiny keyboard if I don’t have to, or live with a low resolution screen if a high res one is better for my eyes, or to scroll around reading Web pages on a 2.2in screen if a 3.5in one is an option.

So come on, hardware manufacturers, advertising copywriters, operating system producers, software developers. Stop trying to convince me that there is sonic screwdriver out there for me. It’s not true today, and it won’t be true tomorrow.

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