This was my life before I bought a Palm Treo. I had a gadget or device for everything. 

If I needed to make or receive phone calls while I was away from my desk, I carried a cell phone.

In order to stay on top of my appointments, I had a PDA. 

If I wanted to listen to music while I was at the gym, I had an mp3 player. 

And occasionally I make voice memos with a digital voice recorder whenever I have an idea, or am told something that I don't want to forget.

And if I wanted to take a photo, I needed to have my digital camera.

That's a lot of stuff to have to carry around.

I considered getting a Batman Utility Belt to carry it all. You can imagine the look on the face of the borrowers if I walked into a closing wearing one.

There must be a simpler way.

That's what prompted me to buy a smartphone -- namely the Palm Treo 700p.

I wanted to simplify the way I do things.  The Treo does it all, and more. 

I also wanted to have the ability to use my laptop computer to download files from the internet when I'm away from my office, without having to find a Wi-Fi hotspot. 

It takes the place of a PC card. One less item that I would have to carry around.

It took me a while to embrace the idea of owning a smartphone.  I was always leery of all-in-one devices. But now that I have one, it's hard to imagine being without it.  I considered getting a 'Crackberry', but I already have so many applications for the Palm, so the Treo was the logical choice.

Why the chess board?

That's something else I can do with my Treo. No need to carry around a chess set.

"How about a nice game of chess?"