Until recently, Colm Hanratty had a dream job for anyone stricken with wanderlust. As editor of hostelworld.ie, he spent his days city-hopping. Hanratty is a brand ambassador for Microsoft. I met him to check out the Microsoft kit he's travelling with.
Surface RT
Microsoft is making a real effort to solve the play/work conundrum with the Surface. Running Office, it boasts the default work suite for most, with Word, Excel etc. Apple's recent moves with its own productivity apps recognises its weakness in this regard. The Windows 8 interface is smooth and intuitive. Add a brightly-coloured Touch or Type Cover and the Surface is all work – great for an avid blogger like Hanratty. But here's plenty of play in there too. The MicroSD slot means up 64GB of memory can be bolted on and though it looks thicker, it's as thin as an iPad.
From €480 at electronics stores
Nokia 1020
When it comes to travel, a phone's camera starts to take on a disproportionate importance. Nokia's 1020 has a very good camera. It's not all about the megapixels, but it can capture 41 a pop. There are all sorts of settings, filters and editing tools to play with, and so much raw picture, you can tweak and post to your heart's content. It's a fabulous compact camera, with a phone.
Price depends on mobile operator and plan
Travel App
Bing may not have set the world on fire as a Google-killing alternative search engine, but the Travel App it underpins is tasty. A couple of thousand destinations are sliced and diced, with peer reviews, travel tips, great shots and a cool panorama viewer. MS software may never have looked so good.
Tom Kelly
betweenideas.blogspot.com