I recently went to Bohol for the PSITE Convention’s JEDI Night, an annual event where we honor faculty members, from different colleges and universities, who support the JEDI project. Normally, I bring my Macbook Pro even for just a short 4-day trip. This time, however, I opted not to.

Armed with an iPhone 3GS, a Google Nexus One and a Panasonic Lumix LX3, I figured that these gadgets are enough for my needs. The LX3 covered all my photo and video requirements - though I wish that I had my EyeFi card for instant photo upload.

It would have been close to useless considering that the hotel wifi was not really that fast - and in addition, it was only available at the lobby and restaurant, none in the rooms. Major fail in my book.

The iPhone 3GS has a Globe postpaid SIM and the Nexus One has a Smart prepaid SIM -- to be sure that I get full coverage on Panglao Island. Unfortunately, both have spotty coverage at the hotel (Flushing Meadows). Nevertheless, I still opted for a 5-day (or was that 7-day) unlimited surfing deal with Smart. Globe has no equivalent offer - it requires you to pay 1200 Pesos a month, even if you do not need it. Another failure in my book!

The iPhone 3GS covered all my needs, with the Nexus One taking over every time the Globe signal fades, which was pretty often, or when I am away from WiFi coverage. I was able to monitor all my e-mailboxes, send/received tweets and updated my Facebook page. Heck, with DocumentsToGo, I was able to create a document and sent it as attachment to email. Cool, huh? :D You won’t expect to write a novel using the phone, of course.

During my down-time, the iPhone acted as an iPod - serving me with all the podcasts that I have downloaded before the trip. Good thing, though, that you can now download podcasts straight from the internet to the iPhone. Video, however, is a different story - the wifi and 3G connections were just too slow. I should have brought the cable to hook up the iPhone to the TV, though.

The iPhone served as my gaming device, too. “Brains” echoed in my room for several hours. Couldn’t remember how many zombies I killed before sleeping at night.

Don’t count the Nexus One out just yet. It served its purpose as my main Google Reader. With unlimited surfing, I get all the updates pushed (or pulled) to the phone. Pretty neat, really. With a higher resolution camera, it also served as my video camera that streamed videos on the internet via Qik.com.

Whilst dining along the beach, Google’s Sky Map accurately helped me identify the stars above us. Unfortunately, the Nexus One failed at protecting one of my companions from fresh guano dropped from 20 feet. :)

With most of my requirements pretty much covered by these two devices, I couldn’t help but wonder how perfect the iPad will be for my use. An iPhone paired with an iPad and a MiFi, now that’d be perfect. And oh, the Nexus One, too, of course.