Due to a combination of my love for the environment and my hatred for traffic, I attempt to take the bus to work from Seattle about 3 times a week. In the past, this transit time allowed me make a dent in my ever present pile of unread books, but now with the UMPC I saw so many more possibilities.  Not only could I read, but I could listen to music, watch movies, catch up on news and emails…

This week I was lucky enough to test out my theory. 

Due to the UMPC’s small size I did not even bother to pack it in my bag during the walk to the bus stop; I just carried it comfortably in my hand.  Once I arrived at the stop I immediately brought the UMPC out of stand-by and tried to find a wireless network I could jump on…alas, no luck.  Conveniently though, not only did the bus arrive moments later but it was one with wifi on board.  The device found the signal right away and I jumped on IE to test it out.  While excitedly bringing up websites, and checking my hotmail, I realized that I was at risk of missing my stop.  So I focused on opening up several articles I could read during my bus transfer, which can take anywhere from 2-8 minutes with no wireless available.  That plan worked like a charm – reading the articles while waiting with IE in full screen mode was a great experience. 

My next bus, also known as the Microsoft Express bus, has wifi and is filled with gadget using commuters.  Since my ride was a little longer, I decided to log onto messenger and send a few IMs.  Again, everything worked well, the only issue is that none of my friends were online at 7:10 am. :)  I left a few messages using a combination of ink and text with Dialkeys and switched back to surfing after the one-sided conversations grew old.

Overall it was a great experience.  The more I use Dialkeys the faster I have gotten, and it is an especially useful tool after Dustin showed me how to show and hide it using a hardware button. The wireless signal was strong on both buses and the machine was light and easy to use in the small seat.  

Next steps will be to set up Outlook and an RSS aggregator on the machine so that when I am connected I can download content that will be useful even when I am offline.  Stay tuned.