MyTreo.net pulls through with a meticulously researched article on how to use a Treo as a full-featured portable computer. With a few adjustments, this is also possible with most smartphones and PDAs.

It's not what you probably think; we're still a long way from the ultimate, do-everything mobile gadget. What's involved is connecting the smartphone to a computer via USB, and launching applications from it. You still need a computer to get things done, but being able to work with your personal files on any desktop or laptop is a great thing indeed.


The recipe involves two mobile apps: one that turns your gadget into a card reader, the other a flash drive application launcher. What the card reader app does should be pretty obvious: it turns your smartphone or PDA into a card reader. Essentially, the mobile device is no different than a thumb drive or a portable hard disk. Any memory card in its slot becomes a disk that's visible on your desktop, like the SD card on a Treo. Card Export II is one such program.

A flash drive application launcher lets your computer run software stored on your gadget's memory card. Meaning you can run desktop-class programs like Mozilla Firefox or Microsoft Office. The MyTreo.net article highlighted Ceedo and Portable Apps, which both feature familiar desktop-like interfaces.

So why is this useful? Well, as someone who has a laptop, and a computer in the office, it can be a bit difficult to transfer work between them. All my browser bookmarks, settings and documents are stuck on one computer, and it takes a relatively painstaking attention to detail to make sure they're replicated on the other.

With this card reader-flash drive launcher combo, it's just a simple matter of keeping my most important work stored on my smartphone, then plugging it into either computer as they become available. Whatever's completed is saved on the mobile's memory card, meaning I lose nothing when I connect to a new workstation. The beauty of the setup is that works on any Windows PC. Not being able to use my laptop or office PC proves no problem, as long as there's a computer nearby.

There are some caveats though. Flash drives aren't as fast as hard disks, so it may take a while for things to get moving. And high-capacity memory cards are pretty expensive. But it's a workable--and genuinely useful--solution that you should consider.