Those who don’t know me that well will certainly say I’m a girl’s girl with a travelling heart, an eye for fashion and a laptop under her arm. But that’s not the whole story.

I am, in fact, a little bit of a tech geek, and my usual dilemma when I have enough money is split three ways – a new bag, airplane tickets, or a gadget? This year the choice is very hard to make. I own an iPhone 4 (no, not the 4S, an iPhone 4) from about the time that it came out. It’s not manageable anymore. I’m an apple advocate, don’t get me wrong – I own two Macs, a desktop and a laptop, an iPad 2, the aforementioned iPhone and an iPod (as most of the human middle-class population) – but iPhone batteries aren’t the best thing in the world. My phone is so old and senile that it’s beyond retirement age and now its battery never lasts more than six hours.

Remember the part about the ‘travelling heart’? Yeah. Not very handy when you’re out there alone in the world and your protective parents can’t contact you. Or you’re lost in a city you’ve never been to before, without Google Maps at hand… and not in the pretty little romantic part of town. So yes, prepare yourselves…

I am not looking to buy the iPhone 5. Even worse, I want to buy an Android phone – this gorgeous little thing, to be precise.

The handsome HTC One X+

Look at how cool it is. Look. It has pretty much the same basic stats as the iPhone 5, except Apple always lies about battery time, and the HTC’s front camera is a little better. The main argument I used to have was that the Android market doesn’t have half the apps as the iTunes app store… but then I found myself not using even 15 out of the hundreds of apps I have taking up space on my phone. It’s pretty much just internet browsing, e-mails, Instagram, twitter and the occasional little game when my bus is late. There’s not a big difference in prices, to be honest, but enough to make me sway away from the iPhone 5. Also, that thing is pretty damn long and would stick out from my pocket.

And then, there’s this recent obsession which I can’t seem to get over since it came out.

The Kindle Paperwhite 3G (no, I didn’t read The Hunger Games)

I used to be one of those people who are 100% against e-books because it takes the whole pleasure out of reading. I’m still a bit biased – nothing makes me swoon more than the smell of good paper and a minimalistic bas-relief cover design – but as I’ve found myself travelling more and more, I’ve also, ironically, found myself growing more attracted to heavier reading. Which is a nasty contradiction that costs you hard cash when it comes to paying for the extra weight in your suitcase every time.

I am an avid reader, and a huge fan of authors from older times – especially classics like H.P. Lovecraft and, of course, Poe. Both writers have an enormous body of work comprised mostly of short stories, so you either buy a book the size of an encyclopaedia and find yourself unable to read it anywhere except in bed or you carry around 6 books at a time (which, trust me, is incredibly confusing) anywhere you go. Lovecraft is, for me, ridiculously enthralling and exciting and sometimes I end up reading 3 to 4 whole stories in a single night’s session… So imagine how quickly I have to go out and find another compilation with some repeated stories, and some new ones. It’s a tiring business. So I decided to get myself a cheaper e-reader – that little Kobo by Fnac thing. It’s adorable, half the size of an ipad, fits anywhere and weighs next to nothing – yet all your favourite books go in there, and you can buy them on the go!

It’s perfect. I mean, it could be perfect if it weren’t for one thing, a simple thing every handheld gaming console and cellphone has:

Backlight. 

Not even the original Kindle had it. But the Kindle Paperwhite has a backlit screen which means that you can read it literally anywhere, without the sun reflecting on the whole screen and scorching your eyes, and without bending your back and squinting to try and read in bed with the aid of your bedside table lamp. With this thing, you can read in pitch-black darkness and brightest of sunlights. Plus it’s small, it has 3G capability to allow to buy new books on the go, and it’s incredibly light. Did I mention I travel a lot? Yeah.

I guess this is where the Miu Miu bag money is going to be used for in the end. But it’s worth it.

After all, anything is worth it if you can carry an H.P. Lovecraft 4-Volume Omnibus in your pocket.