Who needs a laptop when you could store and take your portable applications, work, documents and other files on the move with you, when you need to work on another computer, from a hotel, Internet cafe or elsewhere? Simply drop your files and apps on to a USB stick, removable hard drive or iPod and take it with you.

The problem is that with the move to the iPod Touch and iPhone, Apple have dropped official support for the ‘disk mode’, which enables you to use these devices to store applications or your files. This leaves a dilemma. Do you buy an iPod Classic and leave off the PIM functionality you get with the Touch or do you get a Touch and use a separate device for your portable apps and files?

Now there is a (part) solution with MegaPhone. This Mac OS X tool will enable you to copy across and store files and other data on your iPod Touch or iPhone. You can also use the tool to edit your notes and even copy your SMS conversations to your computer.

Note that this isn’t the complete solution to the ‘disk mode’ problem. You won’t be able to store and use portable applications, nor would you be able to copy files back from the iPhone, without a copy of MegaPhone installed on the host computer. Nor is there a Windows version.

Now, if only we could convince Apple to release a ‘disk mode’ option for the 32GB iPod Touch.