My Everyday Gear as a Busy Dad (Part 1)

Hello everyone, it’s been awhile since I last posted. Life has been extremely busy, and weekends are packed with birthday parties, weekend activities, adventures and what not. I genuinely miss posting here at curiousmamas.com, because I find it very therapeutic to write down my own thoughts and thinking.

Today’s topic is my gear for a busy dad, as I am a gadget guy and I can talk to anyone about gadgets all day long. So here is a breakdown of what I carry and why:

Primary gadgets that I have with me at all times (Part 1 of ?):

iPhone 15 128GB:

Yes, it’s 3 generations old, but these days I prioritize spending money on experiences rather than gadgets, and the iPhone 15 is honestly a great phone that takes amazing pictures. I’ve had it since 2024, so it’s pretty beat up physically, but thankfully the battery still retains 90% of its capacity after 600+ charge cycles. It’s fairly packed with only 20GB or so of free space left, it’s mostly occupied by my kids’ pictures. Our family subscribes to iCloud, so it usually uploads the old pics to the cloud to free up space on the phone, as a result I don’t plan to upgrade this unless I have to.

Apple Watch Series 10, the small version:

I love my Apple Watch, it allows me to put 100% of my attention to my kids without worrying about missing important calls. Previously I had the Series 6 for 5 years, and I finally upgraded to the Series 10 after the Series 6 won’t be getting the latest OS due to its aging processor. In case you’re wondering what I did with the old Apple Watch Series 6, well I gave it to my mom, which replaced her Series 3 and that in itself is a massive upgrade!

Motorola ThinkPhone for work:

I carry this with me most of the time, as this is my work phone and to ensure I am reachable in case the boss calls or there’s some sort of emergency. My work has a BYOD program, where they compensate you $50 a month. In theory I could have put the Google Workspace profile on my iPhone, but I like to keep things separated, especially since my kids sometimes play around with my iPhone. But the biggest reason I love the ThinkPhone is the Smart Connect option where I can plug my phone into USB-C/HDMI and use its desktop mode. So in case I have to reply to an urgent email or even work at my parents’ house, I could easily plug it into my 27-inch monitor (with mouse and keyboard connected to the monitor), and I can literally do 90% of my work on this setup without always carrying the 6lbs/16-inch work laptop with me. The ThinkPhone is also very rugged, and survived many drops. I usually use the phone without a case to truly appreciate its design and look (same as my iPhone), and put on a case afterward to hide the cracks and imperfections.

To hold all of these, I have a Hurley fanny pack I got from Winners, it does the job. It holds both phones, wallet and my headphones.

Headphones: Lenovo 300 USB-C Wired In-Ear Headphones.

Ok, I know it’s wired, and it’s 2026. But honestly, when I need an earphone/headphone that delivers when it comes to mic quality, is comfortable, and sits in my ear while moving, this Lenovo wired USB-C earbud is honestly the only one that checked all the boxes. It cost me $12.99, and it beat every pair I have owned in the last 5 years — and as a geek, I have owned a lot. That story got so long it became its own post.

Ok, the post is much longer than I thought, I will make it into multiple parts. Stay tuned for part 2!