Finally we’ve got a bit of sun here in Bonn so it’s time to get out with the devices for some mobile blogging. I’ll be jumping on my bike to find a suitable place to work. Not too crowded, not too sunny. I’m thinking that the Rhine, south of Bonn might be good.
First though, I need to decide on what device to take and to do that, I need to write down exactly what I want to achieve.
- Work. Full keyboard, 7” or greater screen. Bright.
- Location. Tracking, occasional or live gps location information? If live, Ipoki or lattitude?
- Connectivity. Built-in 3G or tethered?
- Microblogging. Pocketable
- Photography. Reasonable snapshot camera with easy export facilities.
- Audio. For some tunes/podcasts on the way
- Communications. Phone, instant messenger.
The first problem I have is that a true ‘work’ device doesn’t quite match up to the microblogging requirements because I would like a big keyboard. My phone, as with nearly all phones, isn’t up to what I want from a microblogging experience so we’ve immediately hit a choice between taking 3 different devices or making some compromises.
See full article for live tracking…
For phone, audio and photography, I’m going to use my trusty Nokia N82. Unlike previous microblogging excursions though, I’m not going to burden my phone with too much internet connectivity. It doesn’t work! Instead, i’ll be switching to GPRS and turning on the Google Latitude service for location sharing. Why am I using Latitude today? 1) The application runs well, smoothly, efficiently and reliably on my smallest device. 2) I can easily share my location on my blog and on my Google Talk status. You can do it too. 3) Friends can connect with me over Latitude. Feel free to become my ‘friend’ but I’ll probably only give you my city-wide location. 4) As you can see, I can choose what level of sharing and privacy I want on a per-person basis. The best thing is that Latitude now has a KML feed which you can import into a Google ‘My Maps’ and share out. This allows you to make map mashups as you go. My live position should show up on the map below along with things that I mash-up on the way. I don’t think this auto-updates though so you might have to refresh the map frame to see changes.
So that’s audio, phone, location and photography covered, what about microblogging and working with Internet connectivity? Would it be possible to use just one device? It would save a ton of weight.
What I would need is a device with a 7” screen (my minimum for 1024×600 table-top working) that is light, has 3G, a keyboard, a bright screen, ssd (for ruggedness) and at least 3 hours of battery life. The Touchnote T1028M is too big. The Viliv S5 is too small for table-top use so I’m left with 3 devices to choose from.
Raon Everun Note S16S 7” 1024×600. SSD. 3G built-in (non standard.) Good keyboard. Bright screen. 2hrs battery life. 750gm
Fujitsu Loox U/B50N. 5.6” 1280×800. HDD. Lightweight. 3hrs+ battery life. 650gm
Kohjinsha SC3. 7” 1024×600 bright screen. Small keyboard keys. 2.5hrs battery. 800gm.
Ideally, I’d take the bright screen from the SC3 and put it on the Everun Note (it really is that much brighter than the others) but the Everun Note S16S has such bad battery life. The D24S is better at about 2.5hrs but I don’t have one of those. What I do have though, is a spare battery which brings me up to about 3.5hrs 3G working in bright daylight on the Everun Note which covers me nicely. Because of the SSD, the built-in 3G and the better keyboard, the Everun Note is the better choice. Well it would be if my spare battery was charged! Instead, I’m going for the Loox. It doesn’t have a 7” screen so i’ll have to bump the fonts up. There’s no 3G on it either so I’ll have to tether to my phone over BT and make sure the phone charges from the device using the USB charging adaptor. Compromises, compromises.
OK. Enough of the preparation. It’s time for me to set-off. I’ll blog some images and thoughts as I go along. (I’m only out from 1200-1500 CEST today though.) One last picture before I go. Here’s my final mobile blogging set-up. It weighs 920gm. That’s 2lb. It fits in my sports pack.
On the website home page, you’ll find the latest flickr images and tweets in the side-bars.
