PDA Designed for the Great Outdoors

Paul Bawon writes "A company in UK called Node has developed the world's first consumer PDA designed for use specifically in outdoor environments. The device is fully waterproof to 3 meters, has a 8 hour battery life, built in DGPS receiver and 1 Gig of storage. Bluetooth and WiFi come as standard as does a touch screen and either a PocketPC or Linux operating system. I bumped into them at a tourism conference in Edinburgh where they were demo'ing the unit and I was impressed. It's smaller than a standard postcard."

Comments

Interesting...

[solive1]

It's a nice concept. It looks like it can handle being shaken up a bit on the trails and dropped without hurting much. Only things I wonder about are how sturdy it is internally and how scratch-resistant the screen is. By the way... first post.

Re:Interesting...

[Paster Of Muppets]

Regarding the screen, it may be scratch resistant, but it's also touch screen. If it's designed for outdoor environments, wouldn't stray branches/falling leaves/rain drops get rather annoying for some if these keep being regarded as user mevements?

Re:Interesting...

[igrp]

Only things I wonder about are how sturdy it is internally [...]

That's a very good point.

I enjoy hiking. A while ago, I was way out in the woods hiking with some friends of mine. A buddy of mine, had his Ericsson R310s phone with him. Now, this phone is ugly as hell. It's also not available here in the US (and seeing that it's a GSM 900/1800 phone, probably wouldn't work here either). But it's rugged. His phone was the only one that survived the trip.

Most of our phones just died for no apparent reason (I assume it was due to the rain -- and it rains a lot in GB, believe me). After performing "cell phone CPR" on them (taking them apart, carefully cleaning them with alcohol, and letting sit in a warm room to dry), most of them eventually worked again though (which of course doesn't help if you're in a tight spot and need your phone to call for help).

The point is, if you're outdoors and choose to rely on any electronic device (1) make sure that it works (test it; bring extra batteries; etc) and (2) always have a backup plan (if you have a GPS device, bring a map & compass anyway).
Technology is very useful if you know what you're doing but you need be able to survive without it.

Smaller than a postcard?

[blueZ3]

If it's that thin, it would be easy to bend.

no karma no whore

[Anonymous Coward]

from the site:
Features
Wireless networking
400mhz xscale powered computing
Colour screen 320 x 240 hi resolution
Incredible low reflection screen
Location aware technology
Ultra long battery life - up to 6 hours
Rubber easy grip design
Changeable colours - choose from 265
Easy clean screen and casing
Robust durable casing maximising protection
Changeable necklace strap, assists devise care
Auto load software
Hidden restart -button
Water proof casing
Simple charge options either dock or individual charge
Expandable memory option
Advertising and branding space on rear of devise
Light weight casing design
Lockable casing design
Landscape screen
Touch screen

Nice

[L3on]

A very nice product, although 8 hour battery life is somewhat lacking for a GPS. Garmin has a similar product: http://www.garmin.com/products/iQue3200/ but it's not as beefy. I still don't understand why you need to check your email and appointments out on the trail...

Field charger?

[Geek_3.3]

A portable field charger that doesn't require external battery source (solar, hand crank, whatever) would have been nice. That, or some sort of long lasting methanol fuel cell. I mean, if you're really gonna use this thing in the great outdoors doing forestry surveys or something, I would imagine that having an alternative charging source would have been nice to have. '6 hours ain't a whole day of battery life in my book...'

Re:Field charger?

[plopez]

In relation to that, how does it perform at low temperatures? Low temps kill batteries which is why for 4 years my company has looked at hand held field units and for 4 years the answer was 'not yet'.

Re:Field charger?

[BridgeGarth]

The item's site seems to state that it is designed as an aid for visitors. ie. it seems to me it is designed as a kind of electronic, position aware, guidebook for tourist sites. Not a device geared towards hiking, etc. The 6 hour battery life would therefore seem quite adequate.

Is it just me?

[spin2cool]

Or do people ususally go the the great outdoors to get away from this kind of stuff.

Schedules, appointments, who cares! My favorite part of backpacking is not knowing or caring what time it is!

8 Hours = Useless

[pete-classic]

Sorry guys, I have to go plug my PDA/GPS into my tent.

A PDA with 8 hours of battery life is useless. A GPS with 8 hours of battery life is dangerous.

Eeew.

-Peter

Waterproof?

[MogwaiJeeper]

Slashdot in the shower! Geocaching in a lake!! PORN IN THE BATHTUB!!!

Project: PDA

[dexter riley]

Yes, but is it bear-proof?

Re:I wonder what it can survive?

[kayak334]

It looks like drinking in the morning might be a bigger problem. :)

Obligatory "we're all geeks" bashing

[potus98]

What is this "outdoors" of which you speak? Does it look like my screensaver?

8 hour battery life?!?

[spoonyfork]

Why is battery life so short everywhere I look? I don't get it. They ran moon orbiters on less juice than a coffee maker. Why can't we get batteries that last more than an afternoon? GRRR! I hate batteries.

Outdoor ready? Not in my book.

[GreyPoopon]

...has a 8 hour battery life...

Not nearly enough. I can't think of any outdoor trek that lasted only 8 hours. Maybe the intent is to only turn the device on when you actually need it, but you can bet that anything in cold weather is going to bleed that 8 hours down to something much less. Any serious outdoor-ready device needs to have several days of battery life, especially if the customer would like to use the built-in GPS to do something as novel as finding their way back to civilization after getting themselves hopelessly lost.

Re:Interesting - but can you read it?

[newandyh-r]

... and how readable the screen is in various states of light - especially bright sunlight.

Re:Excessive features?

[Morgahastu]

It's not only for the outdoors. The site explains it's also designed for indoor attractions. It's targetted for the tourism industry.

For example: You go to Yosemite National Park in the USA and you can borrow one of these when you enter and it has all sorts of information on the park and landmarks placed on the map for you to go see (including washrooms an d gift shops!)

Or you go to a large museum and you borrow one to get a map of all the attractions and maybe some accompanying text/voice info on whatever exhibit you're nearest to.

Oh and back to my point: The wireless would be to remain on the network at an indoor location or possibly in some outdoor areas.

Re:Contradictions here

[feargal]

Ultra long battery life - up to 6 hours Doesn't the news item advertise 8 hours?

That was two hours ago...

Frankly, do we need that many colours to pick from? I think not. Some marketing droid must have thought that a big number here would impress the customer.

It would appear they are not interested in marketing this directly, but through other companies. On the site they highlight the large recessed area on the back suitable for a sponsor's logo, and I couldn't find any price information either (site slow, maybe it *is* there). In that context. 265 colours makes perfect sense.