Having looked at the Nokia N810 (reviews etc.) I've decided it probably doesn't offer the mix I really want. In particular it lacks phone capability (i..e. it has no SIM) so I'd need to carry a phone as well as the N810 which seems a bit silly.
So I'm still kicking ideas around, I'm after GPS ability (for logging and for motorbike), a mobile phone and mobile computing which, for me, essentially boils down to being able to make an ssh connection through the mobile phone data connection. A browser for Googling would be nice but is less essential.
I think this probably looks like several devices with a mobile phone and a data connection at the centre. Does anyone here use a mobile phone data connection with an Asus EEEPC, is it easy to set up and usable? If it was then it gives me a much nice keyboard for ssh than any keyboard on a smartphone or whatever.
Alternatively a smartphone (like a Treo 680) with ssh installed would work too, much more difficult keyboard but more portable.
Any other ideas, comments, etc. regarding getting a "terminal on a mobile phone" that's usable, portable and cheap?
Once I've decided the neatest solution to the above I can add a GPS logger easily enough and I suspec the motorbike GPS navigation just ends up as a separate device.
On Wed, 2008-08-27 at 14:46 +0100, Chris G wrote:
Any other ideas, comments, etc. regarding getting a "terminal on a mobile phone" that's usable, portable and cheap?
Nokia E90 ? Works pretty well as a phone, full width screen and halfway reasonable keyboard makes it good as it gets for ssh on the move (unless you scale up to a netbook type device like the EEE) Plus it has GPS (with the caveat that Richard mentions that is isn't in the same league as a dedicated GPS device)
The one I had on loan from a client had me pretty tempted, battery life whilst messing with wifi, bluetooth and the GPS whilst also using it as a phone was a respectable couple of days...the only downside was the purchase price (I would have to buy sim free as my provider doesn't offer it) It also works quite well for browsing, although not as well as an iPhone. If you are on a provider that offers it as an upgrade then it might be a viable option.
On Wed, Aug 27, 2008 at 06:34:56PM +0100, Wayne Stallwood wrote:
On Wed, 2008-08-27 at 14:46 +0100, Chris G wrote:
Any other ideas, comments, etc. regarding getting a "terminal on a mobile phone" that's usable, portable and cheap?
Nokia E90 ? Works pretty well as a phone, full width screen and halfway reasonable keyboard makes it good as it gets for ssh on the move (unless you scale up to a netbook type device like the EEE) Plus it has GPS (with the caveat that Richard mentions that is isn't in the same league as a dedicated GPS device)
The one I had on loan from a client had me pretty tempted, battery life whilst messing with wifi, bluetooth and the GPS whilst also using it as a phone was a respectable couple of days...the only downside was the purchase price (I would have to buy sim free as my provider doesn't offer it) It also works quite well for browsing, although not as well as an iPhone. If you are on a provider that offers it as an upgrade then it might be a viable option.
Yes, the price is a bit OTT for my amount of mobile phone use. I really only use a mobile phone for emergencies, my pay-as-you-go bill for the *year* rarely exceeds £5! :-) However if I had a data capable phone I might well use more as I could then use it as my PDA. I used a Palm for a while for addresses and appointments but since 99% of my computer use is desktop at home and desktop at work the PDA rarely got synchronised. I now access a single address list from home and work (via ssh) and will soon have a single reminders list similarly accessed. The ability to access the same from a mobile device would be very useful.
So it seems to me that maybe separate devices are going to make more sense (and will be less vulnerable to being nicked, important as I'm not very security conscious).
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Chris G -
Wayne Stallwood