Tuesday, December 30, 2008

New gizmo

I'm getting acquainted with a new cell phone. I've been using a smartphone of one kind or another for years, and I opted for a Samsung Omnia, running Windows Mobile 6.1. It's my third Windows Mobile device, after making the jump from a decade of Palm OS. My first handheld was a Sharp Wizard, nearly 20 years ago. I still own it, and it still works. Seems to me that the useful life of a cell phone or handheld computer these days is about three years.

I am pretty dependent on syncing my calendar, and on carrying around an array of PowePoints, Excel spreadsheets, documents and .pdf files of all sorts. I picked up an 8gb micro SD card on sale at Best Buy this past weekend, and loaded it up. It blows my mind to think of the storage on that tiny chip. I can essentially carry around all my important files and applications. I can see that the laptop is going to be staying in the bag more often. The wide screen on the Omnia makes those spreadsheets a little more comfortable than it's predecessor.

The mind boggling application, though, is Google Maps Mobile. The newest release is astounding. It includes StreetView, and it works great on a handheld. It's one thing to search for an address and quickly render a Google Map in your hand, but now with a click you are looking at the street-level photo of the surroundings.

It seems like it wasn't long ago that a Motorola bag phone and a IBM XT with a 10 meg hard drive was a pretty spiffy set up. I sometimes wonder where the future will lead us.

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

I love gadgets. Have you grabbed a netbook to fill the hole between your Omnia and your notebook? You can't have too many gadgets, you know.

Anonymous said...

[sigh]. Should have had an iPhone, Chief.

Anonymous said...

I hadn't thought about it before, but I would imagine that Street View could come in handy for the police in certain situations. I notice that only part of your city is covered by it right now, though, and I wonder if there will be any updates as time goes on. The way a street looks today could be very different in a few years.

Anonymous said...

Any thought on issuing iphones or another smart phone to all your patrol officers? I saw your previous article about issuing each officer a digital camera. A smart phone can be a backup communications system, a digital camera, video recorder, voice recorder, web browser, gps, map system, work email, etc. all in one. You probably have some of these items for the officers already but this would replace all of them. I'm not sure smart phones are quite there yet - it might take another year or two before a model comes out that does all of these things very well. Perhaps the next release of the iphone. But the technology is getting good enough and cheap enough.

Anonymous said...

You forgot to mention if it came loaded with Tetris, Dig Dug, Pacman, Galaga, etc... :)

Anonymous said...

Think about this: the 8GB microSD card in your phone has 16,384 times more capacity than the 512Kb Sharp Wizard in your photo, and 819.2 times more capacity than the 10MB hard drive on your IBM XT had.

Anonymous said...

I think my first cell phone was about the same size as a box of Velveeta. One problen with these small gadgets is that a lot of them need ruggedized before they'd be truly field-capable. I finally found a simple bluetooth headset that I can drop on concrete repeatedly from head-height and have it still work, and that's a simple piece of tech with no display.

Tom Casady said...

2:20-

Right now, the cost is high. A full-featured smartphone can be purchased for about $200, but that's not the big expense. Unlimited data plans are in the $70/month range. Try that times 317 times 12. and the consumer equipment like the Omnia or the iPhone is nowhere near "cop proof". This will change. The handheld equivalent of the Panasonic Toughbook will emerge that will make mobile data in your pocket both practical and affordable. Hardened examples already exist and are in use in some industries--they're just mighty expensive. It's just over the horizon in policing, I think.

As you pointed out, it's no trick right now to have a smartphone that fits in your shirt pocket that is a cellphone, two-way radio, digital camera, digital recorder GPS, computer, and Internet device. Heck, mine's even a flashlight!

I'm not really sure how much of the digital functions will ultimately be converged into the same device, though. There are pros and cons. The Swiss Army knife in the glovebox comes in handy, but at times, you wish you had your Vise Grips, your Spyderco, and your Fiskars.

Anonymous said...

Maybe they will make one that has a microwave in it so I can heat up my lunch at the sub station.

Anonymous said...

Ahhh, the bag phone!! When I worked at another agency just about 5 years ago we had a bag phone that our one of our employees took with her anytime she had to leave the office. That thing was a hunk of junk! I was surprised that the agency I worked for still used it! My supervisor still had the old-style Nokia flip cell phone, you know, the one that had the 1"x3" display that showed the numbers in bright orange, and weighed about 2pounds! It is amazing what kind of technology is available out there now! My favorite is the teeny-tiny SD cards that people have in their cell phones. Perfect for storing all kinds of fun, illegal things! Fortunately our police force is tech-savvy enough to be one step ahead of the criminals!

ARRRRG!!!! said...

Future possibilities are endless.

Anonymous said...

if you are willing to wait for shipping you can probably get your storage cards cheaper at www.supermediastore.com

Tom Casady said...

7:58-

Yes, but you know how it is when you have a new gadget. The five day shipping seems like an eternity!