A suprise near conclusion for the #telstradesire
When I started this, I was thinking would I use this phone to replace my Nokia n95-8gb and whilst the answer is a qualified yes… there is a different item it may well end up replacing.
My UMPC, the Asus R2H which I use primarily as my car computer these days (yes I am that sad I have a car computer). I’ll need to trick it up a bit.. like with a bigger SD card or two but it could be possible. The main things I do with the R2H are make time-lapse driving videos (eg http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CwjbluNF3So) and run OziExplorer for offline detailed topomaps to see where I am and where I want to go. Google maps just doesn’t cut it when you get off the beaten path. And have some music to sing along badly to.
With a few well choosen Apps I could do this. It is going to take sometime to work it all out, but I really think that this is possible.
There are a few things that the R2H can do that the Desire can not.. storage and downloading photos from my D90, but I can still take the computer for longer trips, just not mount it on the windscreen. One of these weekends I’ll get a decent screen mount, and I already have a lighter to USB power supply, plug in my FM transmitter to the headphone jack and I think it can be done.
I really wish that I could get offline navigation for free like I can on my Nokia with Ovi Maps (well not free $10 because I have an old phone) but still… the fact I am even considering this I think is noteworthy about the device.
I know an open source project which could do what oziexplorer does as well as so very much more. CyberTracker (http://www.cybertracker.co.za) is a full fledged GIS which uses Virtual Earth when a network is available, but allows a georeferenced topo to be used in stead. Right now CT is only available on windows devices, but should be out on android by the end of the year provided enough people contribute to the effort….
CT is currently in use by the Community Rangers of the Caring for Country project of the land councils along the north coast of Australia (NAILSMA I-Tracker Network) so the more people who can be motivated to help, the better.
There is also a proposal to move to an OS independant platform like html5, but that is further off.