Electronic advice needed

[leaftye]

Ruggedized: I've seen ruggedized phones, but don't recommend that route.

Ruggedized implies waterproof. That means broader photographic opportunities. Pictures in the rain or snow can be fun.

High resolution screen: High end phones have these now. My Droid X has a 4.3" screen that's really quite impressive. Not sure why you want a high resolution screen for out in the woods, other than looking at your own photos and videos perhaps, but it's available.

I want it for reading scanned books. Text reflowing does not work for scanned books, and scrolling sucks. I prefer fullscreen full page viewing.

AA user replaceable batteries: No dice there, but of course there are the separate recharge units that take AA lithiums. Depending on the trail this is more or less of a big deal. I used a solar charger in southern California to good effect, but more important to me is having a user replaceable battery so I can carry one or two spares and recharge those in town.

I'm with you that replaceable batteries is a good fall back, but I'd still love the ease and simplicity of AA cells.

folded optical zooming lens: no go on this, at least insofar as I'm aware.

I don't believe it exists yet. This goes hand-in-hand with being ruggedized. Folded lens means that the lens doesn't protrude when zooming. All the P&S ruggedized cameras have folded lenses.

big sensor:Not positive what you mean by that, but if I recall correctly my phone has a 6 megapixel camera, plenty IMO.

I mean bigger physical sensor instead of the tiny sensors found in cell phones. Megapixels can be a bad thing in small sensors.

real gps with a good antenna: Real GPS isn't hard to find, "good antenna" is debateable and hard for a typical consumer to figure out (and reviews typically don't touch that aspect). I found the GPS chipset on my 2007 phone was just fine, and don't anticipate issues with my new one, though haven't used it much yet.

Your last post about a service plan got me thinking. I'd be very disappointed if the gps didn't work as well as a standalone unit when the service contract was over.

mp3 player: Built-in music player is pretty common. Might not be DRM capable for audiobooks, but new smartphones play tunes just fine, and generally offer plenty large capacity for storage. I still bring a very light separate MP3 player, but that's about power and DRM, FWIW.
and good power optimization schemes: My phone does a reasonable job in allowing me to turn things on and off, but does take a certain amount of homework and practice, and I admit that I fear how much the fundamental design of modern smartphones seem to assume an "always on the network" approach. Still, I think this is manageable.

I'm thinking all about power. There's no need for that power hungry 1+ ghz processor to be fully operating to play mp3's.

Again, you got me thinking. It'd be a shame to buy my dream convergence device, only to find that it's severely crippled without a service contract.[/quote]

Bottom line is that there will never be a perfect device, but IMO for a person with some money and time to throw at the problem, you can get something pretty darned good in the way of multi-function device just off the shelf on the market today.

My dream for a convergence device hasn't changed much over the past 10 years. The biggest change is the desire for a high resolution screen. And the reason I probably didn't think of it before was that memory would have been insanely expensive to store scanned books.

[KB1EJH]

I recently got an iPod touch an like it. WIFI and no contracts. It gives me email, music and a standby camera. For better pictures in the rain (or underwater) I use an Olympus Tough. Both are charged via USB. For charging on the go I have a Powerfilmsolar AA+USB solar charger. It will charge two AA batteries for your flashlight and you USB equipment. The phone is just a cheapo that you get with the free contract. I like them separate so in town you can multitask with the phone and web with the touch. Multitasking gets you back on the trail quicker.

[LDog]

There is a product I read about recently called the iPeg or ePeg I cant remember which but it is a small tube (ok the size of a few D cell batteries...think one of the mid sized mag lights) and it generates electicity to recharge your devices while you walk. It obviously has some magnets and coils in it that move while you walk so I'm sure it fairly heavy.

At this juncture, I'm looking at an iPhone, a Brunton Solo 3.4 and my Panasonic DMC-TZ5 camera with a spare battery and its charger. Here's my long-winded rationale:

I've been struggling between my desire to carry electronic devices, and the need to recharge them between trail towns. I thought it would be nice to have some ability to take pictures, send email, update blogs, read ebooks , refer to scanned pdf files, upload pics, listen to music, find my way when lost, and find the occasional geocache ... Humping a separate camera, GPS, iPod and smartphone seemed like a lot of weight, and an iPhone could do it all. If not as well as stand-alone devices. And, you can't get extra batteries for it.

But, the iPhone can be put in "Airplane mode" which shuts off the phone function so it's not constantly expending battery power looking for cell towers. That frees it up to be used for the occasional GPS use, writing a note, listening to mp3s ...

I am a photographer, and I could not imagine settling for the camera in the iPhone. My Panasonic/Lumix DMC-TZ5 is an excellent, if not eggsactly lightweight camera, with a great wide-range lens. If I didn't already have it, I'd get their DMC-LX5 which is a few ozs lighter and allows RAW capture.

I'm still undecided whether to carry a dedicated GPS vice just an iPhone. There are iPhone apps that use Topo maps, but I am unsure about the sensitivity under a canopy of trees. My Garmin GPSMAP 60CSx has topo maps, a high sensitivity receiver, and weighs a ton. Their Foretrex 401 doesn't have the mapping function, but can hold 500 waypoints, has both electronic barometer and compass, can be had a deep discount right now, uses 2 AAA cells, and weighs just 3 ozs. I'll probably forgo a dedicated GPS if I score an iPhone ...

I'm thinking the iPhone and my camera would simplify things and give me all the functionality I want. I can get an extra battery for the camera, but not the iPhone. So, how to keep that bugger charged between town visits?

I thought solar looked promising -Attach panels to my pack and hike north with the sun at my back ... But the cute, small panels are underpowered, some need to be in direct sunlight or they shut down Reviews of Brunton's foldable solar cells suggest they provide some power if in indirect light, but knowing I'll be hiking in the "Long Green Tunnel," and stories of folks constantly futzing with panels for minimal results sent me looking elsewhere.

I saw references to the nPower PEG, and when I looked into it I found it was designed by an AT Hiker, seems to produce enough power to keep an iPhone charged, but it is heavy at 12 ozs, perhaps a bit underpowered, and well, unavailable. Apparently a critical part source is giving them fits, and they are taking reservations for when they are ready to ship.

Right now, I'm looking at a rechargeable battery pack made by Brunton. Their Solo 3.4 allegedly will recharge an iPhone 3-4 times, weighs 5.2 ozs, can be charged from solar cells, USB, or a wall outlet, and costs $65.00. I imagine there are other, similar devices, but this is the first I found that seems to fit my needs. http://www.brunton.com/product.php?id=603

[BrianLe]

"I am a photographer, and I could not imagine settling for the camera in the iPhone."

Each to their own of course, but the photos I mostly take on trail are of static scenery and of people, both of which come out pretty well with a decent current-model smartphone. My Droid X has something like a 5 megapixel camera built in, and the default camera software has a great panorama photo process that makes this quite easy. I like to take two-photo panoramas of wide open scenery.