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."

Smaller than a postcard?

[blueZ3]

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

And the extras include...

[mikael]

... a built-in swiss army knife.

Re:WLAN and Bluetooth ?

[cwebb1977]

Well, how does a geek define "outdoors" anyway? Definitely not outside his WLan range. I think it's a good idea to build portable stuff that survives a few drops and falls but it should be a standard feature by now, not a pay-extra one.

Waterproof?

[MogwaiJeeper]

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

Woo! It's about time!

[shumacher]

Finally! Geeks don't have to go offline to take a shower!!! Future -cons will smell better! I'll never miss another slashdot frist prost!

Waterproof and WiFi... Geek dreams...

Project: PDA

[dexter riley]

Yes, but is it bear-proof? [www.nfb.ca]

Target audience?

[thopkins]

The whole product assumes that geeks even go outside, and I'm not sure that it happens. ;)

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?

Re:What the heck kind of camping is that?

[Anonymous Coward]

Since when is reading slashdot work?

Re:Contradictions here

[BLAG-blast]

> Changeable colours - choose from 265

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.

Of course marketing came up with that, and the "Collect them all" slogan as well.

Re:Field charger?

[kin_korn_karn]

What if you... turned it off?? *gasp*

An 8 hour battery doesn't lose charge in 8 hours when it's not under load.

Re:RTFA yourself...

[Anonymous Coward]

Shame on the other poster for thinking it a good idea to argue semantics and dimensions with someone whose Slashdot nick serves only to advertise their metal penis replacement. You show 'em, speedy!

Re:Excessive features?

[digitalgiblet]

"Think of going hiking with some buddies, and even if your seperated, if you've all got bluetooth, you can still stay in communication."

If you are within BlueTooth(TM) distance, wouldn't you also be within shouting distance? Or are we assuming deaf hikers here? Of course most small device BlueTooth(TM) range is around 30 feet or so, so they should be able to see one another as well. Unless they are blind as well as deaf. In which case I'm not sure how they will use the UI.

I'd recommend that said blind/deaf hikers simply use rope to tie themselves together.

Here ends my lame attempt at humor...

Re:Interesting...

[Kaa]

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).

You know, there is this interesting invention called a "plastic bag". It even comes in a weird variety called a "ziplock". I've heard they can be useful for keeping the electronics dry even when it's raining. :-)