Showing posts with label gadgets. Show all posts
Showing posts with label gadgets. Show all posts

Sunday, February 15, 2009

Glencallum bay


Great to be out!

This post was made earlier today while on location at Glencallum Bay on the Island of Bute in the Firth of Clyde. The photo was taken with my mobile phone, nothing unusual with that, and the blog was posted by a simple "blog this" menu attached to the photo. I had previously tried to make "on location" blogs using Nokia and Samsung phones. They both involved emailing and on neither phone could I get the photo to transmit despite hours trawling the Internet to try and find the required settings for phone, email and MMS.

Sony Ericsson have got it really sorted with their
K770i phone, no setting it up was required, it just worked! Even better, I still use the same PAYG SIM card I have had for the last 5 years!

15/02/2009

Friday, September 19, 2008

Pocket Surfer 2 review


Photo by JLW

Sea kayaking in remote places is very weather dependent. The weather forecast is therefore vital in safe route planning. On the wild parts of the west coast of Scotland you are lucky sometimes to get AM or sometimes even FM radio reception but the times of the main shipping forecasts are at the unholy hours of 0048 and 0520 hours. A marine VHF transceiver will pick up the coastguard MSI broadcasts every 4 hours, if you are in range (and if as at present the coastguard are not on industrial action and therefore not making the broadcasts). I invariably find I remember the weather forecast time just as it finishes!

Imagine, were ever you were, if you had full Internet access, even to feature rich graphical web sites such as XC weather? If you are a gadget freak like me, you will have tried WAP on a 2G phone and decided that it is hopeless. You will also know that there is no 3G coverage on almost all of the west coast of Scotland.


Pocket Surfer 2 has full Internet access in this remote spot.

Let me now introduce to you the Pocket Surfer 2 from the Canadian Datawind company. I have been using it since December 2007 with great success. Pocket Surfer 2 connects to the Internet using the 2G GPRS network via a built in SIM and antenna. This is not the WAP version of the Internet but the full version. Even complex web pages with hi res photos will download in less than 30 secs and text rich pages will often download in a few seconds. This is done by connecting to the Internet via Datawind's servers which compress the page before transmitting it to the Pocket Surfer over the GPRS network. This does mean that the photos are very grainy and that videos will not download but other multimedia such as Flash and Java do work. As you are accessing the Internet through Canada, you get the Canadian version of Google by default but this is a minor quibble.

Features and functions
It is a slim, clam shell gadget which when open reveals a 640x240 pixel colour screen and a full qwerty keyboard which is easy to operate with two thumbs. The keyboard is illuminated so the device is usable in the dark. The "mouse" pointer is navigated by a group of four direction keys. Sometimes you might loose sight of the "mouse" pointer but if you direct it to a corner of the screen, it is easy to find again. It is a surprisingly practical solution to navigating web pages on a compact, hand held device. The only type of web site I have had difficulty with is where a drop down menu has a long list of options, which extend below the bottom of the screen. The device will not let you drag a scroll bar down by left clicking and dragging the bar. An example is MagicSeaweed's surf locations. I have got round this by creating a web page with multiple hyperlinks direct to the each of the surf location pages I regularly access.

The device has a built in LION battery (with a mini USB charge socket) which lasts about 4 hours per charge. It comes with a mains to mini USB charger but you can also charge it from a computer USB socket with a USB cable. I have also charged in the wild with a wind up mobile phone charger with a mini USB socket. It is a dedicated Internet browsing device and so cannot make phone calls or be connected to a computer for USB data transfer. By concentrating on this function it does so in such an efficient manner that it will download web pages even quicker than a G3 iPhone in the city! Actually it has another function. There is a built in GPS receiver which shows your current position on Google maps. You can then click for information on a variety of local attractions!

It is also easy to access your email including attachments such as word docs, access online storage, remotely access your work computer etc. but I do not! You can use https sites for banking. Datawind claim that the link over GPRS is encrypted but I have not trusted my bank details yet. Maybe in an emergency I might and my data would probably be less likely to be hacked than in an Internet cafe. It will not work with video or audio or online games because of the compression used before a web page is sent over the GPRS network. What it does do it does very well indeed. It allows you mobile access to Internet information in places with no WIFI or 3G and it accesses it faster than any other GPRS or 3G device I have seen.

Where does it work?
For outdoors people who need Internet access for weather forecasts, the Pocket Surfer 2 has no competition. It has worked on islands off the west coast of Lewis and Harris. The Monach Islands, half way to St Kilda, Skye, Arisaig, Scarba, the remote SE coast of Islay, Sanda and the Solway. Sometimes you might need to climb a small hillock to get a signal, other times it will work at sea level. On our recent trip to St Kilda on MV Cuma, the skipper Murdani, who has a lifetime experience of working these waters, was delighted to be able to access his favourite weather web pages. We were waiting on the Monach Islands for a break in the weather to get out to St Kilda. He said "In all my years I have seen nothing like it, who would have thought it? The Internet on the Monachs!" I have also used it while waiting at airports and railway stations. On a moving train it works great until you go into a tunnel!

Cost
Now the catch, what about the cost? I bought mine for £180 and it is now £160. Well, now the really good news: this also includes 20 hours per month browsing. In subsequent years you get 20 hours a month browsing for £40 per year.

Support
What about after sales support? After 9 months, mine developed a minor fault with the screen that made it difficult to read the menu bar. An email to the UK support site was answered within 5 minutes. They said it was a known fault with some of the early models and replaced it under warranty. What more can you ask for?

Conclusion
I cannot begin to tell you how much I appreciate such easy access to the Internet in wild places. I know some purists will say they go to the wilderness to escape from all that but accurate weather forecasts are a great contribution to safety and I am a cautious sea kayaker.

The Pocket Surfer 2 is a unique device. It may not be perfect but nothing else comes close for full Internet access in wild places, so I am afraid I will need to award it 12/10!

Sunday, April 01, 2007

Brace-a-Float

Regular readers of these pages will by now know of my love for gadgets. Here is the latest to come my way for review. It was sent in by Mike Thomson of Scottish Paddler Supplies. The Brace-a-Float is designed to be a 21st century replacement for the humble paddle float. I have always been suspicious of all the faff of attaching a conventional paddle float to the paddle blade, then inflating it then getting yourself back in the boat then deflating it before you paddle on. The Brace-a-Float addresses several of these limitations and has additional functionality in that it can be used as a bracing aid and hopefully prevent a capsize in the first place. It is contained in a slim nylon covered sleeve that fits over the paddle shaft and while not being deployed is kept out of the way between the hands. There is a small toggle at one end and a sharp tug releases the gas stored in a small CO2 container.



My friend, Mike Marshall, inflates the Brace-a-Float.



Mike now slides the Brace-a-Float to the desired side. The Brace-a-Float engages with the rubber drip rings on the paddle shaft and it is now ready for use.



Easypeasy! You now have a stable platform which can be used to re-enter the boat after a capsize, to prevent a capsize or to give stability when photographing or fishing. There is a simple deflation valve which can also be used to inflate the Brace-a-Float if you have already used the CO2 cannister. The cannisters are cheap, easy to source sodastream cartridges.

Plus points:
Always to hand.
Easier to (re)deploy than a paddle float.
It works better than a paddle float.
It is more versatile than a paddle float.

Minus points:
It is less comfortable as a lunch time seat than a paddle float.
You cannot use it as an emergency backrest as you can with a paddle float.

Overall:
4/5 and the Brace-a-Float is highly recommended.

Friday, March 16, 2007

Kinloch Castle, Rum


Kinloch Castle with a sea kayaker in front for scale.

Yesterday I posted an item about a red sandstone castle on Arran. Here is another one. It is Kinloch Castle on the Island of Rum in the Inner Hebrides. It is situated in a sheltered position under the Rum Cuillin at the head of Loch Scresort on the east coast of the island.


It is not an ancient Scottish castle but was built as an Edwardian shooting lodge by a wealthy Lancashire industrialist called George Bullough. There is no suitable sandstone for building on Rum so all the stone was imported from Annan in Dumfriesshire and brought here in small west coast puffers. It was completed in 1901 and was the first private building in Scotland to have elictric lighting. The electricity was supplied by a small hydro electric dam in the mountains behind.



You can camp near the Castle, but the gas powered midge eating machines can hardly cope with the particularly voracious breed of midge which is to be found in these parts. I therefore recommend staying in the hostel which is situated in the castle's servant quarters. No four posters for us plebians then!

Sunday, January 21, 2007

Kelly Kettle Karrier



An apparently normal Quest on a Berneray beach in the Sound of Harris hides a secret. From outside my Quest looks completely standard... Well here is a shot of inside the cockpit...



OK so now you all know I am a fan of the Kelly Kettle and this is my Kelly Kettle Karrier. Cut from a block of ethafoam and glued in with contact adhesive, it has a piece of shockcord with one of those clever little red plastic shockcord cleats. I normally keep it in a thin nylon drybag and keep the centre full of kindling.


Kelly Kettle in action.

Time for a cuppa!