Thing is, about the only thing many of us would ever use a notetaker for would be running GPS. At work one needs things like Outlook calendars, Word documents, various spreadsheeting and perhaps other messaging applications and often other networked applications, all things easily and directly accessed with a mainstream computer system. Admittedly notetakers can be made to substitute some of the time.
Actually I rather like Loadstone GPS except all the fiddling about to get maps out of the Ether and onto the phone and I didn't mind WayFinder before that except for the on-line maps. Using Pay-As-You-Go with Rogers here in Canada it cost me 2 bucks just to calculate the trip to work and all I really wanted was notification of one intersection in the winter which is difficult to find in the snow because the sidewalks along there aren't cleared and one needs to skirt the edge of the street between the traffic and parked cars. Being notified when within a few yards of the intersection hugely facilitates locating it.
Braille, in the winter really isn't much of an option, manipulating the buttons of a cell phone isn't much better, I'm not sure that a touch screen would be all that good either. The little Nokia phones will, with a bit of effort fit into a mitten at minus 20C or lower but hearing the output gets a little difficult at times.
Perhaps an iPhone in a deep pocket with Bluetooth ...Anyway, I suspect loads of people, like me, don't have use for a notetaker beyond as a platform for GPS. Pity.
Dale leavens.----- Original Message ----- From: "Michael May" <mikemay@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <gps-talkusers@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Monday, March 11, 2013 5:33 PM Subject: [gps-talkusers] Re: using dual GPS is the ideal way to go
Dale,Its not really about processor power or memory any more. The differentiatingfactor between a PDA and the phone is the keyboard versus the touch screenor spotty voice recognition, especially in mobile environments. Yes, you canadd an external keyboard or Braille display but that takes away from themain benefit of the iPhone as a handheld unit. External devices don't alwaysconnect and they are a second item to charge. Add an external GPS receiver because the built-in one is mediocre, and the mobile situation turns complicated. Something like a Braille Sense OnHand has a built in keyboard and GPS, no external pieces needed. What I am finding is that people are willing to sacrifice the productivity of the PDA for the basic functionality of the mobile device. I understand how it is hard to justify access tech prices even if the products are superior versus dirt cheap App Store and Market Place mainstream prices. Mike From: gps-talkusers-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:gps-talkusers-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Dale Leavens Sent: Monday, March 11, 2013 11:28 AM To: gps-talkusers@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: [gps-talkusers] Re: using dual GPS is the ideal way to go Mike,Are there any technical reasons why a suitable smart phone cannot offer the same or even superior capabilities to those of a note taker with respect toGPS? They do have far superior microprocessors now and more memory if I am not mistaken and of course built-in receivers, intuitively I would have thought them a more suitable platform. I don't remember detailedspecifications of note takers as I have always had far more need for directmainstream connectivity so got more seamless use from notebook computers. Thanks. Dale leavens. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Michael May" <mikemay@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> To: <gps-talkusers@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Monday, March 11, 2013 2:14 PM Subject: [gps-talkusers] using dual GPS is the ideal way to goMary, Probably a poor choice of words on my part. Let's call dual GPS the ideal way to go but not the only way. There are plenty of situations where people have more than one product, say an iPhone using Audible and a Stream also using Audible. I do agree that it is very unfortunate that high priced specialty technology costs so much and yet the government funding for it is limited. I'll addressthat in a separate email. The point of my story was to say that the iPhone is not a replacement for a full fledged accessible GPS product with a realkeyboard and comprehensive real-time and explore features. For thosefortunate enough to have a BrailleNote or Braille Sense with GPS, make themost of it, especially in challenging situations. Mike From: gps-talkusers-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:gps-talkusers-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Mary Otten Sent: Saturday, March 09, 2013 10:17 PM To: gps-talkusers@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: [gps-talkusers] Re: using dual GPS is the only way to go This really is kind of a sad commentary. How many people who don't get bucksfrom some agency can realistically think about having 2 gps solutions whenone of them costs a whole pile of money, and the remainder of the applications on that expensive platform can be duplicated elsewhere cheaper?Obviously, you can't go from 0 app to full blown solution in 6 months or ayear. But I hope the goal for the ios gps solution is to have a full productwhich will essentially make unnecessary those other entirely too expensivesolutions. Mary Otten motten53@xxxxxxxxx To change your email settings (unsubscribe, digest only, or vacation mode): http://senderogroup.com/social_media/email.htm Additionally, to unsubscribe send an email to gps-talkusers-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with "unsubscribe" in the Subject. To change your email settings (unsubscribe, digest only, or vacation mode): http://senderogroup.com/social_media/email.htm Additionally, to unsubscribe send an email to gps-talkusers-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with "unsubscribe" in the Subject.To change your email settings (unsubscribe, digest only, or vacation mode):http://senderogroup.com/social_media/email.htm Additionally, to unsubscribe send an email to gps-talkusers-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with "unsubscribe" in the Subject.To change your email settings (unsubscribe, digest only, or vacation mode):http://senderogroup.com/social_media/email.htmAdditionally, to unsubscribe send an email to gps-talkusers-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with "unsubscribe" in the Subject.
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