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Grapefruit
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Joined: Feb 27, 2006
Posts: 5,377
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 Posted: Thu 15th May 8:30am Post subject: Ultimate Touring Tool ? Blackberry? |
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Been thinking about what would be a great tool to do some touring with of UK/EUR/US that would give me the cabability of :
- anywhere email access
- GPS
- GPS based maps and Directions
- simple picture taking
- mobile phone
- easy connectivity with internet cafe's , laptops etc.
and this is not just for on the road/mountain bike, but for walking, hiking, travelling in a campervan, city sighseeing etc 
Blackberry World phone caught my eye - seems it does all of these things in one... all you would need really for the bike is some kind of mount and a protective cover.
and thier latest
http://www.blackberry.com/blackberrybold/
has anyone had any experience of these??
or Are there any other things that are similar but better? I was looking at Garmin GPS maps/devices, with the Blackberry GPS Maps i'm not sure if you can upload 'routes'?
*note - does not have to be used in NZ or be bought in NZ....
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Grapefruit
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| Posted: Thu 15th May 8:34am Post subject: |
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...oh and perhaps an MP3 player too...
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thorg
Gozzies: the new black
Joined: May 20, 2004
Posts: 12,579
Location: Looking for gozzies - have you seen any?
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| Posted: Thu 15th May 8:38am Post subject: |
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 trimble do some pretty cool stuff - but probably a bit big and no phone 
sorry - I'm not much use 
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Vinnie
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Location: Oamaru
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Grapefruit
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| Posted: Thu 15th May 2:14pm Post subject: |
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thanks for the link ,thats a pretty cool website....
that samsung looks dam sexy....
ive spent some time on the blackberry website now, there are a lot of postive things to it, like the battery life (9 days) and you can get secondary batteries and chargers, usb keyboards and even something to plug into the back of your hifi and stream music to it from the berry...
but
the gps maps look v v very basic - esp compared to google maps
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Vinnie
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Location: Oamaru
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| Posted: Thu 15th May 2:39pm Post subject: |
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I think you can put Google Maps onto the Blackberry.
The only other thing to watch out with the Blackberry (and its the same with the iPhone) is that they both 'phone home' to their manufacturer's servers a bit. I'm not so sure with the Blackberry, but definitely with the iPhone I know a lot of people didn't realise that this was happening, and then went overseas with their devices and got nailed from roaming data charges. Roaming data charges can be horrendously expensive. Especially when you can't turn it off on the phone.
I'm not so sure with the Samsung, but I think if you aren't using the 'online' features, then it doesn't connect. That way you can use the built in WiFi to do your email checking and what not at a public free hotspot. Note that I'm pretty sure that GoogleMaps will incur data charges, but there is other software available for Windows Mobile that you can download the maps and save them onto the MicroSD card so you don't have to be online to use them (but you have to pay for the software of course).
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Grapefruit
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| Posted: Thu 15th May 2:53pm Post subject: |
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oooh so the blackberry thing is 'always on' type connection??
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Vinnie
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| Posted: Thu 15th May 3:18pm Post subject: |
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I'm not 100% sure, but I do recall that a lot of the functions stopped working when they had huge problems with the Blackberry servers in the States last year.
I think they do depend quite heavily on access to those servers for things like email and what not - it may pay to check if you are thinking about buying one.
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Vinnie
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JK2
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Joined: Mar 29, 2004
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| Posted: Thu 15th May 3:36pm Post subject: |
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blackberrys have google maps and use either triangulation or GPS (curve or some models of pearl) to give you a location.
you could switch the phone connection off to stop it checking for email all the time I guess.
this is what the voda site says re blackberry roaming
Check the pricing before you go
Roaming data is incredibly convenient, but at 10c or 30c for each 10KB, it can be expensive. It's important to optimise your usage to avoid a shock when you see your bill. (For example, if your laptop conscientiously downloaded the latest 40MB Microsoft security update in the background without you realising, it could easily cost $1,200.)
To help prevent that sort of issue, we've prepared a special guide to help lower the cost of Data Roaming, to make sure you don't get any nasty surprises.
Blackberry data is always charged at $0.30/10kb.
Remember, most users only use up to 5MB of data over a whole month. So if you have your BlackBerry 'always-on' for a whole month of travelling you would pay about $150. If you are only away for 2 weeks then expect it to cost around $75 to be always up to date with your email, calendar and contacts.
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Grapefruit
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| Posted: Thu 15th May 3:38pm Post subject: |
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Thanks JK2 thats a great help!!!!
certainly 'pays' to check out the details 
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JK2
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| Posted: Thu 15th May 3:40pm Post subject: |
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I should add though that google maps uses a data connection and apparantly that chews through the data usage a bit. that would be on top of the blackberry data charge I think.
I use google maps quite a bit it is useful overseas but given i work for vodafone i have never seen a phone bill.
on the plus side emailing is much cheaper than texting and gmail works well on blackberry too.
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Grapefruit
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| Posted: Thu 15th May 3:54pm Post subject: |
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hmm there is always MemoryMap too for europe,
www.memory-map.co.uk
it works with any windows mobile software and has decent maps to an OS level for UK and Europe....
of course you have to purchase this software as a whoe (maps can be bought on a individual basis) but it does mean you dont need the net to sort out maps / routes etc. as long as you have gps on the smartphone.
indeed i think this would be the way to go, i can imagine that the 69UKP cost for the software then maps on top, would be easily out weighed from traversing googlemaps all the time on a 3-4 month european tour....esp using it for travelling for road directions, plotting MTB / Road / Hiking routes too.
http://www.memory-map.co.uk/pda_mobile.htm
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Dazzle
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| Posted: Thu 15th May 4:04pm Post subject: |
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Doing your maps electronically can save you packing space and provide up to date detail..... but what happens when you batteries run flat?
Was able to drive over Europe on a single large ring bound map book. It might not have had all the quiet back roads, but it had enough detail that if you wanted to get off the main routes and had a decent sense of direction you could find your way around.
For the ski fields and chairlift DH, no map needed, just point it down hill, even if the hill drops away so sharply you cannot see the bottom of the valley... for XC missions, pick up a local map while you try and converse with the broken English in the local bike shop, or go and check it out with the locals who will know where the good stuff is hidden.
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BrentD
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| Posted: Thu 15th May 4:08pm Post subject: |
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| Dazzle wrote: | Doing your maps electronically can save you packing space and provide up to date detail..... but what happens when you batteries run flat?
Was able to drive over Europe on a single large ring bound map book. It might not have had all the quiet back roads, but it had enough detail that if you wanted to get off the main routes and had a decent sense of direction you could find your way around.
For the ski fields and chairlift DH, no map needed, just point it down hill, even if the hill drops away so sharply you cannot see the bottom of the valley... for XC missions, pick up a local map while you try and converse with the broken English in the local bike shop, or go and check it out with the locals who will know where the good stuff is hidden. |
Couldn't agree more. Isn't the whole point of going on holiday to get away from phones, the web and e-mail and get out in to the real world? 
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