GL: Mobile phone, not Air Card

[Jeffrey Siegel]

> Pray tell, how about an example--make and model--of a "higher-end 
> mobile phone that can handle email, simple web browsing, and other 
> applications (tides, chart plotting, etc) . . .
> 

There are too many to count.

OK...the simplest and least expensive.  Get a Palm Centro.  AT&T and Sprint
have it now.  Verizon is supposed to have it in April or May.  It is
currently FREE for AT&T and Sprint on Amazon.  If you purchase the phone
from the provider themselves it costs $99.  It is an excellent voice phone
too - which is important!  Very small and very cute.  It has the brightest
screen I have ever seen on a portable device.

I met Ben Ellison (panbo.com) at a coffee shop last month to compare
screens.  He had a half-dozen new mobile map/chart devices that he'd gotten
from the Miami boat show.  There was no comparison between any of those
devices and the Centro screen.  The Centro blew all the other devices away
in clarity and brightness.

Engadget reported yesterday that they have sold 1 million of these phones
since last September (only Sprint had it until February):
http://tinyurl.com/255on4

It is very reliable and an excellent phone.  The AT&T/GSM version has an
antenna jack - I'm not sure about the other models.  I like having an
antenna jack so you can connect an amp to it for boating.

The Centro is a real smartphone.  It can run many thousands of applications
- boating related ones too.  Connect its USB cable to your laptop, and you
can get the laptop online through the phone (an extra application is
needed).  Email and web browsing are built in - connects great to NOAA and
dozens of other weather sites.  TideTool is an incredible (and free)
application for getting tide charts for 6,000 locations around the world.
I've been using TideTool for almost 10 years (and I've helped with the
development of it).

The Centro can beautifully display real NOAA charts (holding thousands of
them on a $25 memory card).  Add a $50 GPS and it is a real chartplotter
with routes, waypoints, time-to-go, etc.  It also runs TomTom for your car.
Of course, it connects and displays all of the ActiveCaptain marinas,
anchorages, and local knowledge markers over the charts (blatant web site
plug).  Sure, the screen is small but it's with you (because your phone is
with you) and makes an excellent planning tool, backup chartplotter, or
chartplotter for your dinghy (ever had to find your boat in the dark after
going out to dinner?).



Moving up in complexity...a good example is the AT&T Tilt or HTC TyTn II
(they're the same device).  This is a high-end smartphone.  It has WiFi,
GPS, HSPDA (high speed internet) and other things all built-in.  It runs
Windows Mobile v6 and is a very fast.  It has a sexy slide-out keyboard that
auto-rotates the screen when deployed.  It is super nice to have the GPS
built-in.  It costs a few hundred dollars ($299 from AT&T).  It can do
everything the Centro does (connect to internet, email, web, etc).  If
you're a power-user and want the very hottest device, this is it.  The
screen is larger than the Centro and looks very good although it isn't as
bright as the Centro (there's something new about the Centro screen
technology).



I have about 20 smartphones that are used for software development.  It
drives my wife nuts.  For real life, I'm currently using the Centro but I
always have the Tilt with me when I go out of town and want a more powerful
device.  Because the Tilt has a GPS built-in, I use TomTom on it for the
car.  Those two devices stand out in my mind today.  There are many, many
others that are also excellent.

Note that I didn't mention the iPhone.  I really like the iPhone (and have
one).  The problem is that you can't use it to connect your laptop to the
internet.  That is a killer for use on a boat to me.  It also has no antenna
jack for an amp connection although it does work fairly well with a
proximity cradle that I've used it with.  It also doesn't run any native
boating applications today - although that will change because Apple just
released the SDK allowing applications to be installed later in the Summer.
I have the iPhone SDK and I'm both excited and concerned about it.  Native
iPhone applications will be a little crippled until a lot of things get
worked out.  Apple also controls which applications are allowed on the
device and they could reject the ActiveCaptain one.  That's a little
nerve-wracking for a developer.


Bottom line...unless you're a power user, get a free Centro.


==================================
Jeffrey Siegel
M/V aCappella
DeFever 53PH
W1ACA/WDB4350
Castine, Maine

www.activecaptain.com
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