Power Packs for the Long Haul

I recently had the opportunity to take Trimble Outdoors for Android (using the Nexus One) and an iPhone out in the field. As part of my adventure, I knew a few facts would be true. First, there was no way I was going to get wireless coverage in most places I was going. Second, I had one battery in each phone and no way to charge either. Finally, the days were going to be long and there was no doubt I would drain both batteries before the end of my trip. My solution was a portable battery pack. I ended up trying two different battery packs, a Cinch CP505 and an XPAL Power XP4001. Both battery packs come with an AC charger along with a number of cables and attachments such as USB and iPhone style connectors. Before I left, I fully charged both devices and got on the plane. There really is not much to using either of the devices. All one needs to do is plug in the correct attachment and turn the device on. Each phone happily started charging and I could sleep well at night. In the morning I would find a completely charged device ready to go for the day's adventure. I discovered that with my conservative use of the phones and these two battery packs in hand, I had no issue being out in the middle of nowhere for five days.

Smart phones can be quite power hungry. These portable power packs were really the ticket to having a true "out-of-network" experience. Given all the time I had to walk and think, I also realized these would be quite handy for those times in the airport where I am donating my money to the charging station because I forgot to bring my AC adapter. Prices start around $40-$50 at the low end for these portable power solutions.

The Incredible Droid

The HTC Droid Incredible arrived at the office late last week. Let's just say staffers are fighting over who gets to use it next--yeah, it's that incredible. As soon as the battery was charged, we downloaded Trimble Outdoors from the Android Market. Then Rich, a fellow staffer, took it for a spin on a nearby mountain bike trail. He came back drooling over the video quality and fast, consistent GPS aquistion. See the ride map and geotagged videos that he wirelessly uploaded from the phone below.



In testing, we did discover a one-off bug with the camera in our app. No worries. Our software gurus cranked out a fix and we released a new verison of Trimble Outdoors for Android last night. Go and grab it; downloads are free for existing customers.

Watch for more posts soon. I'm off find out when my Incredible timeshare starts. -Kris

Testing Trimble Outdoors 4.1.0 in a 10k

In my excitement to record a real run with the Trimble Outdoors 4.1.0 with YouTube support, I decided to go up to Prescott to run in the Annual Whiskey Row 10k. It turns out that though Trimble Outdoors was ready for this race, I was a little less prepared :-)

Our release candidate of Trimble Outdoors 4.1.0 ran perfectly on my Sprint HTC Hero. I recorded a video at the starting line, and again at the base of "Puke Hill" about 3 miles in. Though I was excited to see a runner actually throwing up at the top of puke hill this year, I decided not to record that one. ;-) When I crossed the finish line I pressed "Stop", and the videos were uploaded to YouTube and were linked into my trip without any extra effort from me.

I'm super excited about this feature and I can't wait to get some feedback from everyone on it. If all goes according to plan, we will be releasing 4.1.0 to the Android Market Place this afternoon.

BTW: here is the 10k with the video embedded.