While doing my daily sweep of the geoblogosphere today I ran across a post hinting at a possible future multifunction handheld device from Apple that may include a GPS. Apple's iPhoto software has geotagging functionality built in already and according to the post, Apple has filed a patent for a handheld device that could include such sweet goodies as mobile phone, GPS and camera.
This sounds like my kind of toy since my basic geocaching gear that I carry every time consists of GPS, Palm PDA for paperless caching, camera and of course I always have my cell phone in a pocket. If Apple would just add a PDA function to this device I think it would cover just about all my geocaching needs in one piece of equipment. After seeing where Apple's iPod has gone in the MP3 player market, I would bet such a multifunction device would be a big hit. So, if Apple is listening, I want to place my order now. I'll have a device that includes GPS, mobile phone, PDA(Palm OS please), camera/video, mp3 player and digital recorder. Can I get that with Bluetooth and WiFi too please?
posted by Brandon
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This sort of thing does already exist – I went on a holiday to Norway (fantastic geocaching location!) earlier this year with a friend who has a PDS thingy that has mobile phone, collects his email, GPS, wi-fi etc etc. We also used it for running TomTom for getting around. It was a Mio http://www.mio-tech.be/ although I know it’s not the only one.
It didn’t have a camera inbuilt and I’m not sure about Wi-Fi – and it was Windows Mobile (or whatever they are calling it these days!).
One thing about PalmOS and bluetooth that I discovered to my chagrin…. Bluetooth headsets are not supported in the Palm OS. It seems to me that it should have just worked, I emailed PalmOne? or whatever they call themselves, and they said it wouldn’t be. The Treo’s use Pocket PC or Windows mobile or whatever… and they work with bluetooth headsets, I believe.