Reusing a Blackberry Storm as outdoor GPS

Its fairly obvious that most people don't like to waste things. Only those with more money than sense seem to do it, yet we rarely re-use our phones. re-cycle yes, but re-using them is another story. I like a good smartphone just like the next man / woman / child (it seems) so as my blackberry storm nears then end of its life in terms of contract and a new phone lures me with all its shiney newness and apps that seem incredible and so useful for a few short days or weeks only to be consigned to teh delete pile.

So with this in mind and a small issue with the main button on my phone I have downloaded a application that claims to use offline open street maps and the ability to save and export .gpx files for use with many of the desktop mapping applications like google maps & earth. Why am I doing this? well partly because I didn't want to shell out £400 on a gps that I would only use for occasional activities like WOTA and SOTA activations as I already had the hardware, just the software eluded me. Now before anyone jumps out and highlights the pitfalls of using gps for navigation, I shall not be using it for navigation. Just tracking. This will allow me to post the routes I have taken when activating summits. Although having saidf that I do need a new OS map of West Cumbria as mine is a little dog eared to say the least. Perhaps an electronic version should be invested in.

Now the chosen application is called Nogago (where do they get these names from? they are instantly forgetable nowadays) as map my run just wasn't working and sending me off in all sorts of directions ( I once did 250 miles on my bike in 4 hours - should I contact guiness world records?). So I'll see how this fairs in terms of accuracy.

Paper Storm

Not being a big apple fan I don't have an i(ffy)phone so I chose a blackberry storm which does does what its supposed to. Make calls etc that sort of thing. Its got one or rather had one small issue. The bottom right hand section of the screen didn't click very well whilst the rest of the screen worked perfectly (Blackberry put a sort of clicking feel to the screen when you press it so its got a tactile feel and its obvious once you've clicked something).

Whilst having a casual google I found a solution. Using a post-it note.....I nearly fell off my chair laughing, firstly as to why these devices don't always work as well as they are designed and secondly how a folded over post-it note was the 'Eureka moment' for solving the problem. still it works fine now.

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Posting by blackberry

Just how good is technology. Posting to your blog by blackberry seems just normal now. Glad to see it works well

Blackberry Storm

As a bit of a geek its easy to get drawn into new and shiny things. I've never really been an Apple fan, mainly because many of the products are similar to others that exist but with a more sparkly box or they are just over priced. Looking at the iPhone you can't help but think that they are nice, but as a pay as you go kind of person I wasn't going to fork out over £500 for a phone. Equally I've seen a fair few broken screens that have ended up costing the owners a lot of frustration as well as money to get fixed.

So what to get, I'm still happy with windows mobile as well, my Axim x50v served me well but it wasn't a phone, replacing that with an HTC of sorts still meant shelling out quite a lot more than I was prepared to. So I plumped for a blackberry Storm, second hand on eBay. Always a risk but worth a punt.

After getting hold of one for a reasonable price and a few hassles with the email as it was still locked to the previous owner I've managed to get my email on it and a few of the apps that I used constantly with my Axim and hey presto a single device with a phone, push email, camera, gps all in one.

The gps proved useful on a trip to Glasgow where I needed to find a restaurant and the Google maps app got me there in a heartbeat, shame it isn't turn by turn  (Blackberry maps doesn't seem to work with Orange and Vodafone doesn't work in my house!).

So, for those who don't do Apple I can heartily recommend it. I don't need a spirit level or baby shaking application so it seems as though its been a very useful purchase.