Alex,

I liked the handwriting as a concept, but my penmanship is pretty poor at the best of times so I usually just ended up typing on the virtual keypad with the stylus. So on a practical level the capacitive screen works better for me. My wife did use the handwriting feature on the Palm a lot more but has been really comfortable with the iPhone also.

On that side note. I've never understood computers or software as religion or politics. I buy what works for me and expect others to do the same. For me, Apple products work. They are a relatively small company (compared to MS, IBM etc.) and they really do need to pick their niche / offerings. I started on UNIX systems ( a long, long time ago) and like having full access to UNIX under the hood on my Mac. My wife and kids like the ease of use and I love the fact I don't spend a lot of time managing/maintaining the things. Like a lot of things in life, to each their own.

- Eric

Careful, we're treading on thin ice now! Sheriff Blast is going to have to step in now that the Mac vs. PC debate has taken this thread off topic!

Alas, that debate will never be settled. It is just like trying to say that Ford is better than Chevrolet. Reality is, both have strengths and weaknesses -- both computer and car.

That said, most of my non iPhone friends say that as soon as their contracts are up, they are going with an iPhone. Of course, that comes after they've spent time playing with my iPhone. A couple got tired of waiting, just went ahead and changed.

There are so many apps out there, finding one to fit your needs -- survival or otherwise -- is easy. It can take some dedicated searching and creative thinking to find one specific to survival.

A co-worker who kayaked more than 600 miles last year has been using a GPS for years. Within days of getting his iPhone he discovered that the built-in map app is a lot better than his handheld GPS: It makes navigation much easier on open water because it shows a look-down view of exactly where he is on a lake using a high-resolution photo.

Some of the augmented reality apps that work with the newest phone (3Gs -- OK, so I have not upgraded, yet) are pretty darned cool. Imagine, standing on Pikes Peak, looking east, while holding your phone in front of you. On the screen you see an image of the view with an overlay that shows information -- names of visible landmarks, directions and distance to cities, topography.

Phones are no longer phones: They are full-blown computers that happen to do a great job of carry voice. Oh, and it fits in your pocket. It is coming to the point that if you can dream up an idea, the only reason there's not an app for that is becomes nobody's written it -- yet.

While the iPhone's GPS function is tied to the phone system, within a few years -- or sooner -- it won't be.

That's right. But not with iPhone. It's "if Apple comes with an idea". Simple example: I need to hand draw diagrams on my PDA, but it's impossible physically on iPhone. Fortunately, there are many much more honest and versatile smart phones on the market. HTC for example, which aren't limiting your imagination in any even subtle way. And, by the way, HTC is much smaller and younger company compared to evil Apple.

Trying really really hard to avoid the wrath of the sheriff here so I'll skip past a few things.

On the simple example- a quick search turned up over 100 drawing apps, ranging from brush type (think free hand drawing) to more drag and drop types. So free hand drawing is not impossible on the iPod. The interface will be different since you are using your fingers instead of a stylus.

For rest - well, opinions are everywhere and differences are what makes life interesting. Apple is probably no more or less evil than any other large corporation. They exist to make money, and they make money by offering goods/services that appeal to a market segment. If their products/services don't appeal to you then you are probably not part of the market they are trying to reach.

I like the fact that there are a lot of companies working variations on the smart phone theme. I really like the app concept and am thrilled with the changes in cell phone capabilities and software since the introduction of the blackberry and the iPhone. I see the latest entrants as good things also. More choice is good and in a market this young there is room for lots of different solutions to meet the different needs of different people.

-Eric

A Check is like a freaking wide-open door to your financial information. Don't use checks.

Bumped, looking for apps that Droid users have found useful. I'm on the verge of going for a Droid 2 on Verizon, and a little push from my preparedness-aware friends here might just do the trick...

Re: needing the network: I have still not gotten a straight answer on whether or not the Droid's GPS functions work without access to the cellular network. Anybody know?

Droid have a real GPS chip. The AGPS is completely optional, however it helps a lot when playing with GPS software indoors.

The Droid has a true GPS so yes it works without the cell network, however the built in Google maps needs network access to download apps. Other apps work fine such as mytracks, gpstest, mapdryod, etc. Any app that just logs gps data such as mytracks or the apps like mapdryod that let you pre-download maps.

In addition to the many great programs listed here (particularly the electronic book and manual readers) I want to add some that I use on my EVO 4G and G1 which use the Android OS.

There is a great offline GPS mapping program available for Androids (and Windows Mobile smartphones) known as BackCountry Navigator. You can download USGS or MyTopo maps (or others worldwide) for use even when you don't have a data connection, or even GPS satellites. It does tracking.

Besides MapDroid (mentioned earlier) there are other similar ones such as Maverick and Orux Maps, but I like BackCountry Navigator the best.

I don't remember anyone mentioning the Latitude feature of Google maps which enables you to know location of you and others on the map which can be useful in meeting up. There are other programs that do this also. Just keep OpSec in mind.

There is another program that is neat called Layar. You hold your phone up and pan around and it shows you points of interest showing the direction and distance superimposed on what your camera sees. Great for locating gas stations, ATMs, restaurants, etc.

Google Goggles could help identify unknown terrain features, landmarks or even people (I have used it to identify avatar photos).

Programs like Qik or videoconferencing could broadcast what the phones camera is seeing and thus be used as a security camera.

There are programs that allow the camera LED flash to be used as a flashlight.

For anyone who cannot identify the North Star (LOL), there is Google Sky Maps.

If wimax/4G or cellular wireless is (still) up or within range, the EVO can be used as an access point for computers to access there internet.

I downloaded the trial for backcountry navigator but haven't tried it out yet. I liked how layer would point out things, I wonder if a plugin can be made for the google navigation that works similar so as your driving you can say show me the nearest parks instead of the nearest park.