Survival tablet

Many great ideas: http://www.meetearl.com/ but could never hit the market. IMO, $300 seems to be way too optimistic for such a wonder.

Hmm, yeah that's too limited. A separate solar panel with a USB plug and you can charge the battery on the tablet or smart-phone you already own.
I have a Goal Zero Guide 10 which is fairly small and backpack portable, but there are other products with larger panels and bigger inverters/more storage. REI has a few, Amazon probably has a bunch.

and I was thinking this would be a thread on field expedient dietary supplements.

+1, LOL

I just don't associate electronics with survival gear. For the military, where they are in a bounded area of conflict with backup, sure, electronics are good. But when an EMP takes the power out everywhere, or when the zombies come, this thing would be useless. Spend your $300 on ammo instead.

FWIW, I also checked out this thread to find out about the newest dietary supplement! I guess that goes to further illustrate my bias that electronics (tablets) != survival gear.

I am vastly unimpressed. I tried their everytrail.com link and I would describe the data available there as superficial and not particularly useful.

I don't think I need to monitor my heart rate or cadence. With lots of experience, I can tell when I am tired or not (no flies on me!).

Maybe it's years of carrying one while on duty, but a low priority item in my gear on a normal recreational hike is a radio. A full fledged PLB would be potentially more useful.

Precise knowledge of your location, elevation, etc. can be potentially useful, but more often I have known exactly where I was located The problem was "How do I change my location?"

All in all, it seems like an attempt to substitute technology for judgment.

"Survival Tabs" - is the brand you were confused with, I guess (I have original bottles sitting in each of my three BOBs still, and even got samples of their new offerings in four flavors recently).

But no, this is about a single electronic device you have to care for in a bug out situation, instead of a multiple ones we are usually want to have at hand when away from home.

I'm tired of carrying a bag or a vest with 20 pockets full of various essential gear. I'm sure a single device could be made which will allow to cut weight and bulk on unnecessary diversity of cables, cases, lanyards, clips, handles, covers, lids, batteries, screens, knobs, and pouches for each in a concise enough way, making room for other less compactable essentials such as food and water.

Forget for a moment the intended use of that tablet declared (camping/hiking), but consider the bug out potential in such a small and universal device. Some still having an AM/FM radio, which is bigger and heavier than this thing in their BOB.

A rugged, long-lived and easy to recharge device that combined a tablet's functionality with an AM/FM/WX (and I can wish for shortwave) receiver could be worth having. Since such a device is currently vaporware and I'm a radio nerd, I can (and do) carry a dedicated receiver or transceiver as appropriate.

A small device like that will be safe in just a couple of wraps of aluminum foil. Try that with your laptop in a hurry. Same with the zombies, they will be thinking exactly like you - who needs a smartphone now when there is no service, internet, or power? Regarding the general usefulness of a smartphone - it is equal to saying that books will be useless after the SHTF. Sure thing, that solely depends on what you have on your smartphone besides your business contacts. But even primitive children games on it are something precious already at TEOTWAWKI.

paper maps!

Wrap it in aluminum foil? You've got to be kidding. That sounds like something one would read on the internet. Mu-metal or a faraday cage maybe, but aluminum foil? And little things are not less susceptible to EMP than big things. Physical size does not come into play.


There is truth to that. Smartphones are smart because they access the internet. Without internet connectivity, they're mostly dumb. The tablet that this thread is about - it says it can predict the weather. Now how is it going to do that without internet connectivity? Is it loaded with barometric sensors, thermometers, humidity gauges, anemometers, ...?


I totally disagree with that. The only thing a smartphone has going for it over printed books is that it can hold a whole lot more information in a smaller package. And that's great - while your charger keeps charging, while your batteries don't give out from being recharged too many times, while you don't fall into a creek with it in your pocket, while you don't drop it and break it's screen. I see it as a reasonable supplement for books, but certainly not a replacement for them.


If I had all that important stuff on it, I sure wouldn't be handing it out to kids to play games on.

I view a tablet/smartphone for survival kind of like a Bic butane lighter. Great, and super easy to start fires with - when it works. But I'd prefer a ferro rod as the thing I really depend on, with the Bic lighter being the quick-n-easy solution (while it still works).

Yes, contrary to the american funny folklore around tinfoil hats, a tin (or aluminum) foil neat wrapping around your phone (preferably with a layer of cardboard or other isolator underneath to guarantee a nonconductive gap) will definitely save your phone from a typical EMP attack threat. Two perpendicularly wound layers are better against human errors. But if it will not - most likely you brain electricity wouldn't survive either to use it afterwards anyway Mu-metal? It's for the scientific equipment isolation from slightest magnetic fields during precise electromagnetic measurements/experiments. Yes it will work for EMP protection as well, but not much better than an aluminum foil. In fact, all you really need to protect your equipment from EMP is a low electrical resistance conductor, looped on itself. That's all what elementary physics require. The popular among preppers garbage can is actually inferior to aluminum foil wrap, as it's made of a much less conductive steel and zink. The best option would be a silver foil. However, a garbage can is more convenient for fast tossing the stuff in as well as for a long term storage if done right (aluminum tape sealed lid gap).

The physical size plays the major role here, as the more the surface the higher gain of the resulting antenna for "EMP signal reception". For example, the Solar Flare produces very similar to the EMP threat, but it will affect severely only large power grids, not cars or smartphones - exactly because of the size of an antenna the grid resembles. Also, the smaller size is easier to protect, as you need a smaller (thus easier to improvise) faraday cage.

Smartphones are smart, because they can be used in a smart way. For example, I have a 22Gb sized website, with thousands of survival books and papers indexed, directly mirrored to my smartphone storage, so even without the internet connection I can browse it on the phone as a regular website. Same for the street level maps of the entire US, Canada, and Mexico - all offline... Paper maps? I don't aware of a truck which can load so much paper at once. Also I have around 300 apps installed, many of them have survival use even if just for fighting the boredom. Leaving the weight of books aside they are prone to moisture, mold, insects, and fire. Also they have a value even for dumbest looters for their paper (cigarettes, kindling, toilet paper, wrapping goods). Besides, it's easier to protect a 128Gb T-flash card with millions of pages on it than even smallest 100 page book - just swallow it

Yes, even my 4 years old Android smartphone has a real barometer, thermometer, and humidity sensor. That predicts severe weather changes quite reliably as soon as you have calibrated the local pressure range:



Anemometer is harder to implement in a pocket device, but I saw them as a standalone pocket devices (not that crucial for a local spot weather forecasting, more like for its propagation in the region).

Don't need biometric sensors on you? What about assessing and monitoring your unconscious buddy condition?

Regarding the recharging. I've started with Palm OS handheld (1999). In the past November I unboxed my Palm VIIx, installed two AAAs, booted it, and restored from backup flash "disk" - it works flawlessly. I have Sony TH55 riding in my astronomy bag all this time as a spare star chart (includes plenty of survival stuff as well). It's 11 years old Palm OS wonder. Charging it and restoring from backup every 6 month. The integrated LiPO battery still holds the charge for just a little above an hour of WiFi, but it works indefinitely when connected to my 8Ah powerbank with USB cable connected. I'm sure that modern batteries will continue to be usable for at least the same period of time (I have 2 spares, one is EDC, another is recharged to 60% every 6 month). The external power option will work even if the battery charging MOSFET will ever die (I have the external battery charger as well).

Mechanical issues: as I've said, with the proper phone case the fall into a creek will have no effect on the phone at all. The phone casing, which I've already mentioned (Otterbox defender), withstood falling from about 5 feet height to a concrete twice without any consequences, and that's not a small phone, but a 5.5" screen phablet. In fact, I'm protecting it probably even better than my own ribs when in the field (both times I dropped it at home). I do see it as the best replacement possible for books in a SHTF situation.

Kids can be a pain if not entertained. But modern phones are sturdy enough to withstand any abuse by a typical child. Surely if you refrain from offering it as a soccer ball substitute. The valuable data is easily protected by using the multi-user profile feature (on Android, iPhone is an epic fail for almost any of the above), which has the special "kids mode". Besides, not only kids need some entertainment time, I have a huge scifi library on my phone, as well as Monopoly, Chess, Holdem, and other table-like multiplayer and single player games for every age.

The bic lighter is an irrelevant comparison, it's more like a zippo lighter (by the way, it's a great hand warmer if you have some heavy app to release the good heat from the silicone ). But I see my smartphone more like an extremely knowledgeable and resourceful buddy (it can even speak and talk to you, you know?). Add this and your phone can get "legs" and "hands".

While I can keep it charged, my tablet has significant capability to be helpful in emergencies:

• GPS and maps, both "live" connected to the Internet and offline. If GPS is down the maps still work and in some respects are easier to use than paper maps. The onboard compass also works well.
• Reference material, including bushcraft, medical, and a lot more.
• Copies of important documents.
• Books and games for entertainment.
• If the mobile or wireless Internet service is working, information and communication.

I could keep it running for at least a month if the power was out for that long, even on the move. In a true TEOTWAKI situation it would be challenging to keep it charged over a longer period of time, to be sure, but if I were prepping for that I'd leave the suburbs and be building or buying a rural off-grid home.

In other words, there's truth on both sides of the argument. Yes, tablets are more fragile than paper, need to be charged, and have less utility when the Internet is down. They may fail during an EMP, depending on source, strength, and so on. But they don't have to be worthless in an emergency, either.

Hmm, I suspect some of us have widely differing notions of 'SHTF'. I'm not sure kids freaking out due to a lack of entertainment is quite a valid SHTF situation.

In my view, a true SHTF situation would involve something like a large-scale natural disaster, war, major civil disturbance or some other situation posing an immediate existential threat.

Smartphones and tablets are useful in everyday life, and no doubt also in some emergency situations. But I don't think the vast majority of current consumer-grade electronics is robust, reliable and foolproof enough for serious field and/or emergency use.

If you really need a computer on the go, a professional ruggedized laptop will offer far more reliability, computing power and battery life than some tablet gizmo.

Smartphones, well - they are no doubt fun toys to play with but an inadequate susbtitute for a proper computer. Lots of functions and useful and useless Android apps, but which ones are truly essential? As in - essential to keep you alive?

As far as basic communication, your smartphone is dependent entirely on the phone network. How long do you think that is going to be available in a serious emergency? Radio would seem to be a much more reliable option in that regard.

GPS... I would take my old Garmin eTrex any day over the latest smartphone. A), because I know it works under highly adverse conditions whereas all my cellphones so far have tended to crash, perform bizarrely or die unexpectedly. And B), battery life (on a couple of easily replaceable, rechargeable AA's) is far better.

Either way, GPS is NO substitute for a compass and digital maps CANNOT replace paper maps. That may sound old fashioned, but it's the hard, simple truth. Ignore it at your own peril. Do keep in mind though that experience is a hard teacher and there's no reset button in real life.

For emergency data storage a separate portable hard disk or USB drive strikes me as a safer alternative to keeping all your stuff aboard that smartphone. Remember that adage about putting all eggs in one basket?

I seriously doubt wrapping your smartphone in aluminum foil will make any difference in the event of an actual EMP. As far as EMP though, if that is your main concern - it would imply the use of nuclear weapons. In the event of a nuclear war I'm pretty sure smartphones, tablets and Playstation (to keep the kids happy) are going to be very low on most folks' priority list.

All in all, Haertig and Hikermor have made some excellent points earlier. As much as I love electronics and modern gadgets, when it comes to emergency preparedness - the simpler, the better. Anything relying on electricity and/or network connection is going to take some effort to keep running in a real emergency. Effort that might be better spent elsewhere for some more "essential" purpose.

Frankly, I don't believe electronic devices are anywhere near as indispensable to our well-being as we tend to assume. 20 years ago a whole lot of people didn't even own a computer and cellphones were pretty much sci-fi but we managed to get by just fine. And so did countless generations before the discovery of electricity.

YMMV.

Interesting discussion. Besides the phone, browser and email apps, most of the apps on my iPhone work off-line. The map works and the GPS will plot your position without cell or wifi connectivity.

The latest smartphones come with quad and octa-core processors and have a lot of processing power. Choose your apps well and it can be a valuable tool. Indispensable? Probably not, but still valuable. All it takes is a compatible solar system and it can provide for lots of use. I have a case around mine that does a good job protecting it from accidental drops onto concrete.

As always, YMMV.

Keeping kids calm in a bug-in or shelter situation has a huge impact on them and on the morale of others. I've seen this first-hand when my CERT operated a shelter during a large-scale natural disaster, so I'm going to respectfully disagree with you here.


Having used my tablet to good effect as an incident commander in a couple of small-scale CERT callouts, my experience has been different.


Modern professional ruggedized laptops have better computing power than modern tablets, but dramatically worse battery life. I've seen too many of the ruggedized laptops as an IT professional to believe that they have more reliability in general, although certainly there are individual counter-examples.

It's far more challenging to keep a laptop charged in the field.

There are many things that laptops do better than a tablet, but there's surprisingly little that a laptop can do that my tablet cannot do to some degree. Sometimes, not always, that's enough.


Making phone calls and sending text messages comes immediately to mind. This has saved lives in many disasters.

In the CERT context, sometimes portability and battery life means more than computing capacity. For example, we train to text photos from the field to the incident commander when that sort of intelligence is worthwhile. If the mobile networks are down, it still may make sense to bring photos back to incident command depending on the circumstances.


We use handheld radios, both FRS and ham, for tactical communications. In our area, we have access to a very good amateur radio repeater that has long-term emergency power available.

However there are many tasks for which handheld radios are either inefficient or outright improper. Maybe things are different where you live, but the mobile networks have proven to be more reliable in power outages and disasters than the landline carriers where I live.


Good points (although I don't have the problems with my smartphone that you have experienced). But smartphones are ubiquitous, and dedicated GPS receivers aren't.


I don't disagree -- every member of my CERT is issued large-scale maps of the community we serve. As a supplement to compasses and paper maps, GPS can make things a lot faster when time matters. I've seen that in the field.


How would you show a photo of your passport or other document to an official if all you were carrying was a thumb drive?

There are pros and cons to both approaches.


Aluminum foil, used properly, makes for excellent and inexpensive Faraday Cage material. Don't, however, use it without cardboard or some other insulator between the conductive material and the devices you're trying to protect.


Or a solar flare.

Smartphones and tablets are analogous a multitool. A dedicated knife is better for cutting tasks, dedicated screwdrivers are better for repairs, and so on. But like a multitool, these devices may allow for a lot of capability in a light and compact package. Are they right for every circumstance? Of course not.

I'm sure that is the root of many of the differences of opinion here.

I am thinking of SHTF as in the book "One Second After". Where lack of food is a major problem, water delivery is problematic, people are dieing right and left for lack of medications, few vehicles are running, etc. Under those conditions, widespread across a very large geographical area, I don't see any electronic device being your holy grail.

A more localized disaster, where once you escape the immediately affected area you find everywhere else is still normal, then an electronic gadget may well be of help to you.

Tom_L. My take on the SHTF situation is that it relates to a sudden and serious disruption of our normal life (i.e. a massive quake, when you are left with just all you have on you or were able to grab and run from an immediate danger), which may or may not to be followed by a short or long period of TEOTWAWKI living environment, when people around are suffering but eventually adapting. A lightweight pocket smart device can be of a great help for both. I love the chaosmagnet's multi tool analogy, I would just add "with thousands of replaceable blades". So, I don't see any impact of misunderstanding of the terminology here on the usability of such a device.

Regarding the usability. In the past 4 years, after getting my Note 3 smartphone, I'm using my superpowerful "32" QHD screen latest i7 32GB RAM, quad RAID0 SSD, 2x4Gb Nvidia SLI, 2kW PSU Windows PC monster" only for immersive virtual reality games, processing HD video, CAD drawing, and micro controllers programming (the later will change soon as well). The rest of everyday and work related tasks, including the 3D printing, are perfectly handled by that phone only (sometimes with a Bluetooth full keyboard and/or Chromecast dongle), and that's a 2 generations old model gadget. I'm even coding Android apps for my Android phone right on that phone.

Another well obscured benefit of the phone vs rugged laptop is the boot time. On any laptop it's too long for a practical on the go use even on a RAID0 SSD equipped laptop. If you are referring to the lack of the screen size (legit for the large map use or an aging eyesight) - the modern phone has a true HD and even QHD resolution, which is the same or much better than what an average laptop can offer. Just get a +2 reading glasses and you have a crisp 32" screen in front of you (I've got this modern marvel, even though I'm 20/20). You can connect a normal keyboard and mouse, if you wish, as well.

For the aluminum foil - I've explained already: that's really just elementary physics. Try to Google that avoiding preppers' websites

The rest of your concerns is very well explained by chaosmagnet, I hope.

By the way, regarding the off the grid communications. The smartphone can provide that as well utilizing the peer-to peer mesh network solutions such as the famous FireChat app without any special effort (although for the base camp communications you can deploy high gain directional antennas, wifi repeaters/extenders with wired segments, etc). Also there are mobile (foot long inch wide stick like) mobile cell towers are available on the market already: http://www.cnet.com/news/gotenna-creates-cell-network-out-of-thin-air-anywhere-on-earth/

Yup, and no doubt the notion on what does or does not constitute a SHTF situation is subjective to some degree. Which invariably biases our views and expectations - taking just one particular argument as an example:



My experience with shelters is a little different. Many years ago when I was a kid, my family and I needed to take refuge inside an air shelter on several occasions due to the threat of aerial bombing. War was exciting enough for youngsters like myself, but keeping the kids calm inside the shelter was really the least of everyone's concern. People were more worried about keeping the air pumps and generators running, and keeping the fingers crossed that no bombs or missiles land on our little piece of turf (none did - the nearest impact was several miles away). I think that qualifies more or less as a SHTF situation even though it could've been a whole lot worse at the time, and for many it was.

IMHO a lot of people these days, at least in the comfort of civilization, tend to confuse the difference between "inconvenience" and actual life-threatening "SHTF". That's probably also the reason why we'll have to agree to disagree on some counts, and that's perfectly ok. No need to prove anything and no axe to grind.

Realistically speaking, for most Westerners these days the threat of actual "SHTF" is (thankfully still) very remote and something they are highly unlikely to encounter on their home turf at the present.

IF it comes to proper SHTF though the real priorities will become very clear very fast. At the same time, what might seem important, even essential right now may turn out to be largely irrelevant. IMHO smartphones, tablets and computers in general are not really "essential" survival gear, simply because there are other things more immediately useful or important in procuring the basic necessities like water, food, shelter, health and security.

But nice to have - certainly. Same as a comfortable couch, for example. Which I would take over a smartphone loaded to the hilt with the latest games and apps if I had to stay inside an air raid shelter again for some time.

YMMV!

Every kid is unique, so having calming and distracting options is always an asset to a parent and alike. Being a 3 y/o kid, I had a serious surgery with a rather weak local anesthesia once (almost lost my eye). I can still recall that pain and terror. But being distracted by my favorite toy in the moms hands I immediately became much more calm and tolerant to the procedure helping the doctor to do everything safely, decently, and fast. In many children dentist clinics, little children are watching cartoons sitting in the dental procedures chair also for a good reason...

Couch? I can sleep in a DIY lean-to, which plans I can find in my phone or invent right on location, but I would definitely want to be able finding in my phone the precise reloading data for the new gun I found on a dead body. I want to know if my headache is my usual reaction to the air pressure jump, or a symptom of a possible CO poisoning or a fever... Etc.

I am coming to heartily despise the term"SHTF". Aside from its mild vulgarity (really no big deal), it is simply imprecise (a bigger deal). It is often used to describe, apparently, the total collapse of society and a relapse into total anarchy which will be surmounted only by those wise enough to stock plenty of ammo and Wheaties inside their stockades, but there are plenty of variations....

I prefer to consider more mundane mishaps, like the priest unplanned overnight incident in a companion thread (been there,done that)- ranging upward in scale to more profound events (winter storm Jonas, earthquakes, wild fires) as an event one is more likely to encounter. I am tempted to propose a scale running from pico disasters to nano disaster up to micro disasters, disasters, and mega disasters. I suppose there should be a place for the venerable acronym TEOTWAWKI, which absolutely could happen, but which is rather unlikely, at least in my lifetime.

Agreed So, in the new terms, my point is that a top smartphone-like device, being the quintessence and the culmination of technological advancements of our civilization over the millennia passed, filled with the knowledgeably preselected and carefully digitized wisdom of the entire humankind is a significant asset to leverage in any scale disaster from a pico- to giga- level...

By the way, In my digital survival books collection I have a dozen or two of the best schoolbooks of the 20th century (algebra, geometry, chemistry, botany, biology, physics, and so on), in Russian though, as I'm not aware of any good English schoolbooks so far. I also have the famous Russian highest-mathematics pocket thesaurus digitizing project in the work (also using my phone and the great documents scanner app CamScanner for that).

There is a certain downside to the smart phone/tablet device. The greater use of the smart phone/tablet, the dumber and more stupid the general population seem to get. The lack of awareness it creates is incredible. It's just a general observation I've noticed over the last 10 years and the devices combine with a tendency to cause panic if the devices are taken away or unavailable. I have only every owned one smart phone (Landrover A8) and the truth be told I don't even carry it around with me. I was once asked if I was able to lend my mobile phone to make a call by someone else. I said that I don't usually carry a mobile phone. He thought I was the Zombie..
The reliance on these electronic toys and detractions is now getting silly.

Samsung Galaxy Media Player 5.0
It's similar in size to the Galaxy S line but has an FM receiver where the phone radio would be.

Edit to add:
It and a flip phone are my current EDC. Data plans rate a "You gotta be kidding me!"

Calming and distracting, not exactly what I would call dad's belt, but it was quite effective at keeping us in order.

I just looked that one up because it sounded intriguing. Unfortunately, it runs Android 2.3.5, which is very old, so it's not going to run many new apps. And it's screen is only 800x480 resolution, not enough for many things. You could read text on it though.

True. However, that's not a smartphone's fault, but social networks'. In 90% of cases people are chatting with friends and just "passing by" strangers non stop on various popular subjects and their own posts. A smartphone simply provides opportunities to do that any time available (like during boring commuting) versus from a home computer only. Before the smartphones era, there were almost the same thing with tape cassette players, then CD players. At least now they can hear what's going on around without earplugs.

Inactive cell phone (basically a mini wifi tablet), a pocket weather radio, and a folding solar panel. Put them together in an ESD bag and Bob's yer uncle.

In fact, the topic starter gadget is: "...featuring a built in AM/FM/SW/LW radio tuner, Earl lets you listen to the world no matter where you are. Live pause or schedule recordings on a truly worldwide emergency radio. Using SAME (Specific Area Message Encoding), be alerted to changing conditions over NOAA weather channels." and "...a VHF and UHF transceiver (with support for GMRS, PMR446 and UHFCB), Earl connects to analog and digital radio frequencies up to 20 miles away. Send secure text or voice messages via Walkie-Talkie; even transmit weather, location, and route information."

An external solar panel definitely could be more powerful and versatile, but if that tablet is the only thing you managed to grab and run, an integrated one is a godsend, imho.

I think that's perfectly valid thinking. In a way, it's purely a matter of semantics. Most would probably agree that "SHTF" ranks somewhere between "disaster" and "mega disaster". Not sure though if that classification (albeit more politically correct) makes interpreting the severity of the situation any easier or more objective per se.

At the end of the day, it's the eye of the beholder. I'm sure that for a good number of people these days accidentally dunking their smartphone in the toilet would constitute a "giga disaster". I'm not sure though how those same individuals would rate something potentially more dangerous still, like a major natural disaster or civil war.

And that's not even getting into TEOTWAWKI fantasy territory. It's not survivalist fiction, "virtual reality" stuff like scavenging for ammo, taking guns off dead bad guys, saving the human race from extinction with the treasure of knowledge stored for posterity on your SD card etc.

9/11, Katrina, the Nepal earthquake, Syria - just a few familiar examples. Some of that stuff is actually happening as we speak. Just not to us (enjoying a quiet online discussion on our PCs, smartphones and WiFi gadgets) at this particular moment, but to real people somewhere far away.

But it could happen to anyone. So can one ever truly prepare oneself for a "mega disaster" (I think I'd actually prefer the term "SHTF" within that particular context)? Probably not, and in general you're absolutely right that it makes more sense in our given situation to focus primarily on minor emergencies that are easier to prepare for and more likely to happen.

As far as the tools best suited to dealing with a particular scale of disaster... I suspect it's a matter of force continuum more or less. The bigger the problem, the harder the solution. By the same token, if your problem can be solved with a smartphone app... It's probably not actual SHTF/TEOTWAWKI/end of days mega disaster.

I believe, that's indeed the ultimate goal of any true human being. The life on our planet is so fragile that it can become extinct any moment, even as we speak, without a prior warning (Supernova flash, decent asteroid impact...), and there is a very little we can do about it so far, especially with an egoistic approach to our personal survival.

Regarding the "the treasure of knowledge stored for posterity on your SD card". Thanks, I feel like a virtual Noah now, EDCing around 30Gb of precious survival knowledge... However, looking back at the "aluminum foil" discussion attempts above, I can tell for sure now that having some early grades schoolbooks stored on the phone was a smart decision on my part, for posterity or not In fact, the information you store on your PDA must have an immediate reference value (thus, by the way, the old Russian schoolbooks, which were made extremely to the point at that time, leaving lengthy explanations, examples, and exercises, typical for american schoolbooks, my son's using, to the teacher and in class work). Also, one should keep in mind, that books are good for deeper understanding of things, but dedicated apps are even better as they are providing ready to use tools, with the minimal learning curve required to use them, as any app is encapsulating not just many bits of diverse knowledge scattered in several books, but also proven scientific approach of applying them to the surrounding reality as well.



If you watch some real footage from around some of the most recent SHTF events, and observant enough, you would immediately notice, that almost all the refugees hold on their smartphones even when storming the barbed fences or throwing rocks. During the two civil wars in Russia with Chechnya, Chechen rebels were widely using smartphones while hiding in the woods, and were charging them daily with makeshift crank chargers made out of logs:



That's definitely nothing to do with your imaginary "couch wars". Chechens won that war, by the way, from Russia (contrary to the Russian official statements); and one of the major contributors to that was exactly the modern electronics technology, as the Russian army's personal communications and data mining technologies deployed on the battlefield were decades behind what rebels' supporters money could buy from the West at the time.


LOL. I thought that problems are solved by smart people, leveraging the common knowledge and resources available, not by any talking smart tools themselves...

I've run into how ancient the OS is several times already. IIRC at the time, current Android was up to maybe 3.0. How often have the manufacturers released upgrades though? By the time they get an upgrade ready, they will be releasing the next version anyway. This way they increase the benefit to getting a new device instead of upgrading.

I have no clue about iGadgets, but if you stick with Android, you can upgrade at minimum from 3.x OS to 5.X if your device is from the former top of the line general breed (e.g. Kindle is also Android but of a proprietary breed), as by now almost all of such Android smartphones have been rooted (rooting procedure is available) and have a dedicated developers community adapting new OS versions for them. You can rarely see any upgrades from cell providers, unless that's poses a well known security threat, as they obviously want you to buy again. However, I must admit, that Verizon has gradually upgraded my smartphone OS (Note 3) from 4.0 to 4.2, then to 4.4, and 5.0 officially.

When you root the device and upgrade, does the OS upgrade or replace the old one?

Usually, it will replace the old one (1). However, in most of the cases you can opt for either a "dual boot" (2), or the guest OS boot from the card (3). In the later case your original OS will stay intact. But if you are concerning with your current apps and settings - they will be gone in cases 1 and 2. The Google autosync is not 100% reliable (if you have many apps - they will be autorestoring from the cloud for many days, and still may stuck unfinished) so the manual backup is a must prior to the rooting and after, prior to the ROM upgrade (with the much more thorough root backup utilities).

Thanks. I'm debating root & upgrade verses new phone when my current contract is up.

What is your old phone model, OS version, and provider? I can help with the viability estimation of either path.

Samsung Convoy 2 flip phone and using the Media Player as a PDA/wi-fi tablet with Verizon. Current plan fits my usage @ 700min, unlimited text, and pay as you go data. Normal bill right now is ~$30. I like Verizon's service except the up-charge for a data plan. The must include data plan is the only reason I didn't go to a smart phone with the last upgrade.

I see. I cannot seem to find what the Verizon Media Player tablet is, though (Convoy is definitely not a smart phone). Can you provide a link to its specs? I'm with Verizon as well. Paying $99 total for 2 smart phones (one is on the lease still) and 500Mb of shared Data.

It's a Samsung smartphone but they put an FM radio where the phone radio would be. Like an old school PDA with a radio.
Samsung Media Player

Yes, it looks like there is a good chance your tab can be upgraded to KitKat. Check this out: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2784792
On the same forum you can find rooting instructions. Also I saw the CyanogenMod OS available for that device (lightweight version of Android). The later could work smoother on such an old hardware, but try KitKat first.

Thanks for the reference. I'd found the site with google earlier for rooting. I'm trying to get that to work now.

Another very interesting rugged smartphone coming, equipped with the integrated thermal imaging: http://www.catphones.com/en-us/phones/s60-smartphone?alttemplate=landingpage