PDA (PocketPCs) & captioning+uploading

Hi Frantisek

I’ve been using a iPAQ 5550 with Phojo for about eighteen months now. I mainly use it when turning round upto eight pix on a deadline and it’s really great. I wouldn’t like to be without it now.

Its also really convenient to use if you’re shooting news and your early for a job, as you can be captioning your last job whist waiting and if the Pocket PC’s can be turned on and off without having to wait for it to start up or shut down like a laptop.

Also if you ever use a Thuraya sat phone you can get the iPAQ to hook up with it, something you can only get a Mac Powerbook to do if your still running OS9.

The downside of my 5550 is that I have to use an expansion jacket to get my pix onto it from the CF card but it’s both bluetooth and WiFi where I think the 2210 is only WiFi? Obviously the 4700 would be my first choice now, it hadn’t been released when I got my 5550, as it’s bluetooth, WiFi and has both CF and SD slots, has a better screen and I think longer battery life.

The support from Paul Nolan at Phojo is absolutley superb!!!! Nikon, Canon and Apple could learn a hell of a lot from the quality of his tech support!

Recently I’ve gone back to the Powerbook a bit more than I’d like, only because my bluetooth phones are only GSM & GPRS and I have a high speed Vodafone 3G datacard for use with the Powerbook although now other photographers have got 3G handsets here in the UK connecting ok on Vodafone by bluetooth, I’ll soon upgrade a hadset to work with the iPAQ and get maximum use from it again.

Hope this helps.

Terry

Hi Terry, thanks for the info! It looks promising. Now if only there was Photo Mechanic for Pocket PCs :)



Do you do selects in-camera (tagging the files by the protect button) or is it comfortable doing selects in the Phojo as well (or even more)?



Frantisek

I do my selections in PhotoMechanic.

The one feature I do wish it had though, unless I’ve missed something, is the batch rename function from Photoshop CS as I have to be careful not to mess up my file numbering sequences.

Its like everything though, its impossible to get the perfect piece of kit whether its from Apple, Canon, Nikon or whoever!

Terry

Wait… there’s a photomechanic available for PocketPC?

oops, sorry meant to type Phojo

Terry

I know this is an old thread, but I was wondering: how fast can images be uploaded to the iPaq using the extension pack? Could this be used in replacement for a digital wallet?
K

It’s not a replacement for a digital wallet because it has stuff all on board memory.

Something else not mentioned above is that while the Phojo software is very robust, the iPaq hardware is not. They run out of juice fast, and when they do, they revert to factory settings which leaves you without Phojo installed, and all of your network configurations gone. I think the latest model might have remedied this, using a proper hard drive, but for the rest of us it’s essential to have a backup ghosted to an SD/CF card to get you out of trouble. If the device reverts to factory settings, the standard Backup program will allow you to apply the ghosted disk image from your SD/CF card and get you going again.

Another problem is there is a multitude of devices available, but none with both CF and SD slots, as well as 1xEVDO or 3G networking built in. So if you want to run the thing in conjunction with a Canon digi, and facilitate the possibility of your pictures being on either the SD or CF card, you need to use a bluetooth enabled phone with it (or a wireless hotspot).

Having said all of this, I think mine’s very useful. It has made the difference a couple of times in the six months I’ve been using it. However it’s also played up more than once, which leads me to stress the point that it’s not a lap top replacement by any stretch.

Wade.

It’s not a replacement for a digital wallet because it has stuff all on board memory.

Something else not mentioned above is that while the Phojo software is very robust, the iPaq hardware is not. They run out of juice fast, and when they do, they revert to factory settings which leaves you without Phojo installed, and all of your network configurations gone. I think the latest model might have remedied this, using a proper hard drive, but for the rest of us it’s essential to have a backup ghosted to an SD/CF card to get you out of trouble. If the device reverts to factory settings, the standard Backup program will allow you to apply the ghosted disk image from your SD/CF card and get you going again.

Another problem is there is a multitude of devices available, but none with both CF and SD slots, as well as 1xEVDO or 3G networking built in. So if you want to run the thing in conjunction with a Canon digi, and facilitate the possibility of your pictures being on either the SD or CF card, you need to use a bluetooth enabled phone with it (or a wireless hotspot).

Having said all of this, I think mine’s very useful. It has made the difference a couple of times in the six months I’ve been using it. However it’s also played up more than once, which leads me to stress the point that it’s not a lap top replacement by any stretch.

Wade.

Has anyone seen one of these?

UMPC’s…Ulta Mobile PC’s:

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/umpc/hardware.mspx

Hi Frantisek

I’m the UK rep for Phojo and a practising photographer for more than 25 years and for the last 21/2years I haven’t used a laptop to transmit a picture for deadline, instead I total depend on Phojo and it’s never let me down. I am now using and trialing it on the Loox T830 and the HTC Hermes which can be seen branded as T Mobile’s MDA Vario 11 amongst other things. The T Mobile is the enhanced 3g and I can get up to a 1.8 meg broadband speed. Normal transmisson on GPRS is around 2 to 3 kb on Phojo but with the new units I can get around 28 to 30 kb. If you have anymore info you need contact me at keith@idruna.com or 07950 525794. Hope this helps

regards
Keith

Hi there,

I’ve used the setup: HP 4700 + Phojo and I can confirm it works really well, you’ll have to get used to writing with the little pen though which is a bit slow but you can save your captions in word before the assignment to save time later. The phojo is actually better than photoshop for the needs of a photojournalist in my opinion (much faster and intuitive to use), and it is set up to send images easily and effectively. It did cost me about €1000 last year which is as much as an ibook! With regards to portability it is the same size and weight as a wallet and the screen is really amazing. Remember that it is not as versatile as a notebook computer, though.

Hi Keith

is the T Mobile’s MDA Vario 11 the same as XDA II mini S of O2 but with the 3G??
you mention 3G and that I think is a mast with Phojo…but T Mobile is resally bad in my area

regards
Marco

Hi Marco

Do a google search for the HTC Hermes, they are the manufacturers and it gets re-badged under various brands. I used to be the Picture Editor of the Cambridge Evening News and I am still a working snapper. I’ve been using Phojo for ages and haven’t used a laptop to send a picture back to the desk in nearly three years. GPRS is fine for transmission and is still what I use for the office on BT, but 3g is better and the Vario 11 obviously has the enhanced 3g which T-Mobile released on their network in August. I bought the Vario for my own pics. Don’t forget with the Pocket PC if you’re near a wifi point you can send pics processed by Phojo through wifi like McDonalds. If you have another points drop me a line or send me your mobile and I’ll give you a call.

Cheers

Keith

Re Andrew’s comments above I also have a HP4700, Loox 720, Loox T830 and MDA Vario 11 and Phojo runs really well on any of them. The cost is a lot cheaper now than £1000. Phojo itself is $489 or $389 for freelances, Pocket PC’s like the Dell Axim 51v can be bought in the high street for £259, and a 2 gig sd card around £17 to use as storage unless you use the MDA Vario 11 which uses micro sd at about £17 per gig. Phojo can work with Pocket PC’s which offer USB host like the Loox 720, Loox T830 and the Treo so you can have the camera connected to the Pocket PC and use either a bluetooth phone of available wifi for transmission. I did a presentation last week using the MDA Vario 11 ( The HTC Hermes ) on enhanced 3g and the the files shot through the system and onto an FTP server for the client with the first pic arriving captioned, resized, renamed etc in under 40seconds.

Another comment above is about the Ipaqs, My 4700 can do around five hours work with one charge it’s superbly made and probably the finest screen on a PDA, it’s like looking at a finished print. When all your software is loaded before you start using the Pocket PC you simply backup the device to the SD card so if the battery dies etc you have a backup. The beauty of the Pocket PC is that it’s instant on. You can have a pic to its location before a MAC or PC is booted up!
Also if you have a battery die or forget to charge it up, a few minutes on charge and a restore from the backup in a couple of minutes has you back and working again as if it had never been off.

The Dell Axim 51v has SD and CF slots, Wifi and bluetooth, and usb host so is presently the best Pocket PC to get unless you want a phone/pocket Pc in one then either the Loox T810/T830 or the Treo, or the Hermes if you’re using wifi’ed cameras, and dont mind using micro sd. By the way you can get adapters for the memory cards. So I can shoot a micro sd card in my D2H which is in a Micro SD to SD adapter, which itself is in a SD to CF adapter. It works!! Also the current crop of wifi compacts also work well with Phojo and wifi Pocket PCs/Phones like the Nikon P1, P3, P6 and the Canon Ixus wifi which at the moment in Jessops at £199 is a steal :)

Regards
Keith

I’ve been using a Dell x51v with Pocket Phojo for about one year. My experience has been very good and phojo surpassed tests more demanding.. The tools of adjustment of colors, crop and caption are excellent. Phojo includes a tool to send pictures to Ftp’s or by email. A new version 5.0 includes the possibility of use the Remote Edition, with a good connection of wifi to Internet it works wonderfully.
Regards
Alejandro

The Loox T830 has just arrived and is waiting for me at home. Have you used it in host mode with IRES Keith? That’s something I am very keen to try out. Could be very useful.