Pocket Phojo

Speak to Tony Bartholomew in Scarborough….http://www.tony.bartholomew.btinternet.co.uk
He knows all about Phojo and is quite near you.
Cheers,
JR.

Ian, Phojo is fantastic for a whole bunch of reasons, but doesn’t replace your laptop or desktop setup. There are discussions about it on here you should search for where it’s all thrashed out.

There’s another product they’ve released called Idruna Remote Editing System. Make sure you look that one up too!

Wade.

Hi, I have tried the demo of the last version (never mind what the web download says, they have v4 out, last time I looked it just wasn’t mentioned on the webpage). If you contact Idruna soft, they are quite helpful in answering your questions and getting you a demo version (30 days IIRC). And yes, it had some very nice quirks. Being able to stuff it to your pocket while still transmitting and keep shooting/driving/running/... is pretty nice.

Although, as Wade said, it’s not a laptop replacement.

Basically, I found it great for quick shoots where I selecte few photos without much need for diverse captions (e.g. not captioning every player from a football game), not so much for bigger shoots.

Unfortunately, my biggest gripe with it was the hardware. It runs on Windows Mobile (and its older versions), that is PocketPC devices and smartphones. Bad thing is, all these devices from last few years haven’t advanced in hardware specs like speed and ram. Actually, my old PPC Fujitsu 718 was until recently the fastest and most ram device on the market, though it is several years old! (700Mhz CPU, 128MB ram). With file sizes getting bigger and bigger, that can be a problem – even on the speedy Fujitsu, opening a 12Mpix file took some time. And most modern smartphones are even slower.

I found it great when I could rely on the picturedesk to do most toning, because loading, toning and saving each file of several takes a while.

Alas, our newspaper wasn’t thrilled by the idea of buying the license and PPC for it to run on :-(

It would make a superb backup device for your laptop for Iraq or similar places, though. As the PPC is so small.

Anyway, it’s definitely worth a try. Only you can tell if it works for your job or not.

In version 4, they actually added some pretty interesting advancements like direct connection to canon cameras (where the picturedesk can loging trough the ‘net to your camera and see all the files on your card/download what they want), and similar perks.

I haven’t tried it on newest devices with Windows Mobile 6, as this newer OS might have closed some of the bugs that frequented the earlier versions. I would be the most happy instant buyer of it if there was an iPhone version! ;-) (the older versions of the operating system often did such things as changing the wireless settings without you knowing and were, generaly, a pain in the ass to use).

HTH, Frantisek

Is anyone using Phojo on the Fujitsu-Siemens Loox T830? I’ve got one on the way (as soon as I can convince Vodafone UK that I am not going to flee the country – they’re very nervous about signing up new arrivals it seems). My only concern is its size and weight. Anyone?

Wade.

I don’t use it to transmit but I use it for everything else imaginable, and it would be ideal for this. Has an SD card reader, VGA screen, and is 3G. I’d recommend it if you want to do this. Look for it under various names, HTC Universal, JasJar, O2 XDA Exec over there in the UK, etc…

Thanks for the responses guys it definately seems like a good piece of kit but used within/for certain requirements. Not a replacement for, but to be used alongside the old laptop. The dilema now is that along with the laptop and several miles of leads etc! Another piece of technical kit presents itself. I fear instead of reducing the amount of gear to be taken away I may have just increased it. Ah well. Must remember cameras also!! Thanks again for the input…very useful. IF

Hi Ian,
Its definitely worth adding it to your kit. For quick transmissions nothing comes close to it. Also, if you’re covering a demo march or a riot, its really the only way to work (you tag your pictures in camera whilst shooting, then just nip away into a doorway or something and send your shots in record time).
The PDA / Smartphone you choose is quite crucial. Have a chat with Idruna and they’ll make their recommendations.

Edmond

Thanks Edmond, will check out the Idruna connection.