keyboard options for journaling?

[Passionphish]

My TX has a SD memory card slot. Everything I journal goes there. It gets swapped into the computer in the next sync. Or if I want it to go to the web fast, I just pull my data off the card via an SD slot on the side. Then it goes straight to the web!
Other options are uplink via bluetooth or the wireless web that the TX comes with. I have written a post sitting at a sandwich shop. So There are many options!

-Passionphish

[berninbush]

Here are a couple of fun keyboard options:

http://www.thinkgeek.com/computing/input/6c82/

http://www.thinkgeek.com/computing/input/8193/

[Powder River]

Funny y'all should bring this up. I just got this little question resolved for my upcoming thru hike. I was up in the air between pocketmail or a smartphone + keyboard. The pocketmail was cheaper overall, but I also was kicking around bringing a phone anyways. In the end, I stumbled upon a sale on Amazon for the igo ultra-slim stowaway keyboard for 30 bucks. It's normally listed for something like 150, so this was a steal. Currently it looks like it went up to $56.

http://www.amazon.com/OUTSIDE-XTBTUE...9141438&sr=8-3

This is the same keyboard mentioned above. It's 6 ounces with batteries, and it feels really good to type on and seems durable. I connect it to my Cingular 2125 smartphone. On the trail, I plan on posting to my wordpress.com blog via email, and the whole system should work smoothly. Photos will be mailed home on SD cards and uploaded to Flickr by my support team (parents), which connects to the blog via an RSS feed.

I think the real advantage of the smartphone over the pocketmail is going to be the convenience of not having to search for payphones, having a better keyboard, and real email capabilities. The phone itself will be a bonus for obvious reasons, plus I'll be able to google the nearest pizza place I'm sure.

The price of using this setup is slightly higher than pocketmail, because of the plan. AT&T will not let me drop voice completely and use it for just data. So I will be downgrading to a 29.99 per month voice plan for 200 anytime minutes, plus keep my 19.99 unlimited data plan. (this data plan is no longer offered.) I will probably drop text messaging, and just try to refrain from using text. So total I will pay about $60 per month (including taxes and fees) for six months totalling $360. Because I already owned the phone and have that $20 data plan this is a lot cheaper than otherwise. Compared to a pocketmail for around $200 (including service) the extra $160 or so is worth it to me to carry the phone. Weight is about 10 ounces total.

Hope this helps someone!

Jeff

[Passionphish]

Yep! That's ma' keyboard! I do love to type on it!

[SunnyWalker]

I have had two Palms and my current one is a TX. However, I am impressed with the Pocketmail devices. I don't think finding a phone is a problem. What impresses me about the Pocketmail devices is the battery life. It seems incredible to me in comparison to battery in my TX. I am wondering if my TX and the keyboard would weigh more than a Pocketmail? -SunnyWalker

[judypudy]

I had an enV on my section hike from Harper's Ferry through the Whites last year. I did my trail journal with it (e-mailed it home where a transcriber cut and pasted it to trailjournals).

Yes, I had to use thumbs, but it really didn't bother me. The only thing was, the email size was limited to a certain number of characters, so a typical journal entry for a day would take 2-3 emails.

I looked at the Treo and the Motorola Q but their plans would be ~$60 a month and you had to commit to a plan for a certain amount of time (like a year) whereas the enV was an additional $15 dollars a month for unlimited email. (which you can turn on/off at any time by calling Verizon)The enV didn't get complete internet access but I could get weather through the internet and do email so it worked for me.

Battery life - LG says it has something like 19 days standby time and I forget how much on-air life. So if I just used it to email and phone it would be fine for a week to ten days so until I had a town day. (carried the charger with me)

The signal from Verizon was generally good - there were some blind spots in MD and NJ and no coverage in the Whites. I had messed around a bit with how to journal when I couldn't get coverage - there is a notepad function that you can use but I never really figued out how to get something from the notepad to an email. (although maybe someone more clever or persistent could figure it out ) So if I didn't have coverage I wouldn't journal until the next time I had coverage. (with a PDA you could do your journal in Word and then send it as an attachment when you get coverage)

It took me a while to figure out that I could get a better signal on top of a mountain (like during the middle of the day) than in a valley (where I might be at night) .... duh.

The buttons on it can make it turn on when inside your pack. I had a small water-tight tupperware-type container that I got at the grocery store (after trying a bunch of outfitters) that I carried the enV in so it wouldn't turn on and so it wouldn't get wet.

The email screen pops up with hotmail, yahoo, and aol, so it is much easier to get into your email if you have an email account with one of those 3.

I had some 'real life' things to keep track of while hiking so it was important to have it. Also, it was a big boost to get emails from friends and family (and my trailjournals guest book). Worked well for me.

[V8]

These are very helpful comments! I'm not convinced that all-in-one is the way to go, since failure causes you to lose everything. But then, it's weight-efficient.

I always have hand-written the journals for other trips, and like someone said, it makes a great project for those tent-bound hours, and also gives you something to read... but that was for a few days to a week at a time. Now, I'm planning to send it home for transcribing, and the easier I can make it, the better.

Seems like there would be a market for a word-processor the size of pocketmail, maybe a little bigger, that puts data on SD card. Mail that home, or transfer and send when you have use of computer. It would be nice to have a screen that shows more than one or two lines of text. I think Frosty mentioned something like this, but it seems heavier than I want to devote to this - (compared to notebook and pen).

All the other stuff that smartphones (?) offer is not stuff I'm willing to pay big bucks for anyway, much less on the trail.

Still looking for a pocketmail, too -(update: found pocketmail on Amazon)

[SunnyWalker]

I did not say it earlier, but I would not want to take my (precious and expensive) Palm on the trail. Thats why the Pocketmail appealed to me (along with good batt life). Just a thought. -SunnyWalker

[Butterflymoon]

From past experience (05') pocketmail and waiting till town to hit the computer seemed to be the way to go. Cell phone reception tended to be sketchy, but maybe a few more towers have been added to the mountain tops (I hope NOT). Most hikers ended up tossing their phones into bounce boxes. I'm planning on using my pocketmail again this year. It's convenient and a whole lot cheaper that a cell phone plan that would allow me to send emails.
Good luck in your search!