Honestly, I have been fantasizing about a device used purely for text messaging, with multiple connection modes (LoRA, LTE, Wifi, etc) and then just dedicate it to messaging. A small device just to send and receive messages either directly, and/or integrate with popular messaging services, but only messaging.<p>Something to optimize battery, screen (only really need Eink or something low power), and other aspects for that mode of communication.
Could anyone knowledgeable about radio tell me what's the pros/cons of this over something like APRS [0]? I guess for pros this wouldn't require a ham radio license and it's encrypted, but APRS is possible out of the box for certain radios?<p>[0] <a href="http://www.aprs.org/aprs-messaging.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.aprs.org/aprs-messaging.html</a>
This Nokia e63 reminds me of the time when phones used to be so much fun and there was a lot of variety. All the phones are essentially the same now.<p>When Phones Were Fun – And Nokia Was Crazy
: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YOZi-7V11k8" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YOZi-7V11k8</a>
Keep wondering if a smartphone maker will build in a point to point radio system like goTenna [1] or Beartooth [2].<p>Ideally everyone would agree on a standard and you can just text message / share location with anyone in range and mesh back to the cell network, one can hope.<p>1. <a href="https://gotenna.com" rel="nofollow">https://gotenna.com</a><p>2. <a href="https://beartooth.com" rel="nofollow">https://beartooth.com</a>
It reminds of this project[0] using lora protocol and custom icb. The advantage of using lora is that it can go up to 25 miles and uses 1/10th of an amp when in use so it can last for years.<p>[0]:<a href="https://makezine.com/projects/armachat-lora-communicator?vgo_ee=zKtEpez0t7e4YGhfzFpqSvGU1ExDdALPZgfTEx7uF78%3D" rel="nofollow">https://makezine.com/projects/armachat-lora-communicator?vgo...</a>
This just looks amazing, really sad there is just NO way I'll ever be able to solder this myself hehe. This would be a very interesting kickstarter project.
Interesting project with similar goals: <a href="https://hackaday.io/project/171790-armawatch-armachat-long-range-radio-messengers" rel="nofollow">https://hackaday.io/project/171790-armawatch-armachat-long-r...</a>
I'm fascinated by off the grid solutions. Does this need any special hardware to run? Considering phones have radio/wifi equipment, is it possible to create a software only solution that can install and run off any phone?
> The e63 doesn't support touch and TouchGFX doesn't work with keypads or buttons so interfacing the keypad to the GUI engine was not a trivial exercise.<p>I found this amusing, considering my keyboard runs on a pair of STM32 blackpills