Tailoring smartphone tech to the battlefield

[watchsnowfall]

Google’s Android system at the center of efforts to equip U.S. Army with handset-based location and surveillance software

Comments

[erunamiryene]

Okay ... that's pretty cool.

(Although, from a comm Marine's perspective, it's more, "Shit, more high-tech crap for people to break in 0.2 seconds.")

[watchsnowfall]

Hahah pretty much. One more thing to add to the list of giant things to fix when they inevitably break.

Also, what a shitty time for "no signal" problems too.

[erunamiryene]

Also, what a shitty time for "no signal" problems too.

OMG, I'd forgotten about that. (I remember that one of my shops had a roughly 1 ft square area *right in the center of the shop* where you could get reception, and EVERYWHERE else was a dead zone.) I can just see a platoon, all leaning this way and that, waving their stupid phones in the air, trying to get a decent signal:

Platoon commander: "What the fuck are you idiots doing?"
Platoon: "We can't get more than one bar out here! Fucking crappy equipment."

[ubiquitous_a]

LOL! Yeah, but that's one of the reasons why they test a lot of this stuff during field exercises way the hell out in the desert.

[erunamiryene]

Very true, very true. 29 Palms and Yuma have to be good for something. :D

[ubiquitous_a]

I think that if it becomes a big enough thing, they'll probably work with the manufacturers to design a ruggedized model that can handle usage in theater.

I work for a company that makes biometric identification equipment, and we develop devices that are specifically designed to meet their specifications for mission operations.

[erunamiryene]

Rule 1: No plan survives first contact with the enemy.
Rule 1A: No equipment (especially software) survives first contact with a staff NCO or lieutenant. ;)