12,000 miles with the Nokia N79

[slitchfield]

The N79 certainly seems a suitable device for a hardy, dusty, GPS-enabled, solar-powered cycle ride across the globe. Susie Wheeldon, Jamie Vining and Iain Henderson are using 'Nokia N79 Active' devices to find their way (Nokia Maps) and keep track of their heart rate (Sports Tracker), as they make their way through 15 countries in travelling 12,000 miles. It's all being powered by thin-film solar panels attached to their bike paniers. You can follow their progress over the next nine months on www.thesolarcyclediaries.com

Read on in the full article.

Wrong choice, I'd far rather have an N82 which is as solid and robust as they come, is powerful, and has the best mobile camera anywhere. Mine's taken my full bodyweight in snowboarding wipeouts, drops, scratches, and full immersion in water twice (visibly into the screen, electronics and camera) and still works like a dream with no maintenance having been required.

[slitchfield]

Fair comment. Though at Nokia's test centre, I did see N79s being given EXTREME treatment, to no ill effect 8-)

[rvirga]

From their site:
> 28 May: Ferry
That ferry is solar-powered as well, right?!? Cheaters!!!
Not to mention that by equipping their bikes with small dynamos, they would generate more power than with those solar panels. And they would generate power regardless of weather conditions (cloudy or rainy sky = no solar power). What a travesty.

[stardustuk7]

The dynamos idea is a good one, is there anything like that available though? I have a solar panel charger, but I admit to mainly charging it via usb as it takes ages to charge using the panels.

[rvirga]

@stardustuk7:
most bicycles here have a dynamo-powered front lamp for driving after dark, and they always had since I was a little kid, so I would say for at least 30 years. It's just a simple matter of adding a switch allowing to select whether to send the power to the lamp or to a battery, and to leave the dynamo on during daylight, allowing it to charge the battery. I would be very surprised if no bike manufacturer hasn't implemented this already, but, even if no one has, it's a really straightforward modification you can do yourself.

Eager for that permanent vacation lifestyle but short on funds/not yet 65? Comfortable riding long distances on a bicycle? Then follow these assholes and get a climate change "charity" to sponsor your trip. But make sure they send a pity box of solar phone chargers to Teguc, so all the brown people you're about to visit won't despise you because you get to spend your days debating the highly nuanced arguments of North Face v. Patagonia. Nokia will even give you a free GPS phone, unlocked and no contract necessary. Yeehaaw motherfuckers!!!

[Wudang]

Since January annoucement I've not been able to find any sign of N79 Active being sold to the public - I'm in the UK but it doesn't show up anywhere world wide.

What gives?

I just have to do a bicycle expedition around the world. Easy as that.

[MarcoSangria]

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