What's the best walking related present you've received this year?
To my surprise, my sister bought me a new mobile phone, which I badly needed
(the old one has a broken screen and I rarely ever use it) and it's 20g
lighter to boot!
It's a Nonie 5140i - one of those all-singing all-dancing phones, that does
a hundred different things including voice dialling, email, web browsing,
sound recorder, sound meter, camera, video, FM radio, alarm clock,
stopwatch, calculator, games, organiser & training software, heart rate
monitor link, thermometer, torch, compass, GPS, altimeter, metal detector,
infrared scanner, 10MP images in RAW mode, laser beam, fire lighter, can
boil a cup of tea, and even converts into a trekking pole and a telescope!
;-)
Okay, I admit to a slight exaggeration there, but everything up to the GPS
is true! Actually I don't have the GPS feature, that's an optional extra,
but I have everything preceding that. So now I really can justify leaving
my compass at home!
Of course, I'll probably never use most of the things in it, but it's nice
to have them just in case. I'll probably get most use out of the torch and
thermometer when camping! So I won't just be carrying dead weight.
Actually, it's specifically designed as an outdoor/exercise model. A niche
market admittedly, but that's my niche!
I may even use it to phone someone occasionally. It has a number of preset
modes, including an interesting "outdoor" mode, in which all sounds and
lights seem to be turned on and up to full volume! Presumably for maximum
annoyance to other walkers! Luckily there are preset modes that I can fine
tune.
Why does it have a sound meter you may ask? Well apparently it's used to
detect the volume of one's surroundings so that you can use an "auto-volume"
setting which matches your environment. So it will turn up the volume if
you're in a loud pub, but presumably lower it if you're out on the hill,
which seems far more suitable than the max volume outdoor default.
Paul