TDS Ranger & Trimble Ranger Rugged Handheld Computer

The TDS, or Trimble Ranger pictured here in the development screen of the PointSync Mobility Platform, is an interesting and very usable device. It is designed around the concept of a landscape view that makes it easier to read long data fields. This particular device is water proof and comes with more buttons than you could ever use. It has a full alphabetical keyboard and a full number pad plus navigation buttons.

Although one of the larger rugged handheld computers, the shape is very agreeable to the grip and the weight is reasonable. One of our customers is currently using this device in the context of mobile autobody services.

Juno not Juneau Rugged Handheld Pocket PC

Trimble has just released, or at least I have just found out about, a new not-rugged Pocket PC called Juno, pronounced like but not to be confused with Juneau, Alaska. It looks rugged, but Trimble seems to want everyone to know it is not - The Juno™ ST handheld is a highly productive yet affordable, non-rugged GPS receiver for field data collection and mobile GIS. The Juno ST handheld is Trimble's most compact, lightweight, fully-integrated field computer, providing 2 to 5 meter GPS positioning in real time or after postprocessing.

The Juno ST handheld is ideal for utility companies, government organizations, and agencies that are managing large deployments and tight budgets....but don't mind breaking their handhelds and buying replacements that cost more than buying a rugged one in the first place (sorry I added that).

Garmin and Navman have long had PDAs with integrated GPS, but this seems to be Trimbles first efforts to provide low end, field data collection devices. I like the idea, but Trimble's marketers seem almost apologetic.

Another Plane Another Victim

I was on another plane today and a senior engineer was unfortunate enough to be seated next to me. The engineer manages the building of highways and bridges. Hummm.... We do a considerable amount of work for companies involved in highway construction and bridge building. In fact the largest engineering and construction firm in Australia has asked us to work with them on a number of interesting projects.

I love working with engineers. They have to collect data on everything and they often work on very strange projects.

Trimble is a ruggedized handheld vendor that develops a lot of solutions for this industry.

MobileDataforce provides a data collection software platform for rugged mobile handheld computers that allows engineering companies to quickly develop field data collection applications that are specific to the requirements of their customer's projects.