Via my friend, TKD instructor Gordon White, it looks like the military is finding applications for smart phone apps (I had to resist writing “there’s an app for that!” – whoops!).
Excerpt of the post at AndroidGuys:
The U.S. Military has spent several billion dollars and over 20 years to develop hardware and software communications for our troops. With the recent advancement of smartphones the U.S. Military sees the opportunity to cut costs and speed development.
Here comes the Android OS in conjunction with custom designed apps to save the day.
Special Operations Command, aka SOCOM asked Android developers for some Android applications to keep commandos linked up while on missions. Some of the features desired include chat functions, file transfers (audio,video,images), video display and "white boarding" to assist on missions. SOCOM calls the App division"Tactical Situational Awareness Application Suite", or TactSA, and it must also work in low-connectivity areas. Do I hear Global Phone?
I’m not sure about the viability of the current hardware, but the advantages of Android’s open-source platform in developing applications is a plus for military use. If a truly “Mil-spec” hardware platform can be built, and the right data network is available, it’s a winner, to me.
What do you think?
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