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+4 [4 votes]
Look past the dubious styling – obviously designed to appeal to anyone who loves Mister Whippy ice-cream – and the Fontastic PT-9 is a pretty decent little GPS tracker. Not only does it contain a SiRF-Star III chipset but a tri-band GSM chipset (900, 1,800 and 1,900MHz) so, at the touch of a button, your exact location can be sent via SMS to your cellphone.
The PT-9 would also make a pretty good emergency beacon, since it has an SOS button that, when pressed, sends out your location to up to five different numbers; Fontastic see it being a useful handbag addition for an elderly relative or young offspring going out “on the lash” (my quote, not theirs).
Future developments are set to include a geo-fence (step outside of which and trigger an SMS) and speed monitoring (drive over, say, 70mph and an SMS is sent) service; currently you can remotely trigger the GPS function and even adjust the PT-9’s settings by sending it a text message, or surprise everyone by calling it up and having a conversation.
Fontastic PT-9 [Global Sources]
![T-Mobile Dash 3G by HTC gets unboxed, first-impressions [Video]](http://www.slashgear.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/thumbnails_150x100/thumb_t-mobile_dash_3g_htc_1-480x457.jpg){kind=small}
Interesting.. any idea about the price ?
Unfortunately I don’t seem to be able to find anyone selling it – Fontastic themselves appear to supply a minimum of 40!
I bet it will be quite pricey.
Where can I order one of these
Why spending 300-500$ when you can get similar results FOR 100$ or for FREE (if you already own a suitable phone)? :-)
I successfully developed a java application which turns my Motorola a1000 into a GPS anti-theft, and being the a1000 a quite old phone, you can purchase it around for 100$ or less. You’ll also need an external GPS bluetooth receiver: I paid my own 35$. Total: 135 $ .
My PersonalJava program only works on smartphones/PDAs supporting PersonalJava/PersonalProfile and Javaphone API: besides Motorola a1000, MAYBE also Motorola a920/a925 and Nokia 9200/9210/9300/9500 could support this program.
Keep an aye on my blog to see how project evolves ;-)
http://jumpjack.wordpress.com/.....phone-pda/
Note: I’m currently developing similar program for Symbian series60 phones using Python for s60. This is a draft of the program:
import inbox
import e32
import socket
import appuifw
import messaging
def read_sms(id):
e32.ao_sleep(0.1)
i=inbox.Inbox()
sms_text=i.content(id)
appuifw.note(u”Messaggio da elaborare: ” + sms_text, “info”)
# esegue procedure diverse a seconda del messaggio ricevuto.
# Ad esempio, legge coordinate da GPS:
sock=socket.socket(socket.AF_BT,socket.SOCK_STREAM)
address,service=socket.bt_discover()
‘ cerca ricevitore.
target=(address,service.values()[0]) ‘ si collega
sock.connect(target)’ al ricevitore.
to_gps=sock.makefile(”r”,0) ‘ prepara lettura coordinate.
msg=to_gps.readline() ‘ legge riga.
messaging.sms_send(”[NUMERO], msg) ‘ invia SMS contenente coordinate.
‘ Collega ricezione messaggi ad esecuzione procedura:
i=inbox.Inbox()
i.bind(read_sms)
An old Symbian s60 phone costs around 50$… ;-)
and tracking the car on your PC will be free, with GoogleEarth!
http://luisespinosa.com/trackme_eng.html