@dbfish agreed. In a future release, we are thinking about allowing users to access the app, without going through setup. That should fix this problem.
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Drill rescheduled for the 8th of November due to weather.
Justin
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@maingear how did the drill go? Thanks for sharing these pics.
Gotennas worked fine. Getting someone that is excited to calm down and use a new device was quit an experience.
Will he glad to send in a report to aid R&D. Using this device as an organizational tool creates demands that basic users don’t encounter. I’ll write up a report tonight.
Justin
I think this is is amazing but let’s please not forget that Puerto Rico is not in a disaster drill right now - they need our help right now:
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@maingear looking forward to your report!
Check your inbox… cc’d Daniela too.
It was a success and everyone I explained it to was blown away by it. We had the area government emergency agencies watching us and they were unaware that such tech existed. When I turned in my written debrief, I asked to give a presentation about the device during the management’s lessons learned meeting, coming soon, they will be there.
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Report:
I taped my goTenna to a 16 foot telescopic pole and used a strap to secure it to a chain link fence. Explained what is was, that they had to download an app, and then how the app worked. I did this three times to three different people and one volunteer said “no thanks” and walked away. I gave the fourth mesh to the Logistics commander to be delivered to someone on the other side of the property. He put it in his pocket and never thought about it again. The volunteers average age is late 50’s and most all are non-techy, but like gadgets.
There was no need for communication with the people that had them other than, “Where are you?” and “Can you hear me now?” to see what range we could get. We stayed outside and had great success.
Mind blowing technology! It took over 20 min to explain the concept. Once everything was downloaded & configured all was well!
Everyone walked away with a positive interaction with the device.
Pros:
Coverage – We were able to move around the campus and keep in contact
Interface - Texting is something everyone is comfortable with. AutoCorrect is your friend!
Delivery confirmation – No more “Did you get that?!?” I know they got it!
Privacy – Only your team is in on the messages if they need to know.
Size – Light + small = easy to carry.
Bluetooth – Go Tenna can stay outside while the operator is inside a tent, warm and dry.
It works – No crashes or glitches
Output - text is more desirable than voice because of text history and noisy conditions.
More Features to come - ???
Cons:
Connect to device – unnecessary screens in the initial process. Recommend connecting first, then where to go in the app to read up. A simple card would be issued with the device, like the ones for our radios.
Keyboard – Man hands do not work well with the vertical keyboards; also, cold weather and caring for the injured requires gloves.
Download app – Took from 45 seconds on T-Mobile to 20 min on Verizon. I need to be able to airdrop a copy or pass a micro sd card to someone who needs the app.
Loss of GID - If someone replaces a phone, the original chat session is over and a new group is needed.
Navigation – I sent a pin to Cory he was not able to use the app to navigate to me.
Rain - Can a message be typed on a wet screen? We still use pencils and paper in 2017 as backups. If we could send a pic after a form is completed, 90% of radio communications would be obsolete.
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@maingear thank you for sharing your report! Happy to hear that attendees were impressed with goTenna Mesh.
Watch out for a major update to the app in the next couple of weeks. We are halving the # of setup screens!
On Android devices, you could download an offline copy of the app here and distribute the app using Pen drives (with a Micro USB or USB C adapter).
Best to use Phone Numbers as goTenna IDs to avoid this issue.
Agreed! It will be great if users can share pictures. Our current Mesh protocol does not support this yet. We will look to add support for images via a future update to our protocol (late 2018).
Phone keyboards that support ‘Swype’ actions work better in the rain. All new Android phones support this.
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I forgot to mention, Cory had a watch that displayed the gotenna messages, that was way cool! He cold not reply, I gess siri would be down without a cell tower.
Justin
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Another employee bought a 4 pack and will be using them in the next drill. Can’t wait to set up the array and see what kind of coverage we can get with the gotennas in different locations!
Justin
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