Mobile Technology and The Inauguration

Firemen capture moments on their own cameras

As you may have seen or read, seemed like everyone had their tech gadgets (iPhone, Flip, Digital camera, etc) with them at every event that surrounded the Inauguration to personally capture a piece of history. While I thought it was completely ridiculous to see the well documented sea of digital cameras and camera phones at the Inaugural Balls, I must admit I was no exception at the Inauguration ceremony.

With Nokia N95 in hand with a cache of batteries and backup power (Lenmar’s PowerPort mini charger and Power Monkey) I was set to use my phone to use Slingbox Mobile to see the things I couldn’t see and hear as well as use Qik to stream live the moments and scenes of Obama’s Inauguration out to my friends and family. I used the Opening Inaugural Celebration as sort of a dry run to make sure things would work as planned. By the end of Tuesday’s main event, I made a few key observations of mobile phones, cell providers, and streaming video technology at the history event:

1) Extreme cold drastically reduces battery life. This I knew but didn’t think it would affect it this much. I went through all three batteries and used up both my fully charged Power Monkey and Lenmar Mini Charger in less than 3 hours.

2) Verizon rules in DC. A woman next to me at the Inauguration was successfully watching TV coverage on her Verizon phone while I struggled just to text friends. Which leads to the next observation…

3) AT&T sucks in DC. Whether it was due to a crowded network or not, I struggled to hold onto any sort of data connection with AT&T anywhere close to the Capitol (or next to a million people). My friends with T-Mobile were able to connect and Facebook – although with some interruption. Slingbox was totally out of the question. While I could still capture video and pics, sending them was futile. Which leads to this point…

3)In the absence of a strong data connection, you’re better off giving up on real time video streaming. There were very few videos, if any, that I shot during the Inauguration events using Qik that were successfully streamed in real time. This was not the fault of the the app or phone, but the network (in this case AT&T). The constant search for the data connection no doubt contributed to the quick battery drain. So when I knew I didn’t have a strong data connection (or one at all), I just turned off my Qik app so it wouldn’t keep trying to connect. Similar apps I’ve tested allow you to record and upload before starting your video shoot but you can do the same thing with Qik. Just close the app after shooting and you can upload later. Of course you are no longer live broadcasting.

4) If you can’t stream live video due to the above, bring extra memory cards. When you stream video using Qik or a similar app, the video saves to memory first (whether the phone internally or external memory card). With an available data connection, it simultaneous uploads to the web, eventually leaving your memory completely. Without a data connection, it takes up more memory until its totally full and eventually your phone gets slower and inevitably crashes. My Nokia N95 uses microSD cards. Knowing what I knew from the Opening Inaugural Celebration, I brought a spare to the Inauguration. Of course make sure your video streaming app is also on your spare microSD card or on your phone’s internal memory!

So what did I actually capture?  Rather than trying to film what was being filmed already by HBO and CNN, I mostly tried to capture the aurora,and excitement, the feel of the crowds and their reactions, as well as our own enjoyment and POV of the historical moments (like the post inauguration crossing of the Capitol’s reflecting pool).

You can see my Qik’s in the video section.