US Army has plans to equip their soldiers with smartphones

It seems that the US Army has plans to start introducing the use of smartphones for their troops. Instead of coming up with expensive proprietary gadgets, they have instead decided to opt for iPhone, Android and Windows Phone devices for military use. It seems that the trial program has been progressing along nicely, and it’s partly due to the fact that the younger generation of recruits have already been exposed to the usage of smartphones, which means that they are comfortable and somewhat knowledgeable when it comes to using the devices.

At the moment the devices have been used for the sending of GPS coordinates, photos of their surroundings along with filing field reports while on the go. However there are some bugs that still require smoothening out, such as reception issues (especially on AT&T’s iPhone which seems could not get a signal in the testing areas of New Mexico and Texas) and secure transmissions.

The army has considered tying the devices to tactical radios in order to make the transmissions more secure, along with what they’re calling a “cell tower in a suitcase”, which would ensure that the phones would receive coverage even in areas with limited connectivity.