The glorious South Korean military is beefing up its ranks with some off the shelf technology in the form of nine Android apps for troops in the field.
The apps include walkie-talkie communications functions, troop and military unit tracking with GPS, a real-time video relay app, an image based identification friend-or-foe app and a battlefield augmented reality system (BARS).
A defence official told The Korean Times that the military assessed the suitability of new apps and concluded that mobile software could be an asset for the country’s armed forces. Granted, ensuring a technical edge over the North Korean military that still fields WWII vintage armor and artillery doesn’t seem like much of a challenge.
Samsung’s Galaxy II was apparently tapped as a standard issue smartphone and it is estimated that the handset will be serviceable for at least five years.
So there you have it, Android is helping defend the democratic South against the red menace across the 38th parallel, while Apple is lining communist pockets in the People’s Republic of China.
More here.
