Pay as you go phone with GPS, camera, internet and long battery life ?

[DarkHorse]

My mobile phone is an old brick

I want to buy one that is useful for when I go backpacking. Battery life is important as I won't be able to charge it very often.

It would be very handy if it was also my GPS, access to the net and a camera for photos!

Any high tech folks here that can recommend something that meets my requirements?

 

[andynic]

There are many phones now with GPS but all suck on battery life when using the GPS function. I get at best 6hrs from my hd2. The HTC desire will perform better but not much. The sonim xp3 quest though looks very promising the phone gets 31 days battery life but you will only get the basic GPS functions with no maps. If you go for a smart phone however you will be able to get offline OS maps.

Sent from my HTC HD2 using Tapatalk

 

[Graham_S]

Most smartphones will suck up battery power when using GPS and 'net.
you might look into a solar charger for the phone.
I'm not a fan of convergence with outdoor gadgets, lose one, lose all.

 

[rik_uk3]

I am using an HDC G1 Dream, Google maps are free, Googls earth is free, Skobbler GPS is free. Tvcatchup is free, video player is free, loads and loads of free apps for Android out there. I just got an oversized battery with new back phone cover for about £8 which effectivly doubles my battery life.

GPS is pretty good, via 3G its accurate to about 20 metres I guess, camera, video and MP3 are all fine although no flash for camera. I'm running it on o2 PAYG Simplicity, £15 a month for texts (I don't use them but you get thousands) 100 minute anynetwork and 500Mb internet download. The download limit was interesting, when talking to someone who works for O2 he said they use 'fare usage' policy if you go over a bit so don't just knock you off.

I got this phone off my lad who has just gone onto a Windows 7 phone (he loves it, way faster and smoother than brother in laws iPhone, brother inlaw agrees and is now peed off with iPhone) and you can get them used on eBay for about £50-£90.

 

[TeeDee]

Rik, Any idea of Battery life with the larger pack ? I know you said double but how long was a single??

Cheers.

 

[fred gordon]

Apologies if this sounds like muscling into someone else's thread but it is relevant. What solar charger do folks use to lengthen phone battery life on a longish trip?

 

[andynic]

with the htc hd2 running the extended battery you get about 1 day with gps and wifi.

 

[resnikov]

Rik, Any idea of Battery life with the larger pack ? I know you said double but how long was a single??

Cheers.

I had a G1 with extra big battery, and got about a day out of, with 3G on all day and using twitter and facebook during the day.

 

[resnikov]

Oh forgot, I got a powermonkey-eXplorer, which is handy when out and about with a phone, you can precharge the battery on it and then that will charge your phone if its running low. It also has the solar panel which you either charge the battery or your phone.

# nothing to do with the company just a happy user. etc etc

 

[rik_uk3]

I had a G1 with extra big battery, and got about a day out of, with 3G on all day and using twitter and facebook during the day.

About right, but that would be enough for a week or more away for me as I leave the phone off most of the time. I will put it on at 12:00 and 22:00 for a while so the family can phone me. This phone is new to me as I've always taken an old Nokia with me camping because they get a signal anywhere, 3310 in ziplock...great bushcraft phone, waterproof, rugged, great battery, gets a signal where others fail (even at the bushmoot site).

 

[fred gordon]

Oh forgot, I got a powermonkey-eXplorer, which is handy when out and about with a phone, you can precharge the battery on it and then that will charge your phone if its running low. It also has the solar panel which you either charge the battery or your phone.

# nothing to do with the company just a happy user. etc etc

Great! Looks like the cats pyjamas. Thanks.

 

[dave53]

ive still got a g1 for sale if your interested pm me regards dave

 

[Rebel]

The Motorola Defy looks like it's a bit more outdoor friendly than most smartphones. It runs on Android too so you can get loads of free and cheap apps for it. Battery life should be about average - 1 day if you've got GPS and 3G running if you're lucky. It has a passable camera on it also, as do most smartphones.

Dedicated GPS units like the Garmin handhelds have much better battery life. A full set of batteries will last several days on my GPS 60csx, they are rugged too and fully waterproof. Of course they are expensive and one more bit of stuff to have to carry so an all in one solution such as a smartphone is a good choice if you can be sure it will have enough juice to last.

 

[widu13]

What do you want the GPS to do? If just positioning, then a Samsung B2710 is your best best. £100 sim free, week long (or more) battery and fits the other crieria.

 

[JDO330]

The Motorola Defy looks like it's a bit more outdoor friendly than most smartphones. It runs on Android too so you can get loads of free and cheap apps for it. Battery life should be about average - 1 day if you've got GPS and 3G running if you're lucky. It has a passable camera on it also, as do most smartphones.

Thats what im playing with at the moment and very impressed I am too. Battery life is better than my Desire & Desire HD (although Ive got to say the Desire HD is a winner on screen size and quality). Nice thing about the defy is that its splash / dust / shock / scratch proof (apparently).

Having said all of the above though, you still cant go far wrong with a Blackberry. I can get nearly a week out of a BB Bold (a quiet week without too many calls). Yes, the screen is smaller and yes you cant get as many apps but you can still get google maps and it has a camera and GPS.

Hope this helps a bit?

ATB, Jon.

 

[rik_uk3]

What do you want the GPS to do? If just positioning, then a Samsung B2710 is your best best. £100 sim free, week long (or more) battery and fits the other crieria.

Skobbler is free, works on all the android phones.

 

[Scots_Charles_River]

Cgeo is free, it's mainly a geocaching bit of software but uses google maps, when in phone signal range, and can cahce for later. So if you know what area you are visiting it will cache this before you leave. So when out on the hill you can access sattelite imaging even though you have no phone signal.

I have found the HTC Wildfire to be really good. You can tweak the GPS to only update infrequently, eg every few minutes, to save battery power.

 

[Suffolksteve]

I have a HTC wildfire, the cheap desire! With the GPS and other software on I get a days usage, with them switched off two and a half tops.

Previously I had a blackberry that would last around 5 days and was a great phone for battery, not quite as good with apps and maps but it could do the job.

My advice would be to plum for a cheap smart phone and a charging unit, either a solar charger like the power monkey or http://www.amazon.co.uk/New-Trent-ultra-pack-Incredible-Blackberry/dp/B003Y58CVC/ref=pd_cp_ce_3_img oneof those!

Have played with Iphones, great though they are they do seem expensive for not a huge amount more functionality.

 

[Scots_Charles_River]

SuffolkSteve,

Same as me. Lots of kids have the IPHONE at school (my work) but they don't do anymore than the HTC Wildfire and have less fucntionality, which is what Apples are supposed to be all about. I also have a freeloader solar charger. Even on a dull day it charges via the USB port. There are free apps that tweak battery settings and shut down apps that are running that are not required all the time eg if you were out and about in the bush you don't need the calendar etc.

Nick

 

[locum76]

http://www.imate.com/

this look nifty, a bit pricey though.