Smart Phones in the Backcountry

[Mike K]

I just upgraded to a Samsung S5 and I'm still in the giddy-new-toy phase. I'm thinking about finally taking my phone backpacking and leaving the dedicated GPS and camera at home. I like the idea of having a book, tunes, map, and camera all in once place. Some topics for discussion:

Battery Life - Airplane mode. Solar charging. Other charging devices.

Phone Damage - Water. Drops. Scratches. Losing phone. I keep my phone naked (no case or screen protector) Maybe that's a bad idea if I plan on taking my phone backpacking!

Mapping App - Too many to choose from (I'll probably create a separate thread for help in choosing one). I hear the smart phone GPS receivers aren't as good as dedicated ones.

Photography - I'm mostly a point and shooter but still I think I'd miss some of the features of my camera. But some of these smart phone cameras take some pretty sweet pictures and have some cool features as well.

Has anyone fully embraced the smart phone only method?
Any tips or advice?
Anything I'm overlooking?
Other uses?
Downsides?

The more I think about it, the more torn I am. A friend usually has a GPS. I don't really NEED tunes in the back country. My camera has more features. Hmm...

 

[andyjaggy]

I think battery life is what will kill you the most. I can run my Garmin for a solid day or two before the batteries die. I don't have a smart phone (gasp!) but from others I have talked to you are lucky to get more than a few hours of dedicated GPS tracking with it.

 

[Nick]

I don't use my iPhone for tracking, but I love to use it for GPS and a nice topo map (via Gaia). I just toggle airplane mode and leave it on and get several days of battery life. I bought a little battery pack to charge it up as needed.

Phone damage - I also like to go naked, but I use a Lifeproof case when I take it in the outdoors. It just feels good to not have to worry about it, particularly because I have a tendency to jump into water without evaluating what may be in my pockets.

Mapping app - I've used BC Navigator, Gaia, and one other one I can't recall. Gaia RULES!!! Love love love it.

Install the Kindle app and download some books for when you're rained in.

 

[Mike K]

@andyjaggy:
Yeah..battery life. =( Especially while tracking, which is nice to have after the fact.

@Nick
I'm glad I'm not the only one who like to go naked! I like the idea of a case for the outdoors. Good idea. Luckily the s5 is waterproof which would give me some peace of mind in that respect. But for drops and crushing it, it might be nice to have some sort of hard shell or something. Mapping apps...I've heard good things about various apps. I need to try some out. Or check out other people's phones with various apps. I know Steve and Will had some on our last trip. I didn't look too closely though. Not having to take a separate book would rule. I like to read before bed but often consider it a luxury item. As far as the camera...I found that there are some tripods out there for phone. And the LapseIt app for time lapse fun. Still no full manual control though.

 

[steve]

As you know, I use my phone as my primary GPS. Trimble Elite is $3/month. Considering most good garmins are $300+, I can get 10 years of Trimble for the price of a garmin, and I'll always have up to date maps with weather, land ownership, and tons of other layers.

Trimble is overkill for what most people want, but I use almost every feature on it.

 

[SirDonB]

While the apeal is there to take the smartphone as your only line of commo and mapping to the back country, I would still take a paper map and compass as well as the dedicated GPS. Think about it like this, most smartphones get their GPS ability from triangulating off the cell towers to give you your location (not sure if this has changed or not)... so what happens when you are out of cell coverage? Is yours like that, I dont know... however, a simple test is to go to an area that has no cell coverage and fire up the GPS part of your phone, see how it does. Unless you download and save offline maps before you leave coverage, you will end up with a blank screen showing your icon for your location, unless you are in the tundra, you dont want to see a white screen.

I have the Casio Commando 4G LTE, and I bought the extended life battery, with that and the GPS and screen on all day, I can get 6-8 hours out of my battery, cut that in half for the stock battery it comes with, if I run anything else, that drops down quite a bit. Another way to test your battery life in a controled enviorment is to turn it on and run the mapping/GPS app you are planning on throughout a normal day around home or the office looking at it and following it as you would be in the back country, this will give you a good idea of how long to expect your battery to live in those conditions.

So lets see I will run down your list...

Battery Life -
Airplane mode- shuts off all radio signals including GPS. while it will extend your battery life, it shuts you down to everything else signal wise.

Solar charging- on a recnt camping trip, a friend brought one of those solor chargers and it took a good couple hours (4 or so I think) to charge his phone from about 5% back to 100%

Other charging devices- I have one of those portable batteries, small tube like thing, never had to charge my phone with it yet, so I can't say how well it does, but you are supposed to be able to fully charge your phone off it a few times before it needs to be recharged.

Phone Damage - Water. Drops. Scratches. Losing phone. I keep my phone naked (no case or screen protector) Maybe that's a bad idea if I plan on taking my phone backpacking!

I would plan on either leaving it in a safe place in your pack or get a case... My phone is designed with the elements and more in mind, so I take mine naked without fear.

Upon a lil digging, http://www.phonearena.com/phones/Samsung-Galaxy-S5_id8202 says you have IP67 certification for water and dust.

Mapping App - Too many to choose from (I'll probably create a separate thread for help in choosing one). I hear the smart phone GPS receivers aren't as good as dedicated ones.

Most smart phone GPS recevers are a patch antenna, so for best results, face the screen flat up in your hand towards that sky... accuracy is decent enough, comaprable to the early models like the Yellow Garmin eTrex. As per the link, you also apear to have a stand alone GPS, so you will get location targeting even without a signal. If you know an area where you do not get a cell signal were you can hike at least a mile or so, i would take a trip out there and test it.

As to apps, I use a few depending on where I am going and what I am doing. For street navigation, I prefer WAZE, for anything else, I have US Topo Maps, Bike Activity, and Wikiloc. Being as my phone is a G'zone phone, I also have G'zGear and G'zWorld. G'zWorld looks promising as soon as I figure out how to use it.

Photography - I'm mostly a point and shooter but still I think I'd miss some of the features of my camera. But some of these smart phone cameras take some pretty sweet pictures and have some cool features as well.

As to photographs, I just use the stock software it came with, it works for me and what lil I take pics of with it.

Has anyone fully embraced the smart phone only method?
Any tips or advice?
Get a case if you are gonna take it into the elements, your phone will thank you.... Test your battery life under conditions you are planning to use it as when in the back country while still here in the front country.

Anything I'm overlooking?
Nothing I can think of... there is so much they are capable of, there will always be something overlooked.

Other uses?
There are a million and one other uses, just depends on how the tool is used and fit into your life.

Downsides?
The more you run at the same time, the faster the battery will drain and shorten its usefulness. Everything is a compromise, the smartphone is not best at any one thing, but it is ok at most things you will use it for.

 

[steve]

Think about it like this, most smartphones get their GPS ability from triangulating off the cell towers to give you your location (not sure if this has changed or not)

This has definitely changed. Most, if not all, modern smartphones have a true GPS radio in them and do not rely solely on cell tower triangulation. Cell tower triangulation can be used to speed up location, but it's only a first step until GPS satellites are able to pinpoint you (which is more accurate anyway). If there's no cell service (or if you turn your cell communication off), the phone will only use GPS staellites to triangulate your location. In fact, I pulled the sim card out of my old smartphone and it still functions 100% as a GPS unit.

Airplane mode- shuts off all radio signals including GPS. while it will extend your battery life, it shuts you down to everything else signal wise.

Not necessarily. Some phones it does, and some phones it doesn't. Samsung phones allow you to use GPS while in airplane mode (a major factor in me choosing a samsung for my current phone).

 

[Mike K]

Thanks guys. @SirDonB ...you covered all the bases I think. Awesome!

I think many of those mapping apps let you download maps to the sd card which would be a must. If battery life really sucked...and I still really wanted to use the phone for everything...I'd guess I could just buy spare phone batteries rather than fool with solar or charger things. (I'm thinking out loud). Simulating a trip while at home to test battery life sounds prudent. Sounds like gps tracking can really drain the battery. Tracking isn't necessary, but cool to have the data later on. A case for protection seems like a must as well.

@sixstringsteve - how much tracking time can you get with yours?

 

[steve]

I haven't drained my battery yet, but on our trip on Saturday I started tracking at 9 am, and I tracked 'till 7pm and had 1/2 battery left. I didn't put it on airplane mode, and it was still getting texts and emails throughout the day. I've used my phone and tables as my only GPS devices for the past 3 years and I'm hooked.

With my phone I have all of the USGS maps of Utah downloaded on my device, so whether or not I have services, I still have all my maps.

 

[steve]

I also think it's interesting that Garmin is introducing models with touch screen, photo-taking ability (and even video) and even run Android. No doubt they're feeling the strain from our smart devices being able to serve as our GPS devices.

 

[Dave]

While the apeal is there to take the smartphone as your only line of commo and mapping to the back country, I would still take a paper map and compass as well as the dedicated GPS.

I'm with you on the paper map, but not standalone GPS unit. The phone completely obviates the need for a stand-alone in my case. I also get what I consider to be better maps (Gmap4 or USGS quads, depending on the app I use).

I've used my smartphone for on-trail use for years. People waaaaaay overthink it. Just turn off services you don't need and bring some form of recharger for extended trips.

 

[Mike K]

This might be worth looking at if anyone's in the market for a mapping app. A little outdated...but...

 

[Aldaron]

I've used my smartphone for on-trail use for years. People waaaaaay overthink it. Just turn off services you don't need and bring some form of recharger for extended trips.

This is me, too. I left my phone in the car for years, carrying only my GPS and a map, then I noticed how much more utility my phone had than my GPS, so I started carrying both. Then I noticed after a while that I hadn't touched my GPS is months, so I stopped carrying it.

This is what I carry for battery power on long trips. And this is what I carry for short trips. There are lots of other options out there, also.

I keep mine in a waterproof case that I tie to a belt loop so I make sure I don't drop it or lose it.

And then I have apps for first aid, astronomy, knot guides, books, animal tracks, and trail notes, along with the GPS and multiple types of offline maps. I love it.

 

[Mike K]

@Aldaron
Putting reference guides is way smart and cool. I like that idea. I'll check out those links...

 

[Tater Head]

This has definitely changed. Most, if not all, modern smartphones have a true GPS radio in them and do not rely solely on cell tower triangulation. Cell tower triangulation can be used to speed up location, but it's only a first step until GPS satellites are able to pinpoint you (which is more accurate anyway). If there's no cell service (or if you turn your cell communication off), the phone will only use GPS staellites to triangulate your location. In fact, I pulled the sim card out of my old smartphone and it still functions 100% as a GPS unit.




Not necessarily. Some phones it does, and some phones it doesn't. Samsung phones allow you to use GPS while in airplane mode (a major factor in me choosing a samsung for my current phone).

 

[steve]

And then I have apps for first aid, astronomy, knot guides, books, animal tracks, and trail notes, along with the GPS and multiple types of offline maps. I love it.

x2. I especially like the knot guides and red cross 1st aid app.

 

[Jeff Hilton]

I bought a goal zero for this same reason. From what little I have used it I'm happy. I will let you know after this weekend how I really feel.

 

[steve]

I need to start researching solar charging solutions. i know a lot depends on weather, and I know they're a bit heavy and charge slowly, but I think I can make it work.

 

[Nick]

For backpacking, I haven't really been convinced that solar is worthwhile. Unless you're out for like weeks on end at least. For trips up to a week, the weight and simplicity of battery packs seems to be a better choice. I haven't gone into great depth to come to that conclusion, but I think I'm right. But with that said, I've thought about the solar option for boat trips where weight isn't so much of a concern.

 

[Hurakan]

It really depends on how long your going to be gone for. If its a few days then my S4 works great using BackCountry Nav pro. I put it on Power Saving, Airplane Mode and turn on the GPS when needed and it lasts me close to three days. Thats counting that I play music on my speakers or an Audio book on my headphones. If your gone a few more days then take a small battery back up, they have some very small ones now that dont weight much. If your going for a week and have a few people using their phones then bring along a solar panel to power a bigger battery backup while in camp and your set.

If you use your phones camera you can always bump up the image in PS or something similar.

I always bring a map and I have a compass on my watch. For the most part if your sticking to the trail I doubt you will get lost. Im pretty good at not getting lost but if you think it might be an issue just create way points on your Phones GPS software and mark your campsite, trail, etc. Dont forget to download all your maps a head of time. Also. a few seconds to look at the peaks around you, Landmarks, odd tress, etc. Its much harder to get lost that way too.

Get a case, and insure it. Diamond Wireless nice insurance or just take up your old phone instead. Easy to pop a sim card and use that if your worried about ruining your new phone.