have the iboaters went for the smart phones

Drowned Rat

Captain
Joined
Jan 20, 2004
Messages
3,070
Re: have the iboaters went for the smart phones

You'll be fine browsing the internet through your phone's connection, but you can forget about downloading anything big.
 

angus63

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Joined
May 20, 2002
Messages
3,726
Re: have the iboaters went for the smart phones

Not being a smart ankles but, why? I mean do you need all that or is it just a case of "I like gedgets"? How did you manage to get through life before they were available? Just trying to understand how people justify the never ending monthly costs for a gee whiz gadget.

(Then again, I am the guy with On Star and XM radio in my car but see no reason to pay a monthy fee for either.)

To answer why, I would point to the same reason I bought a new TV with a remote control when my Zenith console with the rotary tuner worked just fine, convenience.

I surely got along fine without it before Sept 2010. But it is more than a gee whiz gadget to me, it's a 4" x 2.5" x 1/2" tool. Here's a typical day. It's my alarm clock, my radio while getting dressed, check my work calendar synced to it at breakfast to plan my day, check and respond to work emails before getting in the truck, gps and checks traffic going to work, bluetooth phonecall to the wife and kids before they leave for school, text my techs with tasks for the day, Check iboats forum, read the NY Times on it during my morning break, listen to the local news on it's radio while eating lunch then put on my headphones to some of the downloaded MP3 music stored, Check iboats forum, click a pic of a cool vessel on the waterfront on my walk back to lunch, text my kids after school reminding them they have practice that evening, GPS and traffic on the ride home, plugged into my truck audio system to play my favorite songs to ease the stress of the commute, give it a rest when I get home and eat dinner, check if my check cleared in my bank account, check emails after dinner, download a cool NY Giants realtiime stats application, check iboats forums, check tomorrows weather, video the dog first time in snow, set the alarm and plug in the charger. Repeat tomorrow.

For the cost (less than $1 per day above a simple cell phone), I find the convenience, convenience being the key word, worth it. I didn't even mention the games I've downloaded to kill time during boring meetings.:D
 

yourkiddin

Petty Officer 1st Class
Joined
Apr 10, 2008
Messages
251
Re: have the iboaters went for the smart phones

was also wondering if u can plot a grid cordinate. lets say a hot spot i caught alot of bass. i think it will tell your speed why on the boat. does anyone have any great apps for this type of usage on the water?
 

angus63

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Joined
May 20, 2002
Messages
3,726
Re: have the iboaters went for the smart phones

Yup
Mine is position accurate to within 16' on gps and has a chartplotter application with latest charts. Speed indicator is accurate within 1 mph against my truck speedo. Magnetic and true heading readouts match my vessel devices. Check out EARTH NC on the web. There is a free app for smart phones.
 

jkust

Rear Admiral
Joined
Aug 2, 2008
Messages
4,942
Re: have the iboaters went for the smart phones

I have a Blackberry Bold I got maybe 4 months back. I absolutly despise it. Every other Pos smartphone is more robust than Blackberry except for where security and HIPAA are concerned. Essentially we are forced to own Blackberries as we have their servers and need to be HIPAA compliant or so I am told. I paid the cash price ($500.00) for it so I don't have a contract and can leave whenever/if ever technology catches up.

My wife has the new Droid X she uses in her consulting activities. The Droid X compared to the Blackberry is like a three leged horse compared to a supersonic jet. I play with it when we are say at an event of some sort and I actually like the virtual keyboard since the keys are so much bigger than the Bold. I can only rave about the Droid but my standards are low since I have a Blackberry. Unfortunatly for business, not having a smart phone is not an option.
 

bruceb58

Supreme Mariner
Joined
Mar 5, 2006
Messages
30,582
Re: have the iboaters went for the smart phones

Blackberry is toast. Their marketshare will be down to insignificant numbers in a few years. The iPhone and Android phones have left them in the dust. Nokia is in the same boat.
 

Go Aweigh2452

Petty Officer 2nd Class
Joined
Nov 30, 2010
Messages
116
Re: have the iboaters went for the smart phones

was also wondering if u can plot a grid cordinate. lets say a hot spot i caught alot of bass. i think it will tell your speed why on the boat. does anyone have any great apps for this type of usage on the water?
NAvionics has awesome apps that allow way points, tracks, photos along routes. Route planning, depth and current and google overlaying.
 

mscher

Lieutenant
Joined
Apr 21, 2004
Messages
1,424
Re: have the iboaters went for the smart phones

I have the iphone 3G. Love it!

I skipped the $10/mo more for GPS, but find the CPS (Cell Positioning System ? ;) ) works great in determing miles and travel time, between locations, using google maps.

Have not called phone directory assistance since I purchased it, look up numbers for free and click the link to dail the number.

Craigslist, Ebay, isolunar tables, trapster, lose-it, The weather channel, radio NOAA, apps - great.

Google voice search - fantastic!

Just used MMS to send a contact info to DW.

Too bad I can only use the iphone with AT&T. It would be perfect if it was not for that.
 

Bob_VT

Moderator & Unofficial iBoats Historian
Staff member
Joined
May 19, 2001
Messages
26,065
Re: have the iboaters went for the smart phones

Wife and I are both running the BB storm and have been for almost 2 years. We are undecided on which direction to go however, we do know there will be a change in the next 3-4 months.

For the time being the BB Storm phones are working.
 

perchin

Petty Officer 1st Class
Joined
Jun 3, 2010
Messages
275
Re: have the iboaters went for the smart phones

If you want one that can actually justify its price, then buy one with that runs on the Android Operating System....sorry to all the Iphone fanboy's but the Iphone is pretty insignificant in comparison to any droid on the market and thats a fact. With the droid you can multitask, use widgets, watch flash online, cut and paste...all things the Iphoney can't do. Not to mention options are limitless with google's android system, and not locked down to only what steve snobs says. Kinda like a defective phone's antenna, and job's tells us to hole the phone different...lol, what a joke. Even a jailbroke Iphone won't do half of the stuff the droid can. I had the Iphone for 2 years, then I got a droid about a year ago, and will never go back. The other upside to the droid is options of carrier... you can go to t-mobile, sprint, verizon, at&t... the Iphone is still locked to one of the worst service providers in history...... Yes I'm passionate about this stufff....its my life's work, and I build all of these company's networks, and towers for a living.
 

Gromulin

Petty Officer 1st Class
Joined
Jul 5, 2010
Messages
230
Re: have the iboaters went for the smart phones

Yup, Been using the HTC Droid Incredible for a few months now. The GPS is accurate to within one parking space, with a clear view of the sky. Awesome camera, great phone...but now email from work chases me everywhere. Only complaint is that the battery is pretty weak.

Boating related apps installed:
EarthNC
Navionics Lakes US
Boat Ramps
Radar NOW


It would be GREAT if there was a mobile-friendly iBoats URL (hint...hint). And not just for iPhone (wife has one...AT&T coverage sucks) but for Android too.
 

perchin

Petty Officer 1st Class
Joined
Jun 3, 2010
Messages
275
Re: have the iboaters went for the smart phones

Yup, Been using the HTC Droid Incredible for a few months now. The GPS is accurate to within one parking space, with a clear view of the sky. Awesome camera, great phone...but now email from work chases me everywhere. Only complaint is that the battery is pretty weak.

Boating related apps installed:
EarthNC
Navionics Lakes US
Boat Ramps
Radar NOW


It would be GREAT if there was a mobile-friendly iBoats URL (hint...hint). And not just for iPhone (wife has one...AT&T coverage sucks) but for Android too.


All the iboats IT dept. need to do is sign up for "Tapatalk"... its cheap, reliable and secure.

I also have the Incredible...I paid $35 for an Siedo 3500mah extended battery, which last for two full days of heavy usage, and gaming.;)
 

642mx

Lieutenant Commander
Joined
Apr 19, 2008
Messages
1,588
Re: have the iboaters went for the smart phones

Yup, Been using the HTC Droid Incredible for a few months now. The GPS is accurate to within one parking space, with a clear view of the sky. Awesome camera, great phone...but now email from work chases me everywhere. Only complaint is that the battery is pretty weak.

Boating related apps installed:
EarthNC
Navionics Lakes US
Boat Ramps
Radar NOW


It would be GREAT if there was a mobile-friendly iBoats URL (hint...hint). And not just for iPhone (wife has one...AT&T coverage sucks) but for Android too.

Be sure to get the Advanced Task Killer app, its free and helps with the battery life.
 

Gromulin

Petty Officer 1st Class
Joined
Jul 5, 2010
Messages
230
Re: have the iboaters went for the smart phones

Be sure to get the Advanced Task Killer app, its free and helps with the battery life.

Yeah, It helps. Going to look into the bigger battery...but that means a new skin too. After xmas....
 

dbkerley

Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Apr 6, 2009
Messages
443
Re: have the iboaters went for the smart phones

I,m using mine now. Samsung galaxy s that I pickedup on a 2 for 1 deal at cell south. We get unlimited everything for around 120 a month on 2 smart phones and one dumb one.
 

bruceb58

Supreme Mariner
Joined
Mar 5, 2006
Messages
30,582
Re: have the iboaters went for the smart phones

If you want one that can actually justify its price, then buy one with that runs on the Android Operating System....sorry to all the Iphone fanboy's but the Iphone is pretty insignificant in comparison to any droid on the market and thats a fact.
Both phones have their good points. One thing you can't say is that one is better at everything than the other. Here is an interesting article:

http://lifehacker.com/5559357/iphone-vs-android-showdown-which-phone-is-best-for-power-users

If I had to do it all over again, I might pick the HTC Incredible over the iPhone just because of the phone(carrier being ATT) aspect. If verizon had an iPhone, I would still pick the iPhone. Love the display on the iPhone4 and love the iPod interface. Battery life is very good on the iPhone4. Those are a couple things where Android phones are lacking. When good apps come out, they are always written for iPhones first, then they are ported over to Android phones. I have nothing personal against Steve Jobs and hard to figure out why he would help make your decision on what hardware to use.

I am also in the telecommunications industry. I design the signal processing for digital upconvertor/downconvertors for WCDMA and LTE network radio heads.
 

mscher

Lieutenant
Joined
Apr 21, 2004
Messages
1,424
Re: have the iboaters went for the smart phones

Not being a smart ankles but, why? I mean do you need all that or is it just a case of "I like gedgets"? How did you manage to get through life before they were available? Just trying to understand how people justify the never ending monthly costs for a gee whiz gadget.

(Then again, I am the guy with On Star and XM radio in my car but see no reason to pay a monthy fee for either.)

Just like everyhting else.

why use an air impact tool, when you have a lug wrench? You can probably get where you are going with a road map. ;)

Most people who use smart phones, look at them as tools, not gadgets.

Pay phones are long gone and so are the phone books, so where do you search for a phone number? Call directory assistance and pay nearly $1 for a phone number. With a SP, you can search for businesses nationwide, or a block away. Get the address and phone no, which you can instantly dial. Click on the map and get turn-by-turn directions to the business.

As a truck driver, I can instantly pull up radar weather, maps and forecasts, for my current location, or down the road. I can find nearly every street address in the U.S., impossible to do with a printed road map. Since I cannot legally use a radar dector, I use trapster, to inform me of known speed trap locations.

I set appointments in the MS Outlook calendar on my desktop, sync with the iphone and send appointment copy to my wifes phone, for her to add to her calendar. I get beeping reminders 2 and 1 day before an important event.

My memory is going, so I use iphone to store farm info, including needed tire sizes, for what vehicles, maintenace info, animal information, etc. Al of it is stored on one device. I use it at acutions to look up what an item is selling for elswhere.

The Lewis and Clark expedition, purchased the very best of everything technological, of that time. Would they have wanted a smart phone with GPS?

Of course they would.
 

angus63

Captain
Joined
May 20, 2002
Messages
3,726
Re: have the iboaters went for the smart phones

Tried iphone4, but reception indoors was poor and a slave to itunes. Att lets you swap within first 30 days of contract. Now have Samsung Galaxy S Captivate Android and I highly recommend it.
 

xxxflhrci

Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Jun 14, 2008
Messages
637
Re: have the iboaters went for the smart phones

Nope...I've got a 5 year old Razr I gave a co-worker 40 bucks for 4 years ago and the same phone plane I've had over a decade....41 bucks after taxes....Don't wanta text, don't wanna surf, don't need all the extra toys for my lifestyle...I guess I'm not as important as some of the rest of the crowd.:D
 

Go Aweigh2452

Petty Officer 2nd Class
Joined
Nov 30, 2010
Messages
116
Re: have the iboaters went for the smart phones

Another important point here is that Apple has a team that reviews every app before it is available. The apps run in a 'sandbox' environment. IE they are separate and do not interact with other apps making it more difficult for a virus to work. Android has no such research app team. You run a big risk of allowing crooks to gain access to bank info, etc There are several anti virus companies that now sell anti virus for Android/smartphones and the others that don't use review teams...
 
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