Anybody used the Sony Experia Z1 smartphone as a standby plotter?

[Searush]

Just to throw a spanner in the works, the phones you are talking about cost roughly £400, which is quite a lot of money. I have always gone for the top of the range phones, but when my contract was up last month I came across the Motorola Moto G. Granted the screen isn't quite as big as the Z1, S3 or S4, but it is as big as my old S2, has more memory, and a better CPU. It also has the latest android OS on it without any of the other add ons interfering with the interface that you get with Samsung.

I have been using the phone with Navionics, and Memory Maps for OS maps and has been great. For a phone that costs circa £100 you can't really go wrong. There is no lag in use either. My point is, if I get it wet or drop it whilst on the boat I wont be too upset, but if broke a £400 S4 or Z1 I would be very annoyed to say the least. The Moto G is a brilliant phone IMHO.

I needed the larger screen size & waterproof-ieness so I went for an earlier XperiaZ on ebay at £180. I expected it to be used & 12 months old, but it was actually an unused upgrade sold on for cash. Buying my own phone rather than upgrading got me a much better phone & knocked a tenner a month off my rental cost (plus more calls, texts & data). By the time I am ready for the next upgrade it will have paid for itself.

 

[Cappen Boidseye]

I think I am right in saying the Xperia Z had a plug or cover for the headphone socket, the Z1 has done away with that, the socket is permanently open but waterproof, water in the socket will not get into the phone so no plug/cover is needed. Yes to charge the phone I would use the magnetic connector on the side of the phone so as not to compromise the watertight integrity of the phone. (Good words for this time of the day!). I just wish that connector worked better, I find I tend to disconnect the connector when I pick the phone up, still at least it has one.