Boaty apps for android

Stemar

Stemar

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I'm new to this smartphone malarkey, but Santa, ably aided by my kids, brought me a sim-free Galaxy S3 yesterday. I've ordered a GiffGaff sim and expect to get a goody bag, which is the way they sell call time & data, with more calls than I'm ever likely to use and 1Gb of data for a tenner a month, which seems reasonable.

Now I need to play... What do my learned colleagues suggest as good boaty apps to have? What's the killer chartplotter for android smartphones?

Suggestions for useful non-boaty ones also welcome. I don't do games, nor am I much interested in films and have a Kindle for books. Is there a car nav app that holds maps in memory, so I can download them using my home WiFi, rather than chewing up my data allowance? What are the other apps that I don't yet know that I can't live without?

Finally, any suggestions for a case to protect it from the elements?
 
Most people go for Navionics. It's a good toy for the money it costs but its no real use outside an emergency.

I use the browser ( get Opera by the way - faster than the built in browser) for weather forecasts and email. But I never use the chart app or the tide apps I have on the phone. The boats chartplotter does it all so much better.
 
wotayottie said:
Most people go for Navionics. It's a good toy for the money it costs but its no real use outside an emergency.

I use the browser ( get Opera by the way - faster than the built in browser) for weather forecasts and email. But I never use the chart app or the tide apps I have on the phone. The boats chartplotter does it all so much better.
Click to expand...

I would disagree there Dolphin Mini is my browser now or "boat" or "opera" or "chrome!" :eek:.

Navionics is handy, you can check your tide times/ heights/ rates in the pub/ car/ train/ bus. :p

You can also daydream about new places etc as above, it is also handy for showing people where you live and sail. Or if you do not have a chart plotter, or one in the cockpit your phone is normally in your pocket...

Oh and do not forget to check out the games, bubble shooter, "wheres my water?", Cranky, Perry etc...

Then there is Kindle set the background to black and text to white huge saving on battery and you can read in the dark....
 
boatie and smart compass are good both available free from playstore
I've used the navionics app seriously. its good but the display is too small
 
wotayottie said:
Most people go for Navionics. It's a good toy for the money it costs but its no real use outside an emergency.
Click to expand...

What does that mean?

If you mean it's no use unless in an emergency, then you have missed the point.

Navionics is a very good planning tool, almanac, and basic chart plotter. I have done several long passages just using it and whilst it does not have AIS or radar is still does a lot more than plotters did not that many years back. It costs almost nothing compared to most marine navigation tools, is easy to use, accurate and constantly improving. Oh yes, it's prolly used by several hundred thousand users. Clearly they all have emergencies. :cool:
 
wotayottie said:
Most people go for Navionics. It's a good toy for the money it costs but its no real use outside an emergency..
Click to expand...

Don't know where people get this from. I navigated my boat back from Esex through London in waters I didn't know at all using Navionics. Screen size didn't matter at all. I just wanted to know where I was and where I was going, cross-checked against other data.

Lots of people have always been very keen to tell me what is and isn't possible boating. Sure is a lot of dogma around...
 
Navfree is an excellent non-boaty app. Way better in my view than my dedicated Garmin in-car satnav. And as the name suggests its free
 
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