Buying an old smart phone just for the marine apps

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Foolish Muse

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I hate pulling out my business BlackBerry on the boat to access the chart plotter, especially if its raining. Having dropped a gps overboard I'm very nervous about dropping the valuable phone.

Has anyone bought an old smart phone just for the sailing apps available? I'm thinking of not even activating the sim card, just loading the phone up with every sailing app there is. Chart plotter, ais, racing apps, and something for fun when there's no wind. Old phones are so cheap.
 
Foolish Muse said:
I hate pulling out my business BlackBerry on the boat to access the chart plotter, especially if its raining. Having dropped a gps overboard I'm very nervous about dropping the valuable phone.

Has anyone bought an old smart phone just for the sailing apps available? I'm thinking of not even activating the sim card, just loading the phone up with every sailing app there is. Chart plotter, ais, racing apps, and something for fun when there's no wind. Old phones are so cheap.
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I just upgraded from a sony xperia z2. Gave it to my son. Probably shouldn't have and used it on the boat......

Looks like some used ones on eBay at 60-70 quid. Waterproof (which doesn't mean it works when its wet!).

Plenty fast enough. Fine screen.

In fact i am persuading myself in to getting another one! I now have a ridiculously expensive galaxy s7 edge through work that i don't want to drop overboard.

Actually another great thing about the z2 is it has a lanyard attachment point.
 
dunedin said:
Or perhaps get a low cost Android tablet?
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I bought (and am currently using) an old iPad 1 for exactly this reason. I have now got my Navionics App on two iPads and two iPhones which does give me a certain amount of redundancy on and off the boat. Whilst I don't actually use any of them for Nav on board, I can use any of them for passage planning which I then transfer to 'on board' Nav aids (paper, chart plotter and whiteboard). The iPad 1 works without a SIM card so it is a VERY cheap backup chart plotter...
 
+1 for an IPad 1.
i have one with gps which I now only use for Navionics
dont use a SIM card for data at all but I could if I needed to.

does not run the latest Navionics but you can still keep the charts up to date.

quite tough and nice big screen.
 
I bought a tablet for back-up navigation , and as repeater for my Raymarine e7.
The screen is not daylight viewable but otherwise does the job. Be sure to get one with built in GPS so you don't need a sim card.
Or consider a toughbook...........Some ideas at London Chartplotters
http://www.londonchartplotters.com/
.
 
Phones can be a bit limiting with the small screen, as others have said get yourself a cheap tablet with a GPS chip. I bought a HUDL2 for just that reason before they became obsolete- not much use for anything else but runs some charting and boating apps quite adequately. I'm sure there is a reasonable choice out there second hand for under a 100 quid - makes for a cheap back up plotter and stick it in a waterproof case...
 
Foolish Muse said:
I hate pulling out my business BlackBerry on the boat to access the chart plotter, especially if its raining. Having dropped a gps overboard I'm very nervous about dropping the valuable phone.

Has anyone bought an old smart phone just for the sailing apps available? I'm thinking of not even activating the sim card, just loading the phone up with every sailing app there is. Chart plotter, ais, racing apps, and something for fun when there's no wind. Old phones are so cheap.
Click to expand...

iPhone 5 with Otterbox (waterproof case) with Navionics is all you need. Anything else then you might as well have a full blown Nav system - A65 I can get one for 400 quid with built in GPS - Why take the risk of being without charts for such a "loose change sum"
 
I have just resurrected my wife's old Samsung s3 by installing a custom ROM. That means replacing the standard operating system with something less loaded with unwanted programme that slow the device down.
Not exactly an "easy" job but the phone now runs a lot better. A LOT better!
I now plan to do the same with a hudl2 as a back up to my Nexus 7. The hudl was relatively unresponsive compared to the n7 so has been gathering dust but maybe this will make it more useable. having some redundancy has got to be worthwhile. I've been hankering to play with seaclear or opencpn too but that is probably a winter project. tablets are so easy and are low on power drain. Love em.
 
The main issue with Android is the way the hardware and OS is inextricably linked, so you are generally working on an older version which often means that as the apps upgrade to keep up with mainstream they stop working on older versions...
 
Gladys said:
The main issue with Android is the way the hardware and OS is inextricably linked, so you are generally working on an older version which often means that as the apps upgrade to keep up with mainstream they stop working on older versions...
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I agree. Wise to aim for something that's Android 4 or above if you go down the android route. There are a number of cheap android phones about: http://shop.vodafone.co.uk/shop/pay-as-you-go/vodafone-smart-speed-6-payg/sku87335
 
agurney said:
You can buy a new 5" Android phone with dual SIM that's not locked to a network for around £30.
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Are you talking about the Android phones from Hong Kong on eBay? I know a couple of people who have had problems with their reliability.

My other half has just bought one the cheap new Vodafones linked above. She gives it top marks. She has the bigger model which is more of a phablet than a phone and would suit for Navionics.

Unless you need phone functionality, my advice would be to get a cheap tablet, though.
 
Ravi said:
Are you talking about the Android phones from Hong Kong on eBay? I know a couple of people who have had problems with their reliability.

My other half has just bought one the cheap new Vodafones linked above. She gives it top marks. She has the bigger model which is more of a phablet than a phone and would suit for Navionics.

Unless you need phone functionality, my advice would be to get a cheap tablet, though.
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I bought a cheap one from Hong Kong because I needed a dual SIM for a trip, it served it's purpose but wasn't much good.
 
Giblets said:
Where?
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http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/Mobile-Sm...&LH_ItemCondition=1000&_trksid=p2045573.m1684

From China/Singapore/Hong Kong, but there are also several UK suppliers.
I use a Cubot P9 that I bought a few years ago which has proved very reliable, and I'm impressed with the "5" Landvo XM100 Dual SIM 3G HD Smartphone Quad Core 8GB" that I bought for £34.99 last month from a UK supplier (though they're now selling them at around £40).

My requirement was a not-locked Android phone with dual SIM. I wanted Vodafone and BT or Three available, and also the ability to run a web browser, Grib and mapping applications. I wasn't bothered about having 4G or a decent on-board camera, and I wanted something that would fit in my pocket but which had a screen big enough for fat fingers to type ... horses for courses.
 
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