I phone versus Laptop and dongle.

[matt1]

No problem dragging you into the 21st century! Within a day of having my Iphone I knew how to configure the Wifi, GPS, download apps, use GPS and mapping, connect to a NW, maximise battery life etc etc and, trust me, I am a complete luddite. With my previous Sony Ericsson I had no clue with most of the above and that at least had an instruction manual and I had it for a year!

The Navionics is great for passage planning on a Friday afternoon at work and despite saying I wouldn't use it at sea...guess what...daughter asks "how much further dad" and in my laziness I find myself reaching in my pocket for the phone.

My navtex is now a redundant piece of kit, I can now get weather when I want.

 

[Heckler]

I was planning to get a laptop and a dongle with a pay as you go SIM card for the boat next year. Primarily for weather but also for all the other obvious additions. The more I see and hear I am starting to realise that if I just get an Iphone....all sorted. Since my contract is up anyway and I need to change telephone network it seems a no brainer. Am I missing something. I would point out that I am not particularly techie but I can't belive I will not be able to use an I phone.

Comment please

Just a thought, 3 do a dongle but in effet charge a tenner a month! I found out that my 2 year old HTC Orange phone has MS software and that one of the bits in it is Internet sharing. Use it to "connect" then plug it via USB in to the laptop. XP recognises it as a "router" and away it goes, Orange charges a fiver a month for unlimited within reason downloads after six pm and all weekends. For me that is a deal and it works OK for all sorts of "stuff"

 

[MacMan]

No brainer indeed. Have a search for the iPhone Navionics discussion.
.....
The nautical apps I currently use are:-

Navionics UK to Holland,
Imray rules & signals,
World Tides,
Aeroweather.

Getting a similar set of software for your laptop would probably cost the same as the whole iPhone.

I would add

AeroWeather
WindGuru
Ship Finder
GPSLite
& Day Tides (spetacular tidal app)
Google Earth

to the list of apps to look at (in the Nautical area)

Any other from anyone else I have missed ?

The "genius" of the Iphone is the apps - even if some just really scrape web info they do so in a way that make it useful on a small device. I am not aware of any other mobile device that even comes close to the app Library the Iphone has. And so many really useful ones are free. And even the pay for ones are much cheaper than the alternative.

e.g. Full turn by turn sat nav - £25
Chartplotter with charts from Holland to the Azores - £15 quid ! Fantastic ! (not to mention with a built in FB interface)

(No it's not my primary means of navigation but at £15 it doesn't need to be !)

And then there is all the non nautical apps - oh and you can phone people on it. Oh and I have 5 days of music, and podcasts and ...oh you get the point !

I don't think it is that expensive when you realise how much it does. If you only want a phone it's very expensive - but why by an Iphone if all you want to do is ring people?

 

[doris]

Ta very much for all the input chaps. In a few weeks time when I get an Iphone I will probably pm one or two of you for a bit of input/advice. Not sure if reading the thread made me feel more or less of a Victor Mildrew but....rock on 21th century here we come!

 

[jpcarter30]

I was the same, tried to resist but I was won over by the simplicity and excellence of some of the apps. £35 pm I think reasonable as i get 500 mins and 500 texts. Shouldn't have to pay over that. You'll enjoy its usefulness, I'm sure.

 

[bavaria33]

I love the iphone

i used the navionic charts on the iphone to navigate to carlingford absolutely fab, granted i have the full blown charts down below. with a little waterproof jacket in your jacket you can whip it out and double check your position.

mobile.met gives great Irish forecasts.

granted I am a techie but its a great support tool for backups to standard navigation techniques