Smart phone help please

[Lesley Jones]

I bought a mobile phone for emergencies about 15 years ago and it served me well for that purpose until I was in the Peak District last September. My husband charged it up before I left, but it kept cutting out after a few seconds and I could only ring from the B&B while it was actually charging. He changed the battery, but it hasn't worked and today we popped in to the Carphone Warehouse to see what was on offer.

I haven't used the phone for over 6 months, so he said they had cancelled my pay as you go contract. In the end I opted for a 24 month contract on a Sony Xperia E and this is my problem. Although I'm pretty quick to pick up new things, I simply have no idea what these smart phones can do. I don't want it to do much, but I'm wondering if it could help when I go to Cornwall in September. I have the places I'm interested in on Google Maps for instance and I would normally have to print it out, or print and write because some of the stuff just won't print properly. I use The Photographer's Ephemeris before I go, but then I have to remember what the maps looked like because that hasn't been something I can take along. Then there are day trips to London, when I get out at the tube station and have no idea where to go. Maybe I wander around a bit and then have no idea how to get back and sometimes I have to walk for ages to find another tube station. In my condition it's not a good thing. I could do with something that tells me where to find the North Star before it gets dark, so I can focus in reasonable light.

So... any advice and ideas gratefully received

 

[Ralph Thornton]

I have the photographers Emphemeris on my iPhone along with several other photography apps. I do mostly landscape photography where I want most of the image in focus. The DOFMaster app lets me easily calculate the hyper focal distance.

Another of my most used apps is iHikeGPS. This app lets me download topographic maps to my iPhone so I don't need an Internet connection to view the maps. The phone shows me my location on the map.

I also have apps for identification of birds and flowers.

Finally I have an app to connect with my Spot device to send messages via satellite when I'm in the backcountry and out of contact with home.

Oh, yes, I also use the phone to send texts and make phone calls.

 

[Davie Hudson]

your experia should have google maps on it as well and you should be able to get The Photographer's Ephemeris as an app to have with you at all times

 

[Lesley Jones]

Woohoo! Thank you very much. I had no idea about the DOFMaster. I normally guess from experience, but it would be nice to have something to take along. Am I right in thinking the phone will know where I am and I can find other places from there? I'm thinking tube stations or my way out of Wistman's woods on Dartmoor if I get lost. I get lost a lot...

 

[Ralph Thornton]

Yes, your phone will know where you are.

As far as Tube stations, I don't know. But there is a Metro app for the Wasington DC Metro that lets me find the nearest station, displays routes to my destination from where I am, tells me how soon the next train will come and has all Wasgington DC bus routes. Perhaps there is an app for your Tube system.

As far as maps, some map apps depend on an Internet connection and some app download and store the maps on your phone. I had some of both types. I use the regular maps app or Google maps when I have an Internet connection but when I'm in the wilderness mountaineering I don't have cell service so I use an app that stores maps that I have downloaded previously.

Friendly when I bought the phone I had no idea how useful it would be in additional to just texting and calling. They are miracle devices IMHO.

 

[Lesley Jones]

Cheers Ralph! I have no family to text or call, but apart from potential emergency use, I'm beginning to think this little phone could help enormously

 

[Ralph Thornton]

Cheers Ralph! I have no family to text or call, but apart from potential emergency use, I'm beginning to think this little phone could help enormously

That's what the point I was trying to make. Yep, the smartphone is a phone but it can do so much more. When I bought my wife a phone she thought she really didn't need it. And, to be sure, she only makes the occasional call. But she's never without her phone because she listened to music and Internet radio from all over.