Best smartphone for backcountry use

[Ben F]

The Epic 4G has a notoriously terrible GPS. Like, perhaps the worst ever put in a smartphone.

[Tom D.]

The GPS is not as refined as that of the iPhone but from what I've read its mainly software issues. It takes no longer to capture satellites than with the iPhone in most cases using the GPS test app. For some reason, TeleNav (the GPS app that comes with the Epic)is slow (sometimes VERY slow) to acquire apart from a 3g or WiFi signal, but every other app seems to not have the same trouble. I also use Gaia GPS with topography maps, no GPS problems there either.

If I were getting a phone just for the GPS, I'd pick the iPhone.

[Chris Scala]

I've checked my iPhone on day hikes just to see where I was, and man is it off sometimes. No way in hell would I ever trust that thing to navigate with. Sometimes it'll be like, "You are obviously within this 5 mile radius…" which doesn't help at all.

Am I the only one who would just prefer a good ol' map and compass? Something about zoning out on a cellphone screen in the middle of a trail just feels like a nasty corruption of the woods.

[Erik Basil]

"I looked at [Casio Commando] a while back, you say it's obsolete, is it very slow as a smartphone?"

–I say "obsolete" because there's no new model, no 4g version and it's no longer flavor of the month with the sellers. A 4G version of this phone with a dual-processor would be the bomb.

As a smartphone, the Commando is a touch slower than an iPhone and slower than a 3G Samsung Galaxy S/Fascinate. The screen isn't as vibrant as any Samsung's and the phone details aren't as simple to navigate. The on-board camera works fine but is no better than the one on a Razor, for example. It has more "megapixels" but is lousy and not a replacement for another camera. The "flash/flashlight" LED is great for inside a tent, albeit not the smartest use of power.

That said, the phone works in heat and cold, flawlessly. The Commando functions where iPhones won't start in the cold. It's easy to activate particular software with either the "tactile" button on the side or the snap-open feature on the main screen. The speaker phone is excellent. Casio keeps it upgradeable for Android and has twice issued Casio updates that vastly improved battery usage and some other little knick-knacks. The internal antennae seem to work well: I have had signal where others using the same towers have not. The GPS works nicely and the onboard compass is accurate. The styling detail down the center is an aiming/sighting line and one can take very accurate bearings with the phone. It's relatively light, and it's much thinner than anything in an Otter Box.

On day hikes, I use the tracking features with the GPS and leave the phone on all day. It will go about 8 hours if I leave GPS on and shut everything else off.

Overnight camping, I can leave it on to chart time/temperature inside the tent/along the wall and confirm it works just fine at 22f, a recorded low at a Scout camp where I established the limitations of my UL layers… ha ha! Down shirt, purchased.

Backpacking, I do what others do: leave it off and carry an extra battery. I fire it up to verify my orienteering skills, to play "Angry Birds High Sierra" and to send/receive Email and Texts. With very low bars, it does the email/text just fine (lower bandwidth than audio). Handy to send location verification out to the world, especially for folks sure that we're to be eaten by bears in reprisal for going off the grid (which, technically, we're not…) With two batteries, 7 days, no problem.

[Kristofer McKenna]

Well, Sony Ericsson is no more, so it's up to Sony Mobile to provide 4.0 support (supposedly this month… right).

Here's the details:

Toughness – 1M of water resistance (I submerge it regularly), it's dust and crushproof, takes falls with aplomb, and it's screen is made of Dragonstrail, which makes Gorilla Glass look like a macaque lol. If you look closely, it looks like the LCD behind the glass eventually breaks, but the glass is still in one piece o.O

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F92CvRflk18

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXB9k9vfPV8

the screen protector that comes installed from the factory is weaker than the screen, I used pliers to rip it off after it was scratched, and have yet to damage the glass.

As a smartphone – 1GHz CPU, 512MB of RAM, 480×320 screen, and a meager 320MB of space for programs. you can install a 32GB micro SD, but you still fill up program space fairly quickly. It's useable, though. The screen is tiny, and so is the phone, so if you have big hands it's definitely not for you. It's also GSM, and the ST17a works on AT&T's HSDPA network. In Europe it will work with 1900 and 2100MHz 3G, I've used it in Germany, the Netherlands, and Sweden so far (Telekom, Telekom, and Telenor, respectively)

I'd love it if Sony would make a next-gen version of this thing with more modern phone guts.

Or if Casio would make the G'Shock phone they showed off back in January (GSM, of course :D )

[Stephen M]

Cheers Erik, sounds like a really nice phone;-)

[mik matra]

3 of us went into the wild and on the first night in dense bush on the side of the mountain we lost a mate. An hour of yelling and looking later we called emergency services. Well to be exact I tried first with my Blackberry but it didn't even have SOS. My mates Iphone did the trick.

Iphone 1 Blackberry 0

[Amy Lauterbach]

I can't speak to the differences btw Android phones and iPhones; I love my iPhone, but would probably love an Android phone just as much. The primary GPS/mapping app that I use is Gaia GPS, and it's available for both iPhone and Android. My other two favorite apps (Maplets and Topo Maps) are only available on iPhone.

Other things that have come up in this thread…

The battery life issues for the iPhone can be managed, but only if you have a SIM based iPhone (i.e. ATT in the US or most of the rest of the world). Battery life for a Verizon iPhone is a problem. For details about the difference between ATT & Verizon, and other critical information about using the iPhone on backpacking trips, you need to read the article about selecting an app and preserving battery life:
Instructions for using iPhone as Backpacking GPS/Mapping device.

Several people in this thread have said that they leave the phone off and fire it up only when necessary. With an ATT iPhone, following the battery conservation tips, you don't need to power it down. I've used mine for three six-week trips now, and never powered it down during a trip. On each trip, I recharged every 2-5 days at my resupply shops.

Scott Bentz asked about which iPhone apps are worth their salt. There are a few excellent apps and many dozens of crap apps. It depends on what map types you care about (sat imagery, national mapping agency (USGS, OS, NRCan, LINZ, IGN, etc), OpenCycleMap, or local park maps). And it depends on what features you want (import/export tracks and waypoints, etc). Here is a list of all the iPhone mapping/gps apps I've evaluated. Gaia GPS is one of the best, and they make an Android version as well as an iPhone version. Maplets and Topo Maps are great, but I don't believe they make Android versions.

Chris Scala asked why bring along electronics on a backpacking trip at all. Until a year ago, I was in the map and compass camp. Then we were preparing for a six week hike in Turkey. The Turkish government does not publish topo maps, it's a military secret. So paper maps were not an easy option. I spent a TON of time evaluating my options, and eventually ended up with iPhone. VERY happy with it. Satellite imagery and OpenCycleMaps for the whole world changes the game for international hiking. Second reason to use a smart phone instead of paper maps is that (assuming you have a phone for other reasons) the cost is TINY! The app I use (Gaia GPS) cost $10, and with that I get satellite imagery of the whole world, OpenCycleMaps of the whole world, and Government Agency maps for Canada, US, New Zealand. I can download those maps for free, for use offline (i.e. overseas where I have no phone service). The six week hike we just took in Spain would have been possible with paper maps, but they would have set me back $250 instead of ZERO bucks.

There are external battery recharge options for the iPhone. I haven't pursued them because I haven't needed it. Conservatively using the iPhone just for mapping (not photos, etc), in conjunction with paper maps should last for 5 days easily, 10 days if you're prudent.

Good luck, AmyL

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