Backpacking Phone Questions

If a replaceable battery is your boundary, your options are pretty limited, but check out the Fairphone or the Samsung XCover 7 series.

When you say 20 days in the field, do you mean 20 days with the battery removed? It seems to me that battery life will be connected more to actual usage than time. What do you intend to use it for, and how often? If you are not using it at all, then any smartphone will last 20 days.

If you are taking a lot of photos, then battery life will definitely not be 20 days, but in that case, it’s not a fair comparison, and you should be comparing the weight to that of your current phone, batteries, and camera combined.

Regarding replaceable batteries vs a power bank, have you compared weight? And for 20 days, you might also include a comparison to a solar charger.

Cell coverage varies alot up and down the east coast. I spend most of my time around the mid Atlantic region and I’ve been on the AT with reasonable good coverage in PA and NJ. On the other hand in the Dolly Sods in WV I’ve had no coverage and actually lost it going to the trail head. I’ve carried both Verizon and Tmobile, VZ has had better coverage in remote regions. GAIA has an overlay for different cell providers coverage but i haven’t found it to be too reliable.

In Canada the carriers show a coverage map by 3G/4G/5G.  I use them when hitting a new area and they’ve been reliable.

I’d be surprised if the US carriers didn’t have the same

I take a 10k mah battery for up to 8-9 days. I put my iPhone 12 into airplane mode, turn off Bluetooth, and use it mostly for photos, and occasionally for navigation. I turn if off completely at night. For a trip as you describe I’d need at least 20k and that might be pushing it.

I guess I’ll stick with my flip phone.

I actually got a smart phone specifically to be able to download maps whenever I wanted them. Anyone else remember racing to get to a Forest Service office to buy a map before they closed? It seemed to happen fairly often. Getting a smart phone fixed that. For a long time I kept my camera seperate (better pictures) but I broke that camera and my current phone is pretty good for pictures. I might still get a camera again though.

Battery life took a hit when I got a smart phone. I think for 20 days you might want to look at a sonar charger.  I’m not sure a smartphone, power bank and solar charger would be lighter than a flip phone, camera and 20 days worth of camera batteries. But if your phone is also replacing books you carry then the weight might equal out.

Bottom line. If you get a smart phone you’ll use it more (maps, weather forecast, chatting on BPL, etc). It’s a trade off.

Regarding cellular network coverage, the FCC has a map of cellular service.

https://www.fcc.gov/BroadbandData/MobileMaps/mobile-map

If you go with a smartphone, I would highly suggest one of the “minor” carriers – those that rent service from the big-3’s towers. I have been very happy with Patriot Mobile. (Their customer service are all native English-speaking Americans, who have all been very, very helpful.) 

These “minor” service providers have the benefit of swapping networks at the drop of a hat. If you’ll be going to a region where you’ll be better served by using another network’s towers, one phone call and they’ll mail you new SIM cards, to drop in your phone. (This is for Android devices anyway – I’m not sure how Apple & others that use E-SIM’s work…)

Patriot, and other sell the “Unplugged Phone” that’s not tied to Google. It doesn’t have a removable battery, but it does have a physical “kill switch” power button. That can certainly be helpful in preserving battery life.

Also, keep in mind – the biggest drain on a cell phones battery is……

…….. the screen. Just something to keep in mind.