Mobile phone GPS

Paul057

I know the 'What app for iphone GPS' has been done before, but does anyone use GPS on any different phones? I'd ideally have a Garmin Edge 800, but i just can't afford that kind of cash, and the Edge 500 doesn't have any mapping, so i'm thinking about getting an iphone. I'm not really that fussed about the phone itself, and my main reason for buying one would be the GPS for my bike. My concern is the battery life; notoriously poor on the iphone, especially if using GPS i believe? Does anyone use any other type of phone or have any comments on the iphone?
Thanks

dcurzon

i use endomondo on the iphone for day to day use, gets around 2.5 hours.

I used endomondo on the blackberry 8900 for the Marathon, which took me 5 hours, and i hadn't used even half the battery.

Paul057

And is it easy enough to use on a Blackberry?

Peddle Up!

I use SportsTracker on a Nokia X6, but the battery life is a killer which is why I've delved down the back of the sofa and ordered a Garmin Edge 800.

dcurzon

blackberry, yeah easy enough to use. once the application is on there its pretty intuitive

Paul057

Just so i've got all the facts before i make a decision, how much am i looking at for a Garmin 800? I've had a snoop on 'tinterweb and the best i can get is £240. That's a LOT of money for me at the minute and no matter how much i want one, i just can't justify that kind of outlay

cougie

I'm perfectly happy riding without a Garmin. Half of the joy of cycling is discovering new routes. You'll miss out on that if you never make a wrong turn.

Peddle Up!

cougie wrote:

I'm perfectly happy riding without a Garmin. Half of the joy of cycling is discovering new routes. You'll miss out on that if you never make a wrong turn.

Fair point, but you don't have to take one on every ride.

And I have missed my destination by taking a wrong turn.

Chad_c_Mulligan

I use a HTC Wildfire and the battery can last around 3 hours, but it's a cheap smartphone and a spare fully charged battery to go with it is not expensive.

My biggest complaint is that while SportTracker pro is excellent for tracking, there doesn't seem to be any good software for following a GPX track designed in bike route toaster.

Being a programmer I shouldn't really sit in the dark and curse it without doing something, so I'm writing a lightweight android app to follow a track. I've no interest in making money out of it so when it's ready for beta testing it will be published (ad free).

alan_sherman

Nokia: I have used Nokia maps (free) for car type sat nav to navigate around an unfamiliar area. 3 hours of use with the phone in my back pocket and an earpiece giving me the "turn left" type direction and still had battery life left. I also had sportstracker running at the same time logging the ride.

Optimize battery life through using screensaver, switch off bluetooth, WiFi and 3G (you don't need it because Nokia maps are on the phone not downloaded over the net). You could even switch off the phone part until you want to make a call by using 'offline' mode which would get you even longer life.


I've used sporttracker for 5 hour rides and had enough battery life. I use an old N78, 3 years old and on the original battery. Sportstracker is a free app.


I've also used Viewranger recently. it cost £1.50. Good for offroad maps (cache the Open Street maps locally for free) but it is a GPS rather than a sat nav. You can do waypoints and point the way. You can import routes. No voice guidance though so you do have to look at the screen when it beeps (a bit like some Garmins I believe).


Nokia have been very good and led the way, a shame they seem to be losing their way for the future though. Still you can get very functional Symbian devices for cheap which do what we are after. They are lower power draw than Iphones or Android phones by design so battery life is generally longer. Also you can take a spare battery to swap it over in all but the most recent handsets (iphone has inbuilt battery, android has swappable).

avoidingmyphd

Um, a Garmin Edge 705 is cheaper than an iphone.
Why on earth would you buy a telephone "mainly" to do something that it doesn't do as well as a cheaper dedicated device?

rolf_f

If you are skint, why waste money on a smart phone? Get a normal mobile phone (which does everything useful that a smartphone does) and a decent, cheap GPS!

ShaggyRS6

Endomondo prob the best of all the phone apps. works well, just turn off auto pause.

Paul057

avoidingmyphd wrote:

Um, a Garmin Edge 705 is cheaper than an iphone.
Why on earth would you buy a telephone "mainly" to do something that it doesn't do as well as a cheaper dedicated device?

Really? The cheapest i can find a 705 is £190, and i can get an iphone for £100. Am i missing a good deal somewhere on a 705?

Paul057

Rolf F wrote:

If you are skint, why waste money on a smart phone? Get a normal mobile phone (which does everything useful that a smartphone does) and a decent, cheap GPS!

Any good recommendations on a decent cheap GPS Rolf?

(I don't know how to quote 2 people in one reply) :oops:

Peddle Up!

Paul057 wrote:

i can get an iphone for £100.

Geezer in a pub?

Paul057

Peddle Up! wrote:

Paul057 wrote:

i can get an iphone for £100.

Geezer in a pub?

Ha ha. Tesco mate!

JimboM

ShaggyRS6 wrote:

Endomondo prob the best of all the phone apps. works well, just turn off auto pause.

What's up with the auto pause ?

Peddle Up!

Paul057 wrote:

Peddle Up! wrote:

Paul057 wrote:

i can get an iphone for £100.

Geezer in a pub?

Ha ha. Tesco mate!

Close.

avoidingmyphd

iphone's are not £100 in tesco.
their cheapest contract iphone totals £550 and their cheapest payg is £480 (OK, £396 if you phone up and there's any stock).

Peddle Up!

avoidingmyphd wrote:

iphone's are not £100 in tesco.
their cheapest contract iphone totals £550 and their cheapest payg is £480 (OK, £396 if you phone up and there's any stock).

Geezer from Tesco in a pub then.

Mark Bom

ShaggyRS6 wrote:

Endomondo prob the best of all the phone apps. works well, just turn off auto pause.

Does switching auto pause off extend the battery?

Had Endomondo on for a ride on my HTC Desire for 5 hrs 48 mins. If I'd got another hour out of it, it'd tracked the whole ride, so interested to know if turning auto pause off extends it?

gareth273

Surely a dedicated device such as a Garmin would be better then an iPhone strapped to you handle bars - or even stuffed into a pocket. If you fall off or if it rains an iPhone isnt going to fair too well. Battery life isnt great either.

If you want to add an HRM or Cadence that isnt going to happen with an iPhone very easily.

Just my 2p's worth

Chad_c_Mulligan

iPhones aren't the only smartphone. There are perfectly usable android offerings at £80 on ebay.

ShaggyRS6

JimboM wrote:

ShaggyRS6 wrote:

Endomondo prob the best of all the phone apps. works well, just turn off auto pause.

What's up with the auto pause ?

It was seriously messing up my average speed. Kept pausing and then not unpausing.

Wirral_paul

ShaggyRS6 wrote:

JimboM wrote:

ShaggyRS6 wrote:

Endomondo prob the best of all the phone apps. works well, just turn off auto pause.

What's up with the auto pause ?

It was seriously messing up my average speed. Kept pausing and then not unpausing.

The garmin 800 has an adjustable autopause so you can set the speed it activates at. Put it at 18mph and watch your personal best get thrashed. Your mileage may drop a bit mind!

mattv

Bryton gps sets get moving map from £200 rep (around 170 online) and get 15hours battery life.

Brommers76

Put me down for beta testing chad. soon to get a wildfire s running gingerbread and work in the software industry so would be keen to have a play.

Paul057

avoidingmyphd wrote:

iphone's are not £100 in tesco.
their cheapest contract iphone totals £550 and their cheapest payg is £480 (OK, £396 if you phone up and there's any stock).

I assume you're talking about if i add on the £30 p/m rental it total the amounts you listed? That might be right, but if you knock off the £25 p/m i pay on my existing phone it doesn't come to that much.

Have you used a Bryton mattv? Any feedback on them?

ShaggyRS6

Wirral_Paul wrote:

ShaggyRS6 wrote:

JimboM wrote:

ShaggyRS6 wrote:

Endomondo prob the best of all the phone apps. works well, just turn off auto pause.

What's up with the auto pause ?

It was seriously messing up my average speed. Kept pausing and then not unpausing.

The garmin 800 has an adjustable autopause so you can set the speed it activates at. Put it at 18mph and watch your personal best get thrashed. Your mileage may drop a bit mind!

Garmin Edge £280

Endomondo £Free or a Couple of Quid. The Garmin is always gonna win hands down. Personally, I would rather spend the money on something else. But thats just personal preference.

martincashman

I use http://www.sportstracklive.com/ have logged almost 10,000km on it so am very happy with it.

If you want to extend battery life, switch the phone to Airplane mode, GPS will still work. Did 4hrs in Airplane mode the other day and still had 53% battery (HTC Desire), also kill apps.

NB. GPS isn't as accurate as a proper bike computer that takes speed off the wheel. .

I like the data from my phone to review later and keep statistics but you can't beat a bike computer on the road. Have a sigma Rox9.0, Heart rate and cadence are great tools but also very useful is hill gradient, I've learned what heart rate and cadence balance I can sustain on certain gradient climbs, so if I'm doing a sportive and hit a hill I've never been on before, it doesn't matter how long it is as I can use the computer to work out a good pace to get over it without burning out.