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24 Oct 2014
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Something I learned that all you techies probably know: The phones tell if they are connected to something big or small by looking at pins 2 and 3 on the USB input. If these two are shorted your phone battery state will be "Charging (mains)" and you have all the power you can from the wall or vehicle charger. If these pins are not connected the charge rate is limited, the phone will say "Charging (USB)" and if you have enough stuff running you can use power faster than you charge.
My box of AA's thingy gives "USB charging", so GPS only with the music etc. turned off.
I also found a combination of Amazon Kindle charger and USB cable that gave the USB rate, so check before you go.
My tablet has this type of GPS, so yet another back up with 4 hours battery life.
Still, it's better than the crappy power cradle thing TomTom came with that lasted under a year and then requires you to snap the door off the unit and buy a car charger. I can buy a micro-USB cable or car charger in any town, TomTon use their own weird sizes.
Andy
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24 Oct 2014
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Quote:
Originally Posted by tmotten
Besides the plethora of AA chargers out there, there are also heaps of solar options. No need to ever run out of battery.
For an 8 hour hike my S4 only uses about 20% battery depending on how often I check the screen. If it's cold, or it's not full to begin with, I bring a chocolate bar sized backup battery. They given them away as marketing material now.
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But my question was being able to use AAs without any other gadgets widgets or other accessories.
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24 Oct 2014
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That's asking for the known road. (Dutch figure of speech that may not translate well ;-) )
Off course you can't. Large phones have 2.5Ah batteries because they're designed to allow for heavy use. AA's don't have that much.
But it's a moo point. You can use AA's but you'll probably never have too. I only use external batteries when I'm flying around. Besides that power is everywhere.
But if you would need to walk it out it'll probably be fully charged because it's been on bike power all that time. Turn the power save on, screen on min brightness, wifi and Bluetooth off, phone on GSM only (wish offline mode could still use GPS) and you've got 2 days of GPS use providing you don't want to see where you are every 5 mins. That's up to 100 km walking. Haven't seen any accounts of that happening along a road or trail.
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24 Oct 2014
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Compass
For 100Km of walking one or other of the compass app(s) should be useful.
Has anyone used them? There are dozens of them available.
I wonder how much battery power one of those consumes.
Anyway, put one of them with a paper map and start walking!
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24 Oct 2014
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Quote:
Originally Posted by TheWarden
...how many smart phones can run off AA batteries if needed?
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Hi Warden:
I don't think there are any contemporary phones that are designed to run off batteries. Per EU directive, all phones sold in the EU since about 2013 must accept a 5 volt charge from a small USB connection. AA batteries are 1.5 volts each, there's no easy way to divide 5 by 1.5.
If you are really out in the middle of no-where, either a solar charger (for sunny days) or some kind of auxiliary battery pack that outputs 5 volts and has a reasonable amp-hour reserve will probably serve you best.
Michael
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24 Oct 2014
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Walkabout
For 100Km of walking one or other of the compass app(s) should be useful.
Has anyone used them? There are dozens of them available.
I wonder how much battery power one of those consumes.
Anyway, put one of them with a paper map and start walking!
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I always carry a Silva compass with me just in case. Most time purple have studied a map enough to know what's roughly around and in which direction in a 100 km radius.
Beyond that, there's always Bear Grylls shows for "how to navigate the wild" homework. ;-)
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24 Oct 2014
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Ok look I knew the answer before I posed the question let's move on
But just remember that not everyone uses a bike this is the hubb not advrider, not everyone uses android phones, my iPhone will not run on battery anywhere near the time tmottens Samsung will (pretty sure that mine might get an hour or 2 running gps with everything else turned off)
Paneuropean, the EU directive you refer to was nothing to do with power sources but unifying chargers to stop the millions of chargers specific to one brand or another that went in the bin every year.
If you on 4 or more wheels multifunction devices are not really as relevant as for the bikers were weight is. Screen Size, accuracy and mapping are important.
Going back to my walking out case I would want my phones power saved for its purpose in life.......to phone for help when I got a signal
Last edited by TheWarden; 24 Oct 2014 at 19:30.
Reason: tapatalk and thumbs like bananas
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25 Oct 2014
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Quote:
Originally Posted by tmotten
I always carry a Silva compass with me just in case. Most time purple have studied a map enough to know what's roughly around and in which direction in a 100 km radius.
Beyond that, there's always Bear Grylls shows for "how to navigate the wild" homework. ;-)
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Nothing wrong with a Silva: I still have a couple of them.
That guy is the current Chief Scout of the UK scouting movement: Baden Powell must be rotating in his grave.
 ? Maybe not.
Quote:
Originally Posted by TheWarden
my iPhone
creen Size, accuracy and mapping are important.
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Just curiosity, but which iPhone are you using? (big screen or smaller screen?)
For 4 wheels I use a 7 inch tablet which does not have a SIM card - so it uses only wifi for acquiring the software and that "forces" me to experiment with android nav apps that work only offline.
+ those apps cannot "steal" my phone book contacts simply 'cos they don't exist in there.
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25 Oct 2014
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iPhone 4S but might be upgrading soon, battery life is one reason
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25 Oct 2014
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Yeah. Personally don't like devices where you can't change the battery out.
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30 Oct 2014
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Quote:
Originally Posted by TheWarden
iPhone 4S but might be upgrading soon, battery life is one reason
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Psssst Warden how does 15.6 days sound? ( that is what my phone says when switched on to ultra power saving mode - Samsung)
and btw- I've finally managed to put the Olaf map on my Android phone (not that I would put that on my handlebars bouncing on trails!!)
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30 Oct 2014
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Bertrand
and btw- I've finally managed to put the Olaf map on my Android phone (not that I would put that on my handlebars bouncing on trails!!)
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Did you got any more details with Olafs map, compared to Openstreetmaps Road, Terrain, Satellite Hybrid view of Google and Bing - which are downloadable for offline usgage with LocusPro (Android) or MotionX (Apple Devices)?
How did you add Olfas Map, what Apps did you use for that?
Thanks for deeper explanations 
Surfy
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30 Oct 2014
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Bertrand
(not that I would put that on my handlebars bouncing on trails!!)
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Oh, c'mon now. You've made it this far in your experimentation. I'm sure you've got a old one lying around that you could take the next step with. ;-)
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19 Nov 2014
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[QUOTE=tmotten;484613]Oh, c'mon now. You've made it this far in your experimentation. I'm sure you've got a old one lying around that you could take the next step with. ;-)[/QUOTE
I suspect you have touched on another aspect of owning smart phones: not only does everyone have one nowadays (I resisted for many years and became a convert just a few months ago) but there is more than one in a lot of households.
Therefore, as you say, an older model can be used for all manner of "disposable" uses such as for a dedicated navigation device.
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20 Nov 2014
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Walkabout
For the hardware there are differences such as the water resistant, ruggedized versions that have been referenced earlier and the thread was started in order to explore such developments.
For software, I have just re-read the whole thread to remind myself of the themes herein.
There is very little reference to iPhones and their technology in here, so sticking with Android (more or less), the softwares identified in here are:-
Locus
OSMAnd
Navfree
MapDroyd
Backcountry Navigator
Androzic (Oziexplorer?)
Sourceforge
Soviet Military Maps Free
Mapquest
Google Maps
Skobbler
Viewranger
Sygic
Navigon (now owned by Garmin)
Tom Tom on Android
Ovimaps (therein lies a story)
MapsWithMe
MotionX
Navit
iOverlander (this slipped in as an IPhone OS?)
Avenza
PathAway
A number of these tap straight into Open Street Map (OSM), increasingly so it seems to me; Mapquest for example.
Nor do all of these exist nowadays - 2+ years is a long time in the software business.
3 links mentioned earlier that deal with reviews of such software are:-
GPS - Some options - RibbleValleyTRF
New Free Samsung GT-N8000 Galaxy Note 800 / GT-N8010 Galaxy Note 10.1 Maps Apps Download
Android Sat Nav Apps
And another one I have come across more recently:-
Pocket GPS World - SatNavs | GPS | Speed Cameras
But it is not clear that any of these review sites are particularly up to date with whatever the current offerings are for GPS/navigation software on smartphones/tablets.
Much less do they point toward the winners and losers in this game, except in the most general of terms. |
A few weeks later and Mapswithme is now marketed as "maps.me".
MAPS.ME - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
In any case there seems to be a growing number of apps that simply access OSM data/maps and add some form of interface to market yet another mapping/navigation function on smart phones .
There is a very brief overview of maps.me in this link:-
http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...-offline-78340
Still no nearer to identifying the "killer" app.
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