Recycling an Android Phone As a Handheld GPS? 328
imblum writes "So my dad's antique handheld GPS unit just went toes up and I was considering replacing it for him with an old Android Smartphone. All he really needs it for is hunting and camping (no navigation), so I don't want to pay for cell or data service. I found the program Mobile Atlas Creator to download map files onto the SD card, and an app called Maverick Lite to view them. Now all I need is to decide on an Android phone. I was considering a Samsung Behold II ($100-200 on Craigslist), but thought it would be nice to get some input from the Slashdot community. It seems like I can get a lot more functionality for the money out of an old Android than I could from a big name handheld GPS. Does this plan sound reasonable? Is there anything I'm overlooking?"
Battery life might be a concern. (Score:5, Insightful)
Battery life will not be as good as on a real GPS, but should be ok.
Re:Why? (Score:1, Insightful)
And does nothing else. No videos, No mp3s, No games, No using for web browsing on wifi.
For you dad... (Score:5, Insightful)
Get a good Garmin or other hand held GPS. One that can be operated with winter gloves on or such. If he's like my dad, he's not going to want to mess with any other applications or functionality. He wants a device to tell him how to get to the next camp site or hunting spot. Not listen to MP3s. He's also going to want something that is probably water proof, drop proof and has a battery life much longer than that of an old phone.
Garmins are by far the easiest to hack and even allow you to use your own maps. TomTom from what I've heard locks their stuff down hard. Plus Garmin has been around longer in the 'off road' GPS device market.
For yourself, sure, sounds like a fun project. I'm considering an iPod Touch + Bluetooth GPS + Jailbreaking as an in car GPS device. I was looking for an application to make the maps from OSM, but it looks like Mobile Atlas will do that.
Re:Battery availability might be a concern. (Score:5, Insightful)
No, get him a real GPS (Score:1, Insightful)
It seems like I can get a lot more functionality for the money out of an old Android than I could from a big name handheld GPS.
Yeah, no. Certainly not without a data plan.
If he needs it for hunting and camping, then the most important feature he needs is durability. You're not going to get that out of an Android phone. You can usually get a good quality handheld GPS from Garmin or Tomtom for like $125 on sale. This is probably cheapier than the cheapest used Android phone you will find, and it will be shock proof, water resistant, and take AA batteries, so you can carry a spare set in your pocket for safety.
It's a nice idea but you really are ignoring all the most important benefits of a dedicated GPS unit. I highly recommend just shopping around; you'll find a good one on sale.
A real GPS is better suited for wilderness use (Score:5, Insightful)
An android phone will have a bigger, more colorful screen and a more open/versatile OS, and it will undoubtedly be easier to load whatever maps you want on it, rather than vendor-approved, possibly expensive ones. Without some sort of additional protection, though, the device will break the first time it gets dropped on a rock or rained on. It'd be more suited to city and car navigation than camping and hunting.
Get him a dedicated GPS device (Score:4, Insightful)
I live within eyesight of Mt. Hood so I don't take a "quick jaunt in the woods" at face value. Prepare for the worst, pack your gear like it'll be the last trip you ever take.
Re:Why? (Score:5, Insightful)
Right, but not everyone needs that. I bought a GPS for about $50 and it works great.
I have a cell phone that will play music, games, video, and act as a gps...yet I have an mp3 player because it's a better solution for the task, a Nintendo DS because the games are more than brief distractions, and a GPS because I don't want to pay the carrier for the right to use the GPS chip on the phone. Video, don't really care about video, but I suppose I could do that with the mp3 player or DS if I had to. There's something to be said for single purpose (or focused purposed) items that know what they're supposed to do and do it flawlessly.
Re:Get him a dedicated GPS device (Score:3, Insightful)
Then bring a real map and a compass and know how to use them. That is my backup to my smartphone when I go out into the woods.
I tend to try to live ready for anything though, knife, firestarting stuff and various other tools on me at all times.
old android phone is an oxymoron (Score:5, Insightful)
Android is what, 22 months old?
Dear SlashRock- make new wheel with rocks? (Score:5, Insightful)
Dear slashrock,
My gene donor's old wheel finally broke. Sure, I could tell him to buy a new one that would work perfectly but I have some old rocks laying around and was thinking of learning masonry so that I could build him a new one. I have pretty much everything I need, and it'll only cost twice as much as a new wheel. I plan on using rocks. I know its older technology, and not as reliable, nor are they made for wheels (not since bronze finally got out of beta, anyway) but I figure that re-using old technology would be good.
So, what kind of rock should I get? Granite? Sandstone? And which quarry should I get it from? I was thinking that granite would last longer but sandstone would ride nicer and would be easier to lob at a dinosaur in case of attack.
Thanks SlashRock!
Re:Why? (Score:3, Insightful)
Yeah, a map and compass. Relying on a GPS for live safety is moronic.
Re:Battery availability might be a concern. (Score:4, Insightful)
Airplane mode disables all the wireless including gsm. Battery life will still likely be an issue for hunting, probably can get a few days with occasional checks.
If he's going out into the wilderness any appreciable distance and doesn't know how to use a map and compass, or how to find the four directions without a compass then he might be a candidate for a Darwin Award except that he's apparently already reproduced.
Seriously. A sharp person can learn basic old-fashioned navigation in about ten or twenty minutes. Do that and a GPS device is just a convenience. Nice to have for sure, but out in the wilderness you need some skills too. A knowledge of common edible plants for the area and the know-how to make basic snares and traps for wild game and makeshift shelters is a good idea too.
Re:Battery availability might be a concern. (Score:4, Insightful)
It's nice to have backup when your phone's battery dies. Or if the thing falls into a creek. Or is eaten by a bear.
Really, it isn't that hard to learn the basics, and it's fun - so why not do it?
Do one thing and do it well (Score:1, Insightful)
My N1 is a great phone+toy. It does all sorts of stuff, but it is not something that I would absolutely depend on. Especially not so while out hunting.
An android phonme is purpose built to be a smart phone. It is not optimized to do any of the subtasks that makes up a smartphone to the absolute fullest, and being able to do all sorts of different tasks takes away from doing a single task perfectly well.
How rugged is it? Does the smartphone stand well to falling against exposed rock?
How long do the batteries last? 10s of hours or days?
Can you easily replace the batteries? Most GPS devices take standard AA batteries or the like.
Is it rain/waterproof? Most GPS units are sealed against the elements.
How clear is the display? Most GPS units use reflective backed LCD displays with side lighting. You can view them in direct sunlight.
Point being, if you have not had it hammered into your head yet, GPS units are purpose built to be GPS units that you actually use when hunting, backpacking or whatever. They were developed to handle the unique requirements and do nothing else. Smartphones are phones with additional neat features added.
*** A GPS unit is _NOT_ to be solely depended upon either. A GPS unit is a nicety. It is not a replacement for a map, a compass and the knowledge of how to use them. ***
Re:Why? (Score:3, Insightful)
Or be smart and use the GPS for positioning and have a paper (and laminated) map... so when your batteries die you can still use a compass (you have one of those right?) to get your location, plot a course, etc (you do know how to do that the "old fashioned way" right?)
learn something, daily... (Score:3, Insightful)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AGPS [wikipedia.org]
Some A-GPS devices cannot fall back to standard GPS, needing cell tower or internet signal as these A-GPS devices won't function with only GPS satellite signal.
Many mobile phones combine A-GPS and other location services including Wi-Fi Positioning System and cell-site triangulation in a hybrid positioning system.[2]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_devices_with_Assisted_GPS [wikipedia.org]
Re:Why? (Score:3, Insightful)
The military still uses compasses for backup, and the spend more than $100 on a GPS.
Yeah the GPS is nice to have, but relying to save your life on it is moronic. Same with math, calculator is nice to have but relying on it for all your math needs is pretty dumb.
Re:Battery life might be a concern. (Score:5, Insightful)
As someone who owns an Android phone AND a dedicated GPS, perhaps I can inject something into this conversation:
Another consideration is how well it will hold up under the elements. Even the cheapest Garmin eTrex (which I own BTW) is pretty rugged. I wouldn't trust my Android smartphone out in the woods in the rain, mud, etc. Some other pluses of going the dedicated route:
- Battery life is better on the dedicated GPS, and when it does run down, it takes standard AA's.
- The dedicated GPS seems to have a better "time to first fix" than my Android phone, but that just might be because of the specific model. However, if your one purpose is to do GPS, it makes sense that you would do it better than a multipurpose device.
I do think it would be cool if there was a dedicated GPS that took pictures too. You could use the GPS to geotag the picture and have it as an icon for a waypoint to help remind you what that waypoint is.
dedicated GPS vs smartphone GPS solutions (Score:2, Insightful)
I've used a lot of smartphone GPS solutions, and two dedicated units. The biggest issue with all smartphone solutions is that you cannot *rely* on them. I've used Navicore/Wayfinder, Nokia Maps and Google Maps on Droid. They make nice demos but seriously, you really want to buy a dedicated GPS unit. I paid recently $130 for a new unit on a sale, and it's far superior to any mobile stuff that is out there.
Just a quick comparison:
+ Dedicated GPS units are more robust. You can rely on them. Smartphone based solutions do crash. You cannot rely on them. That's the most important factor for dumping them for any serious usage. They lose signal without being able to restore it without reboot. Theylose data connection (only prob for Google Maps based navisystems, Nokia Maps is offline). They just stop working. Every smartphone based solution had problems (at least after using them some time, not in "demo sessions"...) and the dedicated units don't (crashes are very rare).
+ Dedicated GPS units have far superior signal strength compared to any smartphone based GPS. Just try it in a parking hall: Dedicated unit will pick a signal no prob, smartphone will not. Smartphone will also lose signal easily when you're driving where dedicated unit is not. Trust me, I've done lots of comparisons running dedicated units and phones side by side.
+ Dedicated units are much faster. Offline maps is the first key requirement where Google Maps based systems fail. I used Google Maps on Droid for couple of months (on T-Mobile) until time wasted restoring data connection, downloading map, getting signal, downloading map again, downloading instructions,
+ Dedicated units have better functionality and usability compared to any smartphone solution. For example, Google Maps does not have "search along route" functionality which is really nice during any road trips.
Still, I find uses for mobile GPS as well, but not as a dedicated GPS replacement but for "fun usage" e.g. during walking tour in a new city. Just don't buy mobile GPS solution and imagine that it's competing in the same league with dedicated units.
If you insist buying a mobile GPS, you can get Nokia 5230 with $160 or something like that. Nokia Ovi Maps can at least use offline maps, unlike Google Maps.
Re:Battery availability might be a concern. (Score:5, Insightful)
Anyone who is going hunting and camping (as the Asker said his dad would be doing) and doesn't know the basics of direction finding and survival in the wild has no business there, at least without a knowledgeable human guide. That said, many experienced hunters, hikers and campers these days carry GPS units for that extra added layer of security, as well as making it easy to map out a path in new territory.
Personally, I'd ditch the idea of buying a cellphone to "repurpose" it as a standalone GPS unit. Not only is this inefficient and potentially expensive, it's not really repurposing at all. Repurposing is finding a new use for something you already own and no longer use, not buying someone else's old gear and wasting your time and money on a half-assed solution.
In this situation, I'd prefer my dad to have a true GPS unit that is weather resistant, has long battery life, and (ideally for a hunter or hiker) topographic maps. A device like that has much more to offer than a used cellphone for perhaps $100 more.
Re:Battery availability might be a concern. (Score:4, Insightful)
I agree with you on the standalone GPS... they have plenty of decent models for around the price OP was talking about.
I disagree with you on everything else. OP never said his father wasn't capable of using a map. Just because he knows how to use a map, though, doesn't mean he wouldn't want a GPS unit for its convenience. Also, think about why you would need a map for hunting... it's not just trying to find your way back where you started. It's keeping track of where you've already been and sticking waypoints in "good spots" and on each (if any) of your tree stands, etc. With a GPS unit, you can set a waypoint at your vehicle and start walking wherever you want. Then when you get to your tree stand, you can set another waypoint... If you go looking around more and find a good spot (maybe you find some animal tracks or scrape marks, etc.) you can mark THAT with a waypoint as well. Doing the equivalent on a map would involve: 1) taking out the map 2) unfolding it 3) figuring out roughly where you are since you know the direction from your compass but don't know how far in that direction you've traveled since the topographical map doesn't necessarily help much if the entire wooded area is flat and homogeneous 4) physically making permanent marks on your now-one-time-use map
With a GPS unit you can both add and remove waypoints with the touch of a button. If your batteries die, then sure, pull out the map and get a compass and figure out roughly where you are based on geography and start walking in the direction of your vehicle. (you don't need a distance measurement for that)
As for the "repurpose" argument, you're poisoning the well [wikipedia.org] with a false definition of "repurpose." Here [google.com] are six definitions of the word and not a single one requires prior possession of the object. "Taking a thing or a material and using it for a purpose not originally intended" You're taking an object intended to be used for communication (a phone) and using it for navigation instead by adding an application to it. If you ask me, it's ridiculously petty to say that it's not "repurposing."
Re:Why? (Score:4, Insightful)
Right. You're talking about a hunter.
WTF is the "MP3/ video player, and camera" contraption supposed to be useful for? Which part of "need" do those tasks fit into?
(Footnote: My Garmin is lighter than my Droid, and the battery lasts longer with GPS.)