Useful smartphone apps

Khannie

Lots of people carry a smart phone on them these days. They can be incredibly useful even without access to a cell signal or data if you have the right apps installed.

Stuff I have on mine (android) that would be useful even without a cell signal:

Flashlight - turns the screen white and to maximum brightness. Can give off quite a bit of light depending on your screen size. Drains the battery relatively quickly so you wouldn't want to use it for too long.

Mapdroyd - Allows you to download an entire country's map and store it on the phone in advance (Ireland is under "Northern Europe" if you're looking). Your GPS receiver and compass (if your phone has one) would still work even without a cell signal but google maps wont work usually without access to data so this is more useful for a survival situation. Shows lakes and rivers (even small ones) so could be useful for finding a water source if the need arose. It's worth turning off your GPS receiver after you've gotten an initial fix unless you need very accurate real time data on your position as GPS tends to drain the battery quickly.

FM Radio - a lot of phones have a radio built in but you usually need earphones to act as an antenna or it wont work.

Battery Indicator - gives you battery data as a percentage. Useful if you're rationing the battery usage.

If you know you wont have access to a cell tower or data it's worth putting the phone into airplane mode. You can still receive GPS data and FM Radio in airplane mode but the battery will drain much more slowly. Also worthwhile lowering screen brightness to the minimum to help save battery.

Anyone have any other useful apps installed or tips?

Encrypted Pigeon

If your going to rely on a smartphone (and also depending on the situation) it may be worth while also investing in one of those solar powered phone chargers. Don't really know how good they actually are though.

As for apps, maybe kindle? load it up with some survival tip books, or just books to keep the mind occupied/ motivated.

kildare.17hmr

Just went to my app store there and typed in survival and got pages of apps most of them free. Good for a laugh or to maybe get some tips but I'd never think of relying on them. Ever

Grizzly 45

Just for a question,as I will proably and very reluctantly have to change my phone one of these days:(.Are there any of these phones built with outdoor usage in mind?I'm talking armoured,and able to survive a rain shower without giving up the ghost??Or do you have to invest in a micro pelicase to keep them safe?:p
If there is one that has those specs,whats it make and model?

BostonB

Khannie wrote: »

Lots of people carry a smart phone on them these days. They can be incredibly useful even without access to a cell signal or data if you have the right apps installed....

???

Battery indicator, Flashlight, and FM radio is on some of the most basic phones around. I'd hardly call them smartphone apps. My 2G only, old Sony has them.

BostonB

Grizzly 45 wrote: »

Just for a question,as I will proably and very reluctantly have to change my phone one of these days:(.Are there any of these phones built with outdoor usage in mind?I'm talking armoured,and able to survive a rain shower without giving up the ghost??Or do you have to invest in a micro pelicase to keep them safe?:p
If there is one that has those specs,whats it make and model?

http://www.griffintechnology.com/armored

Khannie

Sintel wrote: »

If your going to rely on a smartphone

Ah I wouldn't, but it's a serious piece of computing power with some really useful hardware that you carry on your person every day, even if the cell phone network was down - it just takes some preparation to be useful in that event (hence the thread ).

Sintel wrote: »

it may be worth while also investing in one of those solar powered phone chargers. Don't really know how good they actually are though.

This one on dealextreme (which is a steal) says 15 hours of sunlight for a full charge. Not the best but better than nothing. Could be useful if combined with this for rechargeable batteries for torches etc.

BostonB wrote: »

???

Battery indicator, Flashlight, and FM radio is on some of the most basic phones around. I'd hardly call them smartphone apps. My 2G only, old Sony has them.

Didn't say they were smartphone specific. They are apps available on the android market though.

There is a battery indicator that comes with android of course, but it does not display the percentage left by default, you need a separate app for that.

For the FM radio, I was more making people aware that you need the earphones for it to work and / or that it's there. Most people don't think of their phone as a radio source. More or less forgot that it was there until I thought about the phone for emergency use because I don't listen to the radio much.

colonel-yum-yum

Previously mentioned kindle app, plus a more open ebook/pdf reader so you can store all the information that would be relevant to you in PDF format. I'm sure it can be downloaded as a PDF/ebook, but there is a free android app of the U.S. Army Survival Guide, plus there are others both free and paid.

Haven't checked out mapdroyd, but there is an option in google maps on android to pre-cache map areas for offline directions, however it is very limited in the space it can have saved.

Obviously you have an image viewer in every smartphone (and quite a few more basic phones) that would allow you to store images of instructions that may be useful. These can be bigger than the ones mentioned for the Survival Cheat Sheets thread, as you will be able to zoom in to view in better detail.

Other than that, you have compass apps, camera for location recognition, altimeter apps and so on.

BostonB

Khannie wrote: »

...
Didn't say they were smartphone specific. They are apps available on the android market though.

There is a battery indicator that comes with android of course, but it does not display the percentage left by default, you need a separate app for that.

For the FM radio, I was more making people aware that you need the earphones for it to work and / or that it's there. Most people don't think of their phone as a radio source. More or less forgot that it was there until I thought about the phone for emergency use because I don't listen to the radio much.

I thought that was the thread title. "smartphone apps"

I think its interesting to point out that many expensive smartphones don't have these basic features. Surprising how many top end phones don't have FM radio.

Also some phones (not many) have a built-in antenna, so don't need earphones. The Nokia X2 for example. I expect it has decent reception, be interesting to know. Its surprising how many phones have brutal FM reception. Or indeed how many have very poor SQ for music.

Khannie

BostonB wrote: »

I thought that was the thread title. "smartphone apps"

It is...and those are all apps that you can download on the google marketplace that enhance the phone beyond its basic features for a survival situation. That's not to say that other non-smartphones don't have (for example) FM radio's. I think we're just crossing wires. Anyway....

You're right about a lot of the high end phones not having FM radio - I don't think the iPhone does for example. Mine was cheap (140 euro to buy outright) and has a radio though I must admit I don't really ever use it. I think that's more because I don't look to the radio as a source of information most of the time since I have internet access on the phone too. I think I'd be glad of it in an emergency situation though. It would use very little battery if the phone was in airplane mode.

krissovo

I have a iphone, would never rely on it as the battery life sucks. I use it as a tool to gain intelligence on areas before travel and a nice to have once I am there. I have a wind up charger for it.

Co Pilot live is a nice GPS app that has a "on foot" mode but when using GPS you only get a couple of hours. I have a dedicated GPS for when on foot so the iphone would be pure emergencies.

When I travel I find places with the Google maps.

Geocaching is a great app for anyone who likes the outdoors, its a great excuse to explore new areas with some benefit for non survival nuts.

City guides are great for traveling. These often have transport maps & times and I will download a few for where ever I go.

Remote control - I can start and operate my PC from anywhere with the remote app I have. All my docs and guides accessible from anywhere.

Kindle app - Have a kindle app as well as a kindle with the same books and documents. My kindle is the 3G version so decent global data coverage.

News - I have Sky, CNN, RTE, BBC, Al Jazeera, NBC, Reuters, Bloomberg, and Atimes with alerts set up on most to text me certain events.

Skyscanner - I can search and book a flight to anywhere in the world in just a few seconds with this app. It pays to be quick! I also have KLM which if you are based in Cork is the best means of international escape with BA second.

Translators - I have 5 translators on mine, I find it essential for any travel.

TuneIn Radio - Has thousands of radio stations across the globe, great for keeping tabs on developing situations anywhere on the planet.

Cardinal Richelieu

Can't you be tracked by your phone?

Tabnabs

Cardinal Richelieu wrote: »

Can't you be tracked by your phone?

In many ways, by many people.

On topic, I'd also recommend drop box, sync files from your laptop, desktop, smart phone etc.

pUniverse is also an excellent tool for learning a little celestial navigation.

bonniebede

my bro has a handy thing on his iphone, don't know what its called, but you point it at the sky and it identifies the star or whatever you are looking at. Would be useful to help find the pole star to navigate by, though lets face it if you are relying on that you are probably sunk already.

Tabnabs

bonniebede wrote: »

my bro has a handy thing on his iphone, don't know what its called, but you point it at the sky and it identifies the star or whatever you are looking at. Would be useful to help find the pole star to navigate by, though lets face it if you are relying on that you are probably sunk already.

That's the pUniverse app I mentioned, costs about €7 but well worth it.

colonel-yum-yum

bonniebede wrote: »

my bro has a handy thing on his iphone, don't know what its called, but you point it at the sky and it identifies the star or whatever you are looking at. Would be useful to help find the pole star to navigate by, though lets face it if you are relying on that you are probably sunk already.

For android, you can use Google Sky Map for the same thing, and it is free.

With the Search tool, a user could search for Polaris and orient themselves according to the current location of the North star.

For iPhone, I have heard that Star Walk is meant to be very good.

bonniebede

colonel-yum-yum wrote: »

For android, you can use Google Sky Map for the same thing, and it is free.


For iPhone, I have heard that Star Walk is meant to be very good.

Yes star walk is the name of the app, i checked. it is good and fun to have.

bonniebede

colonel-yum-yum wrote: »

For android, you can use Google Sky Map for the same thing, and it is free.


For iPhone, I have heard that Star Walk is meant to be very good.

yes star waslk is the name of the app he has, it is great.

krissovo

I have star walk, just a word or warning its only fairly accurate if you have a gyro. If I use it with the iphone 3 the North Star is often facing east and when I move it spins around pointing allsorts of directions. The Iphone 4 is much better.