Oregon Hikers

I'm thinking about joining the 21st century and buying my first cell phone. The cell phone function is less important to me than the camera and GPS app. Which phones or apps, based on your experience, do the best job of taking pictures, functioning as a wilderness GPS, and finally get the best coverage in the mountains? I understand that I won't replace my Garmin GPS or Canon DSLR but I am kind of looking for something that can multi-task when I don't feel like taking all that extra weight. I know very little about the world of cell phones so please keep it simple. Thanks in advance for your input.

Whoa, not sure if the Motorola brick phone will have a GPS function or not, but that old
phone was a classic!

But seriously, some guys on here mentioned Apple's iPhone as having a built in GPS unit that
can work regardless of cellular coverage.

I have an iPhone and use this (free to those who ask) Gaia software that seems to be as good as any handheld GPS out there, and uses the mytopo maps:

http://www.gaiagps.com/

That being said, iPhones are pretty pricey for the plan.

Just loaded the Gaia map you recommended on my iPhone. Very cool!

turtle wrote:I'm thinking about joining the 21st century and buying my first cell phone. The cell phone function is less important to me than the camera and GPS app. Which phones or apps, based on your experience, do the best job of taking pictures, functioning as a wilderness GPS, and finally get the best coverage in the mountains? I understand that I won't replace my Garmin GPS or Canon DSLR but I am kind of looking for something that can multi-task when I don't feel like taking all that extra weight. I know very little about the world of cell phones so please keep it simple. Thanks in advance for your input.

The I phone 4 takes great pictures & great video along with good gps but I hear the iPhone 5 or rumor 4s is going to come out either June or September is going to be even better. That is what I'm waiting for.

mayhem wrote:...but I hear the iPhone 5 or rumor 4s is going to come out either June or September is going to be even better. That is what I'm waiting for.

Same here, my cheap upgrade opportunity kicks in next month, I think. I'm also hoping that the iPhone 5 (or 4s, whichever it is) will be a sweet upgrade, and be released soon.

I have found that the GPS features of my 3GS phone don't work that well in heavy tree cover or canyons... hopefully the next generation will function better.

I have to chime in a vote for an Android phone using the BackcountryNavigator GPS app. Very easy to use...

BN allows you to still use the GPS, while the phone is in "airplane mode"... a must have feature to save battery consumption.

some of the high end Android phones have very nice cameras... Motorola DroidX has an 8mp camera with some nice features. Same with HTC Incredible... but these are spendy phones but you will want the processing power these offer anyways, its worth the price.

FWIW, Android is open source, iPhone is proprietary...

Thanks for all the replies. I ended up getting a Samsung Infuse 4G; 8 megapixel camera with a surprising level of adjust-ability, and the BackcountryNavigator app is an option. I just got it yesterday so the new toy experimentation is still in the early stages.

turtle wrote:Thanks for all the replies. I ended up getting a Samsung Infuse 4G; 8 megapixel camera with a surprising level of adjust-ability, and the BackcountryNavigator app is an option. I just got it yesterday so the new toy experimentation is still in the early stages.

You will not be disappointed I went the same route as you did I just feel more freedom not dealing with Apple. But I am the black sheep of my family.

Roy

I'd be curious how you like using the BackcountryNavigator GPS app. I've been using mine a bit more on day hikes and am finding it very easy to use with few bugs. I've been leaving my Garmin GPS at home for day hikes since the BN app works so well.