Phone Question
Greetings List,
I hate to interrupt the scope, snubber, and inverter threads; however, it has
come time to update to a smart phone and I've been very interested in the GPS
capabilities available these days. I apologize in advance for asking the
question but the options are amazing these days, iPhone 3Gs or Windows mobile
based? Active Jeff has blazed a wonderful trail through this technology for us
all, and we should be truly thankful for the times in which we live. Digital
maps that fit in your hand, in the dingy for the fog, we have come a long way
in the last 15 years!
I like the look of the old raster charts on the computer, are both available
to be downloaded and stored on the platforms and is it necessary to have a
removable media slot if the 3Gs is 32 gig? I worry about having a slot for
moisture intrusion reasons. I will be very happy when they make one that
floats so the decision could be made much easier! ;-)
Thanks in advance
Len Cable
MV Entropy
Decatur, AL
I like the look of the old raster charts on the computer, are
both available to be downloaded and stored on the platforms
and is it necessary to have a removable media slot if the
3Gs is 32 gig? I worry about having a slot for moisture
intrusion reasons.
Currently, only iNavX for the iPhone supports raster charts. The
program costs $50 and then you have to download each chart
individually (a royal pain). I bought the product and have used it
extensively over the last couple of months and 1,000 nm. I rarely, if
ever, use it now. It is quite good at showing you where you are on a
nautical chart. If that's all you want, you'll be happy. But if you
want to pan around and explore other areas or plan where you'd like to
go next, you will grow very, very frustrated with it in my opinion.
Give it 3 or so major revisions and it'll be acceptable. Maybe.
That said, Navionics has their Navionics Mobile product for iPhone
using their vector charts and it is pretty good. It used to cost
$4.99/region and I made a posting on T&T advising iPhone owners to go
out and buy it then. It now costs $9.99/region - if you don't own it,
go buy it now! The regions are very large. I bought the East Coast
one which covers everything from Maine to Key West. Navionics gave me
the Caribbean region which covers everything in the Caribbean and
costs a little more. They have excellent international support
(Canada, EU, etc) for reasonable prices. The application is pretty
good although I find the text a little small. There is no better tide
and current application anywhere on any platform. I use it all the
time for that. It is simply fantastic for that. Exploring around the
charts is fun and works pretty well. Part of the reason I never reach
for iNavX is that I get what I need from the Navionics product without
the frustration.
It should be noted that iNavX supports Navionics data through X-
Traverse (Fugawi) - you have to purchase it separately even if you own
the Navionics product - it's a bit confusing. I haven't seen that or
tried it myself. The price looks to be the same as buying the
Navionics application so I'm not sure why you'd want to pay an
additional $50 for iNavX. I'm sure there are some reasons - like it
does support Mac connectivity to MacENC and has some grib weather
support.
Even though we provide no software for the iPhone at all, the iPhone
is the phone in my pocket today. If you call me on my boat, I'll
answer on my iPhone. I believe the iPhone is out ahead of every other
smartphone today. It has a number of issues and some killers for many
people (AT&T, no tethering, etc). It also has the worst GPS hardware
I have ever owned including my little 1994 Garmin 45 which still works
pretty well today. Getting reliable SOG and COG with the iPhone's GPS
is difficult. There is no way you could use it below deck as an
anchor alarm at night - the accuracy drops to 1/4 mile or worse. Apple
could fix this with Bluetooth support for GPS's but they have chosen
not to do this yet.
The iPhone 3GS comes in 16GB and 32GB flavors. Is that enough? It's
impossible to predict. If you don't have any music, video, or
photographs, you'll have plenty of space for all nautical charts with
just 16GB. The problem is that limited storage space like this has a
habit of filling up. When I purchased my first hard disk in 1985, I
couldn't ever imagine filling it completely. It was 20 MB. I now
have photographs that are bigger than 20 MB! Still, to answer your
question, yes, you can get by without removable media as long as
you're careful about music and videos, etc. The opening to moisture
really isn't something you gain by losing the slot. There are plenty
of other openings already.
We are at the end of updating every article on our site about mobile
phones on boats. The iPhone article and navigation article have had
major re-writes and should be live in a few days (I'll make a posting
when they are up). We're stuck due to weather here on the Great
Wicomico River and have been finishing the edits now.
I love the iPhone. It is a fantastic device and has made this cruise
better so far for us. But you have to walk into it understanding the
issues and limitations because it isn't perfect and some of the
limitations can nail you or force you to spend a lot more money.
---===
Jeffrey Siegel
M/V aCappella
DeFever 53RPH
W1ACA/WDB4350
Castine, Maine
www.activecaptain.com
The Interactive Cruising Guidebook
Our cruising blog:
http://takingpaws.blogspot.com
Our live tracks:
http://tinyurl.com/ActiveCaptainSPOT
..
Actually, Maptech Pocket Navigator for the Pocket PC works fine on my
Windows Mobile 6.0 and 6.1 phones, even with downloadable NOAA/NOS raster
charts. It is available from Defender Industries for $37.99.
http://www.defender.com/product.jsp?path=-1|17|320676|320679|320956&id=92493
John Paterson
S/V Fine Feather
On Sat, Oct 17, 2009 at 9:08 AM, Jeffrey Siegel jeff@activecaptain.comwrote:
snip
Currently, only iNavX for the iPhone supports raster charts. The program
costs $50 and then you have to download each chart individually (a royal
pain). I bought the product and have used it extensively over the last
couple of months and 1,000 nm. I rarely, if ever, use it now. It is quite
good at showing you where you are on a nautical chart. If that's all you
want, you'll be happy. But if you want to pan around and explore other
areas or plan where you'd like to go next, you will grow very, very
frustrated with it in my opinion. Give it 3 or so major revisions and it'll
be acceptable. Maybe.
snip.....
Currently, only iNavX for the iPhone supports raster charts.
Actually, Maptech Pocket Navigator for the Pocket PC works
fine on my Windows Mobile 6.0 and 6.1 phones, even with
downloadable NOAA/NOS raster charts.
Yeah but...
Pocket Navigator for the Pocket PC is for the Pocket PC and not the
iPhone. The original question and posting, I believe, was about the
iPhone only. My response was definitely about the iPhone only.
Had the subject been other phones, I certainly would have mentioned
ActiveCaptain Mobile since it also supports NOAA raster charts and I
wrote it.
---===
Jeffrey Siegel
M/V aCappella
DeFever 53RPH
W1ACA/WDB4350
Castine, Maine
www.activecaptain.com
The Interactive Cruising Guidebook
Our cruising blog:
http://takingpaws.blogspot.com
Our live tracks:
http://tinyurl.com/ActiveCaptainSPOT
..
As one who has lost three phones overboard and one in the bilge, ....a very
slow learner, I say navigation on your iphone or any other multi-use hand
held has to be non-mission critical. You must have a well secured primary
system, the hand held is not a substitute, but a convenience.
Richard
I have found that for the iPhone a great little navigation app is iNavX...
http://www.inavx.com it does not use raster charts but the cost is under
$10...
Jay E Wigginton
M/V SAILS
1990 45' Florida Bay Coaster
North Fort Myers, Florida
Buy a lanyard Richard, you know it makes sense :)
Paige