Author Topic: putting an old phone to good use  (Read 1215 times)

Larry2c

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putting an old phone to good use
« on: April 24, 2017, 05:17:40 PM »
I get a lot of good info off this site and I always look for ways to give back (as a rookie paddler, I can't offer a lot of paddling advice  ;D ). However, I do like my gadgets and a few months ago I bought the Gaia gps app for my Android phone. The reason I bought it was so when I was out 4 wheelin' in the dessert with no cell phone access, I could still use may GPS on the trail. Well today it dawned on me that I had an old Galaxy S2 phone sitting around in the drawer and that it might let me have a way to have a GPS when I'm paddling without worrying about losing/wrecking my regular phone.

I charged up the old S2, hooked it up to the WiFi in the house (this phone was from an old provider so no current SIM card) and downloaded the Gaia app. Once I downloaded it, I fired up the GPS, logged into the Gaia site to download my maps and VIOLA! I have a GPS that I can track my paddle trips with and it didn't cost me anything (well, if you don't count buying the app previously...)

Anyway, I've seen some posts from people asking about what tracking apps they use so I figured I'd share. If you've go an old phone laying around, you're half way there - and I believe there are some free GPS apps out there if you don't need a lot of features.

LaPerouseBay

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Re: putting an old phone to good use
« Reply #1 on: April 24, 2017, 11:21:12 PM »
Very nice using an old phone on the water. 

I smoked 2 flip phones and an apple 4 in years past. 

Now that new phones are crowding $800, I'm glad to have an option to leave that gizmo in the truck.  Google has project fi, and will give you sim cards (that all work on your 1 account) that you can pop in a laptop, tablet and an old phone.  The extra sims will give data, but not typical phone service.  The phone service can be worked around through a google program called google hangouts.  Nice to have a phone if there is a snag on a downwinder.  That's all I want a phone for out on the water.  Seawater and electronics don't play nice in my experience. 

By the way, I don't use much data on my phone, so switching to google is saving me about $65 per month over those scum sucking pigs at Verizon.  I paid Google for a spendy (really, really nice) phone, but it will pay for itself in about a year.  The android thing just wasn't fun at all.  Google makes good phones.  Very easy to use, no bloatware.           
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