Good phone for GPS with long battery

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Canuk
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Good phone for GPS with long battery

Post by Canuk »

Have been out a few local rides and notice everyone desperate to get to a charge point for their Garmin/similar, or carrying around a hefty back up battery.

There has to be a better way?
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Paul Smith SRCC
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Re: Good phone for GPS with long battery

Post by Paul Smith SRCC »

Have you considered Memory map Android GPS TX4 - OS Landranger GB
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pete75
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Re: Good phone for GPS with long battery

Post by pete75 »

Canuk wrote:Have been out a few local rides and notice everyone desperate to get to a charge point for their Garmin/similar, or carrying around a hefty back up battery.

There has to be a better way?


Local rides? People should know the roads so have no need for GPS guidance.

Using a hub dynamo with a front lamp which has usb charging is the neatest solution to charging mobile phones etc.
'Give me my bike, a bit of sunshine - and a stop-off for a lunchtime pint - and I'm a happy man.' - Reg Baker
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Paul Smith SRCC
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Re: Good phone for GPS with long battery

Post by Paul Smith SRCC »

pete75 wrote:...Using a hub dynamo with a front lamp which has usb charging is the neatest solution to charging mobile phones etc.

I know a few who rate that method as well, the SuperNova Plug 3
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Canuk
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Re: Good phone for GPS with long battery

Post by Canuk »

It's really got to double up as a phone for me as I'm not keen on taking (or buying) two devices! I'm looking for a phone with a decent battery life and at least an 6hr screen on before death!
Canuk
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Re: Good phone for GPS with long battery

Post by Canuk »

pete75 wrote:
Canuk wrote:Have been out a few local rides and notice everyone desperate to get to a charge point for their Garmin/similar, or carrying around a hefty back up battery.

There has to be a better way?


Local rides? People should know the roads so have no need for GPS guidance.

Using a hub dynamo with a front lamp which has usb charging is the neatest solution to charging mobile phones etc.


When I say local, I mean within 120 miles radius! I'm a blow in so I'm completely ignorant of the local geography.
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Paul Smith SRCC
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Re: Good phone for GPS with long battery

Post by Paul Smith SRCC »

Canuk wrote:Have been out a few local rides and notice everyone desperate to get to a charge point for their Garmin...?


Most Garmins will last a days ride if you have them on settings where the battery life is taken into account,
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pete75
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Re: Good phone for GPS with long battery

Post by pete75 »

Canuk wrote:
pete75 wrote:
Canuk wrote:Have been out a few local rides and notice everyone desperate to get to a charge point for their Garmin/similar, or carrying around a hefty back up battery.

There has to be a better way?


Local rides? People should know the roads so have no need for GPS guidance.

Using a hub dynamo with a front lamp which has usb charging is the neatest solution to charging mobile phones etc.


When I say local, I mean within 120 miles radius! I'm a blow in so I'm completely ignorant of the local geography.


So could be 240 miles out and back. My Sony Xperia Z2 will last more than a day used for navigation - don't keep the screen on all the time though just when I need guidance at a junction where I don't know the way. It's powering the screen which uses a lot of battery not the navigating. It'd certainly keep the screen on for 6 hours on one charge. One other thing that uses a lot of power is if you're hopping in and out of areas with no signal - when the phone can't get a signal it constantly searches for one . If that's happening it's best to turn off the phone function if you want teh battery to last well for other purposes.
Last edited by pete75 on 27 Dec 2016, 10:31am, edited 1 time in total.
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Canuk
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Re: Good phone for GPS with long battery

Post by Canuk »

Paul Smith SRCC wrote:
Canuk wrote:Have been out a few local rides and notice everyone desperate to get to a charge point for their Garmin...?


Most Garmins will last a days ride if you have them on settings where the battery life is taken into account,


Maybe the smaller, mono screen versions but the big colour slabs these guys use seem to be running out of juice at 4-5hrs. I'm looking for a phone that will do at least twice that which will do a lot of screen on AND GPS.
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Re: Good phone for GPS with long battery

Post by Smiles »

I hope this will be helpful and you will forgive an attempt to (slightly) hijack your thread; after encountering this problem on long rides several times I bought some small back up power cells off Ali Expressthat are about the size of a ladies cigarette lighter (long, thin, flat) and that I could fit IN my Ortleib phone case. http://www.aliexpress.com/snapshot/6755 ... 1771855547 This was crucial because one or two of these left plugged in in series to the phone serve to triple the battery life and are very light. I have found running the screen at full brightness plus a he GPS plus the 3G all puts a lot of load on the battery.

For me an effective live Sat Nav solution is key because I live in central London, the routes are generally complex and I need real time navigation on the frequent occasions I am going somewhere that is unfamiliar. Until recently I used the bike hub app. A recent ' update' has rendered this unusable so any suggestions for a replacement much appreciated.
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al_yrpal
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Re: Good phone for GPS with long battery

Post by al_yrpal »

My Moto E 3rd generation has the longest battery life of any phone according to Which. Not the latest Moto E though. It lasts about 5 days if lightly used, and lasts all day navigating with Osmand +. 80 quid buys one. Its 4g, 4.5" screen. I mount it on the stem. You get voice navigation too.


ImageIMG_20151129_152301 by A_Cockney, on Flickr

Al
Last edited by al_yrpal on 27 Dec 2016, 10:45am, edited 1 time in total.
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CREPELLO
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Re: Good phone for GPS with long battery

Post by CREPELLO »

Smiles wrote:I hope this will be helpful and you will forgive an attempt to (slightly) hijack your thread; after encountering this problem on long rides several times I bought some small back up power cells off Ali Expressthat are about the size of a ladies cigarette lighter (long, thin, flat) and that I could fit IN my Ortleib phone case. http://www.aliexpress.com/snapshot/6755 ... 1771855547 This was crucial because one or two of these left plugged in in series to the phone serve to triple the battery life and are very light. I have found running the screen at full brightness plus a he GPS plus the 3G all puts a lot of load on the battery.

For me an effective live Sat Nav solution is key because I live in central London, the routes are generally complex and I need real time navigation on the frequent occasions I am going somewhere that is unfamiliar. Until recently I used the bike hub app. A recent ' update' has rendered this unusable so any suggestions for a replacement much appreciated.
Sorry Smiles, I only get a sign in page, not the product page you refer to.
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Paul Smith SRCC
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Re: Good phone for GPS with long battery

Post by Paul Smith SRCC »

Canuk wrote:
Paul Smith SRCC wrote:
Canuk wrote:Have been out a few local rides and notice everyone desperate to get to a charge point for their Garmin...?


Most Garmins will last a days ride if you have them on settings where the battery life is taken into account,


Maybe the smaller, mono screen versions but the big colour slabs these guys use seem to be running out of juice at 4-5hrs. I'm looking for a phone that will do at least twice that which will do a lot of screen on AND GPS.

My Garmin Edge 810 will last more than 4-5 hours, the screen dims between junction if set to map view, then illuminates back up again as I near the junction. Same applies if I am viewing one of the data screens while following a course, it will switch to the map screen then revert to the data screen after the junction has been navigated.
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squeaker
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Re: Good phone for GPS with long battery

Post by squeaker »

al_yrpal wrote:My Moto E 3rd generation has the longest battery life of any phone according to Which. Not the latest Moto E though. It lasts about 5 days if lightly used, and lasts all day navigating with Osmand +. 80 quid buys one. Its 4g, 4.5" screen. I mount it on the stem. You get voice navigation too.

Wot Al said - glad I followed his advice :D (And the phone's reasonably water resistant - claim to 1m immersion :shock: )
"42"
firestarter
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Re: Good phone for GPS with long battery

Post by firestarter »

I used to have a supernova plug 3 and it didn't charge when you had the light on Which to me was a big thing as I like to run daytime lights on the roador a cache battery built in. My mate has a b and m luxos or something that has a light and a USB and a cache all in one unit and it's very good and charges with light on
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