Blanco Posted February 10, 2014 Share Posted February 10, 2014 Well the old Nokia 5140i battery is on its way out so I guess its time to modernise again (I suppose 12 years isn't too bad ) . Do I go for another robust type ornery phone or is it time to go 3G (I would go G4 but not keen on the colour ). It seems to me the attractions are e-mail on the move and possibly the apps...... that is the main question, what is out there that is really worthwhile for the engineer and landy owner, what do you find usefull?? fun, silly or sensible.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
landroversforever Posted February 10, 2014 Share Posted February 10, 2014 Useful one I use more than any... is probably ebay! Closely followed by a conversion one which does distance/volume/speed etc (anything you can think of!!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GW8IZR Posted February 10, 2014 Share Posted February 10, 2014 Avoid the eBay and PayPal apps like the plague.. When combined with spare time, red wine and a little boredom they can empty your bank balance and fill every corner of your life with unfinished projects in short order! Some of the mapping apps are good and a GPS speedometer is handy. I keep the handbooks for cameras / LR / other toys on mine as PDF so when I need to look something up its all in one place. Edit - I forgot the two axis 'spirit' level which I've used a bit and an audio spectrum analyser that was very useful for a couple of jobs, one searching for a vibration on a machine . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave W Posted February 10, 2014 Share Posted February 10, 2014 These are the apps I use regularly: Memory Map - spot on for green laning and other navigation as I have full OS 25000 and OS 50000 UK maps and now full HEMA Australian maps too. Music - I have my full music collection on my phone now and all my vehicles have USB connectors that allow me to play any music I fancy through the car ICE (Bluetooth is OK but the quality loss makes the sound a bit muffled by comparison). I haven't used a CD/Tape in the car since I got my iPhone. Podcasts - I set my phone to automatically download new podcasts for radio shows I like to follow, I can then play them in the car while I'm driving. Navigation - the built in navigation app (Apple Maps on the iPhone) is better than any standalone sat nav I've used, giving accurate directions and responding quickly when i use an alternative route Spirit level - surprising how often I use this when fabricating stuff as you can "0" it at any angle. Ebay app as above Calculator Notes app - auto syncs with my computer and iPad so if I make a note on any of them it appears on the other device iBooks - I have the rave manuals for my vehicles loaded into iBooks so I can use them as a reference should something go wrong while I'm out and about MegaReader - I have my large collection of eBooks loaded on the phone and use it as an ebook reader. Camera - auto syncs with the cloud storage so when I take a picture on my phone it's available on my other devices and also can be viewed (if I want it to be) on the shared web url. I'll be honest I can't remember how I coped without my iPhone ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Retroanaconda Posted February 10, 2014 Share Posted February 10, 2014 I find the Roadtrip app very useful for keeping track of fuel usage and vehicle costs etc. which appeals in a very geeky kind of way. Email is handy. PDFs of workshop manuals/parts books etc. as above are also useful to have. And Memory Map for the occasional use. Obviously 3G is only ever any use if you are in an area that has some coverage. Unfortunately my closest 3G coverage is 20 miles from home, but then again when at home you're on wifi so it's not so much of an issue. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
landroversforever Posted February 10, 2014 Share Posted February 10, 2014 Few there I'd not thought of adding. Music, full collection on mine too... music everywhere I go Mapping and directions I find Google Maps much much nicer and more accurate than Apple maps. Spirit level was useful on my old iphone when I had a solid case, but not so great with my rubbery case (bulges on the corners). I also use roadtrip on James' reccomendation which is great for tracking fuel usage (before anyone says it, I use it for the pug!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jamie_grieve Posted February 10, 2014 Share Posted February 10, 2014 To add to the list, MotionX GPS, lets you download maps before you go and is an amazing GPS that works anywhere. iPhone also uses Glonass satellites too which work great in the Middle East and beyond. Uses open source maps, Google maps and a bunch of others. Easy to send tracks or locations by e-mail or text or whatever. Shazam, amazing app that when you let the phone listen to music it tells you what it is. I also have a bunch of really good tuners and audio spectrum analysers that have made my oscilloscope redundant for making wind instruments. Decibel meter is handy Signal generator is handy, make any frequency up to 20KHz Barcode scanners for comparing prices in shops of the thing you're looking atSpeedometers as already mentioned are great for calibrating things after different gears or tyres or whatever. As said, convertors for anything to any unit you never heard of not forgetting currency convertors. Banking apps are handy and safe even if it's just a balance check. Fuel consumption, mpg, litres/100k's etc Loads of engineering apps depending on your trade, from steel, universal beam calcs to three phase calcs, steam tables, you name it, it's out there Translation apps from one language to another Loads of info apps from resistor colour codes to identifying land mines, the choice is amazing local transport like buses or train apps at your finger tips. Red spotted hanky sounds dumb but a great train app. ebooks so you can read whatever whenever including tech manuals and PDF files Open and read excel spread sheets on the move Bolt calcs and torque tables are handy Postcode apps that either tell you where you are or where you're going. Handy for giving directions to your location for folks with satnav Print apps to print from your phone and talk to printers your laptop doesn't have a driver for Taking photos and being able to do anything you want with them Satellite weather Good BBC apps Digital radio, loads of radio apps Enter reminders easily for MOT's tax reminders and that sort of stuff. Meetings and all that stuff if you're organised enough. On the buy / sell apps I also have Gumtree and the Irish Donedeal and the auto trader and Van trader. You can search nearesr first to where you are My most used apps by far are MotionX, Tunein radio and Skype. Probably Facebook too now, sad but true. The lists just go on....... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GW8IZR Posted February 10, 2014 Share Posted February 10, 2014 I forgot Glympse.. fantastic if you need to meet up with someone on site. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jason110 Posted February 10, 2014 Share Posted February 10, 2014 For anyone working with refrig compressors, danfoss do some great apps Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pollywog Posted February 10, 2014 Share Posted February 10, 2014 The only app I've ever paid for is GPS2OS it simply converts the iPhones GPS reading to an OS grid reference, best 79p I've spent! I have now compared it to 4 proper GPS devices and it's spot on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blanco Posted February 10, 2014 Author Share Posted February 10, 2014 Loads of engineering apps depending on your trade, from steel, universal beam calcs to three phase calcs, steam tables, you name it, it's out there Now that is kind of what I wanted to know, I suppose there isn't a finite element app out there?? For anyone working with refrig compressors, danfoss do some great apps Great stuff, as it happens I have a Carrier unit in bits at the moment! I will have to look some of them up tho'...... red spotted hanky and Glympse for starters Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jamie_grieve Posted February 10, 2014 Share Posted February 10, 2014 Now that is kind of what I wanted to know, I suppose there isn't a finite element app out there?? Both Solidworks and Autocad alow you to read and edit if you have a subscription or you can use some of the iPhone apps for simple FEA design if you can get used to the small screen. I have a topology optimisation app that if you have a few loads and dimensions you let it sort out the design but you do get FEA as well where you can analyse basic shapes and send it to a cloud for analysis so the phone isn't trying to do it. you get all different readers that can read and display FEA models in all different formats. Ansys is well enough catered for there. To be fair I doubt you'd want to get too carried away with FEA on a phone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zardos Posted February 11, 2014 Share Posted February 11, 2014 View Ranger is a great mapping app for creating/sharing trails/routes (walking, biking and driving routes among others) http://www.viewranger.com/en-gb (shame modern phones don't have the battery life to make it useful for walking long walks, on my old phone it will last 8hours of GPS+ screen) Nokia Maps for Driving directionsMusic (while driving) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blanco Posted February 11, 2014 Author Share Posted February 11, 2014 ........if you have a subscription....... Sadly I don't have any subscriptions any more, I was used to having them all provided. (somewhat pricey just for 'tinkerings'!) When I am knocking something up though I often think 'if I could just ...' This is probably a stupid question but can you have an 'app' on or for an ordinary pc?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soren Frimodt Posted February 11, 2014 Share Posted February 11, 2014 Remember you can also own/use a Smartphone without wasting your life with apps. I'm on my second Nokia Lumia now (first was an 800, new one 925) And hands down you won't get anything remotely as reliable and robust. I love being able to have good quality camera with me all the time, and the Lumia's provide just that. Second you can use them as a hammer and if you're really aggressive you might be able to put a small scratch in the screen.. Furthermore they hold battery better than most smartphones out there. The only thing that has some similar qualities is iPhones however, they are not nearly as strong and wouldn't hold up to my (ab)use for even one month. I started with an Android phone and loved all the apps, but frankly 99% are useless and only entertainment gimmicks, so you get sick of them slowing down your phone. But that's the great thing about smartphone's there is one for every need, if you really love apps go Android or iOS, if you don't care particularly about those things, go Nokia (not other brands with windows phone as they just all seem to be rubbish) furthermore Nokia is very competitive on price, arguably the best quality vs price you can get Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
megatoad Posted February 11, 2014 Share Posted February 11, 2014 tapatalk is a great forum app, sadly this forum however does not subscribe. Mapping and GPS apps are also great tools Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tanuki Posted February 11, 2014 Share Posted February 11, 2014 Before buying a smartphone/taking on a contract, check that there's actually 3G coverage where you intend to use it. I'm only a few miles from M4 but _none_ of the networks give usable 3G here. It's deeply amusing to watch visitors prodding at their expensive tablets/smartphones with a sense of dissatisfaction then asking them which network they're trying to use and then directing them to the various bits of local track/forest/downs where they might *just* get 1 bar of signal if Venus is in the abscondent and their cat's birthday added to their Land-Rover's registration gives a number that ends in a 2 or a 5. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zardos Posted February 12, 2014 Share Posted February 12, 2014 99% of apps on some platforms are ebooks posing as apps or web pages posing as apps. If you have a decent browser then you don't need most of the non ebook appsThere are a few gems but mostly rubbish Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jamie_grieve Posted February 12, 2014 Share Posted February 12, 2014 Sadly I don't have any subscriptions any more, I was used to having them all provided. (somewhat pricey just for 'tinkerings'!) When I am knocking something up though I often think 'if I could just ...' Check out Autodesk fusion 360, you might be impressed. If you do get a smartphone be aware that the battery life is dreadful compared to a real phone. For iphone users, check this out: http://www.payetteforward.com/why-does-my-iphone-battery-die-so-fast-heres-the-real-fix/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blanco Posted February 12, 2014 Author Share Posted February 12, 2014 There are a few gems but mostly rubbish I was hoping we would highlight a few of the gems, when you are as (un) nimble fingered as I am on the keyboard, I can see it would take months to find anything Check out Autodesk fusion 360, you might be impressed. I will thank you.... Remember you can also own/use a Smartphone without wasting your life with apps. I'm on my second Nokia Lumia now (first was an 800, new one 925) And hands down you won't get anything remotely as reliable and robust. I break normal phones very easily and have drowned a couple, but this is helpful.... thanks Soren Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
muddychris300tdi Posted February 12, 2014 Share Posted February 12, 2014 I haven't really got many app's but one I do find good is weather underground. Gives lots of good weather info. I'm on my second HTC and find they hold up to abuse well. Had my last one 2 years and it took a lot of big drops. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GW8IZR Posted February 12, 2014 Share Posted February 12, 2014 I work out on site and phones do get knocked about a fair bit. I put Otterbox Defender cases round them. The cases are a bit expensive but then so is what's inside them. Prolongs their life, if I walk 10K up a mountain and then can't do the job 'cos the phone is PWT its not fun. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anderzander Posted February 12, 2014 Share Posted February 12, 2014 For iphone users, check this out: http://www.payetteforward.com/why-does-my-iphone-battery-die-so-fast-heres-the-real-fix/ Thanks Jamie ! Really helpful info on that page. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neil3728 Posted February 13, 2014 Share Posted February 13, 2014 Sky Go, been able to watch TV or entertain the kids while the Mrs shops, is unbeatable Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbs Posted February 17, 2014 Share Posted February 17, 2014 Signnow for signing documents-without printing them off, Great for me when I get new stuff through from work etc. DocScanner for scanning documents without the use of a desk based scanner iTriage for medical stuff USB Disk Pro for opening excel spread sheets etc. Whats app-text comms Skype-for when I'm overseas. Viber-Comms for anywhere I can get internet-hotels when I'm overseas mainly Sickipedia for really naughty jokes BBC app for news. John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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