What is Best AT&T Cell phone for Geocaching?

February 21, 2011

My wife has an I-phone-4 which is great for Geocaching BUT I can not get an I-Phone for my self. I can get any other SMART phone on AT&T, just not any I-phone. (long story)

This is for my personal use, no business, mainly talking, texting and Geocaching with my family and cost is a definite issue.

SO, which phone should I get with which system (Android, Win 7, ???)?

1.5k · February 21, 2011

If not an iPhone, then get a Droid.

2.3k · February 21, 2011

I would personally use the wife's Iphone to access the cache data from the app and then get the cheapest smart phone that I liked and spend the money I would have spent on the phone on a cheap GPS unit then you have all your bases covered.

Or just do a Droid.

February 22, 2011

I ran down to my local AT&T store and looked at the new HTC Inspire 4G - wow, what a phone. I also looked at several others but the HTC just blew me away. We looked at the APPs store and there were several Geocaching aps listed but we did not load anything.

I can't use my wifes I-phone except on a very limited basis and I already have a good Magellan Crossover GPS but it is in the possession of my Grandkids and they won't bring it back (well I haven't actually asked for it back as they are using it regularly - so) I WANT MY OWN ???.

Seems like by eliminating the I-Phone from my selection, not many other alternatives mentioned so far.

18.9k · February 22, 2011

For dedicated Geocaching, I always go with a dedicated and ruggedized GPS unit. No smartphone that I have seen would survive some of the bumps, falls and weather that I have Geocached with.

Whatever happened to owning a cell phone for phone calls??

1.5k · February 22, 2011

Whatever happened to owning a cell phone for phone calls??

That was the 90's.

February 22, 2011

For dedicated Geocaching, I always go with a dedicated and ruggedized GPS unit. No smartphone that I have seen would survive some of the bumps, falls and weather that I have Geocached with.

Whatever happened to owning a cell phone for phone calls??

You know, 4 months ago I felt the same way, had a simple phone, a rugged Magellan Crossover (with weather resistant, highway, marine and hiking modes) and was happy as a pig in, (well you know what I was going to say) - Then my wife let me play with her I-Phone 4. Not been the same since!

2.4k · February 22, 2011

Get a GPS.

If you need an excuse to get the smart phone, then well fine. But you'll be happier in the long run, if you get a GPS for caching.

You'll just end up getting one later anyway after you've cached a while.

February 22, 2011

I have the HTC Aria on AT&T. It's one of the smaller smart phones (which is why I got it), though I've never used it for geocaching. It's probably NOT the best choice, because the battery life isn't the greatest. Otherwise it's a nice phone, and it suits me fine, but I don't need it for caching. HTC phones are generally rated pretty highly, though, so the Inspire might be a good choice.

2.4k · February 22, 2011

My wife has an I-phone-4 which is great for Geocaching BUT I can not get an I-Phone for my self. I can get any other SMART phone on AT&T, just not any I-phone. (long story)

This is for my personal use, no business, mainly talking, texting and Geocaching with my family and cost is a definite issue.

SO, which phone should I get with which system (Android, Win 7, ???)?

sounds like bogus premiese. iphone is da bomb.

Is that good or bad?

February 22, 2011

I have an iphone 4 and love it, but honestly if your main concern is using it to go geocaching, get a droid based phone. The reason I say that is you can run C:geo on it. Iphone users that want to use an app that accesses the API are limited to the geocaching app which is a complete turd. Ive cached several times with a good friend that is using c:geo on a HTC Evo and have to say I was pretty jealous.

2.7k · February 22, 2011

I have an iphone 4 and love it, but honestly if your main concern is using it to go geocaching, get a droid based phone. The reason I say that is you can run C:geo on it. Iphone users that want to use an app that accesses the API are limited to the geocaching app which is a complete turd. Ive cached several times with a good friend that is using c:geo on a HTC Evo and have to say I was pretty jealous.

Says who? The API based apps are not available for general consumption yet. There is nothing that says Apple/Groundspeak will limit API access (once released to third party developers) to the Groundspeak app on iOS. Please do not spread FUD about an unreleased feature sets.

Currently the only API based app on Android is the official Geocaching app. C:geo is NOT an API based app yet - you can use that as a standalone app or use the screen scraper mode which looks and feels like API but sure isn't (yet).

iOS users have a choice of several geocaching apps - there's the official app, or many people like to use Geosphere with Pocket Queries. I tend to use the official app because, like many things on the iOS platform .... It Just Works

February 22, 2011

I have the original Droid. It is as accurate as my Colorado. I usually preplan my goecaching adventes, so use my GPS primarily, but the Droid is a workable option.

1.5k · February 22, 2011

I have an iphone 4 and love it, but honestly if your main concern is using it to go geocaching, get a droid based phone. The reason I say that is you can run C:geo on it. Iphone users that want to use an app that accesses the API are limited to the geocaching app which is a complete turd. Ive cached several times with a good friend that is using c:geo on a HTC Evo and have to say I was pretty jealous.

Says who? The API based apps are not available for general consumption yet. There is nothing that says Apple/Groundspeak will limit API access (once released to third party developers) to the Groundspeak app on iOS. Please do not spread FUD about an unreleased feature sets.

Currently the only API based app on Android is the official Geocaching app. C:geo is NOT an API based app yet - you can use that as a standalone app or use the screen scraper mode which looks and feels like API but sure isn't (yet).

iOS users have a choice of several geocaching apps - there's the official app, or many people like to use Geosphere with Pocket Queries. I tend to use the official app because, like many things on the iOS platform .... It Just Works

I'll second northernpenguin on this.

The API is coming and there is no basis to speculate about its implementation until we have the details. I prefer the official Geocaching app, but there are several geocaching apps for the iPhone and Geosphere is as good as anything available for the Droid. If not better.

3k · February 22, 2011

I have an iphone 4 and love it, but honestly if your main concern is using it to go geocaching, get a droid based phone. The reason I say that is you can run C:geo on it. Iphone users that want to use an app that accesses the API are limited to the geocaching app which is a complete turd. Ive cached several times with a good friend that is using c:geo on a HTC Evo and have to say I was pretty jealous.

*cough*verbotenappthatviolatesGroundspeakTOS*cough*

I have been very pleased with my Droid for Geocaching. I use GeoHunter combined with PQs and GSAK so I can do 99% of my caching with offline data. Your battery life will be much better than any app that accesses live data.

February 22, 2011

I have an iphone 4 and love it, but honestly if your main concern is using it to go geocaching, get a droid based phone. The reason I say that is you can run C:geo on it. Iphone users that want to use an app that accesses the API are limited to the geocaching app which is a complete turd. Ive cached several times with a good friend that is using c:geo on a HTC Evo and have to say I was pretty jealous.

Says who? The API based apps are not available for general consumption yet. There is nothing that says Apple/Groundspeak will limit API access (once released to third party developers) to the Groundspeak app on iOS. Please do not spread FUD about an unreleased feature sets.

Currently the only API based app on Android is the official Geocaching app. C:geo is NOT an API based app yet - you can use that as a standalone app or use the screen scraper mode which looks and feels like API but sure isn't (yet).

iOS users have a choice of several geocaching apps - there's the official app, or many people like to use Geosphere with Pocket Queries. I tend to use the official app because, like many things on the iOS platform .... It Just Works

I'll second northernpenguin on this.

The API is coming and there is no basis to speculate about its implementation until we have the details. I prefer the official Geocaching app, but there are several geocaching apps for the iPhone and Geosphere is as good as anything available for the Droid. If not better.

I certainly dont want to hijack this person's thread and turn it into a "this app is better than that app" thread, but I guess he did ask which phone to get and for which app to use.

I'm not sure what the acronym FUD stands for but I can take a pretty good gues And please tell me how I'm spreading it? I said there only app that can use the API is the geocaching app. If you can disprove that I'd love for you to show me. Sure, Groundspeak said they are working on it, they also said it would be out by the end of January. Its now the end of February. And if they're track record is any indication, it'll come out way late (if it comes out at all) and will be a huge underwhelming trainwreck just like their apps are. If you need any proof of that, browse the feedback forums for the iphone app. It seems groundspeaks new favorite trick is to reply to the problem threads as "planned" or "started", then never touch them again. I think saying the gc app "just works" is more disinformation than anything I have stated. My app flat just doesn't work. Just yesterday I had it lock up 3 times, black screen on the map page, when the map does work it shows me still at my house (when every other map app I have shows me in the right location), continues to show "connection issues" when trying to search for caches, etc. I'm tired of waiting for them to fix it.

That being said, Geosphere is an amamazing app, if Groundspeak allows it access to the API, and I can search for nearby caches and fieldnote/tweet my finds i'll delete the gc app from my phone, simple as that. Geosphere is light years ahead of anything Groundspeak has done, and I think they're starting to realize that.

The c:geo app may not have API access, but like you said, it looks a feels like it, and as far as the end user is concerned thats all that matters. My friend started in geocaching with his Evo (i've since convinced him to also get a true gps) but the geocaching app was so bad he was at the point of frustration he almost quit. I then told him to get the c:geo app and he loved it, it kept him in the game when the gc app couldn't.

2.7k · February 22, 2011

I certainly dont want to hijack this person's thread and turn it into a "this app is better than that app" thread, but I guess he did ask which phone to get and for which app to use.

I'm not sure what the acronym FUD stands for but I can take a pretty good gues And please tell me how I'm spreading it? I said there only app that can use the API is the geocaching app. If you can disprove that I'd love for you to show me.

FUD = Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt

You implied that Android users have multiple apps that can take advantage of the API, while iOS users are "forced" to use Groundspeak's. Specifically with the placement of your statement it gives the impression that c:geo is an API based app. If you removed the word "iPhone" from your statement, and replaced it with something like "Mobile Devices" I might not have taken it the same way.

c:geo gives that live experience by violating the Terms of Use of the site.

I know over 80 people using the Groundspeak app on iOS devices and it does work. There may be specific devices that fail, and that issue is more often than not an issue with the device itself. Are you Jailbroken? Which iOS are you running? Did you upgrade several times? Is your locale non-english. Lot's of troubleshooting. Most of the time on an iOS device you can fix the Geocaching app by deleting it and reinstalling it. If you're jailbroken, then all bets are off. If you've fiddled with the Location API settings, you'll have to fiddle them back.

I have an Android device as well, and believe me I can bring c:geo down hard too. I'm very much looking forward to the next batch of apps that are made available once the API is released to developers. I used GCzII on my Windows Mobile device and had much angst when Groundspeak refused to allow it, or any other apps for that platform. It's one of the major reasons I own an iPhone now.

--------------

Back on topic, a non-iOS device for Geocaching? I'd most likely go for the HTC HD7 or similar. Or I'd look at a ruggedized Android phone like the Motorola Defy for example.

My current solution is an iOS device - it's an iPhone 4 inside a Pelican Case. Works fine for me.

2.7k · February 22, 2011

Sure, Groundspeak said they are working on it, they also said it would be out by the end of January. Its now the end of February. And if they're track record is any indication, it'll come out way late (if it comes out at all) and will be a huge underwhelming trainwreck just like their apps are. If you need any proof of that, browse the feedback forums for the iphone app.

They said they would work with some developers to beta test by the end of January. They have 15 developers beta testing it RIGHT NOW. The release of the API to the rest of the community was promised around the end of 2011.

I spend a lot of time in the feedback forums for the iPhone. I don't see a trainwreck in there, I see a dataset of requests that get prioritized and worked on. There are a lot of inane requests in there too, and people that use that forum to complain about the Symbian client and other mobile phones too. There was a major issue in December when

Apple changed how the location API worked, and they had to make changes for that. If I want to go by just the feedback site, then we should all get Windows Phones because there's only 24 threads in that forum. What you are seeing in the feedback forum is interest.

February 22, 2011

Motorola Atrix

6.7k · February 23, 2011

Motorola Atrix

I'm thinking of changing from my BlackBerry to a Motorola Atrix. Any info on that device would be appreciated.

http://www.motorola.com/Consumers/US-EN/Consumer-Product-and-Services/Mobile-Phones/Motorola-ATRIX-US-EN

2.7k · February 23, 2011

Motorola Atrix

I'm thinking of changing from my BlackBerry to a Motorola Atrix. Any info on that device would be appreciated.

http://www.motorola.com/Consumers/US-EN/Consumer-Product-and-Services/Mobile-Phones/Motorola-ATRIX-US-EN

Right off the bat I see it's aGPS with no mention of discreet GPS. May be iffy if you don't have a cellular signal. MAY be iffy. I'd want to confirm that it works without cellular assist before putting my money down on it. Also note it's HSPA+, not true 4G (it's that new watered down 4G definition) so data rates are not going to be as fast as something like Sprint's 4G network.

Having said that, it looks like a pretty decent device, easily competitive with the iPhone 4, and I'd be happy running around with one of those.

March 4, 2011

I love my HTC Aria!

March 4, 2011

I use the Samsung Focus (Windows Phone 7) and love it. It has really great accuracy when I'm geocaching (I usually end up within 5').

Plus, I like the OS itself better than others. Microsoft's older phones were just so-so, Windows Phone 7 is really cool. The geocaching app just makes it that much better.

Edited March 4, 2011 by Redfist

March 7, 2011

I use my trusty HTC Aria. I would def recommend the Inspire as they are very similar. My friend just got the Inspire and I'm jealous.

4.3k · March 7, 2011

At the risk of getting back on topic -- I'd like to ask BBDawg to clarify his "long story" about why he can't get an iPhone.

While some of the android offerings might be nice -- his wife already has an iPhone. This could make a second iPhone a smart choice. Link both devices to one iTunes account, and you only have to buy your software once. And neither he nor she would ever have to say "Ooh, cool app you have on your phone -- oh shoot, I can't get that one for mine..."

Edited March 7, 2011 by Portland Cyclist

March 7, 2011

Nothing on AT&T.....Dich that junk and get a Motarola Driod on Verizon service

What is Best AT&T Cell phone for Geocaching?

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