Survival Cellphones

Cell phones are basically ubiquitous these days and, among other things, they are changing the ways in which search and rescue operations are being conducted. Although not an avid user, I find I carry and use mine more and more, pleasantly surprised at some of the very marginal places where I can get service.

For the informed prepper, what are the models, networks, and apps of the proliferating smart phones that should be considered for a potential survival situation? Battery life would be a definite consideration, I would think.

I would be most interested in the optimum set of features, the "sweet spot" that is the best combination of characteristics considering the costs involved, and I suppose it would be worthwhile to consider the top of the line, price is no object, absolutely perfect phone to pack into the woods and carry away from the home...

I posted this picture on another thread. My preference is the simplest, smallest, cheapest phone available with a camera. This one, a Samsung flip phone from T-Mobile cost me $10 and works anywhere my BlackBerry does. It hangs on my belt or pack by the red knob, has no complicated features to crash or drain the battery. I had the carrier disable text, web, and photo transmitting features. I have heard that some SAR request a cell phone photo, but believe me, in this area there are no real mountains, and one lake or one pine tree looks pretty much like the other in a cell phone shot. If the phone gets broken, a new one is...$10.

Around here, the term "survival cellphone" is a bit of a misnomer. With the high local mountains and only a few major corridors (roads, highways) that traverse them, coverage is very spotty even in the metro area. Here you can be on a mountain and within visual sight of a city and not have any cell coverage. The local SAR is always telling people that you cannot depend on a cell to save your life in these parts.

Once you get out of the metro area, cell coverage is next to none. On our trip this past weekend, there was no cell coverage for well over a hundred miles, and this is on a major highway. In these areas, whether you are driving or out hiking in these areas and run into trouble, then you might as well be on the moon as help will not be forthcoming anytime soon. It is for these reasons that I always carry a PLB and also looking at the new SPOT 2 for daily message comms. The soon to be released Delorme inReach that DR posted info on, also looks promisinng.

Regardless with the above in mind, I always carry a cell (Android based) with an extra battery along with a wall charger, car charger and also a USB cable that allows the batteries to be charged just about anywhere because as much as I like it, my cellphone is heavy on the battery usage.

Another nice feature and not directly survival related, the phone allows our laptops to be tethered when there is no internet connection, but there is cell service. Although not as fast as broadband connection, it is still much faster then dial-up.

As for installed apps, there is Google Maps, Google Earth, Google My Tracks along with several offline saved maps of the area(s) we would be visiting/hiking etc. Several different GPS programs, first aid manual, the SAS survival manual in pdf format etc.

Although I don't own an Iphone, this website I frequent has a good collection of outdoor related apps.

a couple of questions for you that live in marginal cell reception areas...(1) did you perceive any loss of signal when you switched from an external pull out antenna to a phone design with an internal antenna?...(2) do you perceive any change in signal strength if you hold your phone vertical to the ground as opposed to the roughly 45degree most phones are held? ...(3) have you tried any of the cell phone booster amps or external antennas?

after the 04 hurricane season I did a lessons learned session with my students, and for those that retained cell reception there was a perception that those with older pull out antennas had better reception indoors...not enough had remembered to try the phone vertical to give any validity

Within 10-15 mins where I often hike the canyons, you can go from excellent cell signals (TMobile) to no service. You can even see dozens of houses and be on a paved roadway and no cell service. Go 2 miles down the road and you've got a full signal again.

I just downloaded what looks like a new great app to my HTC G2 Android phone called SOS from the Red Cross, complete with 32 videos about how to handle the usual first-aid emergencies.

Funny,My cheapy Nokia from T-mobil works in Temescal,Topanga,Tuna,Las Flores,Carbon,Crosscreek,& Coral Canyons at 1/2 power even,but it doesn't function too well in Baldwin hills or Hollywood hills(Mulholland) at full power & there are Cell towers on Mulholland/Cahuenga,Mulholland/405fwy!

Any basic phone with the ability to send/receive texts and the longest battery life you can find. Back it up with an emergency charger or spare battery.

Have a look at the motorola f3 fone.

Designed for the third world and for use by illiterates. Bombproof.

Might want to re-think that choice.

In any natural desaster, be it storms or earthquakes, cell towers have been knocked out of service.
Gov. can easly shut them down also.
Depending on cell phones in such emergencys is the wrong thinking.
A person must expect to be WITHOUT comms for some time.

Often I wonder how I was able to live as long as I have without all the gadgets.

Yes, there is always that chance. But there is also a chance a tower will remain operational. I think I can speak for everyone here when I say we would not be relying solely on the cell phone, but rather making the best use of the available technology to ADD to our many other ways to signal for help. I don't think anyone here would be caught without 2 or 3 or more backups.

EDIT: poor grammar

You are correct that cell service is often the first to go down. Depending on the emergency, many times it is simply due to the service being stretched beyond normal limits as 1000's of people try and contact each other.

Other times the cell infrastructure (towers etc) is damaged and needs repaired or replaced which can take days or weeks. On the other hand, many cell companies have portable cell towers and related infrastructure that can be quickly dispatched and made operational within hours or in a few days depending on location etc. The most recent example of this were the floods in Australia and which the Telco's deployed portable cell towers within days whereas those who were completely dependent on land lines were expected to wait up to months for landline service to be restored.

So as you can see, depending on cell service is NOT wrong thinking and there are advantages and disadvantages to any service. Cell phones have saved 1000's of lives over the years and I don't expect this to change anytime soon.

Also the smart and prepared people keep multiple and diversified types of comms in their kits that will allow them to make and keep contact in the event that one or more phone services are not available.

I'm leaning towards Glock's thinking on this. I need to get a cel for emergencies and am under the understanding that often text gets through when voice can't.

I agree. Depending on them when they're not guaranteed isn't the best plan A. (We take great pleasure in here of dissecting stories where someone has done just that.) Avoiding the emergency in the first place is the best plan and being prepared for contingencies a the best plan B. Cel phones are a great part of any back-up plan but they shouldn't be the only back-up plan, a practice I suspect most of us ETSers have adopted.

Who said anything about depending upon them? I have been without comms in the backcountry for a good fifty years and I have demonstrated self-sufficiency on numerous occasions, and I can continue to do so. It just seems that now is the time to add another string to the bow and supplement my options. There is much more to the capabilities of smart phones than merely making calls. My perception is that they are becoming wee little computers that can also make telephone calls.

Should the system be unavailable - no problem. Just carry on as before


The point is that cell phones are here, they work, to the extent that anything mechanical/electrical works, so what is the optimum cell phone?

That question depends mainly on the Total Cost of Ownership and how fashionable you need to be.

Phones such as the iPhone 4 or Samsing Galaxy S etc aren't inexpensive. Typically an iPhone 4 unlocked in the UK is getting on for around $800. Take into account call, Internet usage including App downloads and insurance then the cost is pretty prohibitive for a phone that isn't even ruggedised.

I've basically settled on an unlocked Samsung B2710 for 1/6 the cost of an iPhone.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-HXNZmIJ5VA

The Samsung should still work if going for a post Katrina swim for example.

The Real optimum cell phone is........The one you have on you,at the time you need it most!I would like to think everyone on/off,reading,writing on this site,has at the very least,the minimal knowledge to help themselves survive just about Anything disaster or shortcomings related,Without a Comm. device of Any kind!Since just about everyone does have a Cell phone/Comm. device,why not include it,Per "part" of kit?

My Emergency Phone is a unactivated and will never be activated Nokia Candy bar phone on the net 10 network purchased for 10$ No camera.

The phone is amazing it has many basic tools like an alarm clock and such and lasts 2 weeks on a charge. It is extremely useable in the GUI and has a wonderfull body.


The Major thing about purchasing even the cheapest phone is researching it and its GUI. I purchased a motorola tfc139bkb for 5$ as a backup phone to throw in the car on a pay as you go network and the GUI was so bad i ended up just throwing it in the junk/old electronics bin and forgetting about it the day i bought it. The best brand for cheap phones i have found is nokia. Their phones have been designed for developing countries and thus are bare basic rugged and extremely easy to navigate threw.



A second thing to think about is the camera phone to have a Micro SD card slot. Most camera phones with non expandable memory have little to no built in memory and thus wouldnt serve to hold enough pictures to be of major use. An example is a phone i had that only held 14 pictures on its built in memory barely enough to make a difference in my opinion when its a needed feature.

Texts can get through in areas of poor reception and network congestion where calls get dropped or can't be made in the first place.

Cell service has been very reliable during natural disasters in my area; more reliable than power and landline phone service. Keep in mind that during an extended power outage the generators that serve many cell towers will run out of fuel.

That's what happened here during the 07 fires. The cell network was so overloaded, that voice calls couldn't get through. Texted messages worked fine because of very low bandwidth requirements and they could be buffered untill there was network space available.

Chaosmagnet has made, I think, an important distinction here. I may be tiptoeing into obnoxious poster mode and if I am tell me, but I will continue to state that texts will work in poor cell or congested situations like the quote above also says, but will not work in no-service/no-reception areas. I'm not talking about no bar areas but no service available areas. I think a lot of people believe that both are the same thing.

I have attempted to send 100's of texts from my iPhone (at&t) and Blackjack (Sprint)over the years in no cell reception areas, to see if the text would cache and eventually send once I walked back into cell service. Sometimes I did this sitting literally just off the known reception range.

I have not had a single one go through with those two phones. Perhaps someone else has a phone or service plan that will continually loop texts in non reception areas until a minute single is established for a moment of time and the text is sent. If so let me know.

To flesh out the statement, in case i am not being understood, I know the limitations of at&t service very well. I've stood in the Grand Canyon and on tops mountains with no cell coverage only to have my friends chatting away on their phones. I have tried to send texts from my phone at that time as well (on my iPhone) and if they can't get out when you hit send, they don't go out automatically once you get back into coverage.

Hmm, this is interesting. I need to test this with my phones. Wonder if it's a phone issue or a network issue? Seems like it should be something related to the phone.

My backup phone is a Nokia 1200 with torch light



At about $20-5, 10+ days battery life, voice and txt messaging, that is all I need for an emergency phone.

I spend an absurd amount of time working in the mobile development space, and I have more than a little interest in using the mobile network for emergency communications.

In the United States, mobile telephony service is fair to poor in general within urban and suburban areas, and poor to non existent in rural areas.

There are effectively only 2 networks with what approximates national coverage, AT&T's GSM based network, which has more physical infrastructure (towers) than Verizon, but because of the GSM network architecture, is more prone to dropping calls, and the Verizon CDMA network, which has a more stable call-handling capability, and thus less dropped calls. Both Sprint and T-Mobile are far behind ATT and Verizon in terms of network coverage.

That said, no matter what your network, texting - which uses the "control" channel of the network - will get through where voice calls won't. This is true no matter the carrier and/or underlying network system, and this is why it's never a good idea to cancel texting service on your phone - it might save your life.

In terms of phones, it's a huge tradeoff between battery life and functionality. Anything with a touch screen - an iphone or any of the zillions of android based smart phones - is going to be hugely useful on the one hand, since they are super-powerful computers that happen to make phone calls and send text messages, but that power comes at a huge cost in terms of battery life.

For many years I carried a Nokia 1100 - a phone that I'd charge every few days, a phone that made more than one trip through the laundry , and a phone that was often in my pocket on fire scenes. Any "candybar" form phone with a small, simple screen is going to have great battery life. I like any of the LG brand phones - they have great software and exceptional battery life.

I currently carry an iPhone 4, but I also carry a small LG 100C phone, it's got 10 days of standby time and 2.5 hours talk time. That's a prepaid from Tracfone and the underlying carrier is Verizon. That's how most of the prepaid companies, except Metro PCS work - they just resell minutes from the big carriers. Many prepaid carriers run on the smaller networks, I recommend only Tracfone as a prepaid company, it uses AT&T and Verizon. The LG 500C and 800C are also good, but the 500C is going to have better battery life than the 800. (the 500 has 9 days standby, compared to 8 days for the 800).

All smartphones share the following set of really handy features:

- GPS
- Camera
- Local Data Storage
- Phone Calls
- Text Messages
- Email
- Web Access

Unfortunately there are two features that most Smartphones lack:
- Waterproof
- Shock Resistant

The Motorola DEFY is one, but as far as I can tell, it's only on T-Mobile, a carrier that only works within 150' of the center of the top 25 urban areas in the USA.

That's the only one I can find in the USA, there are others in the UK and Japan, but they won't work properly here.

Waterpoof cases for smartphones sort of help but they really make the phone cumbersome.

So, despite these drawbacks, I DO carry my iPhone basically all the time. When I'm working in the yard, I wrap my iphone in clear plastic wrap - keeps the sawdust out of the charging connector and keeps any mild water spray off it - and the touch screen works just fine.

In terms of charging, I have a solidus solar charging rig for pretty much anything, including the iphone, plus AA battery to USB port devices that help keep things charged up.

But in the end, I think that any Android or iOS device is going to give you all of the features you could want, and then some.

Oh, and one other thing - I've been using a Galaxy Tablet of late in a test to see if I like it better than the iPad, and I have to admit that I kind of like the Galaxy Tab a lot - more than I thought I would, and as a "tricorder" for today, it's actually quite a bit more useable than the iPad.

Not to start a war here but personally most alternatives to apple products in my opinion are more useable. They are often times more open and offer more features hardware wise with rarely any On purpose locking of features with requirements to pay more cash to unlock um. And yes Apple does this.

If you where to get a smartphone for survival means I would go with a Android based phone with a Micro SD slot. The useability for this is endless with added apps such as the google one that reads the stars via camera and GPS. Im sure that would be massively usefull on the open water and such if it works there.

I'm with Martin and Frisket on the subject. My choice of a survival smartphone (in the N Cal) would be Android+Verizon. However if the rumored ATT+TMO merger will happen any time soon I would switch to ATT then. So, you can just go to Verizonwireless.com and select the size and features that appeal to you. I would strongly recommend the AMOLED screen models for an outdoors use. For the shockproof/splashproof casing look for the models that have cases from Otterbox - the best in the industry.

As an example I can suggest the Samsung Galaxy S. Though personally I prefer larger screens of HTC devices, this one is of a more traditional phone size.

it seems that we have overlooked the basic tenet of radio theory... to hear a communication, you must first catch a radio wave with an antenna...the more multiples of the correct wave length you capture, the more voltage induced into the antenna... and then you can amplify that signal...if I lived in a rural area with sparse cell coverage, one of the external antenna with amplifiers would be a priority option, but most seem to balk on the cost...probably the same people that complain about the cost of a quality firearm...it seems like pretty cheap life insurance to me.... I live in a fairly cell rich environment, and did not loose cell comms until the generators started to run out of fuel in the 05 hurricane season(did not loose the land line)... but decided to "tune" up my cell for this upcoming season..upgraded the cell tower list, and roaming list..if you are a Verizon user *228, press send, and listen for option 2 for the roaming list, then restart...

I suppose an AN/FLR9 in the back yard is out of the question

I have a Droid X and love it. I have been staying out of this conversation until I got a chance to list some of the applications (apps) that I find useful as "survival" tools.

All of the warnings about no cell service, low battery life and such are recognized however I still find the device to be a very valuable addition to my gear. Mostly because I always have it with me. Also, I carry two additional batteries. Weigh almost nothing and provides all the power I am likely to need.

The idea of course is to avoid a problem situation and many of these apps give you a lot of help.

I intended to give a list of apps, but there are so many useful ones that to list even the best would be a task.

In general, the GPS works without cell coverage. There are lots of apps that let you download maps for offline use. So maps/gps are a valuable tool.

The built in compass works well and does not need cell service.

There is a walkie-talkie type app called "tikl" which allows you to create a talk group among smart phones (both android as well as apple phones). When you press the button, all phones in the group hear the call. Limited to 30 second messages (no problem) it is location independent. We have used it with several droids in one area and a couple of Iphones half a state away.

Reference manuals: So many are available that I have created quite a library. Most can be downloaded to the SD chip. Along with ones I find online, I have my normal equipment manuals for rsdios, GPS, etc... All easy to access and quite readable.

I could go on like this for a long time, but I need to get on with my day. We are in our pick-up camper deep in the Kaibab N.F. in Airzona. The droid will come along on our hikes. Oh another nice feature is automatic alerts from various agencies. It is fire season and getting an alert about area fires is realllllllly nice. Cell coverage here is very good and I use the internet many times on each hike.

Do I depend on it entirely for my survival needs? Of course not. I still carry a PLB, Ham Radio a second cell phone and all the rest of the stuff. But the Droid gets the most use.

Nomad

Actually, as a guy who does a LOT of empirical usability testing with consumers, I disagree, based not on my own experience and opinion (which synchs up with yours quite a bit) but on the facts and evidence of hundreds upon hundreds of hours of workign with consumers on mobile devices.

When I say I use and carry mobile devices ALL THE TIME I mean it. To me left, a (no longer in use) Archos 9. To my right, a Galaxy Tab. In front of me, an iPad. In my left pocket an iPhone 4. On a charging stand there by the monitor, a Motorola Atrix.

Next week, the mix will be different (there's a bunch of tablets upstairs that I've not yet spent a great deal of time using) but I will be using different devices, all of which are trying to knock Apple from its throne. It's not easy!

On thing I'd disagree with you on is a MicroSD vs SD slot. I'd prefer an SD slot on a device - it's definitely more common on cameras and you can get a micro SD adapter to use Micro SD cards in a standard SD slot, not vice versa.

But the battery life....no matter what device...battery life is a mess.

That's for HFDF operations, don't think it would do well with microwaves...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AN/FLR-9

But seriously, you'd really need something like this to actually boost your cell signal:
http://www.alternativewireless.com/cellular-antennas/wilson-vehicle-wireless-repeaters.html

Martin..yeah, but they (6924th at Ramasun Station, Thailand and 6922nd at Clark, Philippines) worked very very well against my targets north of 17 degrees...we really did have some VHF/UHF/SHF capabilities also....regards

I'd HOPE so!

Martin, it has been a year now. Can you update us on your phone recommendations? Would love to hear what you have to say.

Why, hello again. I just noticed this thread kicked me for info.

Just as an update - I've moved out of the agency/development space and I'm now more on the consulting/angel investing side of things, however, I do work with developers on mobile projects quite a bit and I am still very much a gadget head when it comes to mobile devices.

Let's see....in the last year, there's actually been a fairly big change in the overal composition of the mobile space - Android smart phones are hugely popular, and more importantly, the cost of smart phones has come down quite a bit.

The iPhone is still my day-to-day phone, in fact I have three of them, but I have also recently used the Samsung Galaxy Note (my reaction was "errr....what?") and I've also got a few prepaid phones laying around.

I still see LG as the best overall experience for low-end "feature phones"
The LG models Tracfone carries for CDMA carriers are still rugged, long-life devices.

The LG 505C - a "clever" phone (I don't think it's smart) is a really great phone on a prepaid carrier (Straightalk, you can buy them at Walmart).

Basically, any of the "candybar" phones are going to have insanely long battery life, but limited features.

In the "traditional" smart phone space, it's really become a 2-horse race, Apple and Samsung. RIM will likely be bought out for parts and Nokia was just slapped hard by Microsoft when they rendered Lumina phones obsolete by not supporting the latest OS on them.

In terms of "rugged" phones, there are still not many choices. On Verizon, you have the waterproof Casio G'zOne Commando, which is a horrible phone to use, but if you fall in the river with it, it still works. It uses VZ Navigator for mapping, which is like trying to drive a car in reverse with with wax paper taped over your eyes. The best thing about this phone is that it does not float, so when it fell into the water I got to watch it sink for good, which made me happy.

I'm looking at a Samsung Rugby phone for a test - as far as I can tell it's the only smart phone that's got some serious durability, but I don't want to get one until I need to replace one of the iPhones (there's a 3GS that's nearing death...so that's likely). My one concern is that it runs Android 2.3 Gingerbread OS, which puts it well behind the most current Android version, and from my experience, Android phones simply don't allow/support an OS upgrade path the way iOS devices do.

In terms of carriers, it's not gotten any better. You've got your GSM services via AT&T and T-Mobile, and you've got your CDMA via Verizon and Sprint. Metro PCS is still plugging away, but it's an urban carrier, like T-Mobile.

The 4G/LTE situation is interesting. Basically, the term "4G", a technical specification, was co-opted by AT&T's marketing department to describe their upgrades to existing technical standards.

On the other hand, there's LTE, which is a new standard for wireless data and it is FAST - like wireline fast. Where you can get it. Oh, and it sucks battery down as if you were trying to jump start a stone-dead John Deere tractor with your phone.

So, here's where I'd go with recommendations:

If you want the widest range of applications and easiest phone to use, get an iPhone. If you need to extend the battery life of the phone, get a Morphie case for it, which is a combo case and battery.

Apps I recommend for iOS are

TomTom USA (Local maps on the device means no network lag like other apps.
TopoUSA (again, local storage is key..topo maps of the whole area. )
Planets (what's the bright thing up there...to the right of the moon...?)
Find My iPhone (remote find/alert/wipe of the phone)
Checklist Wrangler (every month, automatically generates my monthly prep checklist - swap out gas, run generator, change water...etc..)

If you want more device selection or If you want more hardware capabilities, including the ability to install SD or Micro SD cards (and to be honest, I've NEVER had a need to do that), go with Samsung Android.

Motorola should get out of the phone business entirely. Motorola Atrix and Drioid is a mess of a platform - some great, some bad. Sony always screws something up by making the ordinary proprietary and I haven't seen a Sony phone in a while. HTC phones are brilliant 70% of the time and throw-the-phone-at-the-wall frustrating the rest of the time.

Avoid android on "feature phones" (generally ones that that don't have touch screens) there's no advantage and the cost you pay in battery life is too high.

Thus far I've not found any Android apps I like that are unique to Android. I have, however, found malware and crapware in large quantity. Stick to getting your Android apps from the Google Play marketplace.

On all my devices that support apps (android included) I run:
Evernote (keep notes, docs and pictures locally on the device and on all your other devices all in synch all the time. I have the entire Emergency Ops plan for our township in Evernote, every computer and every device I have sychs)
Twitter - there's nothing better for breaking news.
Wordpress - it's what I use to manage the Emergency Management web site and other sites.

For feature phones - simple basic phones, here's what I think:

LG makes sensible, workable phones that are easy to use and last a long time. I like them and recommend them.

Pantech phones are very good for propping up furniture that might have a damaged leg and sometimes you can use them as phones and information access devices.
Most Sanyo phones are toys for little girls, but there are a few really nice ones in there. Stick to the "Blackberry" style phones.
BenQ-Siemens phones could replace waterboarding as a means of interrogation they are so bad. The plain "Siemens" branded phones are OK.

So....what about Blackberry?
I don't see how Blackberry can survive. I might be wrong on this, but I think that Blackberry hardware is going to take the same path Palm did - great hardware, great software, just didn't change fast enough and rapidly was abandoned. It will likely become like the Iridium satellite network, which was not commercially sustainable, but was indispensable for those who needed it. It was sold at a fraction of cost and remains operational today. Similarly, since all Blackberry messaging routes through Blackberry servers of some kind, that network will need to remain operational long after they stop making the phones. I expect that part of the business to be sold off to some company that will buy it at $0.02 on the dollar.

Awesome Martin, thank you. Though I must say, I am a little hurt that you are down on all things Moto. My Razr Maxx is a fantastic tool, and to me seems far beyond my wife's iPhone. Android 4 (Ice Cream Sandwich) has been a solid improvement on an already capable phone.

Then again, I never was an Apple guy at all.

Here's the thing - Android 4 is really nice. Too bad once you buy a phone with 2.3 on it, basically, you're stuck.
And the Razr Maxx is a good phone at the moment - but again, you'll never run Jellybean on it. The iPhone 3GS my son carries runs iOS 5.1 - as long as the hardware holds out, I usually have the latest software on my iOS devices.

My android device farm - not so much. There's a whole bunch of Gingerbread out there - and stuck there forever.

Not sure what makes you say that, my phone came with 2.3.3 and I'm running 4.0.3 right now. Can't say about 4.1, too new for the manufacturers to catch up yet.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/254304/the_android_update_trap.html

Some HTC Droid Incredible users encountered problems with Android 2.3.4, including battery drain, memory shortages, and deleted contacts.
A major slowdown in 2D graphics plagued the original Motorola Droid after an update to Android 2.1.
An update for the Samsung Fascinate caused random shutdowns for some users.
Some HTC Desire S users on T-Mobile reported signal loss after an update to Android 2.3.5 with Sense 3.0.
Users of HTC's Evo 4G reported internal memory leaks after updating to Android 2.3.
Some overseas users of HTC’s Incredible S had trouble receiving text messages in a timely manner with Android 2.3.3.
In a huge thread on Google’s support forums, users complain that voice search randomly starts up on its own with Android 2.3.3 and Android 2.3.4 on Samsung’s Nexus S.
Users of the unlocked Galaxy Nexus have reported signal-loss problems with Android 4.0.4.

http://www.macworld.com/article/1166236/...er_android.html

and this

http://theunderstatement.com/post/11982112928/android-orphans-visualizing-a-sad-history-of-support

and this

http://developer.android.com/about/dashboards/index.html


THEY ARE STILL SELLING PHONES WITH GINGERBREAD. Really.

Does anyone keep more than one phone (e.g. smart phone & basic phone) on the same network, keep them all charged, and just swap the SIM as needed?

Not sure about the more remote ones, but the generators cell towers around here use are all connected to a natural gas line. They start up automatically and will continue to run as long as they need to; provided they still get natural gas from the utility company (and the generators themselves don't break down).

It's the same with hospitals around here. Many traded in their diesel/fuel oil based generators for natural gas ones years ago.

Because your carrier botched the update doesn't mean you can't update, and the number affected is really not that much given the amount of android handset out there.

I know they still sell phone with 2.3, but they tend to be budget models, and you have a choice of not buying them. Speaking of choice it's something you have with android, want a big screen? Get a galaxy note, want big battery? Get a razr maxx. Whereas with apple, you can buy an iphone, or you can buy an iphone. Personally I think the occasional botch up is worth the choices and freedom (and why you shouldn't be the first guinea pig in line for anything).

The Droid platform does what I want right now, while the iPhone gets in my way right now. So I choose to risk the Droid pooping the bed in 2 years when it won't update to Toasted Caramel Smoothie, instead of being secure in the thought that the iPhone will faithfully keep getting in my way for 3+ years with a very up-to-date operating system.

I know this has been discussed on another thread, but I thought I'd bring it up since it seemed to be fairly relevant.

For those mentioning buying a simpler cell phone to compliment/backup their primary (even if they don't plan on always carrying it), there are still phones out there with Direct Talk capability.

Basically these phones have a feature that function like a walkie talkie out to a few miles even if there is no cell signal. The best part about it is you don't have to actually have service with the carrier, at least to use this feature (though you will need a sim card to boot up the phones, they don't have to be active).

I'm just learning about them, but they seem to have some advantages over the FRS/GMRS blister pack radios.

Now, there are limitations -- transmission power is less than 1 watt so you're probably only looking at a couple of miles in good conditions, but it does use spread spectrum and there is an option to transmit only to a particular phone (not just privacy codes like in FRS/GMRS setups). Plus it's digital so audio is pretty clear from what I understand. Some phones have GPS built in to provide you with an accurate location (again without service), and on some phones you can swap out antennas for something better.

Seems like they might make pretty decent backups for close proximity (but out of earshot) use.

The only thing that would make it better in my eyes is if you could do SMS transmission and send texts to each other using this setup.

Honestly, I think this type of thing (connectivity even without cell phone towers), along with NOAA weather and FM radio should be built into all phones, especially smartphones. Why not? And with SMS forwarding, it may even help re-establish ad-hoc mesh type communications after a disaster.

http://nextelonline.nextel.com/assets/pdfs/en/about/directtalk_fact_sheet.pdf

http://blogs.n1zyy.com/n1zyy/direct-talk-compatible-phones/

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As far as regular cell phones go, we had a bad storm here the other day and lost power for about 3 hours. The internet on my phone started getting sluggish, and I figured it was either due to the cell towers being affected by the storm or the network being saturated (what's the first thing people do when the power's out? Get on their cell phones!) I switched 3G off and used edge, and immediately saw performance _increases_ (edge is slow, but the 3G was at a crawl) when it came to loading pages. I guess since so few people are on edge now things got through?

I use an Iphone through AT&T, however I also have a verizon mifi. Unless all the carriers are knocked out in an area, it's nice to know if one happens to be having problems I can try the other one.

As far as power goes, I have an external battery (8,800 mah) which at 2 full charges per day will get me about 3 days worth of use with no other source of power. Also have a Goal Zero guide 10 setup for solar power if I need anything beyond that, though I need to invest in a generator.

Yeah, in my EDC bag I keep a smallish Li-ion battery pack along with a travel sized 120VAC/USB/cigarette lighter charging cord.