Here are some of my thoughts on Smart Phone use for preppers plus an attachment with the information:
Smartphone Preps
This presentation is based on my experiences with a Samsung Galaxy S 4 Android Smartphone. The concepts and ideas will relate to other Android and Apple electronic platforms, but specifics will be different depending on the capability of the individual phone and which carrier is being used.
In no way do I want to imply that you depend solely on any electronic technology in the field. Always have back up and back-ups to the back-up. A Smartphone like mine can substitute for several other individual electronic devices: a stand-alone GPS/navigator, a weather instrument (to a degree, anyway), a document reader, voice recorder, camera, and video camera. However, a Smartphone, and those individual devices, are still no substitute for paper and pencil, map and compass, knowledge of local weather, and paper handbooks.
I would not go out and buy a new Smartphone just for prepping use. However, if you already have one, why not use it to best effect?
The very basic use of a Smartphone for prepping purposes is the ability to have information at your fingertips, while connected to a cellular system or WiFi system, but more importantly, when not within service range. This will depend on the phone and the carrier. Some carriers have wider area coverage than others, and some phones have more or less un-connected capabilities.
With downloaded books, articles, .pdfs, and other data files, a whole gamut of information can be referenced whether you are in the middle of downtown or up in the mountains far away from any cell tower. Just about every prepper subject is available in some form. Two examples are the SAS Survival Manual by John “Lofty” Wiseman, and any one of a multitude of copies of FM 21-76 US Army Field Manual on Survival. These can both be used on my phone off line, at any time. The SAS Manual was a pay app, though there is a limited free version you can check out first. The version of FM 21-76 I downloaded was free.
I have quite a few other off-line available information items such as Dutch Oven cookbooks, regular camping cookbooks, hiking and mountaineering and orienteering references. Also off-line are office type programs to use for Word or other text documents, Excel and other spreadsheets, and even Power Point and other presentations formats.
You can keep your prep inventory on the phone and check prices and availability in the stores to help decide if you need to stock up at that particular price or not. And those phones that can scan product codes can make that process even easier with the right inventory program. I have what I need for that, I just have not implemented it.
And with a page scanner that converts to .pdfs, when you find useful information in various places, and it does not violate a copyright, you can scan the information into the phone as a .pdf and have it with you when you can read it later or file it away.
Then there are the on-line apps like direct access to MeetUp Group sites, various prepper forums, and just about any other web-based information site you want to pull up when you are WiFi connected. My phone can be set up as a WiFi hotspot to connect other devices to the net, including laptops, but data rates are expensive, and I seldom use the HotSpot function due to Data Bandwidth issues. Though, on the plan I have, WiFi access is free and unlimited. You will need to check that very closely before using some of the on-line applications.
Some other on-line apps include PM and other financial information and account tracking. You can check gold and silver prices whenever you are out and about and decide immediately if what you are being offered is a good deal or not. Same with stocks, currencies, and other financial instruments.
Another good on-line app to keep track of things going on in your area is AlertID. An interactive program to report events and receive notice of events as they happen that could affect your safety.
Additional apps that are not themselves usable off-line have downloadable files that can be accessed when connected and then put in memory on the phone or in the internal SD card or an external storage device.
I also have some files not active prepping related, but information I like to have handy for reference. The Constitution, The Declaration of Independence, the Federalist Papers, and several other references about our government. Also, off-line dictionaries and an atlas.
I have several First-aid and medical reference works that are usable off-line, as well as some training items that are on-line only. Also, health maintenance apps and nutrition data.
There are off-line communications references, including repeater location sources, antenna information, and Morse Code Readers, some which work very well, others not so much. It will depend on the phone and the radio being used. Some on-line only apps include internet scanner apps that let you listen to various public service radio transmissions, as well as some amateur radio conversations. License training and sample tests. Even a gear catalog or two.
Now, to some of the nitty-gritty aspects and apps. These are highly dependent on the individual phone capabilities. My Galaxy S-4 was just about state of the art when I first purchased it, but even newer and more sophisticated Smartphones, iPhones, and various other connectable platforms are coming out all the time.
This phone has built in GPS, magnetic field sensor (compass), temperature gauge, atmospheric pressure sensor, relative humidity sensor, accelerometer, gravity sensor, linear acceleration sensor, gyroscope, light meter, orientation sensor, proximity sensor, and sound pressure level sensor. Of course, clock, calendar, and pretty good phone, too.
With the environmental sensors, weather forecasting is relatively straight forward, especially with the cloud ID application I have. Wind speed can be calculated by observation of things around you, and there are apps that use the microphone to calculate wind speed the microphone sound pressure level. I even have apps for heat index and wind chill factors to know when it is dangerous out. Of course, I still have to have the sense to come in out of the rain when it is coming down. Sometime that is a problem for me.
Along with the simple location feature of the GPS, when used with downloaded, off-line maps, you have a full-fledged wilderness navigation system to get you where you are headed, whether it be to point A, point B, or home. I also have an app where you can take a picture ahead of you showing the GPS coordinates and compass direction. Or use the same function as a back azimuth to help you remember where you came from and how to get back there.
The sensors in the phone also allow for various tools such as plumb bob, distance measure, bubble level, ruler, protractor, altimeter, magnifier, and a mirror function. And then there are the apps with unit converters, simple to complex calculators, counters, timers, and a bunch more I very seldom use, but are there if I need them.
Now, all of this is very good. And while some Smartphones have decent battery life, others do not. I do not consider my Smartphone a standalone device. In order for it to be truly useful in the field you need a way to keep it charged up and powered.
My system for this is a pair of spare standard batteries, (2,600mAh in my case) that I keep charged up on a separate charger at home. I usually carry one of them. For the field I add a 13,000mAh power pack and another in the backup gear. To keep them charged I have a solar power charger. This gives me, even without the solar charger, several days of conservative use, and months when the solar charger is used whenever possible to top off the power packs. Many Smartphones do not have accessible batteries so must have a power pack to recharge them if there is no access to home power or vehicle power.
All of these features are no substitute for traditional methods. I love technology, but I carry paper maps, a physical magnetic compass, binoculars, a pocket copy of the SAS Survival Manual, and never depend solely on technology.
While not every app is available for both Android and Apple phones and devices, most are.
Here is an alphabetical list of some of the prepper related apps that I have tried on my phone. I often check what apps are available, as that changes all the time. I evaluate things that seem promising, and if they pan out I keep them and remove whatever they are replacing, if I already have something like it, just not as good. I am always trying out different alternatives.
1 Weather
10bii Financial calculator
3D Earthquake
AlertID
Alpine Quest
Altivario
Amazon Kindle
Anatomy learning
AndroSensor
Animated knots
Antenna Calc
Antennas
Army booby traps
Army counter sniper
Army mountain operations
Army urban operations
Articles of Freedom
ASL American Sign language
AT&T Family Map
AT&T Navigator
Ayurvedic remidies
BackCountry Navigator Pro
BarCode Scanner
Bible
Book of Mormon
Brenta Heat Index Lite
Brenta Wind Chill Lite
Bullion Tracker Lite
Buy Silver Gold
Calamity Survival guide
Camping Recipes
Civil calculator
Clinical signs
Cloud Identifier
Compass Level
Congress
Crow calls
Cures A-Z
Currency Table
Daily Roads Voyager
Dave Canterbury
Dictionary
Disaster
Disaster Alert
Disaster Readiness 2011
Disaster Survival guide
Disease Dictionary
Disease Remidies book
Drug dictionary
Earthquake Pro
Earthquake survival tips
Earthquakes
Easy Toys
EchoLink
Edible and Medicinal Plants
Elerts Reporter
Elk calls
EONW
Essential Oils
eWeather HD
Family Fallout shelter
Fast News
FBI Most Wanted
FEMA 100 Year Flood Zones
First Aid
First Aid
First Aid Manual 2013
Fishing and Hunting solunar time
Fishing Knots Lite
Flashlight
Flashlight plus
Flood
Flood Map
Flood Warn
GeoCam
Gold Live
Gold Silver
GoldCoinCalculator
Goose calls
GPS Essentials
GPS Status
Ham
Ham Radio Tools
Ham Radio Tools
Ham Test Prep
HandyCalc
Handyman calculator
Herbs
Home Remedies
HRO
Hunting calls
Hurricane
iMushroom guide free
Inclinometer free
International Code Of Signals
JCSGold
Kcast Gold Live! Widget
Kindle reader
Kingsoft Office
Liberty CPM
Lightning
Line Tools
Lunar Phase
Magnifying glass flashlight
Mallard Duck Calls
MapQuest
Maps
Medscape
Meetup
Military Acronyms
Mirror
Moose Calls
Morse code Keyboard
Morse Code Reader
Morse Decoder
Morse Player Free
Morse Talk
Morse Tools
MOUT
Muscle trigger points
NASA Space Weather
Navigation
Navigator
Noise meter
Normal lab values
Nuclear Sites Map
Nutri Explorer
Nutrition Data
Office Suite
Offline Dictionaries
OfflineMaps+
Ohms Law
Optical Reader
PalmVE
PDF Document scanner
PDF Max
PDF Merge
PDF reader
Placards
Pocket RXTX
Pocket tracker
Polaris Office 5
Precious Metal Coin Calculator Lite
Predator calls
Prepper Bible
Prepper Guide
Prepper Inventory
Preppers Info
Preputilityvehicle.blogspot.ca/
Quran
Raccoon calls
Radar Now
Rates
Remedies
Repeater Directory
RepeaterBook
RiverFlows
RMaps
SASSurvival
Scan to PDF free
Scanner Radio Pro
Signals
Silver Change
Silver Prices App
SilverGold
Simple Moon Phase Widget
Skype
Smart Telescope
Smart Tools
Soldiers common tasks
Speed gun
Squirrel calls
Stocks Portfolio
Survival 3-05.70
Survival Basics
Survival Forum
Survival Guide
Survival Medicine Guide
Survival Podcast
Survival Tools
SurvivalBlogReader
SwissArmyKnife
Symptom Checker
TB Atlas
Telescope zoomer
The Art of War
The Federalist Papers
The Weather Channel
Thread pitch
Timber Calculator
Tool Box
Turkey calls
Ultimate Survival
United States Constitution
US Army Survival Guide
US Constitution
US Topo Maps
USMC Winter Survival handbook
Virginia Tech Tree ID
Visual Anatomy Free
Voice recorder
We The People
Weather Signal
Weather Station
WebMD
WebMD Baby
What Cloud
White Tailed deer calls
Wind
Wind Meter
Wolf Sounds
Woodworking utilities
World Atlas
World Factbook
World History
Newest Apps:
Gaia GPS
OnX Maps
The Epoch Times
OAN (News)
Translator
Voice Translator
Abbreviations
Idioms Dictionary
Body Language
Unit Converter
Geometry Solver
Fraction Calculator
Periodic Table
Solar Engineering
Sky Map
Celestial Mechanics
Solar System Scope
Marine Traffic
Flightradar 24
Asteroid Alert
Nuke Blast
SAR Tools
Sygic GPS Navigation
Just my opinion.
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