Smartphone recharging

[Starchild]

I know airplane mode should get me a good 5 days on the iPhone. I also have a second battery for the iPhone with the security screws removed allowing me to switch batteries in the field.

What is the practical aspects of recharging? what accessories do you bring to do that? Do you leave your phone with someone to recharge while you get supplies, or hang out by a outlet for a few hours? Do any of you bring a external battery pack? What recharge opportunities can be expected and how often?

Thanks

[yellowsirocco]

Make sure you have a 2 amp charger and it will charge a lot quicker. A lot of phones only ship with 1 amp chargers so make sure and check.

[buff_jeff]

Most restaurants/establishments will let you recharge your phone. Make sure you ask first, though; it's just good form.

You'll be in towns at least once a week (more often every 3-5 days) either for a zero/nero or for a restaurant stop, I imagine, so that should be more than enough to keep you charged up. I wouldn't recommend buying a solar charger or anything like that.

[SCGamecock]

http://www.newtrent.com/store/iphone...ry-imp90d.html

7.3 oz is not bad for 4 more charges on an iPhone

[Grits]

I have tried both of these systems and have found them to be good. http://www.npowerpeg.com/ uses kinetic energy from walking to recharge and works well the down side 12 oz. the other one http://www.igo.com/ uses batteries to recharge your unit.

[Old Hiker]

Which service do you have? Are you a nomophobe?

I took an extra battery + charger AND my phone charger and probably didn't need the extra battery. I have AT&T and didn't have service a LOT of the time, esp. in towns. I think I popped my extra battery in once after 6 days of hiking. The rest of the time, airline mode did fine, as I didn't need to check in except once in the morning and once in the evening IF and only IF I had service.

AT&T promised me internet, but I never got it. I changed my data plan downward after the first month or so to 3 gig per month instead of 5.

[Deacon]

http://www.newtrent.com/store/iphone...ry-imp90d.html

7.3 oz is not bad for 4 more charges on an iPhone

+1 on the newtrent chargers. However if you stop in town every 4-5 days, then the model 5000 or the 5200 would be enough to give 3 to 3.5 charges, at 4.2 oz.


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[10-K]

+1 on the newtrent chargers. However if you stop in town every 4-5 days, then the model 5000 or the 5200 would be enough to give 3 to 3.5 charges, at 4.2 oz.


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This is what I have - works great.

[colorado_rob]

One other option, it's what I use on long trips to charge my Nano, 51 cents on Amazon, uses two AA's, weighs 0.8 ounces, with 2 AA lithium batteries, 1.9 ounces. I can get 2-3 charges out of the set of AA's.

http://www.amazon.com/Portable-Batte...b+charger+2+AA

[colorado_rob]

Oh yeah, meant to mention: take the batteries out of it when not using, it is too easy to accidently switch on.

[10-K]

I know airplane mode should get me a good 5 days on the iPhone. I also have a second battery for the iPhone with the security screws removed allowing me to switch batteries in the field.

What is the practical aspects of recharging? what accessories do you bring to do that? Do you leave your phone with someone to recharge while you get supplies, or hang out by a outlet for a few hours? Do any of you bring a external battery pack? What recharge opportunities can be expected and how often?

Thanks

Just to add.... I think I'd ditch the second battery and the security screw idea because of the possibility of messing up your phone in the field. Consider leaving it and offsetting that weight with one of the Trent chargers. Honest - they are awesome and work as advertised.

[Slo-go'en]

Make sure you have a 2 amp charger and it will charge a lot quicker. A lot of phones only ship with 1 amp chargers so make sure and check.

No that is not true. Charge rate is internally set by a circuit inside the phone to match the capacity of the battery and how hot it can be allowed to get when charging. 1 amp chargers already have a capacity larger than the typical charge rate of a phone battery, so going to a 2 amp chager gets you nothing.

[MamaBear]

+1 for Newtrent. My son and I kept my phone (which has a battery-sucking tracking app to keep my husband at home happy) and a ipod nano charged for 4 days on a backpack in the Whites with one of the larger models. We also own a newtrent charger/case model which is good for 2-3 charges and also protects the phone a bit.

[BrianLe]

"What is the practical aspects of recharging? what accessories do you bring to do that? Do you leave your phone with someone to recharge while you get supplies, or hang out by a outlet for a few hours? Do any of you bring a external battery pack? What recharge opportunities can be expected and how often?"

Starchild, I think these are just the right questions to ask. Since this is a "thru-hiker" thread, I'll assume you're asking in the context of thru-hiking the AT (hey, there actually are other trails ... :-)).
I hiked with a fellow for a month or two last year, basically through all of New Mexico, who carried a standard i-phone, no extra battery of any type nor solar charger. He seemed to do fine, and he was listening to podcasts a times along the way and would take pictures and upload photos and text to Facebook when he got connection, etc. If he could make that work on the CDT, you can certainly make it work on the AT.
Whenever you sit in a restaurant (any kind, McDonald's or whatever), get in the habit of looking under the tables to find an electric outlet, or ask when you're being seated. Nice to be able to recharge and use the device while you're seated at the same time.
I typically find that I can find a place to plug in close enough to where I'm doing other things. Last month, for example, sorting through a resupply box and waiting for clothes to wash and dry in a couple of different places on a relatively short trip there were nearby outlets where I could keep a pretty close eye on the phone. Certainly there are times where a polite request, possibly in the context of buying something, will get my phone plugged in behind the counter at a gas station mini-mart or whatever (often external plugs on those too, however).

If I recall correctly I had one spare battery for my Android phone along the AT and I don't think I needed it too often, or if so it was because I was luxuriating in the power I had to use it more than I needed to.

What you use the phone for and how much/often makes a big difference. For me the device gets used on a long trip primarily as a camera and journaling device, occasionally as a voice recorder, and a handful of times between recharges as an internet/email device (to include uploading trail journal entries and getting weather reports --- photo uploads wait for town stops). I rarely read books while on the trail and carry a very light separate (and thus separately powered) MP3 player. I'll look at the GPS very infrequently on a decently marked trail, unless perhaps I have power to burn and feel like it.

Insofar as your power requirements are higher, or your device is more power-hungry (about which you can do some things, btw, with advanced study), then of course YMMV.