Can the iPhone 4 do it all?

[gblawler]

It is so bad, that a number of people I know have an Iphone to keep their business life in order, and another phone to make calls. Since I have become so exasperated with the poor quality of the phone, I am thinking about going down this route too.

Rather than pay for phone service on 2 phones, why not just by a basic cell phone for calls and an iTouch for the rest and skip the extra monthly fee. I guess the answer for some would be that they need the iPhone on the internet all the time and the iTouch only has wifi.

[howardpin]

The main drawback I have found using the iphone with a GPS App is the lack of ability to draw out a route on Google Maps and upload it to the iphone. I used the TomTom app the other day on a ride to various stops. The TomTom App only allows you to input 5 waypoints so if you want to go a specific route and use the app to give you the directions you are limited to the number of waypoints.

I see the Copilot app allows you to drag the route to the roads you want to use.

Either way having the turn by turn navigation and the voice prompts along with my favorite tunes made for a much more enjoyable ride.

As far as the antenna, having some sort of case seems to have helped with the "Antenna problem."

[nardowell]

My wife has had an iphone 4 for sometime and it is great on trips. We use it to find places to eat using the app Urban spoon. It is great for checking the weather. She also has an app that allows it to be our GPS to find places.

The droid is probably good also, but I am only familiar with the iphone.
It has made travel more fun and it does not take up as much space as our ipad.

Thanks for all of the suggestions on this thread, I will have to own one so I can take it with me on my motorcycle rides.

[lloving]

Interestingly Garmin has acquired Navigon, for better or worse.

I use a 3Gs mounted in the finger type RAM contraption connected directly (no RAM ball) to a Migsel mount on my 06 R12RT. Well protected from the elements by the windscreen. Far enough way to keep me from messing with it while riding, close enough so my helmet bluetooth connection (SMH10) is clear and strong. Just don't need to add anything else.

Depending on where you live both AT&T and Verizon either rock or are crap so just don't go there.

[bmwrider88]

You guys are missing the point of the post. I see lots of posting regarding electronics. People asking... What works? What doesn't? What does it cost? How can I mount and power this, this and this? etc. I love gadgets but don't like the idea of spending money if I don't have too. I wanted to see if a smartphone (in my case, an iPhone 4) could do everything I needed in a 13 day, 5400 mile trip and I reported as such.

The arguments of which phone is best, or what service is best, will always be debatable. Did I have areas of no reception? Yes, but talking to other folks along way confirmed that it was not only ATT or iPhones with the issue. Personally I love the phone, even for calls, but the areas of poor coverage have not a real big issue for me and I have gone in areas where I had reception when people with other carriers did not. FYI - I have had iPhones/ATT for over 2 years.

I never said that the phone, or its service, were better or worse than anything else. Usually the big item of concern (and cost) of optional MC electronics is the GPS so I did not focus on how the phone works for calls.

To each their own. If ATT / iPhone does not work well in your area, DON'T BUY ONE.

I'm sure your extensive report on how the Droid worked for you in similar circumstances would be welcome to the Forum. The information will help people decide on what will work best for them.

i've used my iPhone 4 to virtually (no pun intended) replace my netbook on most trips, tho i haven't written any extensive ride reports or uploaded serious quantities of pix from the phone on a trip like i might with the netbook...
however, you've proven the iPhone 4 to be good for just about everything. when i was a kid we dreamed of a hand-held computer. well here it is. you have taken it to the next level. i recently bought a Garmin GPS (1350 LMT) for my car & truck, thinking i'd try it out (only paid about 160.0). i knew Garmin has the 50.00 GPS mapping app, but until now didn't know how well it might work. good to know it's worth the $$$. beats the heck out of a 1000.00 waterproof GPS for the bike. in the past, i've use the iPhone's maps feature many times with good result. i can talk overseas om Skype, stream Sirius or Spotify, or Pandora music, and yes- i use my phone's camera but i find it far easier to just take a digital camera along, it's not so big that packing/toting is an issue. the big diff for me there, is in loading the pix into photobucket or my PC, V loading iPhone pix in- tho i haven't tried it but a few times, mostly to empty the phone and free the space (not that i really needed to free space). plopping my SD card into my PC is a breeze tho, and i can select which pix to load.

as for the actual phone functions, mine seems to work fine, tho i only expect so much out of in this regard. bottom line is here is a single device that pretty much DOES do it all. i have quit ea few apps which i use all the time. whether it's a Droid or an iPhone, what's not to like here?

anyway thanks for the tech report! nice going.
it's a brave new world.

[175781]

Ram gear specified by my fellow Federale performed perfectly. 2 hours today, and it was perfect. Easy to assemble and mount, and vibe free and secure. Use the small fingers for an iPhone 4 in an otterbox, large ones for a GPS.

[BTL]

I agree and the 4S is even better with 8mpx camera that shoots 1080 video. If your looking to bombproof your iphone have a look at lifeproof.com.

[ExGMan]

...when you read the disclaimer:

"LifeProof warranty does not, under any circumstance, cover the replacement or cost of any electronic device or personal property inside or outside of the case."

[bmwrider88]

nice pix of the mount job!

now, the only problem i see is the big clunky case- a bit bulky for pocket carry.
you've done well tho! nice job. one device does all!

as an aside:
i expressed earlier thoughts RE: using the phone for ride reports and pix uploading
( to a host site?).
i know you can get external keyboards for the iPad, wonder if they'd work on an iPhone as well? that would easily solve any issue, and those keyboards aren't excessively large, so no real added weight or bulk.