With 3G shutting down, I’m looking at new phones, but so far the specs aren’t very helpful in assessing which would be best to take into the field!
Key features I’m looking for:
Sturdy - unlikely to break if dropped, rained on, etc.
Good battery life, ideally supporting multi-day fieldtrips but at minimum allowing active map use for a full day’s field work without going flat
Good geolocation accuracy, i.e. not the up to 2km error I sometimes get on my current device
Decent camera, suitable for clear images of fast-moving, small, and/or distant wildlife
Not too large and heavy, able to fit securely into the inadequately-sized pockets of women’s trousers without falling out or being ‘pickpocketed’ by dense vegetation
Able to run the TrapNZ app (of course)
Recommendations of phones that have performed well when rigorously field-tested by fellow trappers would be appreciated, as would mentions of any phone models that didn’t survive in the bush environment!
There are tradeoffs of course; generally larger phones have room for bigger batteries.
To get around that, you could carry one of those Nitecore NB10000 carbon-fibre power banks - the lightest for their capacity and pretty robust. Between my wife and me we have at least four of them. When my wife had her iPhone SE she could get three days out of a Nitecore, up to a week if she turned the phone fully off at night and did the trap records in batches.
I like a brightly coloured case for my phone, ideally high-vis orange, so I can see it easily when I drop it in the forest. I have lost several things that were clad in black, but not my phone so far. And it helps protecting the phone too.
Have you considered getting a shoulder strap pocket for your pack to put the phone in? Macpac have one and many American ‘boutique’ pack makers have them too. My wife loves the Hyperlight Mountain Gear strap pockets.
My wife had a geolocation problem with her phone. It turned out she had not given permission to the Trap NZ app to the “Use precise location” setting - might be worth checking in Settings. After she enabled that, the problem went away.
I had a second-hand iPhone Xs and still miss it, I’m still peeved about them turning off the 3G network. The Xs was a good balance between size and features, and the photos were awesome. I dropped it in puddles a few times with no problems.
I replaced it with a second-hand iPhone 13 Pro which is quite a bit bigger and heavier, but the battery life is double. I got the Pro model for its longer battery life and brighter screen compared to the standard 13 - the cameras on cheaper models are fine, I have found. My wife has taken some amazing closeups of tiny mushrooms on her iPhone 16e. She would have stuck with the SE but was filling its memory up too fast with videos.
I was going to suggest CAT phones but the manufacturer went out of business in 2024. Samsung has a rugged phone series (XCover) that might be worth checking; these have removable batteries so you could get an extra one and swap it in the field.
Hey Christina, im guessing you’ve got your phone sorted, as its now 3 weeks later and christmas.
This is really just a general phone question. I’d recommend a samsung A55 5G which we bought for my son. Its too big for your pocket, but maps and trap.nz look excellent on the 6.6" screen. Camera and battery is excellent. Its better than the high end “Galaxy” phones in many ways with “only” $660 ish price.
GPS is better than your old one. Its IP67 (i think) but its been tested at home on tramping trips etc.
Mobilestation.co.nz has been good to us for a bunch of tech, but oddly doesnt have any for sale currently
