Filed under: iPhone
iPhone vs. Pre: The best air-travel companion
I'm by no means a frequent flyer, but I'm preparing for a trip to Vegas to get hitched in just about week. I'm loading up my iPhone with applications to make my vacation a little easier, like Flight Tracker and TripIt. Even with all these apps, I was left wondering if my iPhone would really be the perfect air-travel companion (other than my wonderful fiancée, of course). Fortunately, Ars Technica was there to put some of my fears to bed, putting the Pre up for battle against the iPhone as the ultimate travel companion. Thankfully for me, the iPhone ends up as the clear winner. The article notes the wide availability of iPhone charging accessories if you happen to be short on battery with your charger stashed away in your checked baggage, as well as the huge number of apps available in the App Store to aid in your travel or supply time-wasting entertainment for long layovers or flights. It also notes the iPhone's battery-saving options (like Airplane Mode, turning off WiFi/Bluetooth, screen brightness, etc.) as extremely valuable when you're traveling and don't have immediate access to a charger.
What are your tips for traveling with your iPhone?
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
James said 7:58PM on 7-06-2009
Definitely take along a spare battery/case or two. You want to be able to use your iPhone for the entire ride and not arrive with a drained iPhone. I flew from Florida to San Francisco today and used my iPhone for games/videos/music the entire 5 hour flight from Atlanta to San Francisco. When we landed I was down to 20%. With a flick of a switch my Mophie sprang into action to keep my iPhone going for many more hours.
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LD said 9:00PM on 7-06-2009
The Mophie Air would be perfect if it just had a dock passthrough in addition to mini-USB!
Brandon said 8:11PM on 7-06-2009
Agreed, get a nice extra battery to charge your iPhone since it'll probably get a lot of use on the flight. Personally I like to drain the external battery on the plane where I'm just playing games/watching movies, rather than use the external battery when I arrive. Also, TripIt is a great tool when traveling, I was very impressed with it when I went to WWDC last month.
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akatsuki said 8:43PM on 7-06-2009
Second the Tripit rec, even if it is still pretty rough, with tons of "chart junk", it is still ahead of WorldMate at this point.
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Susannah111 said 8:33PM on 7-06-2009
List of best travel apps here:
http://honeymoons.about.com/od/smarttravel/tp/travel_apps_iphone.htm
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LD said 8:36PM on 7-06-2009
I travel regularly for work (well over 120,000 miles a year, about 3 flights per week) and I never have an issue with battery on my iPhone. I don't even carry an extra battery pack.
I have a 3G but only run with Edge. There is almost never any need for 3G for data or voice except on rare occasions. Location Services I leave on since I think it only matters when you run an App that requires it (Google Maps for example). Bluetooth off. I HATE Bluetooth headsets because they always suck. I have a Jawbone and even it sucks. I prefer to use wired headphones/mic, usually a third party rather than the very uncomfortable ones Apple provides.
I leave wifi off all the time except when I am actively using it. Push Exchange (and Gmail, and AIM, etc) works just fine over Edge so no need to drain it with wifi.
Personally I don't play a lot of games, preferring movies and music. That certainly helps me with battery life.
Most importantly, I travel with my dock cable and the awesome, super tiny AC adapter and catch a charge when I can, during layovers, in restaurants, etc. A lot of airports have charge stations for electronic devices, sometimes even including USB power. I also drain a bit of power from my laptop, an HP Mini with 6-cell battery. If I'm driving I also carry a cigarette lighter adapter so I can charge while getting directions.
All in all I rarely, if ever, have power issues with my iPhone while traveling. Even on a recent trip to Beijing. Sleep half the flight, use my iPhone the other half (well, actually I watched movies in business class!).
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Alan said 8:43PM on 7-06-2009
The pre has all of those same "battery saving" measures.
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Mr. Fry said 1:30PM on 7-07-2009
Also seems odd to mention the wide availability of charging accessories considering that if you left your charger in your checked bag (or any charging device for that matter), how does that help you?
Charles Willson said 10:27PM on 7-06-2009
I use Handbrake to convert DVDs to iPhone format with one click
Make sure my (video) podcasts have been recently sync'd.
I use a Kensington external battery to provide 2.5x battery life.
An "In-Your-Face" iPhone holder clamps to anything and positions the screen right in front of me instantly turning it into a 42" plasma.
Finally a pair of Bose headphones to filter out the drone of the engines
AT&T iPhone app to turns on the International data plan while waiting to board. Text from AT&T confirms it's on (I wait ten days when I am back to turn it off)
Before turning the phone to flight mode I go Settings/General/Usage/Reset Statistics to keep track of data usage to avoid getting the big bill.
VS019... VS020 back and forth we go...
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Tom King said 1:17PM on 7-07-2009
My screenful of travel apps is blogged here:
http://mobilemind.net/2009/07/iphone-travel-apps-me-v-national.html
A few people have said an earlier post on International travel with iPhone helped them save money on AT+T roaming, etc.
http://mobilemind.net/2009/05/iphone-travel-save-on-calls-sms-and.html
Using the ATT app and knowing when to add/remove international services is a big help. Likewise some of the tips about alarms and caching help.
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philafication said 2:13AM on 7-07-2009
Hey, not too long ago I compiled a list of apps I'll bring on my vacation. Have a peak: http://bit.ly/RZm3r
My favorite is the Tipulator app, Skype app and Currency app. They'll come in handy during my trip. Also I looked at the settings like how you will avoid roaming data charges.
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hmlong said 3:46AM on 7-07-2009
I love the Kindle application, followed by Audible audiobooks. Much, much easier on the battery than video or games, and they last longer too.
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Hank said 9:43AM on 7-07-2009
Roadie myself and agree with all the great comments. Keep your iPhone in your pocket at ALL times. (except when going through security) And highly recommend a slim sturdy case vs a belt clip-on case. Incipio makes a very nice silicone case with a plastic backing that does not add much for weight or make it bulkier. I actually bought it at the ATT store and has kept the iPhone in pristine condition. Safe travels and congrats on getting hitched! Cheers!!
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Timmay said 3:28PM on 7-07-2009
Jesus, you are all a bunch of sheep. The Pre has an Airplane mode as well. It also can play videos as smoothly as my iPod Touch. Both have a 3.5mm Headphone jack and have the same resolution screen.
The number of apps does make the ipod/phone a winner but it's not a blow out.
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leww said 6:32PM on 7-19-2009
the pre has all of those "battery saving" measures. i had 2 iphones and now i have the pre and love it, the screen is the same resolution but much crisper because the screen is smaller on the pre thus closer pixels.
the pre uses a usb port to charge the phone which is much easier to find than an ipod adapter.
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Stuart Johnston said 7:50AM on 8-07-2009
Why not try Igoshi?
It's very simple - but will work for anyone anywhere when your language skills let you down.
http://www.standardease.co.uk/igoshi/ or straight from the Apple Appstore:
http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=323677270&mt=8
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