Best mobile phone for WX on route UK & France?

MikeGodsell · Post by **MikeGodsell** » Fri Jul 31, 2009 12:44 pm

Last time I flew round France my pre flight included checks on the WX at destination airfields. My ancient non WAP phone provided the info on SMS. But that facility seems to have died and I need to update my mobile phone. Modern phones seem to access the internet via the cell phone network, and presumably can use YAWS and other WX sources. But there are so many mobile phones available now and it's a bit daunting to make a good choice? Also does anyone know if the new notebook sized laptop computers can access the cell phone network?

Ian Melville · Post by **Ian Melville** » Fri Jul 31, 2009 1:02 pm

New notebooks(and any other modernish laptop) can access the 3g network if they have a USB dongle with 3G subscription. Indeed you can sign up for a sub and get a free notebook thrown in.

Don't assume you have to have 3G (it dosn't work in a lot of places anyway)
I have a Nokia 5800 on non-3g and can access WiFi hotspots at airfields, hotels etc I can also connect via GPRS to the web should there be no Wifi. GPRS coverage is much higher than 3G, but slower. Fine for simple sites like YAWS. GPRS has a data download charge,mine is capped at £1 per day. The 5800 is similar to the iphone, but there are also similar models from LG and others. Don't be forced towards an iPhone if it's not what you want/need. The bigest phone decision is the style of phone that suites you

MikeGodsell · Post by **MikeGodsell** » Sat Aug 01, 2009 10:06 pm

Thanks Ian

tnowak · Post by **tnowak** » Mon Aug 03, 2009 8:45 am

Mike,

If you only want to access YAWS and don't need a fancy full web page browsing capability, then most of the low end spec mobile phones will work fine. Key things to ask for is a phone with GPRS capability and a display of at least 1.5 x 1.5" (the bigger the better). You should also ask if the phone has built-in Java (I think most do now days) as you can then download and run Opera, a web browser that has lots of good features (image zoom etc) and is usually better than the standard browser provided by the manufacturer.
Take the web address of YAWS to your favourite mobile phone shop and ask them to give you a live demo.
Lastly, take a look at www.activitae.com (YAWS) as it contains some useful info about selecting appropriate phones.
Tony Nowak

MikeGodsell · Post by **MikeGodsell** » Mon Aug 03, 2009 8:31 pm

Tony
I did in fact take my old mobile to the local Car phone place, and they fitted the sim card in a very modern (to me) GPRS G2 phone. So now I am YAWS enabled. They offered to take my old phone as a museum piece!
One day I will catch up with all this modern technology.

Thanks