Buying a Smartphone in and for UK use (1 Viewer)

You must be wondering what this has to do with birds and birding but here goes. I have a very old phone which is very simple but does the job I need it to do ie text and call (or miscal honestly). It is about time I upgraded to a better phone, a smartphone of some sort. If I buy a smart phone I want it to aid my birding. There are various apps out there for all types of different things. What apps are out there to help birders? Someone played me bird song from an app once. I would like to know the latest information on which birds have turend up where within the local area.

What types of apps and aids are available for birders on smart phones? How do smart phones users use their devices to help with birding and any other wildlife watching in any way? Do different smart phones come with different appa/aids etc....

I have never really used a smart phone so if this thread looks a bit stupid then that is why. Now that I will upgrade I want to make the right choice of which smart phone to buy. I do have some reasonable idea about smart phones but not a complete picture and as technology does move fairly fast, i do find it hard to keep up. Looking forward to any informative replies.

Hi,
try this thread for a start...

http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=225461
Peter

Smart phone use isn't limited to just Apps. I've added the recordings from 'Calls of Eastern Vagrants' and 'Birds of Britain and Europe' for instance from the discs/CDs I have.

Additional recordings downloaded from various websites, such as Xeno-canto, have also been added. These have been added to the 'my music' folder on my PC and these then added to the iphone or itouch I have.

The Sibley Guide is the best App for North America (like the papher copy field guide but has songs and calls and the ability to do side by side species comparisons and available from iTunes, possibly now on Android if I remember correctly.

I'm hoping the Collins Guide will be update to a new app.

I've just upgraded to an iPhone4S 16GB through vodafone which has enough capacity for lots of Apps, music (bird sounds) and photos.

regards

Steve Arlow said:

Additional recordings downloaded from various websites, such as Xeno-canto, have also been added. These have been added to the 'my music' folder on my PC and these then added to the iphone or itouch I have.

Click to expand...

Interesting. How do you get them from the pc to your iphone? Do you need a special transfer app for that?

Agree, Sibley is the best N American field guide app.

In iTunes go to file and select 'Add Folder to Library' then select the folder you want to add, this will be folder that is on your PC. Select OK to add contents to iTune list. and when iPhone/iTouch is connected it will add these to the 'music' section.

If you want to rename any of the listings then in iTunes that gone onto the phone thyen go the relevant name click on it and it will allow renaming. So if you have alist of say Red-throated Pipit siongs and calls but only labelled as Red-throated Pipit you can rename as Red-throated Pipit Call1 and so on.

The Album will be displayed in your phones list.

If you want to add to an existing list in File select 'Add file to Library' and same process as above but you may then need to rename it in iTunes to make sure it goes where you want it to.

I created a folder on my PC in the My Music Folder called Middle East and I have added downloaded calls and songs to there and now added those to my phone and nowthey go where-ever I do.

hope this helps

You don't need a smartphone to be able to play bird calls.Even the most basic phones have an mp3 player in them.
Simply plug your memory card into your pc and drag and drop whatever you've got on cd or have downloaded.

Pete.

Can I assume that the Android phones allow you to drag and drop existing folders (eg names files of bird calls)? Thus unlike the highly restrictive nature of iTunes synching?

thanks, alan

Steve Arlow said:

In iTunes go to file and select 'Add Folder to Library' then select the folder you want to add, this will be folder that is on your PC. Select OK to add contents to iTune list. and when iPhone/iTouch is connected it will add these to the 'music' section.

If you want to rename any of the listings then in iTunes that gone onto the phone thyen go the relevant name click on it and it will allow renaming. So if you have alist of say Red-throated Pipit siongs and calls but only labelled as Red-throated Pipit you can rename as Red-throated Pipit Call1 and so on.

The Album will be displayed in your phones list.

If you want to add to an existing list in File select 'Add file to Library' and same process as above but you may then need to rename it in iTunes to make sure it goes where you want it to.

I created a folder on my PC in the My Music Folder called Middle East and I have added downloaded calls and songs to there and now added those to my phone and nowthey go where-ever I do.

hope this helps

Click to expand...

Many thanks for the detailed reply. Much appreciated. I'll give it a shot.

lewis20126 said:

Can I assume that the Android phones allow you to drag and drop existing folders (eg names files of bird calls)? Thus unlike the highly restrictive nature of iTunes synching?

thanks, alan

Click to expand...

Yes, drag and drop folders from your PC, or download files from xeno canto onto your phone sd card.

There are more birding apps available for iPhone than Android at the moment unfortunately.