A case for your phone on your bike should have as much protection as your knees

[Andre Jute]

I've stopped carrying a camera on the bike. I carry a phone anyway and the iPhone 4S comes with a superior camera with a wide focal range, face recognition, panorama, etc, and HD video as well. Here is a demonstration that an iPhone 4S leaves a Canon S95 looking decidedly overwhelmed: http://campl.us/posts/iPhone-Camera-Comparison

The iPhone 4S is made of stainless steel which is sturdy enough, but the front and rear glass needs protection. The iPhone 5 appears to me less sturdily made in ali, with glass only one side, but it is 30g lighter, for those of you who haven't yet left behind your roadie dreams... The question arises, as it does with a camera, of how much case you need. My iPad is in a sturdy Griffin Survivor case, but that's a great big clumsy thing, though I love it, often eating my dinner off the screen while I work; Unfortunately, the Griffin Survivor on the iPhone is totally out of scale to the phone itself, and probably over the top even for the hard men of this forum. Also, I don't mind my phone looking relatively smart, and for me genuine leather is always better than plastic.

So here's my 4S, which saves me carrying a separate camera, not notable in itself because you all know what an iPhone looks like, but for the case, which is a Tech21 real leather flip case, lined with the military flexi-plastic D30, which flows in its normal state but goes rock-hard on impact. D30 has military and sports applications, and is commonly found in some of the best knee, elbow and back guards in offroad bicycling and in motorbiking.

 

The side controls for volume control and ring/vibrate are accessible with the case open or closed. The camera is usable at all times. The D30 impact protection is in the strips up the sides of the case, front and back. Newer versions of this case use a hard insert lined with D30 to the side and up the sides a way, but I like the full leather case. Note that the case has to be opened to charge the phone. It's not a hardship, but some may consider it an inconvenience.

 

The flip cover folds into a stand. The on/off/sleep/squelch button and the earphone socket are accessible when the case is closed. As you can see, even my old, worn case is elegant enough to take to a smart restaurant, or you can make a point of putting it down camera side up, because the camera side doesn't have the fold for turning the case into a stand for the phone.

Newer design with the hardshell inside, and a different stand design, here: http://shop.tech21.uk.com/store/ProductDetail/TE0108YAA001W_Impact-Flip-Leather-Case-Iphone-4--4s Of course, you don't have to take the smart leather flip cover. Tech21 makes other models with D30 as well.

Bit more on D30: http://shop.tech21.uk.com/store/d3o. Demonstration of how it protects: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jw0Kky6sZCA

The reason I like the older all leather version of the flip case is that for really hard use you can put the phone in one of those stretchy, thin silicone covers that leave only the ports and the screen uncovered, and fit it real tightly into the leather slot, and then it has a very large measure of water resistance, though clearly not water proofing against full immersion, and benefits from both the smart looks and the extreme impact proofing of the leather case. Tech21 offers a proper waterproof case with D30 for those with even more rigorous requirements, right up to making underwater calls...: http://shop.tech21.uk.com/store/ProductDetail/TE0114YYE003W_Special-Ops-Submariner-For-Iphone-44s

Andre Jute

Different form of this article on my blog http://coolmainpress.com/ajwriting/

[Danneaux]

Very nice photo-essay, Andre. More and more people are carrying only a single do-all device (wish I could!) instead of myriad purpose-built devices. This is also why the point-and-shoot camera market is suffering.

Lovely case, protective and oh-so sophisticated. Nicely posed atop your Brooks as well; I can almost smell the fresh leather!

All the best,

Dan.

[in4]

I've recently dipped my toe into the pond that is smartphones; I bought a Samsung S2. I know its not the most up to date phone but given inbuilt obsolencence and all that I thought it a good buy. Inital thoughts are positive: I like the free gps software available; I like the map my ride / map my fitness / pedometer functions; I like the big screen and big 'on-screen' buttons; I ike the quite intuitive software too. Now all that is well and good but my enthusiasm has to be tempered when it comes to using the phone on my bike. Firstly, my phone is essentially a rather fragile thing. It is not built for a life mounted on a set of bars, however lovingly embraced by a holding device. Secondly, and this might be an S2 peculiarity when the gps function is enabled together with, for example, Navfree,  battery use increases considerably. So, is the advantage of an all in one device negated by its inherent fragility and its thirst for power? For me the jury is still out on that one but, if asked for a gut decision I'd say get a dedicated gps and a very simple phone with an enormous battery life instead. I am however happy to be persuaded otherwise!

[ianshearin]

This is something I have been trying to sort out for Months now, what devices to take and how to keep them charged.

At the moment I am using my iPhone with the mapmyride app, I turn it on at the start of the ride and then switch the phone screen off, I then put the phone safely in a bar bag and forget it until I end the ride and then save the data to the mapmyride website.
Thats about it for the iPhone as the battery lasts me only a few hours, after that taking photos or making calls becomes dodgy.

I have come to the conclusion that smart phones are wonderful devices and I coudnt live without mine, but with battery life being as it is, I will use other dedicated devices such as garmin gps and not get too caught up trying to use a one stop solution.

[E-wan]

Now all that is well and good but my enthusiasm has to be tempered when it comes to using the phone on my bike. Firstly, my phone is essentially a rather fragile thing. It is not built for a life mounted on a set of bars, however lovingly embraced by a holding device.

I have an Xperia go wich seems durable enough in a little rubber cover doesn't mind being dropped and is waterproof.
http://www.sonymobile.com/global-en/products/phones/xperia-go/

I'm not to keen on havign anything on the bars to look at but its small enough to fit in the brest pocket of my bike jacket.

This app works quite well for GPS tracking and doesn't use too much battery if you adjust the interval for how often it updates.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.greenalp.RealtimeTracker&hl=en

Ewan

[E-wan]

At the moment I am using my iPhone with the mapmyride app, I turn it on at the start of the ride and then switch the phone screen off, I then put the phone safely in a bar bag and forget it until I end the ride and then save the data to the mapmyride website.
Thats about it for the iPhone as the battery lasts me only a few hours,

I have found that there is more flexibility offered by some of the Andriod apps than ios apps which allows the battery to last longer when using the GPS. Also, when charging the iphone requires a higher more constant currant than android phones (therefore if trying to charge a phone from a dynamo or solar panel an androide phone will probabley be easier to charge). I find that my Xperia go seems to last a bit better than some other phones, perhaps because the screen is small, but I find it big enough for what I need.

Ewan

[Andre Jute]

...when charging the iphone requires a higher more constant currant than android phones (therefore if trying to charge a phone from a dynamo or solar panel an androide phone will probabley be easier to charge).

While it is true that the iPhone 4S drains the battery with amazing rapidity, it also charges with amazing rapidity, in fact hugely faster than it discharges. If you want to see this dichotomy in practice, plug a much discharged 4S into your Mac (rather than the wallwart), carry on using the phone, and watch the charge shooting up nonetheless.

I would anyway not attempt to charge an iPhone directly from any of the USB ports provided by the various on-bike charging solutions. The superior way to handle the iPhone's demands is to charge a buffer battery and let the iPhone draw from that. Conveniently, many of the extension batteries available for the iPhone are also protective cases for the phone.

Andre Jute

[Pavel]

The degree with which an iPhone discharges is based to a strong degree on how much hunting it has to do for a signal.  If you are in a good reception area it will last about twice as long as if it is always switching and looking.  Bluetooth also has a great say on the matter, I only turn mine on when absolutely necessary.

I can ride all day long with the iPhone with the setup I have.  We used a biologic recharge battery which was fed by our dynohubs and six hours of slow riding was fine to keep the system in equilibrium and all devices charged (the iPhones and the garmin gps's). 

This is a link to the device:
http://www.thinkbiologic.com/products/reecharge-power-pack

The nice things about the biologic is that it can be taken off in three seconds and plugged into the wall for a charge.  One charge is good for about 3 full charges on the iPhone.  Another things that is nice is that it evens out the trickle from the dyno ... and allows the phones to charge.  As many know ... charging a smart phone can be a real headache.  The downsides were few, but there are a few rough edges.  One was that I could not see the red led that indicates that the switch on the recharge is set to take a charge in daylight.  The push of the switch does not indicate this neither, so it is a bit of a pain.  I wish they woud switch to rocker switches so that one could know with certainty the settings on the discharge and charge controls.  Secondly, I used the iPhone sparingly becasause of two factors.  One was that I neglected to bring any mount that was water resistant.  I only had the phone is a cradle and sometimes worried that I would eventually forget it during one of our every day afternoon downpours.  No such concerns with the garmin, of course, and so the garmin was used with the battery most of the time. The gamins were the source of our largest equipment headaches, but despite that they were invaluable as we always had a gps signal, while the cel service was a 60% of the time affair.

The Re-charge case: I see this in my future.
http://www.thinkbiologic.com/products/reecharge-case-iphone

I do plan to change from using garmin gps's in the future.  I want to keep the recharge for the marvelous convenience of being able to charge it in a plug. The recharge case however is very tempting as it has a battery inside, though not with as high a capacity, and is water-resistant.  I think I will go that route and keep the recharge battery that I have in the bag, for when it can come in handy. 

Since I don't need the phone except for emergencies and to tether to my laptop for web surfing in the wild I will likely retire it to the front bar bag and buy a iPod Touch for map duties.  There is a product that looks like a miniature hockey puck which can be mounted on the bike or the top of the bags, and it sends a gps signal to the i device, keeping the whole setup as effective as my garmin but much nicer as far as mapping is concerned, imho. That's the plan anyhow.  I'm sure something will go wrong with it! 

When I  find the link for that little gps receiver, I will put it up.