A new use for an old Cell Phone

This week, while sitting on at my bench I glanced over and noticed the stack of cell phone boxes accumulating on the shelf overhead. With each plan, always comes a new phone upgrade and the latest model, and as a result I now have several generations of spares. One spare works....but I have 3. This got me thinking...which can be dangerous. My former stream camera bit it last season, and it needs replaced. As a result, I find myself often worried on the water to use my cell for pics since one slip and the phone is toast. But what if I set up an older disconnected Samsung Galaxy strictly as a fishing camera? It takes very good pics as a rule, and if it's lost....oh well.

I now have a Galaxy SII set up with nothing but a camera and photo folder icon in my pack. Since it's an older model, I was able to find a solid gripping waterproof case for it dirt cheap on EBAY. Taking pics as a test around the yard both holding things and scenery...the pics looked great and download easy. As I knew they did.

Seems to be a perfect fit for something that most of us stack up and forget about?

Anybody else do the same?

Ralph

I did the same thing, but with cameras. I have an older Kodak Easy Share that I replaced with a little better Nikon. The Kodak became my fishing camera. It fits in my vest and in the boat rides in a heavy duty zip-lock bag. I have it IF I ever catch a fish worthy of having its picture taken, and if it should go for a swim, none the loss.

This is a great idea. I would never have come up with this, in a hundred years. I also have been carrying an old camera, but it is bulkier and requires more buttons to utilize. And I just happen to have an old phone that still works.

Thanks,
steve

I keep one in the truck. we got my dad one of those "pay as you go, burner phones" . he rarely used it and when the plan ran out I grabbed the phone and now just keep the battery charged for the camera.

Along similar lines, I needed to replace my dedicated mp3 player. A certain electronics store had a great deal on a pre-paid phone for Black Friday, similar price to what I paid for my previous mp3 player bought several years ago, so I bought it with the intention of just using it as an mp3 player. Works well for that, side benefit is that it can function as a camera and gps, too. Very happy with my decision. The only real downside is that it keeps going through the activation process every time you turn it on, because I have not activated it.

The cell phones we throw away are amazingly capable devices.

Being a bit of a cheapskate, I have not yet gotten a smartphone for myself and my only phone is a flip-phone provided by my company. But I do keep my wife happy with smartphones and she recently got her second one for her birthday in October. I asked her if I could have her old one and she said, "What for?"

I installed a software app called AlpineQuest, which lets me download maps for offline use (which is mandatory if the service agreement is expired). I use a software program called Mobile Atlas Creator (MOBAC) to download topographic maps from USGS and convert them to AlpineQuest format. There are perhaps dozens of other offline mapping programs available to both Apple and Android products, at varying costs; I am not endorsing any specific product, nor am I affiliated with any.

So with the built-in mp3 player and camera, I have an offline mapping tool for chasing blue lines, a device for listening to the latest Fly-Fishing podcast, and a camera to take pictures of fish and scenery, all without a monthly payment. I suspect I could also make emergency phone (911) calls with it too, except that most places I go fishing have no cell service.

I even modded the phone to send GPS coordinates to my Kindle Fire so for driving I can have a 7" color moving map, a capability the Kindle Fire was never intended to be capable of.

...and you can play solitaire to rest a pool.
Hey. Beats smoking.