Strava on android phones

shanye

I well be joining the 21st century and getting a android phone in the next few days and will be interested in downloading the Strava app on it. now it will be a pay as you go one no big frills.
Question to all : Which phone would you recommend taking in the battery life, bike mounts ect. I have no data allowance at the moment on the phone I using now Will Strava need a data allowance while recording a ride? Does the phones gps function use any internet connection or is it like my sat navs its free?.

nilhg

AFAIK Strava's data usage will be small in real terms and the GPS signal is free so no cost there but really if you're getting a decent smart phone you need at least 1GB/month data allowance built in to your plan, without it there is no much use buying the phone.

check_six

The 'free-to-use' GPS does most of the work. Only the upload of the completed ride uses any amount of data allowance. The other bits like maps and stuff in the program will use a bit of data allowance, but very little like a browser. You can get data managers for your phone which will tell you what amount of data each program on your phone uses. "My Data Manager" is one.

Seve OB

strava is great but you'll get pissed off with it in a while on the phone.

better off with a garmin and upload to strava on web

ht9zni1gs28crp

The above users have it all covered, but I will add, avoid the thought of using it with a bike mount. Too much distraction even with the new features Strava has applied.

I like the whole switch on, back pocket and forget mode!

Big Strava convert here, great way of keeping a record of your stats. Loads of other interesting add on apps to supplement Strava too like Veloviewer and total map ride.

ht9zni1gs28crp

stevieob wrote: »

strava is great but you'll get pissed off with it in a while on the phone.

better off with a garmin and upload to strava on web

Would be interesting to hear what annoyed you with the Phone version compared to a Garmin or similar?

ozzy jr

stevieob wrote: »

strava is great but you'll get pissed off with it in a while on the phone.

This is true. I recently joined the smart phone gang and tried Strava. It's very good but eats the battery and made my phone a nightmare to use while using it. It takes forever to do anything while using it, so I don't bother with it now.

ht9zni1gs28crp

ozzy jr wrote: »

This is true. I recently joined the smart phone gang and tried Strava. It's very good but eats the battery and made my phone a nightmare to use while using it. It takes forever to do anything while using it, so I don't bother with it now.

How much do you actually use your phone whilst out cycling????? :eek::eek:

Edit; Oh and battery life on my Samsung S3 is about 20% for a 3 hour ride

ford2600

ozzy jr wrote: »

This is true. I recently joined the smart phone gang and tried Strava. It's very good but eats the battery and made my phone a nightmare to use while using it. It takes forever to do anything while using it, so I don't bother with it now.

Dream to use on Samsung s3.
No need for data at all while recording. Just upload at finish.
Battery live not an issue. Have done 200km with plenty battery to spare

Morrisseeee

I tried in on a HTC Desire S and on the Samsung S3 mini and both were terrible.
I currently use sportstracker on an old Nokia and then upload, not sure why the other 2 were so bad, my thinking was that it was down to the sportstracker app letting me choose the time interval for recording, ie. 2 or 5secs (I think).

ht9zni1gs28crp

To be fair I upgraded to the Samsung from a HTC Desire S and it was like stepping out of a Mondeo into a Jaguar. The HTC GPS receivers are notoriously bad....

darkvalley

nilhg wrote: »

AFAIK Strava's data usage will be small in real terms and the GPS signal is free so no cost there but really if you're getting a decent smart phone you need at least 1GB/month data allowance built in to your plan, without it there is no much use buying the phone.

Agree with this.
One other thing is strava on my phone is not what you would call exact. I have a route i use for a spin and I get a different distance and elevation for every single run. Minimum distance recorded is 28km and maximum is 30.9 (I like the 30.9km distance best!!) for the exact same loop. Elevation has been anything between 68m and 255m on this loop. It may be the phone that is not up to the task. It is a HTC desire x.
Longest I have run strava for is 2.5 hours and it only used about a quarter of the battery for this. This was with the screen turned off.
I did, during the good weather, think to myself wouldn't it be handy to have phone on handlebars to keep track of how I was going on the ride. So credit card in hand I hit the internet and purchased a holder. It arrived yesterday and having fitted it I took to the road to see how I would get on, you know the sort of thing, would I look or feel more tour de francey!!
About 2km out the road it started to rain and since the sun was shining when I ordered it I did not consider the whole waterproof issue. (big crack across screen so definitely not waterproof) I can be a right eegit sometimes!!

ozzy jr

Amari Old Newscast wrote: »

How much do you actually use your phone whilst out cycling????? :eek::eek:

I don't use it if possible. I needed to make a call on one of my rides and using Strava made it almost impossible to make the call. It's like the phone freezes. Even ending the cycle can take 30 minutes!

Morrisseeee wrote: »

I tried in on a HTC Desire S and on the Samsung S3 mini and both were terrible.

Mine is a HTC Desire as well.

Darkglasses

I can easily get 12-15 hours of strava recording from a single charge on my Sony Xperia tipo. Can easily make calls and text while it's on too. Uploading takes about a minute and a half on my WiFi at home.

laraghrider

ozzy jr wrote: »

I don't use it if possible. I needed to make a call on one of my rides and using Strava made it almost impossible to make the call. It's like the phone freezes. Even ending the cycle can take 30 minutes!
Mine is a HTC Desire as well.

You talk on the phone while out on a ride?

Regarding the battery I've found it very good battery wise on a iphone 5 so no issues with it. Actually found it a lot easier on the battery than mmr.

ht9zni1gs28crp

ozzy jr wrote: »

I don't use it if possible. I needed to make a call on one of my rides and using Strava made it almost impossible to make the call. It's like the phone freezes. Even ending the cycle can take 30 minutes!



Mine is a HTC Desire as well.

Yes, the HTC downfall is its GPS and how it handles it or lack of...bumming Strava because of it is like saying the Hare in Greyhound racing is too fast....;)

Seve OB

Well maybe my issues were with HTC.. I have had it on both Desire and Sensation. Been a while now since I used it, but I did have a bike mount for it.

battery was poor. not necessiraly strava, but you had to make sure all things like wifi, bluetooth and any other apps were turned off. i generally got a 4 hour cycle out of it, but if you were taking calls or surfing the web (On a tea break) you would drain it even quicker.

gps was shoddy. generally worked fine, but since i moved to Garmin Edge 500, massive difference, and now much more noticeable how bad strava was with the GPS. not something you want if you are giving it your all on a segment for it not to count becauuse your phone tracked you going slightly differnt course!

the edge gives you everything and sooo much more than the strava app so imho, well worth it

goose06

Morrisseeee wrote: »

I tried in on a HTC Desire S and on the Samsung S3 mini and both were terrible.
I currently use sportstracker on an old Nokia and then upload, not sure why the other 2 were so bad, my thinking was that it was down to the sportstracker app letting me choose the time interval for recording, ie. 2 or 5secs (I think).

I had it running on a Desire S and did plenty of 100K spins without battery issues. What else is running on it?

JOHN_70

I've a fairly low-spec Samsung Galaxy Ace phone and I have been surprised at how well it works with Strava. I recently did a 200km Audax with it in my Jersey pocket and there was still loads of battery life left at the end. I have a really basic (and cheap) waterproof case that I bought in an Army surplus place that is just large enough to hold the phone - touch screen works fine through the case so no issues with waterproofing.

I don't have a cycling specific Garmin device to compare it to as I'd normally use a Garmin Forerunner 305 which is worn on the wrist and is more aimed at runners. The best thing about the phone is (as somebody mentioned above) that it gets turned on, put in jersey pocket and forgotten about until the end of the spin. It seems to acquire the satellites quicker than the Forerunner as well and battery life is better.

Morrisseeee

goose06 wrote: »

I had it running on a Desire S and did plenty of 100K spins without battery issues. What else is running on it?

Sorry about confusion, I wasn't talking about battery life, I was talking about the actual trace of the route I did, it was terrible on both phones ! It looked like it was taking a recording every minute or more, ie. way outta whack.
/was I doing something wrong?!

RossieMan

i've a HTC desire myself and its a dream using strava.

I do have it rooted though, so that might be the difference.

inc21

ozzy jr wrote: »

This is true. I recently joined the smart phone gang and tried Strava. It's very good but eats the battery and made my phone a nightmare to use while using it. It takes forever to do anything while using it, so I don't bother with it now.

buy better phone.

ht9zni1gs28crp

Morrisseeee wrote: »

Sorry about confusion, I wasn't talking about battery life, I was talking about the actual trace of the route I did, it was terrible on both phones ! It looked like it was taking a recording every minute or more, ie. way outta whack.
/was I doing something wrong?!

Once again....

The HTC's are notorious for their faulty GPS units....

goose06

Amari Old Newscast wrote: »

Once again....

The HTC's are notorious for their faulty GPS units....

I think you can say that about all mobile GPS devices just not as accurate as a dedicated GPS unit but for the vast majority of people it's probably accurate enough for them.

ht9zni1gs28crp

goose06 wrote: »

I think you can say that about all mobile GPS devices just not as accurate as a dedicated GPS unit but for the vast majority of people it's probably accurate enough for them.

Accuracy is one thing but from experience and trying to run GPS apps on my old HTC and struggled, I did a lot of research. Apparently there was a known issue with the GPS in HTC's. They continued to flog them on the premise they would swap with a known good unit for a faulty one if the customer complained.

Not questioning accuracy of mobile GPS units.....

goose06

Amari Old Newscast wrote: »

Accuracy is one thing but from experience and trying to run GPS apps on my old HTC and struggled, I did a lot of research. Apparently there was a known issue with the GPS in HTC's. They continued to flog them on the premise they would swap with a known good unit for a faulty one if the customer complained.

Not questioning accuracy of mobile GPS units.....

Having owned a good few different mobile devices I found that most of them at various stages on a longer spin would drift along side of the roads and to be fair I've seen similar on car units as well so it's probably down to the commercial gps units themselves. Saying that there are some sites out there that will repair your file for.

youwhoglue

I use the HTC One X in the back pocket. It's been fantastic. I was expecting huge battery usage(on a phone that has a bad rep for usage) but it's great.

I've a few routes that I pay attention to the elevation on and they are never out by more than a metre.

The files are very small so very little data use. But for a smart phone anyways you'll need a gig per month minimum. You can upload on wifi at home if you wish...