Hello, after reading about it on here I got myself a new fangled Nokia 5800 phone and an Ortleib case to put it in (the Safe-It small/phone one). The phone is great so thanks to everyone who posted so much good info about it. Trouble was that the case made the keyguard button impossible to use. After quite a bit of searching and unsuccessful ovi store transactions (seriously, nokia need to work on that site!) I downloaded the solution here:
http://thinkchange.cn/products/index/nunlock
Now I can unlock the phone with a button press (any one of the three front ones) and a screen swipe) and when I'm finished it locks itself after a certain time (10sec in my case). Cost was £3ish (cheaper than the ovi site, which didn't work anyway).
Sorry I am not completely up on this. I know you can ignore the slide switch in the settings by leaving the screen permanently on. One of Our biggest concerns with the phone is battery life so we do not want to do that. This software puts an electronic slide switch on the touch screen as described by Euan. We tried a sandwich bag but we felt it was really important to be able to use it in heavy rain, our second concern not waterproof, and wanted it attached to a cord, our third concern relatively vulnerable to damage. If a sandwich bag works for you Hike your Own hike.
Does anyone know what settings would stop large amounts of energy use.For example Can the button vibration thing be switched off, and does it make a big difference? We would like the GPS always on but that uses a battery a day on our existing settings.
I think that using the GPS will use power no matter what, though I have found battery life using ViewRanger to be very good. I have bought three spare batteries - very cheap and light, but do not expect to use them all. They were bought for times when I might want to use the thing for interest/recording etc over several days without access to power.
Re cases, I find those sold by Decathlon are really good and cheap, better than other well known makes... Two sorts, peanuts.
Derek, yes the button vibration can be switched off:
Press the white menu button, select "Settings", select "Personal", select "Profiles", select "General" (or whatever profile you normally use), select "Personalise", select "Touch Screen Vibration", select "Off". Press the red button to get back to the front page.
For a selection of tips for conserving battery life try here.
Must admit I haven't fully investigated the slide-switch setting, and didn't realise that switching it off meant that the screen was permanently on. I never have my phone switched on when I'm on the hill anyway; it's for emergencies only (and occasionally proving to myself that I am where I think I am!)
Thank you Llywelyn that link looks very useful. I do not KNOW what the slide switch really does. Thank you everyone. We already have 2 spares but we are going to Morocco for getting on 3 weeks. wild camping throughout. A phone without GPS would be fine for that long as we dont phone often. but MP3 player, GPS and camera too!!!
Another thread recommended a power monkey. The skies are usually clear in Morocco. Then our next trip will probably be deepest darkest Scotland.
Power monkies are quite good in their abilty to charge off anything, but several batteries will be the best/lightest option - certainly more compact. When I was there, I managed to get drivers of taxis, or a hostel we stayed in one or two nights, to charge the phone - Nokias are common there, so most have a charger.
