Iphone apps for motorcycling

rolly · Post by **rolly** » Tue Dec 07, 2010 7:43 am

Good idea. I've wondered what kind of apps I might find useful in my moto-life. I have nothing to add though, I've used the standard Maps app and Safari for navigating, and that's it, no third party software.

I have a bonus question though: For those who have mated your phone with your motorcycle, is there anything you find missing? Any need that isn't served, or just isn't served very well by the apps on offer?

Rench · Post by **Rench** » Tue Dec 07, 2010 5:58 pm

Bwahahaha!!!!

I wouldn't have seen it in Geek Forum, and there was a Tron commercial on as I read it. HA!!

Ahem. That being said, I mostly just abuse the shit out of the google maps app. I've tried using Team GPS, cause I thought it would be nifty to track others/be tracked. It wasn't, so fuggit.

I've got a Dyno program I like to use on the Scooter, but that's about it. I'll have to check the stuff you mentioned. And you have a text incoming.

-Rench

calamari kid · Post by **calamari kid** » Tue Dec 07, 2010 7:43 pm

Funny you bring this up. I've been kicking around the idea of writing a SPOT type app for my android phone. http://www.findmespot.com/en/index.php?cid=101 Something for a little piece of mind for myself and the wife when I head out on a ride.

rolly · Post by **rolly** » Fri Dec 17, 2010 11:38 am

Ok, here's one that has real potential to be useful. Also: Holy shit, it's the future!

<object width="640" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/h2OfQdYrHRs?fs ... ram><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/h2OfQdYrHRs?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="640" height="385"></embed></object>

Here is a straight review of Word Lens on your favourite tech website, Ars Technica.

roadmissile · Post by **roadmissile** » Fri Dec 17, 2010 1:13 pm

Rolly, that is easily the coolest app I think I've seen.

Want.

/RM

Whiskeywrist · Post by **Whiskeywrist** » Fri Dec 17, 2010 6:21 pm

I went and sprung for the Spanish to English upgrade for word lens, and it's worth it for the entertainment value alone!

The few snippets of Spanish around my house are mostly on food labels, and watching them scramble with nonsense is priceless!

"Toast based"
"Guinea pig"
"swimming in vomit"
and
"suffer stainless steel cobra"

are just the handful I was able to pull from a bag of corn chips!

I can't vouch for it as a practical tool, but it's nice to have as back up, and can reliably crack me up, if nothing else!

Whiskeywrist · Post by **Whiskeywrist** » Fri Dec 17, 2010 6:34 pm

"Nutrition Ceasefire"

"Preparation of Morons"

"Adjustable Anus"

Hell, if nothing else, it's a band name generator!

rolly · Post by **rolly** » Fri Dec 17, 2010 8:35 pm

Ah, matches!

Whiskeywrist wrote:"Nutrition Ceasefire"

"Preparation of Morons"

"Adjustable Anus"

Totally buying this now.

MoraleHazard · Post by **MoraleHazard** » Sat Dec 18, 2010 9:01 am

roadmissile wrote:Rolly, that is easily the coolest app I think I've seen.

Want.

/RM

+1 there. Forgive my ludditeness, but what's "Jailbreak only"?

rolly · Post by **rolly** » Sat Dec 18, 2010 9:27 am

MoraleHazard wrote:
roadmissile wrote:Rolly, that is easily the coolest app I think I've seen.

Want.

/RM
+1 there. Forgive my ludditeness, but what's "Jailbreak only"?

Normally an iPhone can only have apps from the Apple App Store (including free ones), and Apple places some restrictions on what kind of things they will allow in the store. Jailbreaking is a process that allows one to install apps from other sources, such as apps that contravene Apple guidelines or pirated software.

MATPOC · Post by **MATPOC** » Sat Dec 18, 2010 10:54 am

Normally an iPhone can only have apps from the Apple App Store (including free ones), and Apple places some restrictions on what kind of things they will allow in the store.

[pulls the pin]

That's why I use Android: BEST THING EVER!

Fuck Apple!

[run and hide]

seriously though, I'm on my 5th smart phone, Blackberry, than two Windows based HTC's and at some point I was ready to pull the pin on iPhone but wasn't entirely happy with my iPod touch interface so I got a G1.
Granted in the end it was a bit sluggish but the couple years I had it I've seen same folk get iPhone 2, than 3, than 3GS while my android would receive yet another free upgrade and have all the features of the current iPhone. Last summer on the way back from VT it fell out of tank bag at 60+ mph, landed face down and skidded for a while, Pattio spotted it and picked it up while I had no idea why he suddenly pulled over. Once I saw the phone in his hand I know it was time for another one, but what? it works? screen only had one small scratch on it! Thanks to a natural curve of the device while it was skidding face down only the outer edges where touching the pavement. There was no protective case of any kind!

Few month ago I decided to treat myself to a new phone and when G2 came out I bought one, my only complaint with is is that keyboard has different layout than G1 and rather than learning new keyboard I've been using on screen touch keys and the new Swype Type feature which is simply amazing!!

Android devices seem to go that one extra step to make them user friendly and leave some freedom in what you can run for software, hope this one treats me as well as the last one, so far it's been great, not likely that I'll be looking at an iPhone anytime soon.

As far as the apps, Google makes some awesome stuff, Google Goggles, Google Earth etc and it's always free, I'm convinced that if Apple was the only game in town their apps would all still be $9.99 like in the early days. It's competition with Android that made them drop the prices.

[/rant]

rolly · Post by **rolly** » Sat Dec 18, 2010 11:22 am

MATPOC wrote:their apps would all still be $9.99 like in the early days. It's competition with Android that made them drop the prices.

This doesn't jibe with my recollections at all, and a quick Google suggests that most apps were priced at under two dollars before Android launched. It's competition with the other 999,999 apps in the store that exerts the strongest downward price pressure.

But let's PLEASE not let this degenerate in to another my phone is better than your phone/my operating system is more leet than your OS/my motorcycle is more patriotic than your piece of shit/my dad is tougher than your dad shit-flinging match. Let's talk about good apps for mototerrorism. Android apps welcome, I'm sure.

MATPOC · Post by **MATPOC** » Sat Dec 18, 2010 11:43 am

Google makes apps for both Android and Apple, but my recollection of early iPhone days was that everything was $9.99, perhaps it was $1.99, never the less, you had to buy new iPhone to get new features while Google updates their OS for free, that's all. I'm sure in the end we end up paying for it one way or another but Google seems more generous to me than Apple.

I want to get map software that will store maps on my phone so I'm not dependent on network connection while navigating, my current Nav is pretty good, it downloads the entire route in to the memory so it only needs GPS signal to finish the route once it's set but if you want to detour in no service area you SOL!

Best accessory for my smart phone so far was Scala G4 headset, used it on the way to Doom this year, it gently interrupted music that was streaming from my smart phone to let me know about turns coming up, on the way back I was listening to FM radio with same turn by turn direction from my phones Navigation.

Whiskeywrist · Post by **Whiskeywrist** » Sat Dec 18, 2010 4:45 pm

Further down the rabbit hole of Word Lens:

It will try to "translate' objects in my environment that don't have a single fragment o type data.

My paper towel roll registers as "Libyans", XBOX 360 as "Wiccans", and my headphones are either "Honda" or "Eczema".

It's like "They Live" as rendered by a schizophrenic Furby.

roadmissile · Post by **roadmissile** » Sun Dec 19, 2010 3:25 am

Whiskeywrist wrote:My paper towel roll registers as "Libyans"

Does your paper towel roll resemble a vw mini bus?

/RM

piccini9 · Post by **piccini9** » Sun Dec 19, 2010 4:19 am

But let's PLEASE not let this degenerate in to another my phone is better than your phone/my operating system is more leet than your OS/my motorcycle is more patriotic than your piece of shit/my dad is tougher than your dad shit-flinging match.

Okay, but is it a café racer?

Pattio · Post by **Pattio** » Sun Dec 19, 2010 9:05 am

I have a gut instinct that my droid has the power to be a far more useful device than it is. I think the real battle right now is more in the user-interface and the apps than by what the smartphones can do. Ya'd think there would be a standout 'road trip' app out there that could tie the many functionalities together, but as this conversation shows, its still up to each of us as users to stitch up a quilt of usefulness out of a bunch of ok apps.

rolly · Post by **rolly** » Sun Dec 19, 2010 10:28 am

MATPOC wrote: I want to get map software that will store maps on my phone so I'm not dependent on network connection while navigating, my current Nav is pretty good, it downloads the entire route in to the memory so it only needs GPS signal to finish the route once it's set but if you want to detour in no service area you SOL!

Yeah, I should look for something like that too. Not only is network availability not something you want to rely on, but data roaming charges are in-fucking-sane!

Pattio wrote:IYa'd think there would be a standout 'road trip' app out there that could tie the many functionalities together, but as this conversation shows, its still up to each of us as users to stitch up a quilt of usefulness out of a bunch of ok apps.

Aside from discovering cool new apps, another reason this thread is so interesting to me and why I asked what kind of hypothetical apps people wish for is that we might actually be able to do something about it. Craft the perfect UTMC app. We have the technology.

MATPOC · Post by **MATPOC** » Sun Dec 19, 2010 11:10 am

rolly wrote:
MATPOC wrote: I want to get map software that will store maps on my phone so I'm not dependent on network connection while navigating, my current Nav is pretty good, it downloads the entire route in to the memory so it only needs GPS signal to finish the route once it's set but if you want to detour in no service area you SOL!
Yeah, I should look for something like that too. Not only is network availability not something you want to rely on, but data roaming charges are in-fucking-sane!

I think Rev mentioned some phone based navi that he has in the OP, my friend who travels every day for work buys a new app every time he switches phones, comes on a small SD type card and I assume it's cheap enough since he bough it few times, unless it's just the upgrade fee he pays? I should ask...

I have no roaming charges on my phone, so I thought, over the weekend my mom left on a Caribbean cruise and I called t-mobile to find out what does it cost to use it on the boat: $5.99/min plus $15/mb for data! Told her to keep the phone off till she gets on land.

rolly wrote:
Pattio wrote:IYa'd think there would be a standout 'road trip' app out there that could tie the many functionalities together, but as this conversation shows, its still up to each of us as users to stitch up a quilt of usefulness out of a bunch of ok apps.
Aside from discovering cool new apps, another reason this thread is so interesting to me and why I asked what kind of hypothetical apps people wish for is that we might actually be able to do something about it. Craft the perfect UTMC app. We have the technology.

I think that's the beauty of android, any good developer can make an app, will be a difficult task to cater to a wide variety of riders and activities like camping, off road, maintenance minders, route planning... too bulky, too many things to go wrong if you tie it all together, I think smart phone is a perfect vessel to combine multiple small apps in one device and deploy them individually based on user.

rolly · Post by **rolly** » Sun Dec 19, 2010 12:00 pm

MATPOC wrote: I think that's the beauty of android, any good developer can make an app, will be a difficult task to cater to a wide variety of riders and activities like camping, off road, maintenance minders, route planning... too bulky, too many things to go wrong if you tie it all together, I think smart phone is a perfect vessel to combine multiple small apps in one device and deploy them individually based on user.

Generally I too am a proponent of the Do One Thing Well school of software design, but occasionally there are synergies that are greater than the sum of their parts. It's really the "wouldn't it be great if____?" kind of things that I'm curious about, rather than one app to replace them all.

Hmm… maybe an navigation aid app that warns you of dry counties, so you don't find out after you've set up camp that you're in a town with no cheer.

rolly · Post by **rolly** » Sun Dec 19, 2010 4:38 pm

Rev wrote:
rolly wrote: Hmm… maybe an navigation aid app that warns you of dry counties, so you don't find out after you've set up camp that you're in a town with no cheer.
You, sir, are a genius.

I do have some apps that do it all-- note-taking, twittering, mapping, plotting, pictures, etc. etc. etc., but it's easier to just use the different apps on the phone.

Edit: Liquor Store Locator.

Now who's the fucking genuis?

Second edit:
This guy is a genius.
http://www.boozehoundapp.com/

Canada only, eh. I'm actually a little surprised that there are so few Canadian beer store/liquor store locator apps considering how alcohol sales tend to be over-regulated up here. Something like that app covering the states could be handy. I found one for Android called Liquor Run, but I don't see one for iPhone. Opportunity? Creating the app itself should be relatively simple but getting comprehensive and reliable data would be another matter.

Data about dry counties conversely is very easy to come by, and there's a whole lot less of it. I should get on that.

MATPOC · Post by **MATPOC** » Sun Dec 19, 2010 5:54 pm

beware of the free apps

"The Smurfs' Village," a game for the iPhone and other Apple gadgets, was released a month ago and quickly became the highest-grossing application in the iTunes store. Yet it's free to download.

http://www.newsday.com/business/the-smu ... -1.2529280

rolly · Post by **rolly** » Tue Dec 21, 2010 5:09 pm

Rev wrote:A pdf reader (Right now I'm using "Docs." I keep my clymer manuals on there as well).

Occurs to me that I have my bike's factory shop manual in pdf. I'll have to put that on there.

A related idea I just had though would be a Help app or wizard for motorcycles. More basic than a shop manual, it could cover simple diagnostic and roadside repair topics in an interactive format, and by using animation could make some unfamiliar procedures clearer to a novice wrench than still pictures in a book.

MATPOC · Post by **MATPOC** » Tue Dec 21, 2010 8:36 pm

I think a smart phone with internet access can be a great troubleshooting tool by itself. I was reading on another forum the other day, this guy was stuck on LA freeway (on the shoulder I hope) posting on the forum looking for advice, in less than an hour he had several forum member reply with troubleshooting advice, don't think he had any tools so in the end tow truck picked him up.

Aggroton · Post by **Aggroton** » Wed Dec 22, 2010 9:02 am

Thank you! I now have my service manual on my Crackberry.
I dont know why I didnt think of that earlier.

Rabbit_Fighter · Post by **Rabbit_Fighter** » Wed Dec 22, 2010 10:23 am

calamari kid wrote:Funny you bring this up. I've been kicking around the idea of writing a SPOT type app for my android phone. http://www.findmespot.com/en/index.php?cid=101 Something for a little piece of mind for myself and the wife when I head out on a ride.

The beauty of Spot is that it is satellite based, so it works when you are out of range. If I'm in cell range, chances are pretty good that someone will come across the pavement stain that was once me (or I can just call).

Spot isn't perfect, but it is really nice and gives me (and my wife) a lot of piece of mind.

If you just want an automated "I'm OK", all you are saying is that the phone is still working, and moving if it gives GPS coordinates. Again, once you get out of cell coverage (which is very easy if you are actually on a ride worth carrying a Spot), it might make your wife worry more than put her at ease.
-----

Regarding iPhone vs Android . . I have to admit I really hate Apple's closed policy. They say it is to keep a consistent experience, which certainly has some truth, but it is also so they can control how people use their devices. Aside from that, the iPhone is a million times easier to use than any Android phone I've played with, plus the hardware is top notch.

My personal fave for mobile operating systems is WebOS from Palm. Unfortunately, the hardware sucks, and the low adoption rate keeps app development a bit low. Otherwise, I think has a very slick interface, the best multitasking ability and is totally open (there is no such thing as "jailbreaking").

calamari kid · Post by **calamari kid** » Wed Dec 22, 2010 7:50 pm

Rabbit_Fighter wrote:
calamari kid wrote:Funny you bring this up. I've been kicking around the idea of writing a SPOT type app for my android phone. http://www.findmespot.com/en/index.php?cid=101 Something for a little piece of mind for myself and the wife when I head out on a ride.
The beauty of Spot is that it is satellite based, so it works when you are out of range. If I'm in cell range, chances are pretty good that someone will come across the pavement stain that was once me (or I can just call).

Spot isn't perfect, but it is really nice and gives me (and my wife) a lot of piece of mind.

If you just want an automated "I'm OK", all you are saying is that the phone is still working, and moving if it gives GPS coordinates. Again, once you get out of cell coverage (which is very easy if you are actually on a ride worth carrying a Spot), it might make your wife worry more than put her at ease.
-----

Regarding iPhone vs Android . . I have to admit I really hate Apple's closed policy. They say it is to keep a consistent experience, which certainly has some truth, but it is also so they can control how people use their devices. Aside from that, the iPhone is a million times easier to use than any Android phone I've played with, plus the hardware is top notch.

My personal fave for mobile operating systems is WebOS from Palm. Unfortunately, the hardware sucks, and the low adoption rate keeps app development a bit low. Otherwise, I think has a very slick interface, the best multitasking ability and is totally open (there is no such thing as "jailbreaking").

Yeah, it'd definitely be a different animal given the hardware limitations. I'm just not willing to drop the cash for a Spot, but I'd like to have similar functionality where possible. One of the features I'm wanting to include is an automated message in the event the user is incapacitated. I'm thinking the app monitors your movement via gps and if you stop moving for x amount of time and don't respond to the "are you ok" prompt from the app it kicks off a text with your coordinates to a user created list of numbers. If you simply disappear off the cell network another person can look up your last reported location via a web page.

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Iphone apps for motorcycling

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