Need New Smartphone: Satellite Application

[Anole]

Transfer your contacts & pictures

Down here, all Radio Shack stores have a little box that'll copy info between cell phone brands, or back it up to an SD memory card.
Your Best Buy probably has a similar device.

 

[cyberham]

My old smartphone is a brick (piece of broken junk). There isn't any magic box to copy from that. I only have a Blackberry .bbb backup file that stands between me and oblivion (needing to manually re-enter all contacts into the new phone).

I am now floundering about with my new Galaxy toy. I'm afraid it may ring. I have idea how to answer it...

 

[Panavision]

Norsat makes a nice sat viewer. And it's free. I searched the AppStore to find it for my iPhone.

 

[cyberham]

I found that Norsat app. Its printing on the display is a little small for my eyes. But I never realized how many sat finder apps there are and how easy they are to quickly download and try. I've already downloaded 5 of them. I'm seeing satellites all over the roof of my room. I need daylight so I can see some in the sky. I'm getting the hang of this black magic device.

 

[Anole]

Preserve your contact list

Tip from the one Radio Shack manager who knows things:
- Fire up the computer software: Blackberry Desktop Manager.
- load your backup database file
- tell it to export in Outlook format
- should be able to get that into your Android.
He didn't expand on the matter, but if you need more info, I'm sure a search will come up with a bunch of detailed answers and videos.
.

 

[Tron]

I am using a S3 to surf SatelliteGuys and to type this message. Got it on Black Friday for a buck (luckily, my contract was up for renewal, which I would have done anyway). I highly recommend it or the new S4, they are great devices.

As Anole mentioned, be sure to purchase a protective case. I like the Otter Defender, it has saved my phone several times.

 

[cyberham]

Tip from the one Radio Shack manager...

Here's a tip you can give back that I discovered. Samsung provides free utility software on their website that totally handles importing contacts and calendar content from several other brands of smartphone into their Samsung smartphones. Once discovered, I had my contacts imported smoothly into my phone. I now know how to answer the phone too. Business done, I then had lots of time to play with satellite augmented reality apps!

 

[cyberham]

I am using a S3 to surf SatelliteGuys and to type this message...As Anole mentioned, be sure to purchase a protective case..

I think Samsung is the sweetheart manufacturer of smartphones at this moment in time. It could change next month, but Samsung has done it right for now. I quickly looked for the SatelliteGuys app in Google Play but never found it. I'll look again another time more carefully. I got a cover; skipped the clear screen protector.

 

[cyberham]

If you looking for new smart phone then I will suggest you for Samsung galaxy Core...

I read about the Core, and it sounds decent for its price. The Core is not offered by any Canadian service providers so I would have had to buy it somewhere and pay full price. Then the providers give a 10%~15% discount on my monthly plan. By taking an S4 from my provider, they pay for part of the hardware.

 

[cyberham]

I have now downloaded 8 different satellite finder applications. All are free. I'm not totally happy with any of them. I may need to actually pay for one. But I don't like paying up front until I first try the app. I think this is one fault with how Google Play operates. I would rather they allow you to download, try, then they could have the app stop after a day or two if you don't pay.

So far, I like Satellite Director about the best. It is good to show where an individual satellite of choice is and if there is clear visibility to it from any spot. But it does not show the whole arc on screen at one time which you need if doing a site survey for a motorized dish installation.

A complaint I have with all is that precisely where you place the phone will have a significant effect on the result. So you want to place it near your dish's installed location. But getting too close to the metal of your dish seems to affect operation of the app/phone. It's a dilemma. In my case, I need to know if a particular tree branch will block the signal. Moving the phone 1 foot away changes angles. So there is still some guessing, even if the app is perfectly accurate, which they probably are not.

 

[ftageekyyc]

Also, most of the apps don't show or tell you that your typical handheld phone is doing real good to get within 5 metres location accuracy.

 

[Anole]

Mine's generally within 10 feet, but that's still not the surgical accuracy you need.
?...and the programs imply.
.
.
edit:

But getting too close to the metal of your dish seems to affect operation of the app/phone.

?Aluminum, baby! Aluminum!

 

[cyberham]

Using Satellite Director on the Galaxy S4, I have found 15W using a fixed dish. The app allowed me to set the azimuth and play with elevation. I discovered my elevation scale is showing 10 degrees too low which is probably why I never found anything using this dish before. Can anybody confirm MSNBC is on 15W now? I get 3 channels but no RF from MSNBC.