Friday, October 02, 2015

Running with a Galaxy Note 5

When I jog, I rely pretty heavily on my phone. It's my camera, flashlight, locator beacon, map and general safety net. So what's the best way to run with a monster of a phone, like the Galaxy Note 5?

Due to a promise I made with Shira, a case with a belt clip is out.

My assumption was that I'd have trade the fanny pack full of trail running gear, for a fanny pack with a phone in it. This is a bummer, because I actually do get use out of the emergency items I'd be swapping out, and getting a phone in and out of a little belt pack is much more awkward than pulling it off a belt clip.

Luckily, there's a solution out there. I give you the Running Buddy 6+ "Buddy Pouch":

The pouch consists of a pocket that comfortably holds the Galaxy Note 5 (with a case, no less!), and a flap. You shove the flap on the inside of your shorts, and thanks to a couple of high power magnets, the whole setup "clicks together" and sits firmly in place. It's amazing, I've got this huge phone attached to my shorts, and the Running Buddy doesn't jiggle one bit. It's truly impressive to see in action.

While it's a fashion disaster, I've found that I can run with my phone on the front of my shorts, and my trail running gear on the back. And while I won't win any style points, I am well prepared for whatever the road may throw at me.

2 comments:

  1. Pretty sweet. Thanks for the perpetual inspiration. I'm intrigued by the locator beacon script and may eventually come to pick your brain as I continue to dabble with mapping apps on my new-fangled phone http://matthewkirk.blogspot.com/2015/10/open-source-adventures.html Safe running!

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  2. Thanks Matt!

    You should definitely pick up some magnets and play with them as an alternative to straps and such. I bet you could come up with some really clever solutions.

    My little locator beacon works really well for me, though there are far sexier options to be found in the Play Store. One thing that might be worth looking into is combining the basic sending of lat/lng and something like ifttt.org - as you were running along, you could have blog entries written, e-mails sent, etc. all without touching your device.

    It would also be interesting to leverage a lightweight camera (say attached to your visor) to document the whole trip. But again, there are so many high quality solutions out there, I'm not sure how worth it is to go the DIY route.

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