Doubtful considering they release a new Android every 6 hours.
iPhone Dive Computer
- Thread starter tridacna
- Start date
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seriousdiver
Registered
Touche.
But at least we pay half of what it costs for an Iphone
.But really, they are working on the Igills for Android, hopefully they'll get it out soon as it means it'll be one less thing I have to carry for the dive.
I know it's a pipedream but it would be awesome to be able to video conference with people on shore or have a GPS map with where all the divers are in real time.
No more losing your buddy, no more worrying about running into a frisky sexual predator dolphin, it'll all be taken care of by your dive phone.
Crush
Contributor
You would not be able to type on the screen unless the case had push-buttons - one for each letter - in which case you wouldn't see that portion of the screen while, say, filming video as the buttons would be in the way.
Now, I love my smartphone but this seems like yet another thing to carry on a dive.
Yes, and it will automatically identify plants and animals for you in real time, warning you of potential dangers like those frisky dolphins, highlighting them in red. The strobe will fire in an effort to distract and ward away attackers. It will navigate you through a dive and narrate the dive site to you. If you run low on air and refuse to obey repeated warnings, it will assume control of your BCD and slowly raise you to the surface by managing your lift wing LP inflator and dump valves, locking you out from being able to influence them. Finally, if what appears before you is just too scary to deal with it will black out your mask and play soothing music.
OP
I'm keen to understand this new and innovative use of RF underwater...sometimes that pesky physics stuff just gets in the way.
infoleather
New
I have synchronized the seagulls seagulls desktop on the MAC with Bluetooth, and then sync manager Divelog.
RATyson
Registered
Looks to me like a pretty good idea for those who may not already have a dive computer, but do have an iphone.
I don't have a whole mess of dives under my belt, but all of them have been sans computer.
I have an analog depth guage, a stopwatch, my waterproof dive tables, and my tank pressure guage. These tools, and my pre-dive planning get me through every time. Are there times when a dive computer is needed? Probably, but for me, I have yet to need one. That being said, I will most likely rent one for my next dives.
WRT software stability. I have had my iphone 4 for about 2 years or so, and it has only locked up on me a couple of times. I have had apps just shut down on their own many times though.. however, I can just start them right up. If it is designed correctly (the software that is) minimal data loss can be expected. Dive computers are single purpose embedded systems. These types of things are usually solid as a rock as they don't have to handle many things at once. they are usually simple, one service devices.
WRT calls under water. Cell signals don't penetrate water well enough, so no cell signal. Cell signals are high frequency and water attenuates the signal at somewhere around 180db/meter iirc. The iphone 4 requres about -120db signal strength. Add to that the effect of the refractive index of water in reference to the cell signal frequency and your phone's attenna (effectively changing the wavelength of the attena), and there you have it... No cell signal underwater. No no worrys about the boss or someone else interrupting your dive. But you also cannot call or text for help under there either.
Edit: Didn't see tridacna's post above... summed this all up in one statement. It's funny how physics always tries to rule over everything aint it?
I don't have a whole mess of dives under my belt, but all of them have been sans computer.
I have an analog depth guage, a stopwatch, my waterproof dive tables, and my tank pressure guage. These tools, and my pre-dive planning get me through every time. Are there times when a dive computer is needed? Probably, but for me, I have yet to need one. That being said, I will most likely rent one for my next dives.
WRT software stability. I have had my iphone 4 for about 2 years or so, and it has only locked up on me a couple of times. I have had apps just shut down on their own many times though.. however, I can just start them right up. If it is designed correctly (the software that is) minimal data loss can be expected. Dive computers are single purpose embedded systems. These types of things are usually solid as a rock as they don't have to handle many things at once. they are usually simple, one service devices.
WRT calls under water. Cell signals don't penetrate water well enough, so no cell signal. Cell signals are high frequency and water attenuates the signal at somewhere around 180db/meter iirc. The iphone 4 requres about -120db signal strength. Add to that the effect of the refractive index of water in reference to the cell signal frequency and your phone's attenna (effectively changing the wavelength of the attena), and there you have it... No cell signal underwater. No no worrys about the boss or someone else interrupting your dive. But you also cannot call or text for help under there either.
Edit: Didn't see tridacna's post above... summed this all up in one statement. It's funny how physics always tries to rule over everything aint it?
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it doesn't appear to work with iPhone 5.
I upgrade my phone often enough that I don't want to add another $300 to upgrade the dive housing each time.
I upgrade my phone often enough that I don't want to add another $300 to upgrade the dive housing each time.
FM1520
Contributor
It is a good idea but there is a small issue. I am pretty sure that the License Agreement for a phone involves not using the software (Operating Systems) for any solution to which endangers a human life. I love tech, I am a software developer, but phones are just not reliable enough with their operating systems for me to use. I have had too many of them crash on a call, opening other software or just run out of memory and sieze up. That is not something I want to try to fight a battle in court over when the system just was not designed for it. Before you get this be sure you check the End User Licensing Agreement (EULA) for the phone you carry to make sure they are ok with you using it for a life supporting task.
iOS EULA portion about this:
7.5 YOU FURTHER ACKNOWLEDGE THAT THE iOS SOFTWARE AND SERVICES ARE NOT
INTENDED OR SUITABLE FOR USE IN SITUATIONS OR ENVIRONMENTS WHERE THE
FAILURE OR TIME DELAYS OF, OR ERRORS OR INACCURACIES IN, THE CONTENT, DATA OR
INFORMATION PROVIDED BY THE iOS SOFTWARE OR SERVICES COULD LEAD TO DEATH,
PERSONAL INJURY, OR SEVERE PHYSICAL OR ENVIRONMENTAL DAMAGE, INCLUDING
WITHOUT LIMITATION THE OPERATION OF NUCLEAR FACILITIES, AIRCRAFT NAVIGATION
OR COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS, AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL, LIFE SUPPORT OR WEAPONS
SYSTEMS.
iOS EULA portion about this:
7.5 YOU FURTHER ACKNOWLEDGE THAT THE iOS SOFTWARE AND SERVICES ARE NOT
INTENDED OR SUITABLE FOR USE IN SITUATIONS OR ENVIRONMENTS WHERE THE
FAILURE OR TIME DELAYS OF, OR ERRORS OR INACCURACIES IN, THE CONTENT, DATA OR
INFORMATION PROVIDED BY THE iOS SOFTWARE OR SERVICES COULD LEAD TO DEATH,
PERSONAL INJURY, OR SEVERE PHYSICAL OR ENVIRONMENTAL DAMAGE, INCLUDING
WITHOUT LIMITATION THE OPERATION OF NUCLEAR FACILITIES, AIRCRAFT NAVIGATION
OR COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS, AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL, LIFE SUPPORT OR WEAPONS
SYSTEMS.
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fdarden
Contributor
In answer to:
#3 the only app running at the time of your dive is the igills app.
#4 then no one would ever sync their dive computer with a desktop or laptop for fear of a virus. And I have yet to see a single iPhone virus.
When I sync my phone, im not trusting my life to it. When I use your iGills I am. BIG difference.
#5 When my iPhone crashes all my sensitive data is still intact. And it's all there when the phone reboots too.
#6 It's right on their tech specs page...
Buhlmann ZH-L16, 16 compartment algorithm
!
I do agree that the loss of Angry Birds High scores is possibly the worst thing that can happen, but fortunately for me those are all in sync and backed up to my Laptop and iCloud
I love how people react with the "What if it dies" question. Oh well... then I guess you die too!?!?
If it fails, hopefully you still have the best computer ever built between your ears and the superior dive skills acquired from countless hours of reading Scubaboard to safely abort the dive and learn to not trust gadgets.
YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!!!! WTF kind of logic is this??? Please explain to me how this works on multiple dives. Sounds likea great way at a minimum to destroy a dive trip.
Where is Ralph Nader when you need him!!!?
#3 THERE IS NO API OR INTERFACE INTO IOS TO SUPPORT KILLING ALL APPS. APPLE WOULD NOT APPROVE YOUR APP. I am an Apple developer and im pretty clear on what you can and cannot do, and what Apple will approve in an app. WHat Apple will approve is beside the point, as you simply do not have the OS interface privilege to kill off apps, unless you jailbreak the device. I digress....
#4 When I sync my phone, im not trusting my life to it. When I use your iGills I am. BIG difference.
#5 I have no idea what this means to diving. When iGills crashes, does it retain my tissue loading? WAIT - Why are we discussing a dive computer CRASHING!!! Isnt this a good reason to use a good, REAL dive computer? If my dive computer rebooted or crashed under water, that would no longer be my dive computer. Your statement imlies that you acknowledge it will probably crash, but thats ok? acceptable?? Exactly what kind of diving do you do??
>It is a gadget and it's not for everyone, I personally wouldn't buy it. But I wouldn't mind taking it for a spin until the novelty wore off.
WHY?? So you can break your iPhone when the o-ring fails, or so that you can trust your life to a silly iPhone app. I have spoken out repeatedly regarding this device, its simplistic Nitrox controls (fixed gas selection 32 or 36) and I will continue to do so as I think its probably one of the worst ideas in Scuba Diving I have ever seen. Clearly only an extremely novice diver that has no clue about NDL's or Nitrox use would purchase this.
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