I have an older phone and wondering when I upgrade,
the minimum internal memory for a phone,
and the minimum pixel capacity anyone would recommend?
Updated clarification: I do plan to use the phone with inspection software with a camera as a backup.
Of course, the best is always great but am using my resources for tools and startup costs, so starting there and hope to reinvest in better tools in the future of course.
Thanks for any input.
The first question you need to answer is whether or not you plan to inspect with your phone. By that I mean use software on your phone to take pictures and make inspection entries at the time of inspection. Despite having such software I still find it easier to take pictures with a camera and complete the report in the office.
One thing I have found helpful is to track calls and update my calendar with wifi software. I don’t particularly trust someone else to store my data (the ‘cloud’) so a fair size memory card is good.
Also if you do decide to use your phone for inspections, you might also use its GPS capability to get you there. Don’t forget to have an adequate car charger. Use it with the GPS while driving so your battery doesn’t suddenly die on the inspection. If it does die make sure you have a backup battery that is fully charged to continue the inspection (I think I bought one at Bed Bath and Beyond).
Having said all that my phone is a simple Samsung SMJ327 you can buy outright for about $100.00.
Thanks for the response. Yes, I was planning to use it with inspection software to speed up the input into the right categories and finish up on a laptop as I have wifi hotspot as well.
I consider my phone my most important tool for inspections. I bought the Samsung S20 Ultra and it is beyond amazing at what I can do picture wise.
I have a 256 GB memory card in it that is massive overkill. I wouldn’t have any less than 64GB internal and 64GB as a card though.
You should also look at how much operating memory the phone has. Better inspection apps like Spectora recommends 4 GB RAM or more. The more ram you have the faster the phone is even with some extra apps installed. Speed is very important because you don’t want to stand there and wait for your app to process every ingle picture for 5 second or more, it’s really frustrating.
I got an iPhone 8PLUS, big screen. Great for site-Inspections. I also use my iPad. They both connect on the cloud. I got an Apple Cloud service that automatically takes my pictures (both iPad and iPhone) up to the cloud. I pay $2.99/Monthly only. ALL my 20 thousand pictures are ‘compressed’ automatically and stay ‘up there’ until I pull them back with the touch of my finger. I can increase my cloud storage at any time if required, it is very reasonable and effective. Since I have an AT&T data plan with 60 Gig, I am connected at all times with the Apple Cloud from the Inspection site, my car, my home office… it works for me…! It is finger-friendly. I also gave close to a thousand videos on the same service as well as 360 degrees panoramic pictures taken with “Panorama”… The software I use keeps the reports in their cloud too for over 7 Year, as I understand, as well as all the pictures taken via the mobile App, used in the report or not.!
