3 Accessories to Make your Phone Wilderness Ready

3 Accessories to Make your Phone Wilderness Ready

It goes without saying that our smartphones have become such indispensable devices in our lives, where  we can’t imagine leaving home without them. Whether we crave the need to keep up with social media, want to be able to Google info on a whim, or simply want to feed our  good old-fashioned tech addictions, our phones are our lifeline to the outside world.

Heading into the great outdoors with our smartphones presents us with a series of challenges. Nature’s elements can be harsh on electronics and the wilderness doesn’t provide much in the way of electrical outlets to keep them powered and alive.

For many, their phone has replaced the need for a traditional camera, making it crucial to select a smartphone which can capture those magical landscapes and wildlife.

Here are 3 must have smartphone accessories you should contemplate purchasing before heading out into the great outdoors.

Rugged Smartphone Cases

Things you need to worry about when you go hiking with your smartphone in your pocket is moisture, shocks, and cracking your phone’s screen on a rock or log. Most standard smartphones aren’t exactly equipped to tackle Bear Grylls-like activities.  Thankfully there is no shortage of smartphone cases out there designed to protect your phone from even the harshest conditions.

One of the best known brands providing protective casings for smartphones is the US-based company OtterBox. The company offers many designs such as the “Defender” series which will protect your smartphone from drops, dirt and dust, shocks and scratches, and even offers a bit of water resistance.

The cases offered by OtterBox may not come cheap with many costing around $50USD, but it’s worth it if you love your phone as much as you love the great outdoors. OtterBox cases will fit many models of phones including the latest from Apple & Samsung and even offers an option to build your own case.

  Green & Black Otterbox cae: photo by sinchen.lin , Pink Otterbox phone case: photo by compudemano, 

 Keeping Your Phones Battery Alive

One of the major downsides of smartphones is their limited battery life. The more you use them, the less life they have. Your smartphone is useless if it doesn’t have power so it is essential to carry an additional power source with you when heading out in the wild as you will be hard pressed to find an outlet.

Enter the world of power banks. There are many power bank options to choose from offering different capacities. Some you must charge up before you head out and can give your phone a nice single charge of new life while others are solar powered which can give your phone unlimited power so long as you have a bit of sun. 

Solar powered options are great for longer multi-day hikes or camping trips where you may need to continually charge your phone. They also make solar powered backpacks which can charge your phone while being nicely protected by a backpack pocket.

Camera Kits

Smartphone cameras are becoming better with each new released model, however they still have limitations. Unlike traditional cameras, you lack a substantial zoom lens as well as specialty lenses like fisheye and macro. You are also somewhat limited in features such as shutter speed and aperture, although Samsung plans to add a variable aperture camera to its Galaxy S9.

When it comes to camera lenses, you can purchase clip-on lenses for your smartphone that can help you take better photos in a wide range of situations. Wide angle, macro, fisheye, and telephoto lens options are available and although not nearly as good as a DSLR camera, these affordable add on smartphone lenses can give you more options with you photography and will free you up from carrying around a lot of heavy camera equipment.

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Author: Michael Jerrard

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5 Comments

  1. Nice things for my mobile phone, thanks for ideas.

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  2. When I first saw those lenses I was totally mind-blown. Your tips are definitely useful. If you have a solid smartphone, you can really turn it into anything in the wilderness. To a map, compass, flashlight, wide lens camera, voice recorder, personal entertainment… you name it!

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  3. Thanks for sharing this post. I am very interested in this topic.

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  4. Such accessories are definitely a welcome and must to buy. Thanks for sharing

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  5. Hi,

    Nice Post, Thanks for sharing info.

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