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Phones in boats
The recommended mount and waterproof case, where on the boat, orientation, battery.
The case
Use a waterproof case rated IP68 or a sealed pouch with a lanyard. The recommended one: [TODO: the mount and case recommendation, with a product name and where to buy it, once tested].
A phone that goes in the river is lost; a phone that gets splashed usually survives if the ports are dry. The case is for the second case.
The mount
The phone needs to be fixed to the boat, not to a person, so that its motion sensors measure the boat. A phone in a cox's pocket records the cox. Fix it to the hull or the cox's seat with a mount that does not move.
- Coxed boats: in front of the cox, on the cox's seat or the stern deck.
- Coxless boats and sculls: on the stern deck or the footstretcher stay, where the stroke can see it.
- Not on a rigger, a seat that slides, or an oar.
Orientation
The app works out which way the phone is facing from the first strokes, so any fixed orientation works. What matters is that the orientation does not change during the outing. If the phone swings or rotates in its mount, the data for that stretch is unusable and the app marks it.
Battery
Recording with location on uses about [TODO: measured battery use per hour on a mid-range phone] of a charge an hour. Streaming live adds to that. Set the screen to stay on while recording only if the cox needs it; a dark screen with the phone still recording is fine.
Signal
Recording needs no signal. Streaming live needs enough mobile data to send a few kilobytes a second, and the app catches up after a gap without losing anything. The stored file on the phone is always complete.