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I bought an iPhone and this is what I learned ….

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A couple of weeks ago, I finally dragged myself into the 21st century by purchasing an iPhone.  This replaced the Nokia 8800 that I have been carrying around for the last six years or so.

(Don’t knock my Nokia!  Asda Mobile Recycling is paying me £209 for it!)

Despite having had an iPad since Day 1, setting up an iPhone has still been a bit of a faff at times.  This is what I have discovered so far which related to HfP – feel free to comment below if there are any travel apps you recommend I try.

The BA / Passbook collaboration is great.  You can check in online and save your boarding pass directly into Passbook.  This will show even if the phone is locked.  You no longer need a paper boarding pass for BA flights.

Amex has just launched a new Passbook feature which shows your balance and last transaction without a log-in.  The main Amex iPhone app is more useful, though, especially as it lets you easily activate new offers to your card.

IHG and SPG, amongst others, can also be added to Passbook.  I haven’t had a stay yet to try them out though.

You can add your Tesco Clubcard to Passbook (see image above).  This requires a ‘hack’ via this website.  If you don’t want to do that for some reason, the official Tesco Grocery app also displays your Clubcard.  I think it only works on manned tills, however.

AwardWallet works just as well as the iPad version.  As long as you upgrade to the £2.99 ‘Plus’ version, or have donated via the desktop version, the app will check all of your miles and points balances – 46 in my case – in around 30 seconds!

WordPress for iPhone is not as terrible as I had expected.  I’ll never be writing new posts on it, but it allows me to reply to your comments on the move.

Hailo is FANTASTIC.  It is one of the things I was most keen to try.  Whilst we only live 60 seconds walk from a taxi-filled main road, dragging the kids up there makes it feel a lot longer.  Two clicks on the Hailo app and we have a taxi outside our door within a couple of minutes, with the bill charged to my credit card.  I even get a childish bit of fun watching the taxi move towards the house on the map!

The avios.com app is a good way of checking BA reward flight availability, in the absence of a BAEC app.

The ability to tether is cool.  This may end up being the main benefit of my iPhone.  My iPad is a ‘wi-fi only’ model.  With one swipe I can turn my iPhone into a portable wi-fi hotspot so I can use my iPad anywhere.  (Vodafone is happy to support tethering, check with other operators.)  It will also allow us to keep online at home during Sky’s occasional broadband outages and at my wi-fi-less parents.

I haven’t had time to road test the Uber app, Google Maps, CityMaps2Go, AllSubway or Tripadvisor yet, but I will try to get round to it.

Please do let me know of any good travel or miles and points apps that you’ve come across.

Category

British Airways and Avios, Tesco Clubcard

Comments (82)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • blenz101 says:
    17 Feb17 February 07:09

    For those with an Amex Gold and therefore holder of a Lounge Club membership card they have an app which works offline to tell you your nearest participating lounge, location and facilities available.

    • Andrew S says:
      17 Feb17 February 10:55

      There is an app for Priority Pass. Also works offline so no data required abroad.

  • James67 says:
    17 Feb17 February 07:18

    The apps are all fine, just a pity abouf the phone IMO.

    • Rob says:
      17 Feb17 February 08:19

      Yes, it is a less useful as a phone than my c 2007 Nokia!

      • Thywillbedone says:
        17 Feb17 February 10:06

        Yip, great little machine…just don’t try to make or receive a phone call…

      • James67 says:
        17 Feb17 February 12:06

        Was amazed at yor resale on that nokia though. I have an old Samsung U600, apparently I can sell it on for over £30. I’m curious who buys these things

        • Rob says:
          17 Feb17 February 13:42

          It is odd. The site talks about selling them on in developing countries etc, and if they were paying £5 for an old rubbish Nokia then OK. I doubt anyone in Nigeria is keen to pay £209 + profit margin for a ‘leather clad but one-inch screen’ Nokia 8800!

          However, Asda Tech Trade-In sent me an email saying it had been received OK, I’ve heard nothing else in the last couple of days so I assume my £209 is on the way. I think I paid £770 for it back in 2007ish. Would not have risked it on ebay as phones are top of the fraud list.

          • James67 says:
            17 Feb17 February 17:12

            I guess this nokia was one of the fancy things. Probably a niche market for them Someplace or more likely asda messed up and you got lucky haha. I usually recycle all family mobiles for cash at MBK mall in Bangkok when I am there. At the moment I am considering buying Ipad Air but am undecided as I have an original galaxy note which I adore. A bit embarassing making calls with it but otherwise it has done everything I asked of it. I’m not really sure I need a tablet except the larger keyboard might improve my HfP reply typing skills!

          • Rob says:
            17 Feb17 February 20:35

            But I occasionally clean up typos in comments anyway!

          • Lady London says:
            19 Feb19 February 17:30

            Yes it was one of the very fancy things. It had quite a following in Germany. Mainly rich overpaid bankers bought them I think.

          • iHK says:
            18 Feb18 February 09:43

            Raffles, I just put Nokia 8800 into Asda recycling and it quoted £25, how did you get £209??

          • Rob says:
            18 Feb18 February 10:01

            Nokia 8800 Sapphire Arte – the posh version! – is what it actually is, coming up at £201 today.

            However, I am in a debate with Asda about what the phone is! They are claiming it is not a Sapphire Arte, which it clearly is. I have sent them some internet links. To be fair, they may well have never seen one before.

          • Jonathan Shapiro says:
            18 Feb18 February 13:39

            You can pick up an 8800 Sapphire Arte for $1,250 here.

            Perhaps you were short changed by Asda 🙂

            http://welectronics.com/gsm/Nokia/Nokia_8800-SAPPHIRE-ARTE.HTML?gclid=CJ_CzKHl1bwCFYkWMgodjxYARQ

          • gnarlyoldgoatdude says:
            18 Feb18 February 16:38

            And it also begs the question: “Are there any direct mileage opportunities in phone recycling?”

            Obviously, if you are being offered £209 in hard cash, you should go down that route. However, in general, are there any ways of turning used electronics into miles the same way that we do with printer cartridges?

  • Stephen says:
    17 Feb17 February 07:24

    Uber is much better than Hailo.

    • Rob says:
      17 Feb17 February 08:18

      I’ve downloaded that as well but not had chance to use it yet

    • John Smith says:
      17 Feb17 February 12:20

      I got it a few weeks ago when they had a free £20 for signing up, not sure if its an ongoing offer

      • Stephen says:
        17 Feb17 February 17:42

        Sadly it’s back down to £10 now, however I managed to accumulate a fair amount of credit during that time!

    • Lady London says:
      19 Feb19 February 17:29

      Apparently Uber in the USA also functions as a private-car-to-private-passenger network? I heard on the radio that a certain city authority is trying to ban Uber faced with the protests of licensed taxi drivers. The licensed taxi drivers apparently protested again Uber based on the fact that private motorists were not obliged to provide cars suitable to transport wheelchairs.

  • Will says:
    17 Feb17 February 07:26

    I really like the amex passbook feature as it alerts you as soon as spend is authorised on the card. I did have a panic the other day when it popped up but realised it was my spotify monthly payment going out.

    Thanks for the clubcard passbook tip

  • DV says:
    17 Feb17 February 07:26

    You can add your Heathrow Rewards card to Passbook and load offers into it such as £5 off at World Duty Free (which I think should notify you when you are at the airport).

    • Rob says:
      17 Feb17 February 13:50

      Now done this, thanks.

      It’s a faff, though, because of the lack of an app! You need to go to the Heathrow Rewards website on your phone, log in, go My Account, go to (of all places) Order Replacement Card and there you see a button saying “Add to Passbook”!

  • blenz101 says:
    17 Feb17 February 07:33

    Flightboards is another good app displaying live flight information boards for your selected airport.

  • Tim Millea says:
    17 Feb17 February 07:35

    For the most boyish pleasure, you absolutely need Flightradar24. It shows planes in the air with flight no., type of craft, live speed, direction and altitude superimposed on a map, anywhere in the World. Paid options include an augmented reality version where you point your device at a plane in the sky and it attaches info to it.

    • Andrew (@andrewseftel) says:
      17 Feb17 February 09:36

      Yeah surprised that this one wasn’t mentioned. Great for passing the time in London if you’ve got visibility of the Heathrow landing path.

    • Andy says:
      17 Feb17 February 09:39

      Planefinder HD has all that as well.

  • rob says:
    17 Feb17 February 07:37

    If your clubcard doesn’t scan, you can just enter the number manually – select the button to enter a barcode by hand on the checkout and just type it in.

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