Using "Smart Phones" for monitoring your Preg. Mares

[Joanne]

I have a request in to Santa for a Blackberry for Christmas. No guarantees, but I can hope

Who has used these "Smart Phones" for monitoring their mares during foaling season and how well did it work for you?

Can you really see enough to make it helpful?

Thank you for any insights you may have.

 

[wendi leigh]

I have a Blackberry and have been told that the Unreal Streaming Media will not run on it. I have not been able to get any foal cams to work on it. You may want to consider another smart phone if that's your objective.

Further clarification -- Blackberry Curve on ATT network

 

[Joanne]

I have talked with one member recently that used this feature on Mare Stare with a Blackberry Storm, and I know the We Foal (which I use) also has an area for phones.

Though we have someone at our ranch 24/7 when a mare is due, I can see the advantage of being able to monitor them from a far if needed. Even on our ranch if the Breeder Alert goes off it would be nice to be able to see what is happening when I am away from the house, but still on the property.

 

[ruffian]

My first thought when I saw the thread title was "How are the mares going to dial??"

 

[shelly]

My first thought when I saw the thread title was "How are the mares going to dial??"

:rofl

:rofl

:rofl

That was just tooooo funny Ruffian!!!! Thank you-you just made my day!!!

 

[Ellen]

I purchased the storm for this reason. We used Mare Stare last year and I was able to got to the site, got to my barn and watch my girls. I don't know about the other smart phones, but this worked for me.

This year after research and speaking to a forum member I think we will be with We Foal. Hope it works with them. That is my next item to check.

 

[LC Farm]

The blackberry for Nextel does not work.

 

[Ellen]

We use Verizon. Haven't had trouble yet, knock on wood. But I am sure each brand of Blackberry, Curve, Tour, Pearl and now the Storm 2 as well as networks maybe different. We have had goodluck though.

Also, depending on when the phone was last updated, things make work better. I am never good at remembering to get the updates, but they do help.

 

[Little Wolf Ranch]

How exactly are you talking about this working? Having a camera set up and checking the live feed via the smart phones or having the smart phone be the camera? 

 

[Joanne]

Katie you would have to have a We Foal or Mare Stare camera set up and then access your cameras via the internet on your smart phone (many brands out there and many servers).

You would have a portable live stream where you could check on your mare or mare and foal from anywhere your phone got reception.

Kind of cool I think!

 

[yankee_minis]

I have the HTC Touch Pro 2 and had the HTC 6800 for the past two years and I am able to watch my camera on marestare with it.

The trick is to get a phone that runs Windows. Heather and Rich have me set up with the cam so I can view it.

I was running Windows Moblile 5 before and now am running Windows Mobile Pro 6.5. You have to have the Unreal Media player, but it is now free. Two years ago I had to pay $95 for it. And $350 for the phone. Well worth it when you consider my mare had lost two foals with her previous owners and I couldn't watch while at work.

This year I got the HTC Touch Pro 2 for $69.95 with a $70 rebate while US Cellular had their deal running around Thanksgiving. It is now 170 with a $70 rebate.

The unlimited data plan is either $19.95 or $24.95 per month. (I don't remember). I can surf the Internet, get email and all the other regular stuff.

Draw back is that I can't view regular Flash with it because there isn't a Flash player for the Mobile operating system. They do have Flash Lite, but the service provider needs to set it up that way.

USCellular is working on a way to have the phone act as a bridge so you can use your laptop with their Internet connection. They have a modem right now but you have to pay separate data service charges. And it is not unlimited so you'd pay through the nose if you were watching a foaling cam. If you can get the phone to work your internet connection with your laptop it could conceivably run Flash videos.

I would assume other carriers are already there and can do this.

 

[wpsellwood]

My phone dont work

that was one of the reasons I wanted it as I thought I could use it through Mare stare. But Heather, who rocks by the way, hooked me up to get in my computer through some back door at work so I can watch!