weather apps

is it just the US of A that bans any smart phone or device which has a weather app on or is Britain the same?

Not just weather apps but phones with compasses in. I recommend reading this

Distance Measuring Devices (DMDs) � The Facts

http://www.golfshake.com/improve/view/4121/Distance_Measuring_Devices_DMDs_The_Facts.html

I was playing in a very imprtant (to me) game on thursday when i noticed my opponent useing a pda with a golf app on. i thought i.d seen somewhere that they were not allowed. as all was good between us and i wasn.t 100% certain that he couldn.t use it i didn.t say anything. the game was all square after 18 so on the way to the first i went into pro shop to ask. they said it was perfectly legal so i carried on although it was niggling me. thankfully i won on 20th hole so it didn.t matter. i talked to player about it after the game and he said all some of the best players in his club use them so my concerns were unjust. i.m just happy i didn.t get beat by someone with this as obviously once you shake their hand that is it. as a result i now have 2 games at Formby golf club

Potentially a PDA may conform if it's from around 2003.

Smart phones don't because they have internet connections, compasses etc

Internet connections are fine as you don't have to use it problem comes with apps that don't use the internet and can't be removed or disabled e.g. the compass on an iphone.

That said you can't use the internet connection, or get any info on weather, wind, direction, slope or temperature from the phone.

so if you see someone you're playing against use one do you just tell them not to use it or call the penalty (what ever that is)?

As I understand it, they cannot use it whether the features are disabled or not. Can't remember what the penalty is.

Let's get really picky here... a player carries his smartphone around in his bag but doesn't use it - fine. He gets a call on his phone and answers it - is that a penalty?

(ok, he shouldn't have his phone on in the first place and taking a call his fairly bad karma man, but let's go with this...)

PS - got a mate who uses his smartphone to enter his scores. Presumably he is breaking the rules?

Competition play then technically yes. Whilst he may only be entering scores you or the other players have no idea what else he is using on the phone.

The grey area with all of this is that technically he could score on his phone assuming that every other feature had been disabled ie internet, compass, gyrometer

I agree. I think the device is banned whether the features are disabled or not.

However, it is probably time that the R&A caught up with the times and accepted these.

does anyone know the penalty?