Comment: Smartphones & Tablets

Submitted: Friday, Jan 18, 2013 at 01:54

ThreadID: 100041 Views:3761 Replies:3 FollowUps:8

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Smartphones & Tablets

Smartphones and Tablets are relatively new additions to the navigational market, but their widespread ownership sees them swiftly taking over as a device of choice for Street Navigation.

Member - Rod D1 (WA)

I have a Samsung Galaxy Tab 7" model running Ozi Android and have found it to be far better amd more practical than the dedicated GPS found in other articles here as I have added street navigation, spreadsheets, camera, 30gb of music I play through the stereo etc and I can pair it to my mobile phone so as to received emails and connect to the net but the one thing I have really struggled with is how best to mount the dam thing in the car. So far I've used the windscreen suction mounts and various hard covers that I've "velcroed" to the dash. They all fall of at some stage. Has anyone had any luck with their mounting system?

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Reply By: Sand Man (SA) - Friday, Jan 18, 2013 at 07:15

Friday, Jan 18, 2013 at 07:15

Have a look at www.holdmyphone.com.au

Just select the dash mount to suit your vehicle, then the holder to suit your galaxy tab.

I use the click on product to hold my Galaxy Tab 10.1 and can recommend them.
The dash mount I selected fits in the gaps between the dash panels.

It works!

Bill

I'm diagonally parked in a parallel Universe!

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Follow Up By: Member - Rod D1 (WA) - Friday, Jan 18, 2013 at 11:08

Friday, Jan 18, 2013 at 11:08

Sandman, thanks for the reply. How sturdy is this mount hanging of the air vent, will it last over several days of corrugations? Does it affect the air flow much?

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Follow Up By: Sand Man (SA) - Friday, Jan 18, 2013 at 18:07

Friday, Jan 18, 2013 at 18:07

Rod,

The mount doesn't hang off the air vent.
It is inserted between the dash panel joins by use of a spreader and one double sided tape on one side.

Quite an ingenious method. I have not experienced any problem with vibration.

Bill

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Reply By: Member - Frank P (NSW) - Friday, Jan 18, 2013 at 10:57

Friday, Jan 18, 2013 at 10:57

Hi Rod,

I have a Galaxy 7.7 and run Ozi Android and agree, it's the bee's knees.

I got a floor mounted universal RAM with a spring-loaded X-head arrangement at the top to hold the 7.7 because at the time there were no specific trays for the 7.7. The X-head is on RAM's universal swivel-and-ball so you can set any orientation.

Here's a pic.

Cheers

FrankP

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Follow Up By: Member - Frank P (NSW) - Friday, Jan 18, 2013 at 11:12

Friday, Jan 18, 2013 at 11:12

PS. I had to make the triangular bracket about half way up to stop the thing wobbling.

It was originally specified for an iPad, but to be honest, I think anything bigger and heavier than the 7.7 would wobble too much, even with the extra bracket.

I got it on eBay for about $119 delivered.

Cheers

FrankP

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Follow Up By: Member - Rod D1 (WA) - Friday, Jan 18, 2013 at 11:16

Friday, Jan 18, 2013 at 11:16

Frank, thanks for this and I did look at these mounts but decided not to go that way. BTW the reason I'm looking very closely at a mounting system is some prick smash the passenger window and stole my Tab 7.7. I replaced it with a TAB 2 7". You have the better model in the 7.7 as the processor is faster and the screen better. I wish I had replaced my stolen unit with the 7.7 because when using street navigation and you pass the road you're suppose to turn at, by the time it's recalculated the route you've passed the next road you should turn at and so it goes on until you drop off the edge of the earth.

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Follow Up By: Member - Frank P (NSW) - Friday, Jan 18, 2013 at 12:23

Friday, Jan 18, 2013 at 12:23

Yes, Rod, the 7.7 is a nice bit of kit. I use Copilot Live for my turn-by-turn navigation. It has outback roads and A LOT of forest tracks and firetrails in it too, so is reasonably good for touring the back blocks. In the city, if you miss a turn the re-routing is almost instant.

It (Copilot, that is) is not perfect, though. I don't think any of them are.

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FrankP

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Follow Up By: Member - Rod D1 (WA) - Friday, Jan 18, 2013 at 12:56

Friday, Jan 18, 2013 at 12:56

Frank. My app is Sygic. It's good but it's for metro driving only. I might look at co-pilot but I think it's the processor that is the issue.

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Reply By: lostride - Friday, Jan 18, 2013 at 13:44

Friday, Jan 18, 2013 at 13:44

I have a Toshiba AT100 with 32 GB mounted to the screen with a RAM suction and the universal mount like the one mentioned here. It has never fallen off even off road, so far any way. I do check it and re-mount the suction every now and then and I remove the tablet when it is not being used. I chose the Toshiba over the Samsung for the ease of battery replacement (I keep a charged spare with me off road) and the fact that I have had several Toshiba laptops over the years.
I have tried OziExplorer when I was running a laptop for offroad navigation but never really liked it. I now use Back Country Navigator Pro for running topo maps. In the city I stick to the Garmin for turn by turn navigation.
All in all I have had no complaints with my mounting system. I have a Disco II and it sits almost resting on the dash. I use some rubber padding where it rests so it cannot really move all that much.

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Follow Up By: lostride - Friday, Jan 18, 2013 at 13:51

Friday, Jan 18, 2013 at 13:51

p.s regarding the Toshiba, it also has full sized ports and a full size SD card slot

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Follow Up By: Member - Rod D1 (WA) - Friday, Jan 18, 2013 at 17:48

Friday, Jan 18, 2013 at 17:48

Lostride, thanks for the reply and I've seen the RAM mounts and I too have a Disco II with the tablet resting on the dash. My ideal solution is something that somehow is permanently mounted so it can 't be stolen.

BTW, if anyone reading this is IT literate I have my tablet setup as a "rooted" device (no that's not supposed to be rude!) and an App called Tasker. What happens is when I arrive back home and switch off the motor, the tablet turns on WiFi, logs into the home network and downloads any apps that need an update and then after 10 minutes or so it turns off to save battery. With this setup it means I can "permanently" mount the unit in the carbut still keep it up to date.

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