GPS Tablets
Submitted: Tuesday, Apr 07, 2015 at 22:01
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Member - lyndon NT
Hi All
In the market for a tablet and just wondering if anyone on here uses one remotely.
After at least a 10 inch screen. Be good if it doesnt have to have an external antenna plugged into it, but if it does, how does it work and what do you use?
Other preferable requirements
USB
Expendable memory via micro SD or similar
WiFi
Take a Data card, mini, micro, doesn't really matter as long as we can get the net away from a WiFi connection.
Anyone have any luck "Mirroring" their tablet onto the TV at
home without having to jump through to many hoops?
Thanks
Lyndon
PS, If it had HDMI that would be awesome also, just dreaming now :-)
Reply By: Member - Young Nomads - Tuesday, Apr 07, 2015 at 22:59
Tuesday, Apr 07, 2015 at 22:59
Hi
We are waiting on the delivery of a new Samsung S 10.5 tablet..16gb with 4g and GPS capability
http://www.samsung.com/au/consumer/mobile-phone/tablet/tablet/SM-T805YTSAXSA
It allows you share your smartphone data allowance with SIM-ready mobile data only devices. (tablet or laptop)
It will be good to do everything we will need to do. In conjunction with our HEMA7 and Eotop and Explore oz apps.
As it is also WIFI...you can communicate wirelessly to your TV..has a USB port and microSD port.(connect a usb to HDMI adapter and you should be able to use it for HDMI functions)
We are getting it "free" from Telstra as we have re- contracted our 2 mobile phones on a data share plan ..we can use the 4 g data on our phones for mobile internet access....by "checking up on Telstra" on our out of contract plans....we have gone from paying $198/ month for our homeline &ADSL and our 2 mobile phones.
Our
home line now includes 100gb (50gb more)data allowance, and an extra 1 gb of data between the 2 mobiles...
We are now only paying $157 pm with the
home line and ADSL remaining out of contract..Hopefully this will work out
well for us as we are doing The Madigan this year and want to make some good track notes and make use of the
EoTopo functions...
Cheers
Robyn
AnswerID:
552138
Reply By: Member - Tony F8 - Wednesday, Apr 08, 2015 at 17:33
Wednesday, Apr 08, 2015 at 17:33
I have a Samsung note 10.1, 32gig running memory maps. Awesome bit of gear, all the features you could want. I use chromecast at
home to play the note through the tv, UE boom as an external speaker when I want to blast out some music. Have used it on many remote area trips with memory map and not had a worry, highly recommend one.
AnswerID:
552165
Reply By: Idler Chris - Wednesday, Apr 08, 2015 at 17:41
Wednesday, Apr 08, 2015 at 17:41
IMHO I would steer clear of anything with a hard disk drive (HDD) and opt for a solid state drive (SSD). As there are no moving parts they stand up to the knocks much better and infinitely quicker on startup and use less power.
AnswerID:
552168
Reply By: Member - John and Val - Wednesday, Apr 08, 2015 at 20:26
Wednesday, Apr 08, 2015 at 20:26
Lyndon,
In our experience a major issue with using a tablet for navigation is screen brightness (or rather lack of it). We recently purchased a second hand Motion Computing PC reasonably cheaply. These have a 10" 4:3 screen, are
bright enough to use in full sunlight. They live in a rugged (heavy) metal case, have a solid state drive,and run windows (ours is W7) which I prefer to Android. Some have a gps included. I think all come with WiFi and Bluetooth. A suitable smart phone (eg Huawei Y550-L02) can provide access to the internet for such Wifi equipped computers. The raw Motion Computing machines have no USB port which is a very annoying limitation, though extra hardware is available to supply one or more ports. (One port is enough since it can drive an expansion device to provide more.) There is also an expansion box available providing 3 USB ports, ports for keyboard and mouse, and a video output that could be used to drive a suitable TV display.
It might sound like a fair bit of messing around, but I reckon we've got the brightness problem solved with this one, after trying various 10" windows and android machines. These beasts retail for several thousand dollars, but it's worth watching ebay and other
places for a second hand one - typically for two or three hundred dollars.
Cheers
John | J and V
"Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted."
- Albert Einstein
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AnswerID:
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Follow Up By: Member - lyndon NT - Sunday, Apr 12, 2015 at 10:19
Sunday, Apr 12, 2015 at 10:19
Hi
John
Interesting set up you have there. From a brief look I can see why you use it in the cab. Seems they are all coming from O/S. Mainly France.
Just not sure if it's what the "missus" will want to slip into her bag when we go O/S this year :-).
I've yet to get into the whole out back mapping whilst on the move thing but will do so one day. Might even be able to use one of those in the boat.
What are they like on battery life? Do you run Ozi Explorer though it?
Seems like some I'm looking at on ebay have more ports than perhaps they used to.
Cheers
Lyndon
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Follow Up By: Member - John and Val - Sunday, Apr 12, 2015 at 13:26
Sunday, Apr 12, 2015 at 13:26
Hi Lyndon,
You've been googling! I see there is a Motion Computing CL900 on ebay at the moment. Ours is the MC-F5, which has no USB port. The CL900 does have one, which would make it much more attractive. A CL900 with the optional gps and running OziExplorer would be my pick for outback Australia. It is not though something for milady's handbag.
I should have mentioned - the brighter screen overcomes some of the problems of operating in a
bright environment. These problems though arise mainly from screen reflectance. A low reflectance screen such as that in the Motion Computing machines is great outdoors. Most of the tablets have highly reflective screens and are a pain to use outdoors.
We have used other 10" windows PCs with gps and low reflectance screens for years and the one downside has always been lack of brightness. Haven't yet used the MC tablet in the vehicle ( recent acquisition) but it should be very good. Ours will run at high brightness for at least 3 hours on the internal battery, but they take a standard 19V laptop power supply to run from the vehicle 12V electrics, so operating time in a vehicle is really no problem.
For handbag use I think I'd look for a 4.5" or 5" gps equipped smartphone (from ~$100).
Cheers
John | J and V
"Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted."
- Albert Einstein
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Reply By: Member - nick b - Thursday, Apr 09, 2015 at 08:50
Thursday, Apr 09, 2015 at 08:50
G'Day Lyndon : A lot for the stuff you asked for is on the ASUS tablet I hav , muti USB ,
sb slots , built in good GPS !! etc .... but if your heading into wooded area's an extra external antenna with be good .
But before you go out & buy make sure the maps you want to use will work on the tablet program you want to use , I.E windows , android , this can get very costly if you want to use good reliably maps . The OEtopo sold here might be a good start , talk to the team re this .
Also make sure you have everything on external back up in the event on a melt down ( in your kit ) .... I,v had to do a factor reset on tablet & loose the lot :-(
Idler Chris makes a good point here ,
AnswerID:
552200
Reply By: Member - lyndon NT - Sunday, Apr 12, 2015 at 10:03
Sunday, Apr 12, 2015 at 10:03
Hi All
Just wanted to say thanks for everyone's input. Plenty to think about.
Cheers
Lyndon
AnswerID:
552321
Reply By: Member - johnat - Monday, Apr 13, 2015 at 16:23
Monday, Apr 13, 2015 at 16:23
Partner's Android Asus has all that you seem to need, Lyndon. It is 10" screen, built-in GPS, no need for external antenna, multiple USB, HDMI (mini) and a cable came with it I think, SD card reader/expAndable memory. It is the Asus Transformer - unable at the moment to get the model number. Has a detachable keyboard, which is great for typing stuff.
We used it on our trip to Alice and Uluru without problems, also been to
Lightning Ridge etc - uses
EOTopo, as
well as the MapFactor mapping for navigation in town.
Regards
John
AnswerID:
552399