Best 10" Tablet for my Nav?

[Tappet]

Going to buy a tablet. I am a bit of dumb barstard when it comes to computers and such things. Anyway I do want an Android type as I don't want to be Appleized. It's gotta be 10" to as I don't want to use my reading glasses to use it. Primary use will be be in the truck for navigation and mapping although I would like to store music, pics and perhaps a movie or two, there is some other very cool apps that would be fun to. A few questions tho -

-Will the performance of a cheapy from Ebay or the like suffice or should I bite the bullet and go for a Nexus, Samsung, Sony or similar?

-What is the inbuilt GPS performance like in the cheapies and even the more expensive ones for that matter. Would a separate USB GPS remote dongle thingy that sits on the roof or windscreen be better?

-Because it's going to live in the truck most of the time, screen brightness is a big consideration. Are some better at this? I have had look online but it's something that is not really mentioned particularly in bright conditions.

-Thinking of putting it on a Ram mount or even make my own mount anyone with experience of mounting a 10" jobbie would be muchly appreciated.

Doesn't have to be 3G as I can connect it to my wifes HTC One, although she will know how to that better than me

Many Thanks!

 

[Old.Tony]

Be careful that you DO get one with a 3G interface (they should ALL do WiFi), even if you don't get the SIM for it - the GPS chip is often co-manufactured into the board with the 3G chip. My wife bought an iPad that had no 3G (WiFi only) for that exact reason, and it can only use network location, not GPS. You can't make them use an external GPS sender that I know of.

Personal experience: I have a Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 and it's friggin' awesome. Using OSMAnd (thanks to Sparra04 for putting me on to that) - free, downloadable offline maps with some 4WD tracks included. Screen is bright and crisp and you can whack a 32Gb MicroSD card into it for your music. Sound is okay but a loud diesel makes it tough with the windows down. Requires 5V @ 2.1A so not a standard USB outlet, but an Apple iPad USB outlet will work fine.

 

[charlie strayarc]

The inbuilt gps on samsung galaxy is really good.
I use ozi explorer on a 7 inch one, cant fault it. No internet etc connection required. Like Tony says get the one that will take a 32 gig card. I also have ozi explorer on my galaxy phone as a backup. Hema make maps to go with ozi and theres torrents around for them.

 

[Saitek]

Old Tony, if you use jail brake aps or the like you can use remote gps from phones or Bluetooth devices, a mate of mine uses his phone on his wifi only ipad.

Tappet you are best off using an external gps input as sometimes we found you got interference from the car roof we fixed this by using the gps from our phone also a HTC one mounted on the windscreen.

The cheepy tablet my freind has seems to be just as good as the name brand ones for what you want to do with it, he had a problem taking his nice 10 inch tablet in(some sought of asus branded one) the car so bought a cheepy one to use instead.

 

[Old.Tony]

I'm not normally a fan of jailbreaking devices because that usually ends the support for it from the manufacturer and if I want to get the latest Android version, I then have to do it manually. I'm getting a bit past all the hack-n-slash with these things and just want one that does what I want it to do.

External GPS antenna is something else though and unless your tablet can sit under the window (we know that's unlikely) it'll have poor reception. There are external antennae available for the Note 2, but removing the back of the Note 10 isn't as easy - I can unclip the back but it's glued in place so it's not designed to come off like the phones are. This means that an external GPS device would be a god-send but if you have to jailbreak (root) the device, I'd wonder if that's the best thing to do with an expensive tablet - I'd then look at a cheapy.

Cheapies are okay except their processors lack (won't be a problem with navigation) and their batteries are absolute shit, so don't rely on them away from power. My Samsung Note 10 lasts for about 7 hours away from power, my Transformer around 15 (supposed to be 18 hours, but it's getting older). We do have a cheapie (7") Android tablet and its battery (supposed to last 8 hours) goes for around 15 minutes before giving up the ghost. If you only ever intend to keep it on car power, it should never be a problem.

 

[Tappet]

Hey thanks for your time and valuable input guys.

So perhaps best to get one of these to go with the tablet. http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/NEW-BU-3...=AU_Car_Parts_Accessories&hash=item416a684c4c That should get around any GPS reception problems. There is lots of different brands some state the number of channels it has. I gather the more the better?
As for the tablet itself, still up in the air over going the name brand or perhaps something like this http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/10-1-40G...71137664859?pt=AU_Tablets&hash=item3f21106f5b
The battery life is a consideration tho. So thanks for the heads up on that Tony.

 

[navaranewb]

wifi only is fine for this. Can tether from a 3g device is far better and saves some cash on a second sim etc

Im running an acer A510 with 32gb inbuilt and a 32gb micro sd (for a total of 64gb)

 

[Tappet]

Yes, only need a wifi job not 3 G. Planed to thether it to my wife's wizzy 3/4G HTC One for internet.

That Zenithink job I made a link to has good features but like many of the Chinese units only 8GB on board but can have the 32 gig SD card. Do you think that is enough? I'm also planing to load it up with off road maps of the Nth. American Continent as well here.

So much to learn with all this stuff- back to browsing and reading up

 

[Old.Tony]

I'd look at the size of the maps, you want those on internal memory not the SD card because in my experience, access to the SD card is not as quick as it ought to be and certainly slower than the internal storage.

It does look like you can use an external GPS receiver but the one listed doesn't say it supports Android. There are some Android ones available on the 'net, make sure you get one of those. There is also an app in the Play Store for a bluetooth GPS device - check it out here. It might solve your problem.

The reason for suggesting 3G-capable with NO SIM is not so that you can buy a SIM at some point, but so that if you aren't using the external antenna/device (let's say you're bushwalking with it) you can STILL pick up satellite location signals - remember that many manufacturers combined the GPS and 3G receivers into a single unit.

 

[fourocker]

I'll third the Galaxy Note 10.1, I have an android app called Nogago maps in it, the gps is great, it's quick, the screen can be very bright if needed and you can use it split screen if you want ie two views at the same time.

 

[BMGTZ]

I have a IPad mini...with a SIM card and 64 gig memory. Will this do the job to run Hema maps? Do I have to be in mobile service range for it to work.

 

[Tappet]

Ok! been doing a lot of reading up today and many thanks for that advice Tony. There is so much very cool gear out there I wasn't even aware of. The Bluetooth GPS receiver looks the go even spotted high speed dual GPS units that use both the Russian and US systems. My mind is racing at the moment and probably getting a bit carried away Considering what I want to do with it looks like might as well go bite the bullet spend the little extra and go for a good name brand unit with decent on board memory and good screen. Not saving a lot over the better of the Chinese E bay lot anyway. Some of those Nth American maps use gigs of memory.

Edit:- and gottcha on the combined GPS/3G chip side of it all to. Thanks for that.

 

[Old.Tony]

Edit:- and gottcha on the combined GPS/3G chip side of it all to. Thanks for that.

We learned the hard way: wife wanted to save a few bucks when the newer iPad came out, so we got the WiFi-only version. She'd bought TomTom from the Apple store with free lifetime map updates and oops, it doesn't ever pinpoint your location - we wondered why and asked, and was told about the combination of chips. Discovered soon after that it's a common thing - and didn't want you to fall in that trap.

Moral of the story for us was: if in doubt, choose the top shelf. Needless to say our Samsung Note 10s have everything, BUT we don't use a SIM, we just tether to our phones (portable hot-spot, it has many monikers).

I've been bluetooth tethering if we're away from power for any length of time. The WiFi radio consumes vastly more power than the BT radio - the WiFi radio has a range of about 100m and the BT only about 10m, but since the phone is usually in my pocket, my Samsung Note in my hands and my bloody arms aren't THAT long, it's perfect - both devices last a lot longer.

 

[camo.b]

If you search for this item number on ebay 281063681047.its a excellent bluetooth and usb gps...its meant for racetrack use...so a very fast refresh rate.also super accurate