Thinking about an Android Tablet

Ted

The pilot formerly known as Twin Engine Ted
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Oct 9, 2007
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iFlyNothing
As I said in my iPhone thread, I had to make a new thread for this one.

So today I've started looking at the fact that I need a better OBD scanner for a few things, and for all my vehicles (the '17 Ram 3500, '09 Mercedes GL550, and '00 Jaguar XKR), the best scanners available are for Android. This really doesn't surprise me. I'd been considering getting an Android tablet like @jesse has in his F-150 that provides additional engine data. While I don't need that sort of thing, I am an engine guy, and that would be fun to have. Oh yeah, and both the GL550 and XKR have some amber lights that need looked at.

If I look at the real problem that I have, it's not with the phone itself, it's really looking for a better camera and bigger screen. And so long as I keep an iOS device, the things I use that are iOS specific will continue to work and be available for me.

So let's say I want to buy an Android tablet. Something that has a good outdoor display (like the iPhone/iPad have), reasonably rugged, and ideally have a really good camera. No cell service desired, just a bluetooth/wifi deal. If it had the ability to do movie editing, all the better.

What say you?
 
[deep voice]Come to the dark side, Ted...[/deep voice]

But seriously, are you looking for a phone sized device, or a slightly larger "phablet", or a real 7-10" tablet?
 
But seriously, are you looking for a phone sized device, or a slightly larger "phablet", or a real 7-10" tablet?

I think something either iPhone "Max" or iPad Mini sized would be ideal. Something large enough to have a good sized screen to read data on but small enough to be able to conveniently mount in my truck so I could watch my injector timing, get the NOS timing perfectly tuned with it and run 9s.

(let's see how many get the reference at the end there)
 
Maybe in the 1/8th mile. But it won’t just be the shots you’ll need.
 
I’ve been happy with my Samsung Galaxy Tab S 8.4”, and the wife has the next newer model Galaxy Tab S2. Both work great and rarely have problems. I need to replace the battery in mine as it doesn’t last long on a charge, but it’s over 5 yrs old now. Wife’s is only 2.5 yrs old and she hasn’t complained of short battery life yet. I’ve run Avare, FltPlanGo, and tried out Garmin Pilot which all ran fine.

While Samsung has their skin they put on top of factory Android, it hasn’t seemed cumbersome in my experience.
 
I have a Samsung SM T-580 10.1" I 'm very happy with I bought from Amazon for $150. Good sunlight readability, good battery life. My wife had a Lenovo. Piece of junk, avoid like the plague.
 
We have a couple of the Samsung Tabs; I have a Tab A with the 10.7" screen (I think), which has been great, and the little woman has (besides a couple of iPads) the smaller version.
Neither has had any issues, and I use mine two or three hours a day.
 
Another vote for Samsung... Galaxy Tab S2 8 here, and bought a TabA 10 for my Dad. The only reason I didn't chime in at first, @Ted DuPuis , is that the cameras aren't really up to the extreme high quality I think you're looking for.
 
I have a Samsung Galaxy 2 that I mount in my plane for SA and ADS-B in.

upload_2020-1-11_9-9-10.jpeg
 
Another vote for Samsung... Galaxy Tab S2 8 here, and bought a TabA 10 for my Dad. The only reason I didn't chime in at first, @Ted DuPuis , is that the cameras aren't really up to the extreme high quality I think you're looking for.

To be fair, my camera on the iPhone isn’t very good by today’s standards so almost anything is an improvement. How is the quality on the newer Samsungs?
 
To be fair, my camera on the iPhone isn’t very good by today’s standards so almost anything is an improvement. How is the quality on the newer Samsungs?
Outdoors in good light, the S2 takes very pleasing pictures and videos. Low light performance and focusing isn't great compared with the best out there, no gee-whiz multi lenses for depth of field, resolution isn't great and pics get pixelated pretty quick when you zoom in after taking them. My el cheapo Moto G7 phone takes pics that look at least as good if not better.

Specs for camera on S2 - 8MP front, 2.1MP self
Specs for camera on Moto G7 - 12MP w 5MP depth sensor front, 8MP self.

Neither will come close to replacing my DSLR for photography as art, but both are fine for capturing memorable life moments conveniently and quickly, and would probably be fine for web production for display on typical gadget smallish screens. Wouldn't use for big screen theater material... 1080p, yes, but no 4k and not really of high enough optical quality to really capitalize even on 1080p.

If you'd like, I could shoot a short outside video and try and figure out how to share it with you. PM me if you wish.
 
I run an Asus TF700 in the plane with avare since I gave up on anywhere map.
It has around 600 nits brightness I think. Not sure about camera or editing but it is a good solution for an EFB.

Cell phone is a OnePlus 6T which has a fabulous camera.
 
Samsung Galaxay Tab A 10" run Avare in the plane with a stratux. I am happy with it.
 
We started out on Androids with the Samsung Galaxy Tab S 8.4. It is a nice tablet but has a very wide aspect ratio just like the Galaxy Tab A currently has. So if you like the iPad Mini format (more 4x3) then you might not care for the Samung Tab 2 8.4 or the Tab A. A few years back we upgraded to the Galaxy Tab S2 8" (also already mentioned). This has been a great tablet for the plane. It is the same size as all the iPad Mini's (we have a Mini 4). So we can mount the Tab S2 or the iPad Mini 4 in the same Ram mount.

A while back i wrote up a comparison of the iPad mini 4 vs the Galaxy Tab S2. If you want faster rendering graphics (think SynViz for Garmin Pilot) the iPad will win running native objective C code. And the iPad mini 4 battery will last longer. For all other tasks we prefer the Android. Most importantly the screen is just brighter and better contrast than the iPad Mini 4. Here was the other thing I didn't expect - a Galaxy Tab A (sold new right now) has far less resolution than the Galaxy Tab S2.

If you are using this for the plane or the cars and want a Android I would recommend the Galaxy Tab S2 first. Actually, I can't recall if there is a 8" S3 but I would get that if there is one. But after that Samsung has not been making any of the higher end 8" tablets for a few years now.

The extra SD card storage is awesome on the Samsung Androids. We've always used it for pictures, apps and loading up with videos for trips.

The only hardware issue we have had between all the tablets is that the old Galaxy Tab S 8.4" wifi seems to be going bad or maybe its something else. But we find ourselves turning wifi on/off on if the tablet hasn't been used in a while. It started doing that about a year ago.

If you are going to run Garmin Pilot on the Android it will work nice but expect to fight at least a bug or two. The worst is if it crashes during flight. However it recovers fairly quickly and there must be another thread running since it doesn't miss a beat logging the entire flight. I also don't recommend storing all the charts and downloads on the SD card. I tried that feature early on in Garmin Pilot and had issues. But the new tablet has way more flash so not needed.
 
I have a Samsung SM T-580 10.1" I 'm very happy with I bought from Amazon for $150. Good sunlight readability, good battery life. My wife had a Lenovo. Piece of junk, avoid like the plague.

I second the sentiment on the Lenovo. Mine is actually a Motorola device with Lenovo branding.
 
We started out on Androids with the Samsung Galaxy Tab S 8.4. It is a nice tablet but has a very wide aspect ratio just like the Galaxy Tab A currently has. So if you like the iPad Mini format (more 4x3) then you might not care for the Samung Tab 2 8.4 or the Tab A. A few years back we upgraded to the Galaxy Tab S2 8" (also already mentioned). This has been a great tablet for the plane. It is the same size as all the iPad Mini's (we have a Mini 4). So we can mount the Tab S2 or the iPad Mini 4 in the same Ram mount.

A while back i wrote up a comparison of the iPad mini 4 vs the Galaxy Tab S2. If you want faster rendering graphics (think SynViz for Garmin Pilot) the iPad will win running native objective C code. And the iPad mini 4 battery will last longer. For all other tasks we prefer the Android. Most importantly the screen is just brighter and better contrast than the iPad Mini 4. Here was the other thing I didn't expect - a Galaxy Tab A (sold new right now) has far less resolution than the Galaxy Tab S2.

If you are using this for the plane or the cars and want a Android I would recommend the Galaxy Tab S2 first. Actually, I can't recall if there is a 8" S3 but I would get that if there is one. But after that Samsung has not been making any of the higher end 8" tablets for a few years now.

The extra SD card storage is awesome on the Samsung Androids. We've always used it for pictures, apps and loading up with videos for trips.

The only hardware issue we have had between all the tablets is that the old Galaxy Tab S 8.4" wifi seems to be going bad or maybe its something else. But we find ourselves turning wifi on/off on if the tablet hasn't been used in a while. It started doing that about a year ago.

If you are going to run Garmin Pilot on the Android it will work nice but expect to fight at least a bug or two. The worst is if it crashes during flight. However it recovers fairly quickly and there must be another thread running since it doesn't miss a beat logging the entire flight. I also don't recommend storing all the charts and downloads on the SD card. I tried that feature early on in Garmin Pilot and had issues. But the new tablet has way more flash so not needed.

Do you know what hardware and version of Android are required to run Garmin Pilot? I want to mount a small device on my panel just to use as a backup AI connected to Garmin 175 AHRS via Bluetooth. Doesn't have to do anything else. I'm thinking maybe an old Samsung smartphone might do it.
 
I just don't know what all the requirements are for Android and Garmin Pilot. It seems to run of most everything new. I had an old S4 phone and I think it would have been too slow to run the SynVis. Actually, as stated earlier Garmin Pilot on Android isn't all that great with syn vis because of the all the byte code being interpreted. For this case I would suggest maybe a 2-4yr old iPhone which can also run Garmin Pilot. Now if you mean just showing the Garmin Pilot AI and other widgets via the 175's AHRS I think you won't need something all the fast at all. Actually, you might not even want to load many maps to keep it from being overloaded. Remember you can install Garmin Pilot on up to 3 devices so maybe just try it on an old Galaxy or iPhone
 
I just don't know what all the requirements are for Android and Garmin Pilot. It seems to run of most everything new. I had an old S4 phone and I think it would have been too slow to run the SynVis. Actually, as stated earlier Garmin Pilot on Android isn't all that great with syn vis because of the all the byte code being interpreted.

I run Garmin Pilot on a Galaxy Tab A connected to a GDL-50 for ADS-B/WAAS/AHRS. It works pretty well. (Even if it does force the Traffic screen into Track Up... :p)
 
Well, I may have come up with a $0 solution...

We had bought the kids Amazon Kindles some years ago. Cheap ones. Anyway, got to where they weren't working well for the games anymore and one of them broke a screen. But, still have the things. So I got one, installed a couple of programs on it. Going to see if this does the job. If it does, it'd be the perfect size to mount in the truck.
 
The Kindle Fire devices may work for you.. if so, great. If not, another vote for the Galaxy Tab S2 8”. Just don’t break the screen... unlike most tablet screens, it’s obscenely expensive to replace. I’ve never seen anything better in sunlight, though.

Oh, and I almost forgot... mounts made for the iPad Mini before the 4th generation, I think it is, work fine for it.
 
I picked up a Samsung Galaxy Tab A (WiFi/bluetooth only) last year for ~$150 to use as an EFB (Avare) and maps and digital topos (OnX / Avenza) for hunting/hiking research. I've been really happy with it.
 
I'm looking for a new 8" android tablet. Will NOT use Apple. I had an 8" Samsung Galaxy TabS and Tab S2 and dropped both. The S works barely, the S2 is dead and to repair I have to buy a screen on eBary and there is no guarantee.

My only question is has anyone had trouble using the SD card on the Samsungs? I thought I had trouble accessing mine in both tablets and that this was a Samsung OS thing.

I'd look at a Samsung Tab A because they don't make the S2 anymore but I want more than 32GB storage. Actually, I'm having a German contact see if they can find a HwaWei MediaMate M5 Lite 8 for me. I am really tired of Samsung apps and want a decent bare-bones OS.
 
I have a lenovo yoga smart tab. part number ZA3V0005US. I've only had it 3 months so I'm not in a great position to offer a review, but
It's been great so far. I haven't used the camera though.
Great speakers, good display, and the form factor while very odd is also quite good for holding in the hand.
and the built in kick stand has been great...and so far seems robust enough....
has internal GPS and it's a solid tablet.
 
Stay away from Amazon Fire tablets. Useless except for almost everything.
Love the Samsungs
Hate Apple products, but find myself in the unenviable position of having to buy an iPad mini. An app I absolutely, positively have to have works only on Apple.
sigh............
 
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