Android Tablet With GPS

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MagicIsland

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Looking for an android tablet with GPS to run Navonics and Memory map charts on but can only find androids 2.3 (gingerbread) tablets with built in GPS, wanted Android 4 to take advantage of the Navionic HD charts. Question is has anyone run a gps bluetooth receiver on a tablet running version android 2.3 or greater and if so, can u recommend a bluetooth receiver or an alternative option ? thanks
 
Any reason it has to be android? Staying up to date will always be a problem with them so even if you get one running 4 now you may have problems when 5 or 6 is released. With iPad you'd get several years of full support. Assume you have your reasons though?
 
lustyd said:
Any reason it has to be android? Staying up to date will always be a problem with them so even if you get one running 4 now you may have problems when 5 or 6 is released. With iPad you'd get several years of full support. Assume you have your reasons though?
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No rational reason but just can't buy into the whole Ipad/Iphone/Itune Apple thing, I'm also one of those peolpe that hates marmite :confused:
 
MagicIsland said:
Looking for an android tablet with GPS to run Navonics and Memory map charts on but can only find androids 2.3 (gingerbread) tablets with built in GPS, wanted Android 4 to take advantage of the Navionic HD charts. Question is has anyone run a gps bluetooth receiver on a tablet running version android 2.3 or greater and if so, can u recommend a bluetooth receiver or an alternative option ? thanks
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I'm replying from one - an Asus Transformer. Xoom, Galaxy Tab, in fact most of them have built in GPS. If you're only finding tablets that are running Gingerbread then I suspect you're looking at cheap ones in $1-200 range. The few that aren't running ICS (Android 4) or Honeycomb (Android 3) will be pretty old or cheap versions.

Ignore the uninformed comment about updates by the way. First off you won't get several years of full support for any current tablet from any manufacturer - several years is two or three lifetimes in this space (though it is just possible to run Android 4 on a 7 year old smartphone oddly enough). Secondly my tablet has been frequently updated as have all of those from the major players. As it stands the difference between iOS and Android and the iPad and the similarly priced tablets running Android (Asus, Toshiba, Samsung) is simply preferences as to which features suit you better. There's really nothing in it (and I use them both extensively.
 
The original iPad runs the current software version and pretty much all the apps available, hence my comment. Android on the other hand is a bit of a mess where app support is concerned. Tablets are rarely supported beyond about 6 months by the manufacturer and even when running the latest version you can't always run all of the apps due to fragmentation of hardware.


grumpy_o_g said:
I'm replying from one - an Asus Transformer. Xoom, Galaxy Tab, in fact most of them have built in GPS. If you're only finding tablets that are running Gingerbread then I suspect you're looking at cheap ones in $1-200 range. The few that aren't running ICS (Android 4) or Honeycomb (Android 3) will be pretty old or cheap versions.

Ignore the uninformed comment about updates by the way. First off you won't get several years of full support for any current tablet from any manufacturer - several years is two or three lifetimes in this space (though it is just possible to run Android 4 on a 7 year old smartphone oddly enough). Secondly my tablet has been frequently updated as have all of those from the major players. As it stands the difference between iOS and Android and the iPad and the similarly priced tablets running Android (Asus, Toshiba, Samsung) is simply preferences as to which features suit you better. There's really nothing in it (and I use them both extensively.
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lustyd said:
and even when running the latest version you can't always run all of the apps due to fragmentation of hardware.
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There is bound to be more fragmentation of hardware when you have a hardware choice. :) Apple doesnt give you a hardware choice - its all Apple. And its all silly money.
 
wotayottie said:
There is bound to be more fragmentation of hardware when you have a hardware choice. :) Apple doesnt give you a hardware choice - its all Apple. And its all silly money.
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It's not silly money at all, otherwise they wouldn't sell them in the millions and have massive market share. The iPad is actually not a lot more expensive than a well specced android tablet. The Galaxy tab and asus transformer are both around £500 which is the same cost as the iPad.

If you compare it to the Chinese knock offs running Android then yes it'll look expensive but you get what you pay for.

ETA - hardware fragmentation is not a problem at all, it's the lack of confidence that apps will always work that was my issue.
 
wotayottie said:
There is bound to be more fragmentation of hardware when you have a hardware choice. :) Apple doesnt give you a hardware choice - its all Apple. And its all silly money.
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The cheaper ones (£399) don't even have GPS! You have to pay more for the 4G version to get GPS, and it will never work on any 4G system, except in the USA or Canada, as planned 4G systems in Europe are different!
 
Yup, 90% of tablet owners have made a mistake and bought Apple just to follow the crowd. Funny though, I hardly ever see people happily using an Android tablet on the tube. Guess they must have left it at home. By mistake. Every day.
 
OK, can we stop comparing $100 tablets to $500 tablets please? LustyD is quite correct in that there is little difference in price or spec on the top-end tablets where the iPad is.

First off the original iPad was launched in April 2010 in the US and has been available in most markets and most formats (e.g. 3G capable) for less than 2 years. Even the iPhone is only about 5 years old I think, so talk of several years is garbage.

The original iPad was launched with iOS 3.2 (an iPad specific version). The current version is 5.1.1 I believe.

My tablet was originally supplied with Android 3.1 a year or so ago and now runs Android 4.0.4. Even my 'phone (a Dell Streak) now a couple of years old has been upgraded from Android 1.6 to 2.3 and this is a 'phone that was notorious for "poor support" from Dell, who aren't big players in this space.

Fragmentation is an issue that concerns manufacturers trying to grab market share, not the end-user. Once you have your piece of hardware then it will continue to work, with the OS that's on it, until it breaks. However, you may and should get upgrades for some time before the device is drops off the upgrade schedule. There is a subtle but important difference in the way this happens between an iPad and a tablet that runs Android.

Apple write iOS and release the upgrade to the carriers who may modify it slightly with Apple's approval. The upgrade is then rolled out to the device.

Google write Android and release the upgrade in two ways. The "pure" code is released to the public so that they can install this on their devices if they wish. The code is also released (normally early) to the manufacturers and carriers. Asus, Samsung, etc. will take the code apply their modifications and check it works on their hardware and then release it to the public, usually via an OTA (over the air) update.

The actual result is exactly the same - the end user sees a notification that update is available and installs it. Neither system is better or faster than the other - it's just that Apple says very little until the release is available for your device (or not as the case may be) whereas Google will say "we've finished" and then you have to wait for the carrier/manufacturer to do their piece before you actually get the notification.

Applications fail on iOS and Android. There are one or two instances where an app won't work on a particular device when it's released into the Android market because the app wasn't coded correctly but, if it's a decent app, this will be corrected fairly quickly. App fails rates are generally regarded as being pretty similar for iOS and Android (source - my mobile app development team). You should also ignore the talk of the number of Android apps specifically designed for the tablet - because of the way later Android releases work any app scales very nicely to tablet size. I regard tablet specific apps as a very poor solution, regardless of how many there are. In practice there are so many for both it's irrelevant unless there's a particular app you want which is only available on one platfrom or the other.

At the end of the day there is no significant difference between the Android and iOS marketplace to the consumer except that the Android marketplace allows you a huge choice in hardware. This is both good and bad. It means that you can buy cheaper products but it means you can buy lower quality products; it means you have a choice but it means you have to choose.

If you choose a higher end product from a mainline manufacturer you will pay the same price as Apple and you will have a product that's mostly as good as and sometimes better than Apple. Asus in particular have an outstanding record for supporting their products (one of the reasons I chose them). The question is and Audi vs BMW one. Both do their job and do it very well, which one do you prefer?
 
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lustyd said:
Yup, 90% of tablet owners have made a mistake and bought Apple just to follow the crowd. Funny though, I hardly ever see people happily using an Android tablet on the tube. Guess they must have left it at home. By mistake. Every day.
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"90% of tablet owners have made a mistake and bought Apple just to follow the crowd." They may not have made a mistake but it certainly wouldn't be the first time 90% of a market is based on the badge/brand rather than the product. I must confess I see little use of any tablets outside of the home, regardless of brand.
 
grumpy_o_g said:
I must confess I see little use of any tablets outside of the home, regardless of brand.
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I use mine for work all the time, it's useful for white boarding, typing notes, Internet research and email. It's also considerably lighter to carry on the journey into London than my laptop bag which Has started to give me various aches and pains due to weight. I can also read the yachtie mags on the train journey without actually carrying the mags.
 
lustyd said:
Any reason it has to be android? Staying up to date will always be a problem with them so even if you get one running 4 now you may have problems when 5 or 6 is released. With iPad you'd get several years of full support. Assume you have your reasons though?
Click to expand...

It happens on iPad too, it's just that they don't talk about it. When iPad2 came out, developers wanted to take advantage on the extra beans available in the later model's processor. Apple didn't allow them to specify this as, in the marketplace, all iPads are equal. So to work around it they specified that their apps required a camera even thought they patently didn't (no cam on the first iPad). They will have to be even more ingenious to take advantage of iPad3.

Obsolescence it built in with all tech; no point denying it. In case you think I'm just biased against apple, I'm typing this on an iPad.
 
I think that there is a lot of confusion here. Whether Android 2,3 or 4, most applications will run.
My wife has a laptop running Windows XP which is 12 years old, whilst mine in running Windows 7.
Essentially we both run the same software.
I have used both the Ipad, which is either my sons or daughters, but they are not as good as many claim, and like most Apple kit overpriced. I have also used Android 3,4 tablets which re as good application wise, but do not have the same resolution on the screen, but then at less than half the price, it is a compromise worth paying.
AS boating can be moisture prone I dont think I would be happy, for a £400 device to be on a boat on a permanent basis, whilst one costing half would be OK, specially if the grandkids dont know how to use it
 
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