I-Pad or Android - do they have built-in phone too?

Robert Wilson

Robert Wilson

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Reading latest PBO prompted me to think about getting an I.Pad or Android tablet to use for navigation and wondered whether they have a "phone signal" for when ordinary mobile phones are out of range/signal?
If they have GPS receiving, they obviously can receive signals, but can they transmit speech, text and/orweb-browsing?
I am a totally non-techie, so please forgive me if this is a Primary School type question. :o
 
Robert Wilson said:
Reading latest PBO prompted me to think about getting an I.Pad or Android tablet to use for navigation and wondered whether they have a "phone signal" for when ordinary mobile phones are out of range/signal?
If they have GPS receiving, they obviously can receive signals, but can they transmit speech, text and/orweb-browsing?
I am a totally non-techie, so please forgive me if this is a Primary School type question. :o
Click to expand...

I will happily be corrected but to the best of my knowledge, some of these devices in which you can insert a SIM card work on a phone 3G (possibly 4G soon) network and as such you need to have a phone contract or PAYG setup to receive these signals. Some however only have wifi internet (like mine) which means you need to be in range of a wifi signal that you can access. However, whilst either of these this will allow you to access the internet, it will not give you a normal "phone" voice signal although you can of course use VOIP such as Skype.
 
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Robert Wilson said:
If they have GPS receiving, they obviously can receive signals, but can they transmit speech, text and/orweb-browsing?
Click to expand...

That's like saying "I can receive the BBC World Service, so obviously I can talk to Hamble Point Marina even though I'm in Aberdeen". One radio signal is not interchangeable with another.

The GPS satellites broadcast their radio signals to more or less the whole world, as a one-way transmission. To make phone calls, send texts, or run an Internet connection, your device needs to talk both ways to a mobile phone mast, using a relatively low-power radio and short-range protocol. So you can find out where you are, anywhere, but you can't text the missus to tell her unless you're in mobile phone range. The two are entirely independent.

Pete
 
prv said:
That's like saying "I can receive the BBC World Service, so obviously I can talk to Hamble Point Marina even though I'm in Aberdeen". One radio signal is not interchangeable with another.

The GPS satellites broadcast their radio signals to more or less the whole world, as a one-way transmission. To make phone calls, send texts, or run an Internet connection, your device needs to talk both ways to a mobile phone mast, using a relatively low-power radio and short-range protocol. So you can find out where you are, anywhere, but you can't text the missus to tell her unless you're in mobile phone range. The two are entirely independent.

Pete
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Leaving aside the possible Skype facility, I rather thought that it would be too good to be true to be able to talk/text etc.
I presume that the only option for talking outside range of mobile-phone-masts is to have a pukker satellite phone?

Thanks for that, one and all.
 
Robert Wilson said:
Leaving aside the possible Skype facility, I rather thought that it would be too good to be true to be able to talk/text etc.
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Skype needs an Internet connection, so won't work any further offshore than a normal mobile. Could be useful abroad if you're somewhere with a wifi network available.

Robert Wilson said:
I presume that the only option for talking outside range of mobile-phone-masts is to have a pukker satellite phone?
Click to expand...

Either satellite or a powerful HF radio. Though in the latter case to talk to someone who doesn't also have an HF radio, you'd need to find a Coast Station that does phone patches, and they're increasingly rare. They're also expensive things to install, and you need a license which is more involved than the VHF one. So I'd tend to see traditional radio as a hobby in itself - if you just want to communicate with specific people ashore, it's a satphone you want.

Pete
 
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Agree with what's been said but to add-
If the tablet has a sim card slot it should be able to make calls like any mobile (no better range than your other phone though)
My son has a 3G Galaxy Tab (Android) with a phone functionality. not sure if it had a phone app installed or whether he dloaded one
You may look a little silly doing it though...

Nick
 
NickRobinson said:
Agree with what's been said but to add-
If the tablet has a sim card slot it should be able to make calls like any mobile (no better range than your other phone though)
My son has a 3G Galaxy Tab (Android) with a phone functionality. not sure if it had a phone app installed or whether he dloaded one
You may look a little silly doing it though...
Nick
Click to expand...

Aye !!
 
I have an iPad 3, the one with GPS and 3G reception, as well as bluetooth and wifi.
It uses the 3G network to download data and for email, for when you are away from wifi networks. It will text, but only to other iPads, not even to my iPhone. It does not function as a mobile phone, (Unless I am missing something!).
 
prv said:
Not necessarily. The iPad cannot, as far as I know. Also SIM cards sold for use with tablets may not be configured for voice calls (this is up to the phone company).

Pete
Click to expand...

Yes- I was meaning Android- I have no knowledge of Apple stuff. Anybody ?
My son had an interesting conversation when he took out a contract in a high st shop for a sim for his unlocked Galaxy Tab.
Shop assistant- 'this deal, data, voice, txt, is for phones only, not tablets, you can't have it...'
Peter (my son that is...) 'look, it is a phone, I'm currently dialing your landline on it'...
Assistant 'ok then....'!
N
 
My 7" Android tablet takes a standard mobile phone simcard. Occasionally I have used the sim in my (Android) mobile phone without a problem.
I can access the internet on the tab via the sim when wifi is unavailable.
Making calls, SMS messaging is do-able but you risk looking a right berk talking to a tab!
 
Robert Wilson said:
Reading latest PBO prompted me to think about getting an I.Pad or Android tablet to use for navigation and wondered whether they have a "phone signal" for when ordinary mobile phones are out of range/signal?
If they have GPS receiving, they obviously can receive signals, but can they transmit speech, text and/orweb-browsing?
I am a totally non-techie, so please forgive me if this is a Primary School type question. :o
Click to expand...

GPS signal comes from satellites and is available everywhere apart from the poles provided your gadget of choice has a GPS chip within it.

All the other signals ( ie data, skype, internet, email, phone) are 3G soon to become 4G and come from land based cell phone masts with roughly the same range as your boat VHF. What the tablet is doing here is using the 3G / 4G signal to connect to the internet in a similar way to you using laptop wifi on land.

One complications to watch out for are that some navigation packages dont download the maps and store them in the tablets memory and instead rely on having an internet connection to download them on the fly. I believe Google maps are like this. If you use such a package then you wont be able to reliably navigate more than say 10 miles offshore.
 
do the new ipads which have the retna screen and faster chip have gps receivers..... I'm looking at the spec on the JL website as i'm off to buy one today but cant find any info.
 
AIDY said:
do the new ipads which have the retna screen and faster chip have gps receivers..... I'm looking at the spec on the JL website as i'm off to buy one today but cant find any info.
Click to expand...

Only those with 3G/4G. The wifi only ones dont have the gps chip so if you dont want / need the 3G/4G, the price comparison is the most expensive IPad with 3G against a cheaper wifi only android.
 
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