Which Cheap Tablets Have GPS

A Tesco Hudl has a GPS. Much better than a cheapy, and if you have Clubcard points to cash in even better value. I use mine with Memory Map charts installed and as a repeater for the ship's Garmin system.
 
A hunt on the internet will generally find some sites with specifications. The easiest to buy Android tablet with true GPS was the late lamented Hudl or Hudl2 but as these are now unavailable it is now the case that tablets with GPS tend to be at the more expensive end of the market. Even if you buy an iPad only the more expensive ones have GPS. Be careful because some sellers will try to describe a fix derived from triangulation from Cellhone masts as GPS. This article is a bit out of date but it does desribe the possibilities. http://www.theguardian.com/technology/askjack/2014/nov/13/whats-the-best-cheap-tablet-for-gps-use
 
for a second hand hudl try ebay. or get a first generation nexus 7 (the second generation has a higher spec and is known as the '2013' and is more expensive. both have proper gps
 
Norman_E said:
A hunt on the internet will generally find some sites with specifications. The easiest to buy Android tablet with true GPS was the late lamented Hudl or Hudl2 but as these are now unavailable it is now the case that tablets with GPS tend to be at the more expensive end of the market. Even if you buy an iPad only the more expensive ones have GPS. Be careful because some sellers will try to describe a fix derived from triangulation from Cellhone masts as GPS. This article is a bit out of date but it does desribe the possibilities. http://www.theguardian.com/technology/askjack/2014/nov/13/whats-the-best-cheap-tablet-for-gps-use
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HUDL2 been back in stock at Tescos for the last week @ £99
 
Steve Clayton said:
HUDL2 been back in stock at Tescos for the last week @ £99
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If they are in stock and OP has vouchers to boost then it's a complete no brainer to buy one using £50 of Tesco vouchers. The Hudl 2 has a better GPS than the original Hudl and an 8.3" screen. Update to V5.1 Lolipop is also available so no need to stick with Kit Kat and this gives official support for 128GB SD cards in case you need a lot of storage.

I'd be surprised if they stay in stock for any length of time.
 
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I,m writing this on my Lenovo Tab2 8inch A50 Bought for €150 /approx £110 in Argos.
Apparently related to IBM, has GPS and runs my Navionics med charts no problem. Had it out in Spain earlier this month and it has now replaced my faulty 3 year old Samsung 7in.
Unbeleivable difference in the chart view for such a small increase in size. Still fits in my combat type trouser pocket with the cover on.
It also appears to have a sim card slot, untried as yet, that could give me independent internet access. Useful when abroad.
I've increased the 16gb by adding a 32gb card and that's more than double the memory so no worries about download capacity.
Time will tell but so far so good!
 
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Spirit of Glenans said:
The title says it all really, I've just spotted a Lenovo A7 tablet on offer at €100 and Lidl, (or is it Aldi?), have one for an unbelievable €45, but in any of the lists of specs for tablets generally, they never mention GPS, so how do I find out?
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The Lenovo Tab series of Android tablets are confusingly named.

I've not been looking at the 7", but the old model of the 10" was named the Lenovo Tab A10, whereas the new one is the Lenovo Tab 2 A10.

I have bolded the "2" so it stands out, but it's easy to get the two models mixed up, when looking through different websites, at a bunch of superficially identical tablets.

I'm also a bit confused because the announcements earlier in the year were for 8" and 10" models (Lenovo Tab 2 A8 and Lenovo Tab 2 A10), and yet Argos and John Lewis are both advertising a 7" model. I'm glad to read centaur1's confirmation that he has an 8" - at least I know I'm not crazy, mixing up all the model numbers!

The current 10" model ships with a 4.4 release of Android, but an update to Android 5 or 5.1 ("Lollipop") is available (or, at least, Lenovo have promised one).

I really fancy the 10", but haven't yet found an excuse to pull the trigger. It has a 1920x1200 pixel display, and you can get it for about £150 (its price has been fluctuating between c £150 - £180 for the wifi model, but there's usually somewhere advertising it for £150).

I'm pretty sure all models have GPS - I know the 10" does.

I don't think the Lenovo 10" in the eBay link posted by peterhull is the current model - it only has 1024x600 resolution and, with 3G included, it is too cheap to be the current model.

I think that London Chartplotter's eBay listing is the old model, too.

IMO it's the 1920x1200 resolution that makes the 10" Tab 2 A10 really compelling, plus it's up-to-date with Android 5 Lollipop.

The 10" has over twice the screen area of the 7" - 65½ square inches as opposed to only 31 square inches.

If you want 10", I think there is a comparable Samsung tablet which comes in around £180 or £200. The Lenovo seems a better deal.

Hope this helps.
 
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Interesting summary of the Lenovo range. I thought it odd that only one seller is advertising the 10 inch model, your explanation makes sense thanks for enlightening us all. I suspected a link with IBM because when you search for Lenovo, IBM range comes up as well.

I use a a Motorola Moto G 2nd generation for my Charts when sailing. I has a quad core processor and is very fast on wifi etc. Just got to watch battery usage. If you switch the wifi and sim card off I find it preserves the battery well enough. Charge it at th end of the day.

I keep it in my sailing jacket and just pull it out when I want to use the charts. It has worked well for me with Memory Map Charts.

I keep wondering about using a Tablet to get a larger screen area but as yet not made up my mind. There is a bewildering choice out there.!!
 
peterhull said:
I suspected a link with IBM because when you search for Lenovo, IBM range comes up as well.
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Lenovo is, approximately speaking, the name of what used to be IBM's laptop division.

I think IBM had their Thinkpads made in Lenovo's factories, and Lenovo bought up the rights when IBM decided to get out of this business sector.

For a few years, as part of the transition, they had the rights to sell the "IBM Thinkpad by Lenovo".

Lenovo is now a big company in its own right: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lenovo

I have a Moto G, too - I think the 5" screen is perfect for a phone. I previously had an Android phone with a screen just under 4" and it felt cramped. My mother has a 6" phone and, whilst I can see the merits of that display size, it's too big for me.

I don't really see the point of a 7" tablet - not that much larger than my phone, but much much smaller than my laptop.

If I was in the market for a tablet it would be 10" - I was quite excited about the Lenovo Tab 2 A10 when I saw the early reviews, because all the other 10" tablets I was looking at at the time had only 1024x600 or 1024x800 pixels. Whilst waiting for the 10" Tab 2 to become available I realised, however, that I'm perfectly happy on my laptop most of the time. I could certainly see myself buying a 10" tablet in the future, though.

The Sony Experia tablet looks wonderful, but it's twice the price.
 
I have a Lenovo A7 bought for £120 from ebay earlier this year. 10" screen which is OK, but not as high-res as my "old" Ipad 2. On the other hand, its wifi and general processor performance is better, and it cost about a quarter of a current-generation iPad. The GPS works well.
I haven't seen waterproof cases (other than the plaggy bag type) for anything other than iPads, so if you want something "mountable" a second-hand iPad 2 3G plus necessary hardware would probably do well (though the case and mounting bracket would probably cost at least as much as the tablet). I run Navionics on my Ipad 2, and it is fine. For some reason, though, the Vesper AIS iPad app has dreadful difficulty coping with target-rich environment of the Solent. No issues looking at it on the Android app on either the Lenovo or my little Sony phone.
Anyway: another vote for Lenovo from me.
 
Mistroma said:
If they are in stock and OP has vouchers to boost then it's a complete no brainer to buy one using £50 of Tesco vouchers. The Hudl 2 has a better GPS than the original Hudl and an 8.3" screen. Update to V5.1 Lolipop is also available so no need to stick with Kit Kat and this gives official support for 128GB SD cards in case you need a lot of storage.

I'd be surprised if they stay in stock for any length of time.
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Interesting, but how do you update it?
 
Norman_E said:
Interesting, but how do you update it?
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I'd read about some people having problems after the update. I think they usually had lots of apps loaded and it ran slowly for a few days until everything sorted itself out. I did some housekeeping, removed unused apps. cleared cache etc. and my update went without a hitch. It downloaded and installed pretty quickly and I think it did need to restart a couple of times and then it was fine.

Hudls 2 should notify you that the update is available. but you can also dig around in settings and check manually.
 
The nexus 7 new is not a 'budget' tablet as a post above points out in what I assume is a sarky comment, but second hand the original model before the 2013 model can be had for a good budget price.
 
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