Thread: Oziexplorer Tablet recommendations

Originally Posted by incisor

I have been looking as well and this looks the goods.. still saving....

I understand that USB-C allows charging and data comms at the same time.

I've used a SGS TabII 7" for Ozi since about 2010.
(before that, WinCE too .. YUK! .. but that's all that was available pre Android era)
Never had any issues with GPS reception, other than when indoors/underground/etc.
Sometimes under very heavy tree cover too, and in a valley, but very uncommon for it to lose reception.

Very recently(as in a month or so now) .. I noticed Lenovo had a 10" tablet for a decent price, with much better hardware specs than my SGSII.
Good screen, but not as hi res as Samsungs 10" higher end tablets .. but it's HD specs(1920x1080) are plenty enough.
Maybe a bit more would have been nicer, but from what I see now on the 10" .. probably not required.

7-8" on a D1/D2 type dash, with a RAM mount is perfect and the top of the tablet doesn't impede over the bonnet view.
The 10" now only just does, but with a bit of careful placement, I have it set to not intrude over the LH corner of the front.

My only criticism of just about all tablets is that at night, on a dark country road, I could never get the screen brightness low enough to not glare too much for the blackness of the country.
Around town with lights everywhere, it was never an issue. But when you want the lowest possible screen brightness for totally dark ambient conditions .. it was always an issue.
Both SGS and now the Lenovo too .. just don't drop to low enough brightness for such conditions.
Workaround is to create a screen page with a grey screen a specific screen you mainly use(using the Android Screen Designer software) .. not ideal, but it works.

The major benefit of the update from SGSII to the Lenovo was the increase in allowable mSD card size, up from 64G to 256G now .. so less probability to run out of map storage space.
Old SGSII was Android 4.something which natively allowed install of apps directly to card without mucking about.

Not possible natively with later versions of Android tho, but there are workarounds.
(STUPID GOOGLE lunacy).
.. anyhow, you can format the mSD card to become internal storage, so instead of a 32G internal space, I now have about 160G of internal storage due to formatting the mSD card(128G) to internal storage.
SO gots to be careful if removing card.
This way all data can be written to the mSD card by Ozi.
Otherwise Android doesn't allow some apps to write directly to mSD card .. once again did I mention IDIOTs at Google.
Why allow external card compatibility but not allow apps to write to ext cards? .. and yet allow apps to write to into device storage.

Don't have any USB GPS devices, but have a Holux 1200E Bt unit.
Has always worked flawlessly as an externally connected GPS device on both the SGSII and now the Lenovo(just as a backup). I use the Bt GPS for the camera(to embed geodata to the raw files).
Never noticed any difference in GPS fix between the internal SGSII unit or the Bt tethered Holux.
Haven't tested the Holux compared to the internal GPS on the Lenovo(just tested to be sure it connects up and works).

As for RAM mounts. They get old, the rubber on the suction sups gets hard.
I was having issues with both the phone holder and the tablet mount .. once a month or so, they fall off the screen.
I got tired of it(damaged two phone chargers) so got two new suction mounts a few months back .. maybe three or so.
No issues falling off the screen now .. so if your RAM mounts fall off, they probably sun hardened, and need renewing.
I found my new ones on fleabay for $30-ish.
ps. I did end up using double sided tape on the phone mount just before I replaced it. Held up good .. maybe a bit over a month(can't remember). But it held up so well I had a hell-of-a-time removing it when the new cup came.

So something to consider if it's a mount you rarely remove(eg. to clean the window or dash). RAM mounts are easily removed just taking off the arm and head, leaving the suction/ball part on the screen .. allows access to dash and stuff.