Skydemon mobile or ipad mini

[Boswell]

Do the Pooley and AFE plates have to be downloaded as required, or can you download the whole country (as one can with a Pooley's subscription) and be independent of an internet connection?

[Skymonster]

Download all plates is apparently in SD2.5 due around Christmas time according to the Skydemon Facebook page

[Boswell]

Great - thanks.

[simon_gci]

I have received my iPad mini cellular, and I am now looking at various mounts, I have seen a RAM mount cradle that seems to have a clip at the top, the iPad sits in the cradle and then the top clip supports it, my question is I presume the window on the back of the iPad is where the GPS aerial is, so how much of that screen needs to be uncovered to receive a signal ? (The clip will cover part of the window). And I presume that a yoke mount would be no good as you may not receive a signal with the built in aerial, so I suppose I will need a window suction mount, thanks, Simon.

[aileron]

simon_gci,

I use a ram cradle mount (iPad3) attached to the yoke, with no detrimental effects.

[Lefty]

We did just over an hour today with both an full size and a mini iPad side by side and I was pretty impressed by the mini. My only criticism is that it almost feels too light and too slippery. I would really like some sort of case on it to make it less slippery and thus less likely to fall out of the hand.

[Moli]

I use a RAM yoke mount combined with the TAB TITE holder with my Mini, it works very well and accepts it with its protective case still fitted. http://www.ram-mount.co.uk/tabtite%C3%82%E2%84%A2-holder-for-small-tablets-including-ipad-mini-galaxy-7-kindle-fire-p-1602.html I did have to make one small alteration, I have had to take a dremel to the top right of the holder to make the channel very slightly wider so I can access the off button at the top of the ipad in flight.
Looks unrealistically slightly large in the photo but in reality it blocks no essential instrumentation and ergonomically it works very well
Moli

[Ian Melville]

What protective case did you get Moli?

Pax with knee pad? Obviously doesn't trust you

[Moli]

Just a cheap plasticky type thing off eBay....
And it was my knee board, just on his knee for the purposes of the photo...but yes, he probably didn't trust me anyway
Moli

[ianwild]

Is using an iPad Mini with SD instead of / as a kneeboard an option ergonomically, and if so are there any kneeboards on the market yet which would accommodate the Mini?

I've got a full fat iPad which Ive used successfully with SD with my right hand seat passenger holding and me x-referencing from time to time, but it does feel too big to be mounted anywhere useful. The mini sounds ideal and my only question was whether it was worth waiting for the retina display version - ie does the improved display make any difference when flying in terms of things like readability in sunlight?

Ian

[Rob P]

My experience using SD on a wrist mounted HTC has been that the ability to change the angle of the device by simply moving ones arm overcomes many of the readability issues in a bright cockpit.

Kneeboard style mounts are available for the Apple mini

Rob P

[Tim Dawson]

I wonder if they'll even do a retina version of the iPad Mini. It already has a higher pixel density than the larger non-retina iPad, at 160 something instead of 130 something DPI.

[pb6797]

They'll certainly want to increase the resolution as one of the revisions, since otherwise they give away valuable marketing points.

An iPad mini with a iPad3 resolution would be at the level where you don't really benefit but it would make life easier for the Apps developers. Screens with that pixel density are already available so I think the answer is fairly clear.

It remains to be seen, however, if that screen will be included in the iPad2Mini or the iPad3Mini. One suspects that for ease of engineering the March revision will be a simple processor bump and the "Retina Mini" won't arrive until November. Which means that the "finalised" version of the iPadMiniRetinaWithFastEnoughProcessor will appear in March 2014.

Assuming the third recession doesn't develop into a depression and we have to stop buying new shiny shiny every six moths of course!

[rml133]

I've been dragged screaming to the Apple altar through my kids giving me an iPad3 for Christmas. It's really not what I want. However, I'm considering changing it to the iPad mini just to run SD (and other flying apps such as Pooleys) as I don't think SD will ever get to Android - leaves an opening for others maybe. I have 2 Google Nexus 7s - one for upstairs, one for downstairs. They are wonderful.

One of the things that puts me off Apple is the extra software you must load on to your PC - iTunes. I'm forever finding amusement when my kids curse it. So, my question is, must I use iTunes in order to run SD?

And if I don't what are the restrictions? Any advice would be much appreciated as decisions must be made in John Lewis tomorrow (Sunday).

[stevelup]

You don't need iTunes at all unless you want to copy music or videos from your computer to the iPad.