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By rikur_
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1895844
Sorry - I know there have been many similar threads before

My trusty Nexus 7 seems to be finally giving up on me.
Any recommended replacements, my main requirements being:
- about 7 inch size (to wear as a kneeboard in the Firefly)
- matt screen finish (or matt filters available)
- stable, and not prone to thermal shut-down etc
- decent battery life
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By Rob P
#1895847
For in aircraft nav I have found the Huawei Mediapad a fine bit of kit. Highly visible, never shuts down uncommanded and seems to offer easily five hours plus of SkyDemon / Pilot Aware on a single charge. It's a gnat's over 8" and I wear it as a kneeboard in the RV.

But it looks like they are discontinued, so you will needed to hunt around for a refurbed or s/h

Rob P

*Huawei fell out with the Americans, so some Google Apps aren't available on the current MatePads.
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By OCB
#1895870
Charles Hunt wrote:To swallow or French route?


Greek surely?

Getting back to the OP, good luck - I’ve been struggling to find a decent “not too expensive” yet modern tablet for months.

I think this whole global shortage of microchips has screwed all kinds of things.
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By Paul_Sengupta
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1895876
OCB wrote:Getting back to the OP, good luck - I’ve been struggling to find a decent “not too expensive” yet modern tablet for months.


PtP has a link to it up there...

It's in stock in all the stores near me apparently.
By Boxkite
#1895886
Paul, would you still recommend a used S2 over a new A7 (as above)? They seem to be about the same price.

I have two Nexus 7 Gen 2. On one of them Skydemon sometimes crashes, and on the other the tablet itself sometimes reboots when running Skydemon (that's all they get used for, they are not actually loaded with apps). Unfortunately I have dropped one and it now has a cracked screen (was in a case).

I recently bought an immaculate Samsung S2 (4G version) but it had to go back due to a couple of near-invisible screen cracks.
I was quite pleased with it and decided I can live with the extra width over the unusually narrow Nexus.
I will be looking for another one.

As for the OP's question about a matt screen; matt screen protectors are available for the S2 8".
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By Paul_Sengupta
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1895891
Boxkite wrote:Paul, would you still recommend a used S2 over a new A7 (as above)? They seem to be about the same price.


Well, in theory, I think yes, the S2 has a better screen and in a better format for flying, but I think they should both perform adequately. I've never actually used an A7 though. The S2 has a 2048 x 1536 AMOLED screen whereas the A7 has a normal screen of 1340x800...but you don't need a huge resolution if you're going to be running Sky Demon. It matters more for the CAA maps, but the A7 resolution should be fine. The processing power and RAM are fairly equivalent I think, with the super-duper of yesteryear now being the norm for a mid range tablet.

Where I would advise caution is the S2 may be more fragile...I expect the A7 to be more robust. That's not from any particular experience, just a gut feeling given the collection of tablets I have and which of them feel like they would stand up better...the S2 feels like it would be easy to break. One other slight advantage the A7 has is that it has a USB C charging socket, which is a bit more robust for plugging in and out in an aeroplane cockpit than a micro USB, which the S2 has. The A7 has a bigger battery.
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By eltonioni
#1895947
Paultheparaglider wrote: Samsung 8" tab A 2019

I struggle with my A8, it seems to grind away slowly even though it's only used for flying and browsing. I'm pretty sure that it's me and not the machine since everyone else seems happy with them. Any ideas for making it more snappy?
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By nallen
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1895977
eltonioni wrote:
Paultheparaglider wrote: Samsung 8" tab A 2019

I struggle with my A8, it seems to grind away slowly even though it's only used for flying and browsing. I'm pretty sure that it's me and not the machine since everyone else seems happy with them. Any ideas for making it more snappy?


Have you cleaned out cached data? Otherwise, try a full reset (you'll need to install apps again, but if it's just the flying and browsing ones …)
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By Paul_Sengupta
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1896606
Boxkite wrote:I have two Nexus 7 Gen 2. On one of them Skydemon sometimes crashes, and on the other the tablet itself sometimes reboots when running Skydemon (that's all they get used for, they are not actually loaded with apps).


Ah. I was using my 2nd Gen Nexus 7 in the aeroplane on Sunday running SD and it also made my tablet reboot itself! Must be a Sky Demon issue. I was using my PilotAware at the time if that makes any difference.

Also a few times over the years Sky Demon for Android has slowed down. Usually we highlight it to Tim and it gets fixed in the next release. It doesn't seem too bad to me at the moment on the Nexus, it certainly doesn't "hang" for some seconds like it has when it has had the problem in the past, but the map going from squares to the proper background could be faster (and has been faster in the past!).
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By Flyin'Dutch'
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1896640
eltonioni wrote:
Paultheparaglider wrote: Samsung 8" tab A 2019

I struggle with my A8, it seems to grind away slowly even though it's only used for flying and browsing. I'm pretty sure that it's me and not the machine since everyone else seems happy with them. Any ideas for making it more snappy?



It's fine but snappy they're not.
By Boxkite
#1896756
Paul_Sengupta wrote:
Boxkite wrote:I have two Nexus 7 Gen 2. On one of them Skydemon sometimes crashes, and on the other the tablet itself sometimes reboots when running Skydemon (that's all they get used for, they are not actually loaded with apps).


Ah. I was using my 2nd Gen Nexus 7 in the aeroplane on Sunday running SD and it also made my tablet reboot itself! Must be a Sky Demon issue. I was using my PilotAware at the time if that makes any difference.
......

Also, not knowing if it makes any difference, I was also using Pilotaware (Rosetta) .
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By Paul_Sengupta
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1896928
Boxkite wrote:Also, not knowing if it makes any difference, I was also using Pilotaware (Rosetta) .


I wonder if Tim gets crash reports in these cases?