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OT-Playing with my new tablet PC

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dmpilc
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
4593 Posts

Initially Posted - 06/21/2012 : 10:09:27

Bought it on Ubid for $140 plus shipping ans sales tax, approx 170. Includes carry case with keyboard. Are there GPS apps available for tablet PC's? If so, any idea haw much and are they any good?

DavidP
1975 C-22 SK #5459 "Shadowfax" Fleet 52
PO of 1984 C-25 SK/TR #4142 "Recess"
Percy Priest Yacht Club, Hamilton Creek Marina, Nashville, TN

Edited by - on

awetmore
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
1144 Posts

Response Posted - 06/21/2012 : 10:26:23

What operating system does your tablet run? Does it have a built in GPS?

I use Navionics on my iPad 1 (you can probably find those lightly used for under $250 now) with a bluetooth GPS and it works very nicely. I still mostly use a handheld/waterproof GPS though.

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dmpilc
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
4593 Posts

Response Posted - 06/21/2012 : 10:42:15

It uses Andriod 4.0, brand name is Kocaso. It's not an iPad and I doubt that it has a built-in GPS.

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delliottg
Former Mainsheet C250 Tech Editor

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USA
4479 Posts

Response Posted - 06/21/2012 : 13:49:45

If it's this one: [url="http://www.expansys-usa.com/kocaso-7-capacitive-touchscreen-tablet-android-4-0-1-2ghz-4gb-hdmi-232232/"]Kocaso 7" Android Tablet[/url], it looks like it has an accelerometer, but no GPS. Almost positive there's no GPS chip.

There appears to be a "Navigation" app that's bundled with it. Find & open it, and see if it shows your current location with any accuracy. If it's only in the general area, it's probably doing IP triangulation. If it puts a little dot right on top of where you're at, you (probably) have GPS (the triangulation could make a good guess or you could be using an external 3G dongle which will give it a better location.).

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Dave5041
Former Mainsheet Editor

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USA
3758 Posts

Response Posted - 06/21/2012 : 18:31:03

You can easily add GPS if it has bluetooth or a USB port. It can be done over wifi, just not as easily.

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TakeFive
Master Marine Consultant

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2272 Posts

Response Posted - 06/22/2012 : 08:02:27

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=de.kemiro.marinenavigator

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dmpilc
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
4593 Posts

Response Posted - 06/22/2012 : 11:48:29

David, this is the one I bought:
http://www.sears.com/kocaso-new-mid-m1050-android-4.0-10.1-quot-tablet/p-SPM5923469105P?prdNo=34
Although on Ubid, not at Sears. Based on their price, I saved maybe a few dollars, but not much.

Edited by - dmpilc on 06/22/2012 11:49:57

delliottg
Former Mainsheet C250 Tech Editor

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USA
4479 Posts

Response Posted - 06/22/2012 : 12:09:20

Looks like a nice tablet, I'll be curious to know how you like it. I'm looking for an Android device to test my mobile apps on, and the price on this one is certainly right.

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dmpilc
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
4593 Posts

Response Posted - 06/22/2012 : 13:42:49

Right now, I'm just learning how to navigate around in the thing. Still a bit confusing. For example, somehow I just increased the screen magnification but don't know what I did to cause it or how to put it back the way it was.
Ok, once I hit submit, the magnification returned to normal.

Edited by - dmpilc on 06/22/2012 13:44:03

delliottg
Former Mainsheet C250 Tech Editor

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USA
4479 Posts

Response Posted - 06/22/2012 : 13:55:10

This is just a guess at what you've done, but generally you can zoom in and out with "pinch" movements of two fingers. To zoom in, touch the screen with your thumb & index finger (doesn't matter which fingers you use), and then spread them out. To zoom out, do the opposite, by "pinching" your fingers together. This may not work on the main screen where all the icons are, but if you're in a web page or many other apps, it will.

Similarly if you're zoomed in or out, double tapping on the screen will change resolutions to the available max or min (depending on your current zoom level). I do this all the time when reading this forum on my iPhone because it's just a web page. For example, if I were reading this and wanted it in a "larger" font, I'd turn my phone to landscape mode, then double tap on the text in this paragraph. The phone will then zoom using the width of the paragraph as it's limits.

This is one reason I hate posts where people put giant photos or huge URLs in them, that width becomes the default width of the paragraph and makes the text small & hard to read (on the phone, on the computer it's just annoying that you have to scroll side to side to read the post). Then you have to resort to pinching to make the text large enough to read, and then scroll back & forth to read it. Ugh...one of my biggest pet peeves in forums.

Hope this helped.

Edited by - delliottg on 06/22/2012 14:00:49

dmpilc
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
4593 Posts

Response Posted - 06/22/2012 : 14:29:26

The pinching thing didn't work. Also, I had the built-in map app running (like Google Maps), and I double tapped the screen to zoom in. Now I can't get it back out. I even tried turning it off, and when I booted up again and went to the maps app, the blasted thing remembered the previous setting, and I was right back to the same problem. Oh well, somehow I'll figure it out.

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awetmore
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
1144 Posts

Response Posted - 06/25/2012 : 06:44:29

It is a resistive touch display, those don't do multitouch. It won't work with multi-finger operations.

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delliottg
Former Mainsheet C250 Tech Editor

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USA
4479 Posts

Response Posted - 06/25/2012 : 12:01:17

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by awetmore
 It is a resistive touch display, those don't do multitouch. It won't work with multi-finger operations.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

Ah, good catch, surprised a tablet with Ice Cream Sandwich (Android 4.0) on it has a resistive instead of capacitive display.

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dmpilc
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
4593 Posts

Response Posted - 06/25/2012 : 14:13:20

Actually, I tried some different methods and the squeeze fingers together did work on Google Maps, but it wasn't easy. The learning process continues.

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