Netbook for touring

[al_yrpal]

Ipads are getting lighter (they needed to) and remain expensive.

Al

[andymiller]

Ipads are getting lighter (they needed to) and remain expensive.

Well yes, no, perhaps and maybe. I should have mentioned that Apple has retained the iPad 2 and iPad Mini as slightly cheaper alternatives to the newer models. Only with 16Gb of memory though.

http://store.apple.com/uk/ipad/compare

[fatty]

I have a hudl with 16 GB plus 32 GB SD card. Absolutely delighted with mine very good spec. Excellent battery.......... A bargain and if it all goes wrong and gets broken in an off not a fortune to loose

[alpgirl]

I was not an Apple fan until I got an ipad from work. I have an Android phone which is great. But, I have to say I love it. What strikes me most is the battery life. It lasts ages. My son has a cheap android tablet from Amazon and, although it does the job, the battery life is awful. Obviously an Ipad might be too heavy, but as someone else has mentioned, an iPad mini or the new light one might do the job. They are expensive, but they also hold their value if you wanted to sell in a couple of years.

[DaleFTW]

I was not an Apple fan until I got an ipad from work. I have an Android phone which is great. But, I have to say I love it. What strikes me most is the battery life. It lasts ages. My son has a cheap android tablet from Amazon and, although it does the job, the battery life is awful. Obviously an Ipad might be too heavy, but as someone else has mentioned, an iPad mini or the new light one might do the job. They are expensive, but they also hold their value if you wanted to sell in a couple of years.

Do you not think one of the reasons it's [inappropriate word removed] is because it was cheap?

[Sweep]

They are expensive, but they also hold their value if you wanted to sell in a couple of years.

Is this true? I didn't think computer kit was known for holding its value - more and more stuff being shipped from China all the time - discounts when new models come along ..

Not arguing - just asking/wondering.

[gplhl]

I'm looking to sell my iPad to to replace it with a mini which should be more suited to touring, my 2 with 64gb and 3G in mint condition is worth around 300 and is now a couple of years old, it was 650 new. I will also use an iphone 5 and backup phone is my old iphone 4. I have a keyboard but doubt I'll take it as it's bulky.
I was also contemplating a netbook purely on connections. The iPads will not interact easily with other devices. Storage, I intend to use the cloud...

[al_yrpal]

I was at a wino's gathering last night and all the Apple users were moaning about IOS7. It has trashed the battery lives on their iPhones. And, it seems you cant go back to the older one. A couple had bought Android phones for out and about use because their iPhones were untenable. Sounds like the Windows 8 disaster!

Al

[honesty]

They are expensive, but they also hold their value if you wanted to sell in a couple of years.

Is this true? I didn't think computer kit was known for holding its value - more and more stuff being shipped from China all the time - discounts when new models come along ..

Not arguing - just asking/wondering.

Apple kit is not computer kit, its designer kit, so the old depreciation rules about computing equipment does not apply. People will pay proper money for old Apple equipment. Why someone would want to spend over the odds for outdated tech when the device is new in the first place is beyond me...

If I were to buy a tablet now it would probably be this one: http://www.nokia.com/global/products/tablet/lumia2520/- apart from it being RT. Damn, missed that bit. Oh well.

[andymiller]

They are expensive, but they also hold their value if you wanted to sell in a couple of years.

Is this true? I didn't think computer kit was known for holding its value - more and more stuff being shipped from China all the time - discounts when new models come along ..

Not arguing - just asking/wondering.

Some people like to have the latest models so when a new one comes along they sell on their old one (and there probably are people for whom it is important to have the latest iPad). There are also more canny people out there who are happy to get a recent-model if the price is right. But it only works up to a point: I doubt an elderly iPhone is worth very much.

I was at a wino's gathering last night and all the Apple users were moaning about IOS7. It has trashed the battery lives on their iPhones. And, it seems you cant go back to the older one. A couple had bought Android phones for out and about use because their iPhones were untenable. Sounds like the Windows 8 disaster!

Actually the issues seem relatively easily fixable:

http://mashable.com/2013/10/11/ios-7-battery-life/

- but personally I would never download the .0 version of anything.

[andymiller]

Anyway putting aside the pro and anti-Apple silliness.

I've just got my Hudl which seems like a pretty capable device for web browsing, ebooks, pdf maps, emails and even a bit of blogging (the Wordpress app connected without any problem). I've even read that there's an app that will view and process RAW photos. You could even download your favourite BBC TV programmes and watch them on tour (OK, provided the tours is less than 4 weeks after 4 weeks they auto-destruct).

And at the price I paid (taking advantage of the Tesco Clubcard boost) it wouldn't be too painful if I lost it or broke it.

Routeplanning though may be a different matter. I haven't done an exhaustive search, but the apps that are around seem to be intended either for recording routes, or downloading and viewing routes from a website. I couldn't get Bikeroutetoaster to work on either Chrome or Opera. Mapmayride was almost as painful. Ridewithgps works OK - sort of. I don't know whether these problems were due to the limitations of the Hudl (which doesn't seem to have a lot of RAM) or to the browsers - or both.

[Sweep]

Have you tried Cyclestreets Andy?

If the route wasn't too long you could presumably get it to suggest a route and then manually put various points in to the Etrex at various points to route the same/ish way. I have used this technique in the tent of an evening with paper maps (getting the big routing picture on an Etrex 20 is pretty impossible) and it works pretty well.

By the way, can I ask where you got the Hudl?

Was up north recently, went into a giant Tesco, Hudls were al effectively on back order so I thought I'd wait for things to calm down.

I get the impression that you are in London - did you pop into a London Tesco or order it online for London pick-up.

PM me if you don't want to give away location info.

[alpgirl]

Do you not think one of the reasons it's [inappropriate word removed] is because it was cheap?

Yes, which is why I said it, so the OP could make up their own mind and not make the same mistake!!!!

I was looking for an iPad for my parents on eBay, and was amazed at what they were going for. So, yes, I think that with Apple they do hold their value. The reason for this is that when they bring out a new model they don't stop producing the older models. You can still get a new iPhone 2 for example. Other companies, on the other hand, stop producing other models once a new one comes out.

[cjs]

.....Hudl .........

Enjoy ...

.......Routeplanning though may be a different matter. I haven't done an exhaustive search, but the apps that are around seem to be intended either for recording routes, or downloading and viewing routes from a website...

You may find the android app OsmAnd useful, I certainly do.. The program and many large coverage maps are free and it work well offline with the tablet GPS engaged. Handy for 'on the go' planning, getting an accurate quick location fix or even short term real time navigation although I'm sure battery life will be an issue if over long time periods....

GoogleMaps can be useful offline too....

[mjr]

Have you tried Cyclestreets Andy?

If the route wasn't too long you could presumably get it to suggest a route and then manually put various points in to the Etrex at various points to route the same/ish way.

Cyclestreets offers its routes as GPX downloads. Can't Etrex import GPX?

(Although I don't understand the attraction of Etrex over OsmAnd~ using Cyclestreets GPX routes and spoken directions on an android device...)