Recommendations for 7-8 inch Android tablet for iFly

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109jb

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I'm currently running iFly EFB on a Samsung Galaxy Tab S5e 10.5 inch tablet. My little homebuilt is a bit cramped and I'm thinking about buying a smaller tablet for iFly. I see in the FAQ the Samsung Galaxy Tab Active 5 listed and it looks great, but I'd rather not drop close to $600 if I don't have to. Whatever I get would be mostly dedicated to iFly use. I tend to stick with name brand models but it looks like the big names don't currently have an 8 inch tablet. You can still get refurbished name brand consumer level 8 inch tablets but wanted to ask if anyone is using a smaller 7-8 inch tablet with iFly that they would recommend?

BTW, this is for strictly VFR use. If it was IFR, I wouldn't skimp.

Thanks,

John Brannen
 
I'm flying with a Lenovo M9 in my RV-3 on my leg using a strap / clip. A very nice 9" tablet for $100.
 
MiserBird said:
I'm flying with a Lenovo M9 in my RV-3 on my leg using a strap / clip. A very nice 9" tablet for $100.
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Thanks. I have a Sonerai, so about the same size. How is the Lenovo M9 in sunlight? Pretty readble?
 
I replaced the iPad and Samsung tablets with a Tripltek 9". They are selling both 8" and 9" models now. It is easily readable in direct sunlight and doesn't shut down due to heat even in 100°F Oklahoma days. Yes, it is pricey, but it's a industrial design made for this type of work. I'm not associated with them in any way, just a very happy customer. https://www.tripltek.com/tripltek8
I've ordered an iFly dedicated tablet as well - I'm rebuilding a tandem open cockpit aircraft and want a tablet in each cockpit. I'll report back here when I get to compare the two tablets side by side, though I expect that they will be similar, with the exception of the serial GPS data out from the iFly tablet
 
I use a Samsung Galaxy Tab A7 Lite which is an 8 inch tablet, WiFi only, 4 Gig memory and 64 Gig storage. It has a memory card expansion slot but I don't have any extended memory installed. It was about $150 at Costco at the time. It works great and has NEVER shut down due to overheating unlike the iPads I also use. Screen brightness could be better, but I think it's great at it's price point. I have considered getting off my wallet and getting either a Tripletek or the iFly tablet for the brighter screen, but in the meantime the Samsung works great.
 
Ditto for Gatormyk's comment on brightness, but with it strapped to my leg it can be moved about as needed to eliminate glare and I have no problem reading it in my RV-3.
 
I am using an AllDoCube iPlay 50 Mini Pro https://amzn.to/46UK7ly
8GB RAM, 128GB Storage G99 Helio MediaTek Processor. It also has cellular and GPS chips. Cellular bands for US is limited, but I hear tmobile will work. I use a STRATUX onboard, but the GPS chip does work well. Before this, I was using my Samsung S9+ 12.4"... I have a surface go, but windows support is wanning. I really refuse to use ipad's anymore.

This little cheap Chinese tablet is actually very nice. I have owned tablets since the first ipad, surface, nexus, etc. I do not just want to be cheap; I wanted an 8" android tablet that did not suck. No one is making a good tablet at this size. The ipad mini would be perfect if it did not have ipadOS. The version of android is 13 and has no bloatware. I flew with it this morning and edited a video of my flight from my action camera using Lumafusion today as well. I put a screen protector on it and use a bumper case... I use a MyClip https://amzn.to/46UK7ly to hold the tablet in place. I took a picture of it a couple days ago on the airplane with full daylight. It is not bright as IFLY or other tablets, but I is very readable in sunlight for me. I do not fly an open sky top airplane, so that would be different if you do.

I am so impressed with this tablet. It has a great size, quality for price is right there. If something happened to it, I would buy it again for sure. I kind of want to get another to leave in my truck for media.

Most importantly, iflyEFB works perfectly on here. I have not had any issues with heat or locking up on me. Battery life is good, screen is very nice,

The other tablet I considered was a Samsung Active. They are like $500. Very Bright screen, nice processor, built tough, https://amzn.to/46UK7ly
And, another chinese rugged tablet https://amzn.to/3ApNk0b


The above tripletek looks nice as well. Since I do not make money as a student pilot, I did not want to spend more than $500.
 
Thanks for the detailed responses. I am torn between getting a cheap 8 inch tablet as opposed to something like the tripletek or galaxy active. Obviously those 2 would be better especially for sunlight readability but at more than 5x the price is a big difference. I do fly an airplane with a bubble canopy so it may be worth the extra money. Will have to think about it a bit. Thanks again to all of you.
 
109jb said:
Thanks for the detailed responses. I am torn between getting a cheap 8 inch tablet as opposed to something like the tripletek or galaxy active. Obviously those 2 would be better especially for sunlight readability but at more than 5x the price is a big difference. I do fly an airplane with a bubble canopy so it may be worth the extra money. Will have to think about it a bit. Thanks again to all of you.
Click to expand...
The sunlight readability is a nice feature. The not locking up or shutting down when hot can be significant feature! That's the primary reason I bought the Tripltek.
 
109jb said:
Thanks for the detailed responses. I am torn between getting a cheap 8 inch tablet as opposed to something like the tripletek or galaxy active. Obviously those 2 would be better especially for sunlight readability but at more than 5x the price is a big difference. I do fly an airplane with a bubble canopy so it may be worth the extra money. Will have to think about it a bit. Thanks again to all of you.
Click to expand...
IMHO if u can afford, go with the rugged and high NITs Tripltek or the iFly tablet. If you can't, the under $200 Android tablet will do just fine.
 
So I took a commercial flight from Chicago to San Francisco yesterday and was the airplane geek by the window playing with his flight app. Anyway, during the flight I managed to get iFly to crash a few times and one other time it just locked up. Not sure there was any similarity in what I was doing each time this happened, but wanted to see if anyone had suggestions what to do or not do to avoid crashes. For reference, this was on my Samsung Galaxy S5E tablet which was a good mid range tablet about 4 years ago.

Also, my 30 day trial is about up and getting reddy to subscribe. Since I will likely get a new tablet for iFly soon what is the process for getting one device de-registered so I can add another one.

Thanks

John Brannen
 
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So I took a commercial flight from Chicago to San Francisco yesterday ...

Cobra should be around here shortly to give you the exact procedure, but the general version is to:

Try and remember best what you were doing when the program locked up/crashed.
Send a bug report and include the log file from when you experienced the crash.
If you can see when the log files were saved, that should tell you which log files went with which crash. If you were doing the same thing each time it crashed, you could probably send all the log files for the time of your flight and the AP programming crew should be able to re-create the situation and perhaps tell you exactly what went wrong.

De/Re registering old/new devices is relatively simple. This is another thing for Cobra, as I haven't done it enough to explain it from memory.
 
MDreger said:
Cobra should be around here shortly to give you the exact procedure, but the general version is to:
Click to expand...
😁
There's actually a sticky for this: https://adventurepilot.community.fo...a-bug-report-from-within-the-ifly-efb-app.26/

MDreger said:
De/Re registering old/new devices is relatively simple. This is another thing for Cobra, as I haven't done it enough to explain it from memory.
Click to expand...
De-registering is easy: Menu -> About -> My Account -> Deregister a Device

It can sometimes be a little tricky to identify the specific device if you're juggling several, but if you only have one, there will be no ambiguity.
 
109jb said:
I'm currently running iFly EFB on a Samsung Galaxy Tab S5e 10.5 inch tablet. My little homebuilt is a bit cramped and I'm thinking about buying a smaller tablet for iFly. I see in the FAQ the Samsung Galaxy Tab Active 5 listed and it looks great, but I'd rather not drop close to $600 if I don't have to. Whatever I get would be mostly dedicated to iFly use. I tend to stick with name brand models but it looks like the big names don't currently have an 8 inch tablet. You can still get refurbished name brand consumer level 8 inch tablets but wanted to ask if anyone is using a smaller 7-8 inch tablet with iFly that they would recommend?

BTW, this is for strictly VFR use. If it was IFR, I wouldn't skimp.

Thanks,

John Brannen
Click to expand...
John,
I had been running the legacy iFlyGPS on original iPad mini (with external gps) for years. Display size was perfect. A used iPad mini 5 would be fine if you can live without an internal GPS. I thought about going Android, but the aspect ratio of the displays of almost all Android tablet is 16:9. I settled on the Lenovo M9 with 4gb RAM and 64 GB expandable storage. It's larger 9 inch 16:9 display is actually the same width as an 8 inch iPad mini (in portrait orientation). Compared to the smaller Samsung A7 Lite, the Lenovo is lighter weight and display is brighter (400 nits), although it is brightest when viewed straight on. All these tablets have reflective display glass, and certain placements can benefit from the addition of a non-reflective film added.
I recommend the kwmobile rubberized case for the M9.
I haven't looked into compatibility of the Amazon Fire HD 8 Plus which would require you to install Play Store manually to download IFlyEFB. It has an even brighter 8 inch display but the aspect ratio is more similar to that of the iPad mini. I'm happy with the Lenovo M9 (4GB / 64GB).
 
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109jb said:
So I took a commercial flight from Chicago to San Francisco yesterday and was the airplane geek by the window playing with his flight app. Anyway, during the flight I managed to get iFly to crash a few times and one other time it just locked up. Not sure there was any similarity in what I was doing each time this happened, but wanted to see if anyone had suggestions what to do or not do to avoid crashes. For reference, this was on my Samsung Galaxy S5E tablet which was a good mid range tablet about 4 years ago.

Also, my 30 day trial is about up and getting reddy to subscribe. Since I will likely get a new tablet for iFly soon what is the process for getting one device de-registered so I can add another one.

Thanks

John Brannen
Click to expand...
I'm that geek as well. I am guilty of the last flights I have had over the past few months being that guy in the window with ifly. I was going to to strap my stratux to the windows but sure there would be some issue explaining what it is and is doing.

Flew 4 hours yesterday with a few stops using my cheap iplay 50 pro, stratux and ifly. All worked perfectly.
 
I was going to go with the IFly tablet and purchased one during a recent sale. My plane purchase fell through so I sent it back.
Since then, I have researched other hardened tablet and found a few online the look good for less. I wasn't very impressed with the IFlybtablet other than the screen.
The HugeRock tablet is a little less and has a brighter screen and runs Android 13. You can find it on Amazon.
There's also the Carpe-iter tablet for rally motorcycles that looks promising and has remote buttons (zoom from the yoke?).

For now, I plan tonget a refurbished Samsung or Lenovo tablet for under $100 from Backmarket.com so I can stop using my phone. I tried an iPad, but it was too big for the cockpit. Phone works OK, but is a bit small and I'd prefer to just keep it in my pocket.
 
I've been testing an Alldocube iPlay60 tab ($160) as a replacement for an older tab that couldn't be upgraded beyond Android 8. The iPlay60 is bright, has good screen contrast, runs Android 14 and works perfectly with iFly EFB beta versions. I had looked at the hardened (and possibly brighter) tablets as well, but given the price difference wanted to try the Alldocube first. Glad I did. It is easy to see in the cockpit with a large enough screen to make out necessary details. Recommended!
 
I've got the alldocube mini60 also. I'm having issues with the ifly app disappearing sometimes when I select the "winds" feature and then attempt to move the sliders (time/alt) in the "winds" dialog box. Ifly disappears and the screen turns black. The tablet becomes unresponsive. Has anyone else experienced this issue?
 
Inhot said:
I've got the alldocube mini60 also. I'm having issues with the ifly app disappearing sometimes when I select the "winds" feature and then attempt to move the sliders (time/alt) in the "winds" dialog box. Ifly disappears and the screen turns black. The tablet becomes unresponsive. Has anyone else experienced this issue?
Click to expand...
Sounds like you've found a bug. Please submit a bug report with as much detail about how to reproduce the problem as possible.
 
Inhot said:
I've got the alldocube mini60 also. I'm having issues with the ifly app disappearing sometimes when I select the "winds" feature and then attempt to move the sliders (time/alt) in the "winds" dialog box. Ifly disappears and the screen turns black. The tablet becomes unresponsive. Has anyone else experienced this issue?
Click to expand...
I saw this post in an email and wanted to test this out on my alldocube mini 50. I have not had any issues, but have not flown with the new update yet. I will update the software and try your steps to replicate.
 
Update:
Gonna check out 2024 Samsung TAB A9 from Amazon today. A little brighter display with wider viewing angle than my Lenovo M9, and slightly smaller dimensions. More limited battery life though. At $100, Wifi version is same price as Lenovo M9, but Amazon also has a 4G cellular version for $35 more. (Contrast Apple, who's cellular tablets are $150 more than their Wifi tablets.)
Got no high speed Wifi at our hangar, nor at APP (our FBO at KSUA), so we have to rely on telephone hotspot for wx and updates and filing.
Not sure which I will keep for the left seat (Lenovo M9 or Samsung A9). Will post an update.
 
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N2715D said:
Update:
Gonna check out 2024 Samsung TAB A9 from Amazon today. A little brighter display with wider viewing angle than my Lenovo M9, and slightly smaller dimensions. More limited battery life though. At $100, Wifi version is same price as Lenovo M9, but Amazon also has a 4G cellular version for $35 more. (Contrast Apple, who's cellular tablets are $150 more than their Wifi tablets.)
Got no high speed Wifi at our hangar, nor at APP (our FBO at KSUA), so we have to rely on telephone hotspot for wx and updates and filing.
Not sure which I will keep for the left seat (Lenovo M9 or Samsung A9). Will post an update.
Click to expand...
I also have a Samsung A9 plus that I got for $100. I have not flown with it, but I did fly with my Samsung S9+ which is 12.4 inches. I use a my clip knee board, so I can adjust it to any phone/tablet. Very nice screen, but just big. I am thinking of getting the multi platform license so I can add my surface go to the list. For planning.

Looking forward to your update. I like I fly efb because we can use devices that we like. I just can't use fireflight for it being locked down alone. I have used Garmin pilot. I liked it, but I really think Ify is good.
 
A9 has a 9 inch display, like the M9. Mounts to side of windscreen. Lower cost alternative to iPad mini. The A9+ is a full size tablet. Too big to mount with a suction cup.
 
N2715D said:
A9 has a 9 inch display, like the M9. Mounts to side of windscreen. Lower cost alternative to iPad mini. The A9+ is a full size tablet. Too big to mount with a suction cup.
Click to expand...
I understand that. I did not buy the a9 because it did not have enough RAM and I was worried about the processor performance. Believe me, I really wanted to get the a9, but the iplay50 mini pro specs were better. This is why I am very curious to your performance review. The a9+ is larger and has more RAM. I use it as a basic tablet, not for flying becuase of size. I only used my s9+ becuase I was still shopping around for a small 8-9 inch tablet that was an ipad mini. The new mini is finally decently spec'd, but why buy it when you get so much more with these android tablets that are dedicated to flying. My iplay50 is only used for flying.

Again, looking forward to your response. Using samsung over alldocude is prefered for support and especially OS/secureity updates. AllDoCube justr puts out another tablet rather than support the previous.
 
DonKarnage said:
I understand that. I did not buy the a9 because it did not have enough RAM and I was worried about the processor performance. Believe me, I really wanted to get the a9, but the iplay50 mini pro specs were better. This is why I am very curious to your performance review. The a9+ is larger and has more RAM. I use it as a basic tablet, not for flying becuase of size. I only used my s9+ becuase I was still shopping around for a small 8-9 inch tablet that was an ipad mini. The new mini is finally decently spec'd, but why buy it when you get so much more with these android tablets that are dedicated to flying. My iplay50 is only used for flying.

Again, looking forward to your response. Using samsung over alldocude is prefered for support and especially OS/secureity updates. AllDoCube justr puts out another tablet rather than support the previous.
Click to expand...
Curious how 4gb of ram could be regarded as insufficient. Both the Lenovo M9 and the Samsung A9 seem to work just fine with 4gb and 400+ nits displays. But if you want to spend the money on the top performing small android tablet, the only choice is the Lenovo Legion. Performance on par with Ipad Mini, but cost less than the ipad mini with cellular and GPS.

Personally though, I don't see the point of spending 3x more than M9 or A9, but Legion your answer if you feel you must have a powerhouse android 9" tablet.
 
DonKarnage said:
I understand that. I did not buy the a9 because it did not have enough RAM and I was worried about the processor performance. Believe me, I really wanted to get the a9, but the iplay50 mini pro specs were better. This is why I am very curious to your performance review. The a9+ is larger and has more RAM. I use it as a basic tablet, not for flying becuase of size. I only used my s9+ becuase I was still shopping around for a small 8-9 inch tablet that was an ipad mini. The new mini is finally decently spec'd, but why buy it when you get so much more with these android tablets that are dedicated to flying. My iplay50 is only used for flying.

Again, looking forward to your response. Using samsung over alldocude is prefered for support and especially OS/secureity updates. AllDoCube justr puts out another tablet rather than support the previous.
Click to expand...
Curious how 4gb of ram could be regarded as insufficient. Both the Lenovo M9 and the Samsung A9 seem to work just fine with 4gb and 400+ nits displays. But if you want to spend the money on the top performing small android tablet, the only choice is the Lenovo Legion. Performance on par with Ipad Mini, but cost less than the ipad mini with cellular and GPS.

Personally though, I don't see the point of spending 3x more than M9 or A9, but Legion is your answer if you feel you must have a powerhouse android 9"
 
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