Plumbers Tablet - Recommendation?

Clareman

Hi All,

A friend of mine is a plumber and he wants to get a tablet to be able to bring around manuals and other data with him in the van (he has it all on USB keys). So the tablet will need to have a decent screen, good wifi connectivity, USB and HDMI connections.

Any suggestions?

Dtp79

Clareman wrote: »

Hi All,

A friend of mine is a plumber and he wants to get a tablet to be able to bring around manuals and other data with him in the van (he has it all on USB keys). So the tablet will need to have a decent screen, good wifi connectivity, USB and HDMI connections.

Any suggestions?

I'm on the exact same situation. We probably have the same USB key. 16 gb

Overheal

the data has to be on the thumb stick? Greatly opens your options if it can be ported to micro SD

The Sony Xperia Z is waterproof up to 3 feet for 30 minutes

Clareman

Yup, it's going to be through a pen/thumb drive, if he ever wants to bring from SD cards he can get an adapter

Clareman

Overheal wrote: »

the data has to be on the thumb stick? Greatly opens your options if it can be ported to micro SD

The Sony Xperia Z is waterproof up to 3 feet for 30 minutes

Something like this? http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sony-Xperia-Tablet-Android-Sandwich/dp/B0095DGXWW/ref=sr_1_24?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1379067597&sr=1-24&keywords=sony+xperia+z+tablet

Overheal

Specifically the Z

http://www.sonymobile.com/global-en/products/tablets/xperia-tablet-z/

Then a micro-USB to USB adapter

http://www.cdw.com/shop/products/STARTECH-4IN-MICRo-USB-To-USB-oTG/2933002.aspx?RecommendedForEDC=2003275&RecoType=RP&cm_sp=Product-_-Session&ProgramIdentifier=3

srsly78

You don't need a USB port really since you can likely ditch the usb keys. Just copy all the stuff onto the device. Alternatively put all the stuff into dropbox (or other cloud service) and then access as needed. Would need reliable internet for that tho.

Clareman

I know all this, but he doesn't want an adapter, he wants an actual USB connection to plug into, Dropbox doesn't work for him either

srsly78

Just explain to him that the device itself is like a big usb key (get one with lots of storage). Then why plug a second key in? Does he have lots and lots of small capacity keys? Can these be easily consolidated into one library somehow?

PDFs and manuals etc don't take up that much space. How many GB of space does he need?

Clareman

I know all this, and I have said it to him, but he wants to be able to upload stuff directly to it from USB key and he doesn't like joins in things, prefers to go straight in. I have tried to get him to go for a Google Nexus but he doesn't like the shared port idea.

I'm thinking the Sony might be a bit too expensive for him

Overheal

Well then I would recommend the Surface RT frankly. Has an accessory to get the HD Digital port on it to output either VGA or HDMI, has a full size USB port, and MicroSD slot. Also cheaper than the Sony.

He didn't specify water resistant I just figured for a plumber that was a good idea. Fits the other billets, and the VaporMg case is nice and sturdy, it definitely doesnt feel fragile compared to other tablets.

The only other I can think of is the Acer A200 but its flimsy, will have issues, and might not have HDMI I cant recall. But it does have USB and MicroSD. Android Honeycomb. Theres just not many tablets out there with a USB-A Host port. Shame that.

srsly78

Clareman wrote: »

he doesn't like joins in things, prefers to go straight in.

This makes no sense! Does he actually need this or is he just unwilling to change? If you ditch all the usb keys then there are no joins at all!!