Bought the Asus 7inch HD Tablet - Any Android, App or other tips?

[gerardcarey]

I just bought the Asus 7inch HD 16G Tablet, called a Memopad. A$129 on special down from A$199. Its the Asus version of the Nexus 7 which they make for Google, but a lot cheaper than Nexus or Ipad.
It also has a card slot to increase the memory by 32gig, which I am informed the Ipad mini and Nexus 7 don't have.

I'm a learner so would appreciate any ideas or directions to where I could get info on suitable apps etc.

I downloaded the Kindle app and my previously purchased books from Kindle. That seems to work fine.
As it has good speakers I need to learn about talking books. That might be fun to use as I'm wandering along the Meseta. I'll get some earphones so I won't annoy others.

I've pre-set the weather option. A 7-day forecast on separate pages is available for each city/town along the CF. So far I've selected St Jean and Roncesvalles. You can swipe from page to page and it's fun to look at even now!

Tested Skype from here in Aus to NZ. I called their home phones numbers as they were not online, using Skype credit. Clear as a bell and I can't complain at 2.5 cents a minute.
I have absolutely no wish to be accessible by phone. They can send me an email and then I can skype them if I so desire.

The Tablet has a 5 meg forward and a 1.2 meg facing camera, no flash. I'm taking a pocket sized Olympus camera for photos which was fine last time. Probly won't use the 5 meg camera but the the facing 1.2 meg camera will be ok for Skype I guess.

I need to learn maps. I'd like to download suitable street and countryside maps into memory. Can I do that? Or can I only access Google earth or similar when I'm on WiFi in the evenings?

And music of course. I really missed my music last time. I've got lots of Spanish music, guitar and otherwise ready to load, so gotta study the manual to learn about that.

I'll carry my asus in a ziplock bag in the cargo pockets of my shorts/trousers. I took a kindle last time and carrying it like this gave good waterproofing, access & security. It went everywhere with me, even into the shower cubicle.
At night it went inside the bottom of my pillow case with wallet, passport and other valuables.
I once caught a thief opening the bottom of occupied sleeping bags to access goodies "hidden" there. Not on the Camino I might add.

I'm appreciating and having fun with my Asus!

TIA
Regds
Gerard

 

[NicoZ]

I need to learn maps. I'd like to download suitable street and countryside maps into memory. Can I do that? Or can I only access Google earth or similar when I'm on WiFi in the evenings?

You can try. The current version of Google maps isn't allowing me to download Spain. I don't know if they broke something with the upgrade or what.

Open the Google map app. Go to the area you want. Then in the search box type

okay map

It might be map okay but I'm fairly sure it's okay map.

If things are working correctly it should download the map on your screen (and the related info) to your tablet. Don't try all of Spain at once it won't work. But you can download multiple chunks.

Also assuming you have a Google account (google mail etc) on your home computer open google maps and start searching for all the places you want. If you find a place that you want to save click on it. You'll see the outline of a star. Click on the star and the outline should change to a yellow star. The next time you connect your tablet to the net it show all these places on your map.

 

[gerardcarey]

Thank you Nico!

 

[wayfarer]

Hi Gerard, the three I would recommend would be " My Tracks" this will log your walk. "Talking Translator" does what it says on the tin, and "Google Sky" if you like star gazeing. Enjoy

 

[gerardcarey]

Hi Gerard, the three I would recommend would be " My Tracks" this will log your walk. "Talking Translator" does what it says on the tin, and "Google Sky" if you like star gazeing. Enjoy

"My Tracks" sounds good, and "Talking Translator" I'd heard there was such a one.
And stargazing, another neat thing to do in the early mornings.

Thanks very much Pat.
Regds
Gerard

 

[jmcarp]

I just bought the Asus 7inch HD 16G Tablet...
...The Tablet has a 5 meg forward and a 1.2 meg facing camera, no flash. I'm taking a pocket sized Olympus camera for photos which was fine last time. Probly won't use the 5 meg camera but the the facing 1.2 meg camera will be ok for Skype I guess.

I didn't use Skype on the Camino since the Spanish SIM card I used had 1c/min for calls back to the US, but assuming you'll be using the tablet as a wifi device, you may find that bandwidth will be a problem when using Skype in video mode, especially if there are many users trying to get online at the same time -- at least that's been my experience in other public locations. However, you can always use Skype in voice only mode with perhaps better results. Maybe someone who actually used Skype on the Camino can confirm or correct me. Also, I'd recommend using earbuds so everyone in the room doesn't hear your conversation.
Buen Camino,
Jim