Bluetooth dongle

I'd really like to use GPS with this tablet but it hasn't got Gps or Bluetooth :-(

The Android 2.3 device I had briefly recognized a Bluetooth dongle in the USB socket, but this one (2.2) doesn't seem to want to.

I thought I had put it into USB host mode, but now I'm not sure, and there isn't much info I can find on host mode.

Weather apps

I would like a weather forecast app that works offline.

• BBC weather (not an official BBC app) is ok, but not offline.
• The weather channel app has more info, but doesn't work offline either
• now trying Go Weather which has more info (more dates ahead), multiple locations and claims to work offline (not tried yet).  Would be even better if it could display multiple locations at once ...

Dreadful wifi

Wifi performance of this thing is dreadful - takes forever to get it to connect and is not reliable when it does.

RSS Readers

I want an RSS reader that works offline.  Should read standard RSS and cache posts - including images - for offline reading.
I've been using greader - which is good - except it's caching seems a bit erratic and I can't work out how to get it to accept some RSS feeds (eg some 'private' ones on websites I manage, where I know the URL but it doesn't appear in Google)
I'm trying NewsRob as an alternative.

more:

NewsRob looks like it works, but the display is a bit crude.

Next app to try is FeedR  looks better than NewsRob, and seems happy with all the RSS I want it to look at - need to see how it performs offline.

Wifi problems

The wifi performance of this tablet is really not good.
It's Ok when it's connected, but it's very hard to get it to connect. Once it drops the connection, goes out of range, or powers down , reconnecting the wifi is difficult.
Sometimes it needs many attempts before it will connect.  Other times - if left alone it might reconnect - or it might not.
It might be my home wifi - but it's similar at work.
Really not good.

Mapping programs

One of the things I want to do on the tablet is mapping. I'm a bit hampered by lack of GPS for the moment.
There are plenty of mapping options but most use live connections to fetch maps - I need something that I can download  maps at home and use offline.
Oruxmaps seems to do the trick - there is a map creation program that lets me download on the PC and use on the tablet.

eReaders

A crucial application for my device is eReader.  I used to use MobiPocket on my windows mobile device and it did most things I wanted.  My requirements for an eReader include:

• Store / Organise / Read eBooks
• Pictures
• Table
• Text formatting including bullets, alignment, different fonts and sizes, text colour
• Search
• Ability to annotate including highlights and notes  (and ideally extract these annotations later)
• Read eBooks in various formats and from various sources (including ones I've generated myself)

Nice to have would include:

• Styles
• zoom view

So far, I've tried various eReaders on the tablet, including:

• Kindle
• Aldiko
• iReader
• FBReader
• Cool Reader
• Moon+ Reader

disappointingly,  most of them don't support much formatting - ie fonts and text sizes, a lot of them don't do annotation very well.

Which leaves me with Kindle - only supports mobi format, but otherwise has good formatting and annotation. So I'm going to use that for the moment.

Posting offline

This post was composed on the tablet while offline

Replacement tablet

Received  replacement tablet.  Android 2.2 :-(

No gps or bluetooth and won't  recognise bluetooth dongle.

but at least it works and charges.

Unfortunatly, as we are going away soon ... I don't have time to get it changed or to mess around with it, so this is it.

Dead Tablet

The tablet won't charge  ;-(

Will have to send it back.

Tabtech M7

Received a Tabtech M7 android tablet (ordered on Amazon).

Realtively cheap device, not a great spec, but will suffice for first steps in Android.

• 7 inch screen
• 8Gb storage  (+up to 32Gb mini SD card)
• No GPS
• No Bluetooth
• Android 2.3

Looks like it will recognise a bluetooth dongle plugged into the USB so that should allow access to GPS that way.

What do I want from a tablet?

What do I want in a tablet? - apart from the obvious (infinite battery life, light weight, decent size screen, infinite storage)....

for personal use:

• email
• eReader (flexible on format and comfortable to hold)
• rss reader (and offline as well)
• maps  (decent quality mapping with gps and track recording)
• plenty of storage
• ability to edit word documents (.docx) and excel spreadsheets
• something like One Note for odd notes
• sync with desktop PC(s)
• Bible with different versions (I used Laridian on Windows mobile)
• Password manager

for work purposes:

• Ability to read technical documents / text books  (this means a decent size screen and PDF format)
• Remote desktop to windows servers
• Ability to access sharepoint systems, including sync for offline use (and edit)
• Sync with work calendar and contacts

In the past I have developed quite a lot of code for my Windows mobile devices - I'd need to replace or redevelop these on the new platform.  My apps include:

• Sharepoint client tool
• Offline railway timetable tool
• Mapping and GPS tracking program
• Code changes/bugs database
• Railway database
• Program for learning / testing German language
• Tool for noting railway track layouts

Why I bought an Android

I've used Windows Mobile PDAs for some years - and I like the Windows Mobile platform (at least I used to like Windows Mobile 6).  However,

• I'm not keen on Windows Mobile 7
• I can't see a device I like at the moment.

My last device was an O2 XDA flint - windows mobile 6, lots of storage, nice size screen, very nice, but sadly it has now died :-(

So I need to get something new ... not windows mobile, so it's time to look at Android tablets.