Device choice

[andrew]

An outdoor activity centre is looking to acquire some 20 cheap devices to make more use of its MapRun courses. They have asked for thoughts on whether it is better to get phones or tablets and if any particular brand is recommended.

[Peter Effeney]

Andrew,

Short Answer: Have you considered buying a set of Garmin watches?

Details
- There are many Android phone options to consider.
- But because phones typically use AGPS (Assisted GPS), phones without a SIM (data connection) often perform poorly at getting and maintaining a GPS fix. Having to have a data plan for each phone in a batch is expensive.
- It can be a challenge for a user to manage a phone they haven't used before (even where is the button to light up the screen etc).

If you have a group of students (or older people)- and setup Garmin Watches for the event, there is no interaction required by the user and the watch just beeps at controls.

Peter