Windows Tablets For Fieldwork

[Randall Garrett]

Having some battery issues with my surfacebook and freezing temps. Needed something soon. I went ahead and purchased an x1 tablet with 3:2 outdoor screen. I was going to go with I5, but was a little afraid of the light ram, so opted for lower I7 to get the 16 gig. with 4 yr on site and accidental,, 1TB drive, 16GB ram, LTE, office home and student, car charger, docking station, and tax, picked up for $2400+/-. lenovo had a 25% discount across the board and saved me a ton of money over the $3,000+/- flagships. There was a lot of hype this year at CES over the new yoga, Hp units, and a new Dell unit, but screen ratio was still an issue. Do you still think it helpful to post my findings on the forum for this after I get setup, or do you think it is waste of space, being that everyone is looking at more portable units? Thanks as always for your expertise and help. Chris Wagoner Certified Residential Appraiser

Hi Chris,

I understand your issues and don't think you made a bad decision with your purchase.
Your device is probably overkill for most users, but it is well within your norms, LOL. I mean that in a good-natured way. You, my friend are a power user - wear the badge proudly! ;-)

I totally agree with you on the aspect ratio issue. I can live with 16:10 but 3:2 is so much better (for me, anyway!) - 16:9 is so cheesy except for presentation/mainstream things. OK, off my soapbox not, LOL

With respect to your input, I believe that many people here read your posts with interest, so I definitely think it is of real use to some, even if they are not leaning toward such "beefy" equipment! Please keep adding your perspectives as you have time! I remain a proponent of having input from a wide range of real world users!


Warm regards,

-Randall Garrett-
+Apex Software+

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[Randall Garrett]

I noticed this article on several popular accessories for the Surface Go. FWIW, I agree with their recommendation of the plain black keyboard cover over the more expensive Alcantara® covers - durability over style. We also use the MS Surface dock and it is particularly handy that we already own some which we use with our regular Surface Pro devices

Hope this article is of benefit: https://www.windowscentral.com/surface-go-accessories

-Randall Garrett-
+Apex Software+

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[Randall Garrett]

I'd like to start adding in some better DISTO support to some existing and upcoming products (i.e. MS10, WebSketcher, etc.)
Is this something y'all want to see added to tablet apps?
I've not been impressed with other products (including our own) and I aim to restore the missing functionality (and new stuff) done from a real-world user's perspective.

I'm traveling over the weekend, so I may not be able to respond quickly.
TIA for your thoughts, public or private (here or PM)TIA for your thoughts, public or private (here or PM)


-Randall Garrett-
+Apex Software+

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[Mike Ault]

I'd like to start adding in some better DISTO support to some existing and upcoming products (i.e. MS10, WebSketcher, etc.)
Is this something y'all want to see added to tablet apps?
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Hi Randall, It would be a great help to have quicker, better Bluetooth integration, I rarely go to the trouble of getting the Disto 330I or Disto D810 synced up to the tablet unless I'm doing large, upper level floors. It is a great timesaver when measuring upper level floors with lots of bump outs but getting that working properly requires too too many steps for the typical measuring job. Disto is not helping matters with their keyboard set ups which are for the most part not conducive to hands-free Bluetooth directional measurement transfer, most of them are missing dedicated arrow keys for that function. Dedicated arrow keys are one feature that I look for while shopping for Disto's however because it is so cool when it works, granted I haven't bought one since the D810 and I am still using the trusty old ThinkPad 10 so my technology is getting pretty dated and the new Disto's might have better support in this regard. The one other feature that I I hope makes it to the new version is Photometric's support, I find drawing to be easier and much more intuitive in V6 than it was in V5 and when I have to drop back one version to enjoy Photometric's support it is just enough different to make me hope you will remember it in V7. Thanks for your continued interest in refining your product!

 

[Randall Garrett]

Thanks for your input Mike. We should have something for you, and those interested in the items you mentioned soon.
In the interim, Brian says he has reached out to you for clarification and the set up a demo to show you how it works on the X3/X4 as of right now.


-Randall Garrett-
+Apex Software+

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[Randall Garrett]

I've had Brian doing tests on some of our Surface Go's and he has also added a lower-end Surface Pro to his test suite. Basically, we're not seeing huge performance gains on regular sketches between the models (a testament, IMHO, to how the Surface Go has a lot of relative bang for the buck), but you can see some differences when panning & zoom on really huge sketches (much bigger than what I think even the most detailed of you would consider "reasonable", LOL - see images below.) I've asked him to keep the huge "Lamarre" sketch in the mix because I want to give y'all some idea of what happens when you push a lower-spec device beyond a reasonable limit, which would be the case is you were to (say) try to run some bloated software packages, have a lot of tabs open in your browser, run Photoshop, etc. at the same time. I've said it before, but one simply cannot expect these $350 - $550 machines to perform as well as (much less better than) your monster desktops...

Anyway, Brian is putting together a few short demo videos showing various devices. I'm looking at 2 videos current running ~45 and ~60 seconds, respectively showing a Surface Pro 4 with Core M and the lowest end Surface Go with the Pentium Gold. I'm going to ask him to tighten them up - remove some of the slack - and while working on this, I'm thinking we may want to add another tablet or two. So, if y'all will PM me with suggestions/requests, I'll try to get a read on what sort of device we have which is a "best fit average" for the most popular requests. Once we settle on the videos, I'll post links to them so you can observe the performances of these devices.

The next test phase will probably be to reach out and see who wants to run the tests on their tablets and report back.

Also, for this next or a near future round, I am happy to receive actual sketches from people to load up if they are fun/interesting/challenging/whatever. If your sketch is in another program, send me an image or printout and we will redraw it. We do this all the time anyway for certain customers, so no big deal - we've actually done millions

-Randall Garrett-
+Apex Software+

/end/

 

[Randall Garrett]

Sorry for the lack of posts lately - was away on a personal trip or two. I plan to be in the office for the better part of the next 5 weeks and aim to post more regularly...

In the interim, I read an informative article (linked below) which compares two tablets: Surface Go vs. ThinkPad X1 with the goal of helping you decide which is the better option for your own usage scenarios. Basically, pretty much what we all already know - if "light & mobile" is your priority, the $399 Surface Go is the way to go, but if your are doing some moderately heavy lifting, the $1,550_ ThinkPad X1 is the better fit. Obviously, you can (and should IMHO) add $150 to bump the specs on the Surface Go, but the raw performance still won't approach the levels of the baseline ThinkPad X1. On my own Surface Go, I outfitted it with all of my preferred options (spec bump, added 4G LTE, pen, base keyboard/cover, surface dock, 2-year drop warranty plan, mobile tablet case with straps, etc. for just over $1K. Not everyone will want to add all the options I did, but if cellular connectivity is important to you, I would start with the $679 version since you can't add 4G LTE later, and add the accessories as you see fit.

Again, we always recommend the optional 2 year accidental drop policy but it is hard to add on-line without doing the "build your bundle" thing which pretty much forces you to add the keyboard, pen MS Office package, etc., but includes the accidental drop policy. I was able to "piece meal" it when in the MS Store (and perhaps you can do this at Best Buy) but at the end of the day, I just did the bundle and swiped my card, LOL.

From MY perspective, for most mobile inspection duties, regular email/surfing and some light MS Word/Excel, etc., the Surface Go is the more practical choice. When traveling, I use more robust laptops when I am at a desk/table, but for traversing around properties for inspection purposes, the Surface go is the better buy IMHO. Obviously, there are tablets/2-in-1's that are less expensive than the ThinkPad X1 as well as many that are much more robust/expensive, so the article is not meant to be a one-size-fits-all type exposé - it is just something to lay out some thoughts which may be helpful.

Is the Surface Go or ThinkPad X1 Tablet better suited for your needs?

Microsoft's Surface Go is a portable 2-in-1 that makes it easy to get light tasks done on the move, while Lenovo's ThinkPad X1 Tablet is more of a workhorse distilled into a 2-in-1 chassis. Aside from the generous price difference, we compare the two devices to help you decide which is best for you.

www.windowscentral.com

[Edit] - Added image above...


Hope this helps!


-Randall Garrett-
+Apex Software+

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[Randall Garrett]

Over the weekend I noticed this short article on microSD cards for MS Surface devices. FWIW, I have used both the Samsung and SanDisk products and have found both to work great. I agree that the Samsung card is my own favorite when looking at it from the "Best Bang for the Buck" perspective.
Given the speed of the microSD card reader's interface, you don't really see any significant speed increase by spending a ton on a card meant for upper end camera use. I have found both the Samsung and the SanDisk cards to be reliable and easy to find...

• https://www.windowscentral.com/best-microsd-cards-surface-go

Hope this is helpful!


-Randall Garrett-
+Apex Software+

/end/

 

[Randall Garrett]

We are looking for Windows tablet owners who are also Apex users to give us performance and usability feedback on an upcoming release of MobileSketch.

We've been running some usability and performance tests on a variety of low-end to mid-range tablets on files from the routine to ridiculously large and before we release the next build to the general public, I've asked our Brian Marino to reach out to some of our users whom he knows have solid table experience to give us additional feedback and I'm following suit here to add more users.

This is not "Beta" software - it is the app we build from the "tool" being used daily in a variety of "CAMA" applications (software for County Assessment departments) inside of their larger ecosystems. We will be releasing a new build of the tool to our integrator community shortly which contains some performance metrics as well as some new features and I aim to release the "MS10 app" built from it to the general public after we get some feedback from you real world users. Note that the app is not integrated with any current "URAR-type" software as they are not built on the Windows "app model" but the stand-alone app you would be running is fully compliant with modern Apex files, so one would be able to use the app in the field (or a desktop, for that matter) to make files you could use just as if you had done them in Apex v6/7/8, etc. That said, even though the app runs on regular desktop systems (or even an XBox One, LOL), we are specifically looking for feedback from Windows Tablet users at this time. We are, off course also interested in desktop user feedback, but just in relation to Users who might use it in a "both" / "either or" situation at this time.

IF you are interested, please PM me here with your preferred contact info so Brian can get with you personally to answer any questions and to provide an outline of the additional performance and usability tests we'd like for you to run and send us "the numbers"... Any feedback you can offer will help us deliver a better product for whomever uses this and any future Apex products as we will incorporate the most popular new features in our regular products going forward.

TIA for your help!

-Randall Garrett-
+Apex Software+

/end/

 

[Bill Streep]

I hope Randall doesn't mind my reply on this. I've been using this product (and the Betas before it) for over 2 years now, on a older Surface (not Pro) tablet. I use it every day to sketch.

Prior to this, I used MobileSketch on an iPad, and my partner still uses this legacy program.

I have to say, I LOVE this product. It does everything I want it to do. With an LTE tablet, it quickly emails over to the office, and it seamlessly integrates into Apex on the desktop. I might not be on the most current version, but the one I'm using does not have symbols on it yet (the Beta did, and while it was quirky, it worked). Brian told me they were working on it. Really, the only complaint that I have is that it's Windows, not iOS.

You can buy an LTE Microsoft Surface 3 from fleabay, for $300. It's not a great tablet, but it works. It's ONLY thing I use it for.