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So I tried Garmin's EFB app, and it isn't awful. In some ways I actually like it. It's more configurable than ForeFlight, you can put custom widgets (like an Android phone) around the main map display with customizable things, in partcular. For planning, general info, and weather/traffic, it's arguably better, since airport info selected from the map is broken down into better menus (easier to go directly to the info you want). If you opt for their taxi diagrams they're actually better, apparently, they are the same "SafeTaxi" diagrams that you get on the panel mount glass displays. The necessity for huge storage usage versus ForeFlight is potentially better as well, since the Garmin app has continuous 430W/530W style 'scaled down' VFR charts, with most of the clutter left out and only the pertinent nav data left. That would save an awful lot of downloads. The 'binder' functionality of Garmin's app is fantastic. You can specify a set of documents related to a particular saved flight plan. So, for instance, a particular arrival procedure or departure procedure could be saved in the 'binder' for a route and displayed in the widget right there adjacent to the map.
So why then?
This android tablet is the same form factor as the mini..basically. It's longer and thinner, the mini is more square, but the overall area is the same.
You can get it from the Google Play store for 350 bucks, and the base model comes with a GPS chip, no need to buy the cell equipped model.
As we know, the money grubbing cult of Apple deems that GPS and cell capability should be worth a whopping 300 extra dollars. For those who don't carry a cell plan on their EFB that's a giant kick in the teeth, obviously.
The Apple cult also deems extra storage only available from them, for hundreds of dollars as well. The other glaring upside of the Android tablet is a microSD slot. It doesn't matter if you only have 8gb or 16gb of internal storage on the LG, since you can just stick a cell phone memory card in the slot and double it for 10 bucks.
To get the 64gb ipad mini 2, you'd have to pay apple a whopping 230 extra dollars above the base ipad mini 2 price, whereas a 64gb microsd card is about 50 bucks, which would leave you with 16gb more storage than the 64gb ipad mini 2 has.
And then you're still stuck with a device that you have to jailbreak to do anything other than buy apps from the cult store, or use your GPS/EFB. Downloading a file from a website, for instance, is prohibited by the ghost of Steve Jobs on a device you paid them 600-700 bucks for...
Oddly enough, biggest complaint of Android users is that the LG tablet is too expensive. They're spoiled on 200 dollar Nexus 7s. The drawback of the Nexus 7, though, is lesser CPU/memory, no microsd slot, and no capability for HDMI output (hey, it's nice to grab a movie to watch in a hotel room, after all). The LG is comparable in specs and capability to the ipad mini 2 (but for the LG having more RAM by double), hence the comparison. If every day android users had to pay Apple 600 bucks for their tablets they'd think this a bargain.
Either way, for someone eyeballing cheaper options when it comes time to pay ForeFlight the 149 bucks for a new year, the Android option doesn't appear to just be a ghetto alternative anymore, with Garmin's app.
Some screenshots of the usage of Garmin Pilot
So why then?
This android tablet is the same form factor as the mini..basically. It's longer and thinner, the mini is more square, but the overall area is the same.
You can get it from the Google Play store for 350 bucks, and the base model comes with a GPS chip, no need to buy the cell equipped model.
As we know, the money grubbing cult of Apple deems that GPS and cell capability should be worth a whopping 300 extra dollars. For those who don't carry a cell plan on their EFB that's a giant kick in the teeth, obviously.
The Apple cult also deems extra storage only available from them, for hundreds of dollars as well. The other glaring upside of the Android tablet is a microSD slot. It doesn't matter if you only have 8gb or 16gb of internal storage on the LG, since you can just stick a cell phone memory card in the slot and double it for 10 bucks.
To get the 64gb ipad mini 2, you'd have to pay apple a whopping 230 extra dollars above the base ipad mini 2 price, whereas a 64gb microsd card is about 50 bucks, which would leave you with 16gb more storage than the 64gb ipad mini 2 has.
And then you're still stuck with a device that you have to jailbreak to do anything other than buy apps from the cult store, or use your GPS/EFB. Downloading a file from a website, for instance, is prohibited by the ghost of Steve Jobs on a device you paid them 600-700 bucks for...
Oddly enough, biggest complaint of Android users is that the LG tablet is too expensive. They're spoiled on 200 dollar Nexus 7s. The drawback of the Nexus 7, though, is lesser CPU/memory, no microsd slot, and no capability for HDMI output (hey, it's nice to grab a movie to watch in a hotel room, after all). The LG is comparable in specs and capability to the ipad mini 2 (but for the LG having more RAM by double), hence the comparison. If every day android users had to pay Apple 600 bucks for their tablets they'd think this a bargain.
Either way, for someone eyeballing cheaper options when it comes time to pay ForeFlight the 149 bucks for a new year, the Android option doesn't appear to just be a ghetto alternative anymore, with Garmin's app.
Some screenshots of the usage of Garmin Pilot
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