Don't blame Apple for not being able to use a wifi hotspot, take it up with your phone companies.
Here in Australia, the wifi hotspot option is built into the ios and free to use.
It does eat the battery though using it.
The pocket size is a problem for lots of people surely.
I have an iPhone 5 and was in the shop the other day looking at the larger samsung varieties and they would have been very annoying in my pocket. The iPhone 5 is bag enough. I would love a tablet like the size of an iPad mini but for it to be useful to me I would need to carry it around all the time. I don't want to have to have and look after a man bag so I'm currently torn between the usefulness of a tablet and the inconvenience of carrying it everywhere.
I find it amusing to consider all the money that was poured into making phones smaller and smaller and now it is heading back the other way.
> What magnetometer app do you guys use? A decent compass would be nice at times; none of them I've tried have worked at all.
I use the "Magnetmeter" (not Magnetometer)app written by "plaincode".
> Don't blame Apple for not being able to use a wifi hotspot, take it up with your phone companies.
I'm not blaming anyone, I'm just saying that with Apple's walled garden you get what Apple allows. When Apple decides to disallow certain functionality at the behest of the phone companies, that's what you get. With Android you have choices that don't necessarily coincide with what the phone companies want, though as Shawn has found the phone companies are industriously trying to stay one step ahead of the app builders.
I have been a Windows user most of my surveying career, (40+ years), but I bought an Ipod Touch a few years ago, then another, then another, now an Iphone. Now I'm on the verge of buying a Macbook Pro to replace my Windows laptop.
I tried two Android devices and took them both back, one a Samsung, one an Asus. Then I bought an Iphone. On my Iphone I have free apps for : HP 41 emulator, ArcGis: Esri maps that show flood zone, soil type, Topo, or whatever for your current location, Google Earth (of course), another soil type app., AutoCad 360 ( I email myself the current dWG prior to any fieldwork), SoilWeb app, etc. All free. Available for IPhone or IPod. The endless stream of apps are some great, some not worth the time.
I'm convinced that Apple has the best operating system and hardware. I priced one today. It's my next machine. I'll run my 2008 Autocad Civil 3D and Carlson 2014 Civil Suite. I'll back up to external hard drives and I'll email myself final drawings. (Google keeps these emails for searching. That's my current system.
Using google map instead can be much more convenient
Mr. Frame,
No fan boy here. Long time Apple Mac and iPhone user, however.
I am curious about the issue that you mention regarding the use of the WIFI Hotspot feature. Every iPhone I have owned, beginning with iPhone 4 from 2012, has had "tethering", as you call it. Apple calls it WIFI Hotspot. It is part of the OS. No app needed. Works great.
I have been with Verizon briefly but mostly with AT&T and there has never been a charge for tethering.
Yes, every computer will encounter glitches, even smart phones.
JA, PLS, SoCal
Zombie thread
