For use with iWalk apps, the Nexus 7 tablet has a number of things going for it:
- A built-in GPS which is very quick to get a position fix
- A decent sized screen for viewing maps
- Good battery life when GPS is enabled
- Still small enough to fit in a coat pocket
- Light enough to sling around your neck in waterproof case
They are available from Amazon either with 16 or 32Gb of memory.
| 16GB | 32GB |
For running the iWalk apps, either is fine.
Protection from the elements
For walking, we'd recommend getting a waterproof case. Not only are they useful if the weather is wet, but in cold weather you can hang the tablet around your neck to save fiddling with gloves and pockets.
To keep the wind, rain or children's lunch off your tablet, this one is fine:
I took mine out in all weathers and the tablet has been fine, though it eventually split after about 6 months of heavy use.
If you want something that is guaranteed waterproof, that you can drop in a river and still be OK, and will last for years, then the BeachBuoy cases are the business (despite Amazon's curious choice of photo):
A spare paddle for when you are up the creek
It may also be worth considering an external USB battery which you can keep charged and put in your rucksack.
Then if you accidentally forget to charge your nexus and discover that half-way around a walk when it shuts itself down, you can reincarnate it to finish your walk.
Tips
- Turn off wireless technologies (WiFi, Bluetooth and NFC) to save battery life. Here's a page that explains how to do this. You only need GPS turned on for the iWalk apps to work.
- Put your tablet upside down into a waterproof case. This means you can flip it up to look at it and also that you can charge it by just opening the seal, without having to take it out of the bag each time.
- To make it easier to switch your screen on and off quickly without having to do a fiddly swipe or unlock sequence each time, you can install a free app to temporarily disable your screen lock during your walk, so that pressing the power button takes you straight back into the app. This one seems to work well and includes a desktop widget to switch on/off the lock without needing to run the app each time.