Top Hat or XC Soar and new Samsung Galaxy Devices

Jason,

Total noob here. Well, maybe not total noob. Been hacking hardware and software and programming since the '70s.

Take a look at Kobo. It is not color. But the daylight readability is hard to beat. Price ain't bad either. There are a few steps too hijacking them but there's ENORMOUS support in the community at large to implementing and for the money it's awfully hard to beat.

I am a huge android fan and there are certainly platforms that might deliver color performance but at 2 to 3 times the price.

You can get a decent refurbished S8+ for around $250. I just did.
The screen brightness is even better than my old Dell Streak and the screen is slightly bigger even though the overall size of the phone is significantly smaller than the Dell Streak.
I can’t imagine a need for any brighter screen, nor a justification to compromise the additional functionality which color provides vs the Kobo. I understand that an option to overlay with skysight is coming, so one more reason to have a color screen. Not to mention the advantage of modern touch screens and gestures vs the Kobo which I believe is pressure sensitive touch screen.
I also ran it at home for 8 hours and it only used half the battery capacity. It was in flight mode and the screen was on all the time. I am not sure if it takes more battery when in flight. Hope to try it in the air soon.

Ramy

On Sunday, January 19, 2020 at 9:55:09 PM UTC-8, Ramy wrote:
You can get a decent refurbished S8+ for around $250. I just did.
The screen brightness is even better than my old Dell Streak and the screen is slightly bigger even though the overall size of the phone is significantly smaller than the Dell Streak.
I can’t imagine a need for any brighter screen, nor a justification to compromise the additional functionality which color provides vs the Kobo. I understand that an option to overlay with skysight is coming, so one more reason to have a color screen. Not to mention the advantage of modern touch screens and gestures vs the Kobo which I believe is pressure sensitive touch screen.
I also ran it at home for 8 hours and it only used half the battery capacity. It was in flight mode and the screen was on all the time. I am not sure if it takes more battery when in flight. Hope to try it in the air soon.

Ramy

I have an S9+ which does seem to work well in sunlight (I think similar screen as the S8+). The problem I experienced was the connectivity to the CAI302 via the K6bt Bluetooth as they don't have the same protocol. I guess running the phone on it's own gps should work just fine but of course not as desirable as having it sync with a flight computer.

On Monday, January 20, 2020 at 12:55:09 AM UTC-5, Ramy wrote:
You can get a decent refurbished S8+ for around $250. I just did.
The screen brightness is even better than my old Dell Streak and the screen is slightly bigger even though the overall size of the phone is significantly smaller than the Dell Streak.
I can’t imagine a need for any brighter screen, nor a justification to compromise the additional functionality which color provides vs the Kobo. I understand that an option to overlay with skysight is coming, so one more reason to have a color screen. Not to mention the advantage of modern touch screens and gestures vs the Kobo which I believe is pressure sensitive touch screen.
I also ran it at home for 8 hours and it only used half the battery capacity. It was in flight mode and the screen was on all the time. I am not sure if it takes more battery when in flight. Hope to try it in the air soon.

Ramy

People's eyes differ. What I've seen of the Dell Streak did not look usable in sunshine to me. I use Tophat on a Nook Simple Touch with its large monochrome e-ink reflective screen. That's despite the hassles of getting a GPS data source (and external power) attached to it, although now that I have it set up with a direct cable to the FLARM it has advantages over a standalone phone. I sometimes use a Samsung J3 or J7 for Gliderlink and IGCdroid and as a backup copy of Tophat, but wouldn't want to squint at it for long.