Which android please?

General discussions, bugs, support, suggestions
MR H
Posts: 15
Joined: 13.07.2014 23:42

Which android please?

Post by MR H »

Hi,
I'm on a 3 week photo trip to USA (from UK) in Sept

I have laptop PC, and a few apple i devices phone/pad/pad mini

I wanted to use helicon remote without my large laptop, some locations require a long walk.

So which android device is considered good/best?
What else do I need?
Does 'remote' on an android device work the same as my laptop (in operation)
I have canon 5d3 and use live view,focus highlight

I have full version I understand I will need addition android license.

Is there any news when an apple version might be available?
Or even will it ever be available as I understand ipad is not able to input video (unless on wi fi transmission)

Thank you for your time.
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Stas Yatsenko
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Re: Which android please?

Post by Stas Yatsenko »

ASUS and Acer Android tablets proved to be the least problematic, as well as Sony Xperia phones. Just make sure your device of choice has USB OTG support declared. Most Samsung device have the necessary USB hardware, but many of them don't detect cameras because of how Android is configured, so we can't recommend those.
Android version has exactly the same functionality, except it doesn't support Stackshot / Trinamic.
iPad version will be available, we're already in the beta-testing stage. It will only work with Wi-Fi enabled cameras, though, because 3rd-party apps are not allowed to use USB on iOS.
MR H
Posts: 15
Joined: 13.07.2014 23:42

Re: Which android please?

Post by MR H »

Hi,
My 5D3 I uses an eye fi card - would that work?
Happy to beta test for you......(7D and 5D with eye fi mobi and the PC version, EOSM as well)
I have tested inc reporting of many commercial systems in AV over the years.........

ONE issue I notice with the eye fi card is that it does not hold the wi fi signal and often I have to go to settings in the 'i' device and re select eye fi wi fi.
Might be a consideration for you - I should really look into it but its not been a show stopper issue yet!

Back to android info....
So the Nexus 7 looks like a well documented good choice, and is ASUS built as I understand.
Google search showed a number of "usb itg" issues , but I think they are older issues now rectified?

Last question - In the video of android use it shows the tablet being the store for the image, I would like to use the card in the camera to store the image - Is that just a tick box / location selection? I don't need the images on the tablet......

OR I could use low res images on the tablet and full RAW saved to the camera card(s).
This is so I have a quick check on the tablet and then I can fast transfer the full image data to my data store/backup system at a later date.

Thank you, Andy.
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Stas Yatsenko
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Re: Which android please?

Post by Stas Yatsenko »

Hi Andy,

I think EyeFi will work, but note it's just a memory card. You can not control the camera with it, so if you don't have a proper Wi-Fi remote control model (Canon WT-5 etc.) you'd have to connect the camera via USB, which you don't want, I assume.

Nexus 7 is a solid choice, although I'm not 100% sure all the devices you can buy now work out of the box. There has been issues with Android configuration (software issues with USB support).

You can store the images on the memory card, pull them to the tablet / computer or both. Storage settings are independent for RAW and JPEG, so you can pull JPEGs and leave RAWs on the memory card.
MR H
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Joined: 13.07.2014 23:42

Re: Which android please?

Post by MR H »

Nexus 7, OTG cable and Helicon remote for Android all running fine. Thank you.
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trevarthan
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Re: Which android please?

Post by trevarthan »

Is there a specific (preferably old/cheap/used) phone model that works well? Is the phone format a pain to work with, or is it fine? I'd prefer to have something small and light in my bag for this. Even tablets are a little too big most of the time.
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Stas Yatsenko
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Re: Which android please?

Post by Stas Yatsenko »

As far I know, all recent Samsung phones have USB host functionality. At least we tested the program with quite old Samsung S2 and S3 modes.
vilijam
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Joined: 24.09.2014 21:27

Re: Which android please?

Post by vilijam »

Thanks for the advise. So I went to the shop today to buy an ASUS MEMO Pad HD7 (ME173X) ... I am a MAC user, but iPAD is not an option at the moment and WLAN I do not have on my Canon - so I decided to go for ANDROID (4.2.2.). Now I want to install the REMOTE APP to my ASUS Pad, but it says "You device is not compatible with this Version". Any workaround idea?
vilijam
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Re: Which android please?

Post by vilijam »

Thanks for your reply! It says "It appears that USB Host support is not enabled on this device. A fix attempt can be performed" .. when I click on "FIX" it says "Could not start su process". This means that this device can not connect to my Canon via USB OTG cable, right?
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Stas Yatsenko
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Re: Which android please?

Post by Stas Yatsenko »

That's right, and the fix only works if the device is rooted.
vilijam
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Re: Which android please?

Post by vilijam »

OK, thanks.

Do you have an overview table which shows which devices have been verified already, so I can choose one from this list?
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Stas Yatsenko
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Re: Which android please?

Post by Stas Yatsenko »

No, compiling and maintaining such a list is impossible. Sometimes devices receive updates that break USB even if the device used to work initially. Or the other way around. USB Host Check is your best friend. Which is to say, you can only be sure if you've held the device and run the test yourself. The second best thing is to look it up on the Internet on Android forums like xdadevelopers.
vilijam
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Joined: 24.09.2014 21:27

Re: Which android please?

Post by vilijam »

Thanks! I got one which supports OTG and works fine with the REMOTE app. It is called TESLA L7. Great APP, great SUPPORT! Wish you all the best!
MR H
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Joined: 13.07.2014 23:42

Re: Which android please?

Post by MR H »

So.......
After a month and I smashed the screen on my Nice new Nexus 7 :oops: I went to get a new one.........

The 7 and 10 have now been DISCONTINUED !!! to be replaced with the 6 and 9 - The issue for me is the 9 sits in size between the Ipad mini and Ipad (I have both) but too big........

Lucky for me !!! only 50 miles away was the last known N7 in my area........
I'm in the UK - Stock of refurb are available from dabs, bt and a few others at a good price - Cheaper to sell a smashed unit and buy a refurb than get it repaired - My worry being the replacement screen/digi might not be original spec........

HOW DID I SMASH IT???
Simple the 'clever' magnet inside the cover sits proud and rests on the screen, close case, put in pocket - smash it! Silly design, BUT ALSO the quality of product is very short of apple designs - Yep much cheaper and I only got it to run remote app.

App re installed, added licence key all up and running, great to have the APP back :D
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