"Backcountry" tablet for marine use?

[ccollins0601]

There's always a lot of talk here about use of mobile devices, android, ipad, etc for navigation and other sailing functions. How about this? Looks pretty neat.

Earl - Backcountry Survival Tablet

Earl: World’s First Solar-Powered Backcountry Survival Tablet - ABC News

Pros: e-ink sunlight readable, ruggedized, android-based, low cost
Cons: It's not real yet, (but their kickstarter campaign is getting lots of attention now)

[mad_machine]

seems like a sweet little tablet. I wonder if there is enough of a market for a marinized one?

[Alex W]

I read all of their website a few days ago. It isn't clear that ruggedized has anything to do with making it resistant to water.

Battery life is less of a concern to me on a sailboat since the boat has hundreds of amp hours of lead acid batteries that can efficiently keep tablets topped up.

The Sony Xperia Tablet Z (10"/Android/$500) which is waterproof seems like a more interesting option for a boat. I wish they made a 7"/$300 version.

[miatapaul]

Only issue is that e-ink is monotone and slow refresh rate. I really like the idea of having an e-ink for books, but for video or moving images not so good. Might be ok for chart plotter, but not so good for radar or other faster moving images.