Hi folks,
Any help from more experienced heads would be greatly appreciated in this matter.
I’m considering changing my indoor setup from a cheap PC to a cheap tablet. I intend on running TR and maybe Zwift (at some stage for races) - and at the moment the Huawei Mediapad M5 seems to score very well performance wise and is relatively inexpensive.
BUT I’m aware that there are difficulties with using Google Play. I’ve found websites that suggest accessing Google Play on a Huawei is relatively simple. Is this truly the case?
And would there be any issues I might encounter running TR or Zwift once I use one of the ‘hacks’ to access Google Play (And therefore TR & Zwift).
These days a basic Ipad does not cost too much and ist worth every dollar/euro extra considering how long you’ll get updates and how stable they are… they simply work, no problems.
Oh! Nothings really - it ran great all spring/summer … but then Winter came along and I the cold weather started causing no end of problems (It’s a very cold garage). I brought it back into the house where it worked fine again. I think it was the old style hard drive.
So its great for when it’s warm, not so good in the cold. If I switch to a tablet I can just easily bring it back inside with me … and maybe also use it for browsing etc.
I’ve been considering this - but my budget for a used tablet is around £100-£130. Particularly for Zwift, the Mediapad seems to work really well. I’m really not familiar with apple tablets so not sure which the cheapest decent one for Zwift might be?
Zwift isn’t great on low end Android tablets. You could put together a dedicated Zwift PC desktop (assuming GPU prices drop) for £165, this is what someone has been selling a few for on the dedicated Facebook page (1) ZPCMR - Zwift PC Master Race | Facebook
I have to say, albeit a few years ago, my experience of TR on a cheap tablet wasn’t that great either once you got into things like microbursts. That was on a similar priced tablet, notwithstanding that the specs have probably come on at that price point.
I tried running zwift on my android phone, casting to a TV. I lasted until my first large event, and brought AppleTV. I looked at Android Tablets, and tbh it ended up being Apple TV or Ipad (and I’m definitely not an Apple fanboy - the AppleTV is the first apple device I’ve ever owned!). I was scared off by not understanding what I was looking at, or for, PC at the time. And I was desperate at the start of a lockdown!
I have a old phone that I use for RGT Cycling and Spotify. When drumpf first blocked Huawei, it was purged but has worked fine since drumpf backed off. If you are stateside, who know when it will heat up again. It’s been a very active campaign to contain China and unfortunately Huawei is a main target of that aggression. I would get a Samsung or Amazon instead. It wouldn’t be that long before they break the 7nm barrier and Google is forced again to exit that market.
I bought an old used ipad mini 2 specifically to run zwift, because I had no other device for it. It can obviously run TR too, but hasn’t got the ant+ that my phone has. Can’t remember what I paid for the ipad, but it was the easiest and cheapest option for zwift afaik.
TR wins on the devices front, purely because they have an android app!
Oh and I hate the apple devices. The ipad is my first one, and i can’t get on with the user interface at all
I own a M5 8" and here are my thoughts:
My device is a bit older, so it came with the Google services - no issue there (for me).
I have used it for TR, attached to my handlebar. It worked fine, but I switched to an old Galaxy S7 and was much happier with that just because it is less cumbersome on the handlebar, and TR doesn’t really need a bigger screen.
If putting the device on the stem/handlebar is an option for you I can recommend using an older smartphone (with Qualcomm processor for Ant+ compatibility!) as a “mini tablet”.
BTW: nowadays I just use my regular Android phone instead of the Galaxy S7. Because why not.
Regarding Zwift: I think I tested it once on the Huawei but then added an Apple TV to my setup which does the job (as well as Netflix etc.) much better.
I’d look at Samsung tablets instead. They often have ant+ (may vary between models, look this up), and having that without the need for a dongle is great (I run TR on a Samsung phone). It makes me able to have a dual connection to my PM (bluetooth and ant+). Haven’t had a dropout at all on this phone.
