What android phone/tablet to get for 6d/70d remote control?

[Marsu42]

I'd like to get a "as cheap as possible" android phone for 6d remote control and would like to ask for advice here. I've never gotten a smartphone before, I don't really need any smartphone capabilities, it's really just for this one purpose and voice telephony.

Are there any experiences with different phone types that don't really work with eos remote, what are you using?

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=jp.co.canon.ic.eos.eosremote&hl=en

Edit: It seems a tablet would be really better suited for me, so I extended the topic to match this change.

 

[captainkanji]

Re: What android phone to get for 6d/70d remote control?

I use an iPhone 5 sometimes. Mostly, I use the iPad mini. It's so much nicer using a tablet with the screen real estate. Consider a tablet. I'm sure they are cheaper than apple's lineup. First set up wasn't as smooth as I would have liked, but once there, it's easy to connect. I'm not sure how well the android version works. Once the device is connected, image viewing.and downloading jpegs is fast. There is a slight lag in the live view mode.

 

[bholliman]

Re: What android phone to get for 6d/70d remote control?

I'm planning to get a Samsung Note for my next smartphone upgrade, but it's not cheap! Maybe you can pick up the original (v1) Note pretty cheap these days?

I currently use a Samsung Galaxy Nexus which works fine as a remote with the EOS Utility, but I'd prefer a larger screen, so think the Note will be the way to go for me.

 

[Valvebounce]

Re: What android phone to get for 6d/70d remote control?

Hi Marsu.
If you are happy with your basic phone I would suggest an Android tablet, I would feel that the difference in price would be worth it as many of the cheap phones have such small low res screens. I use a Samsung 7" tablet wired with DSLR Controller for my 7D (no wifi) and could not be happier with the tablet and real estate for viewing images. I tried a lot of cheaper Android tablets and was less than impressed with the responsiveness of many of them and the resolution and / or clarity of the screen on the rest. That was early this year so things will have changed a lot by now for sure!
The main down side for a tablet is having two devices not one but my tablet is lost in the laptop pouch on my camera bag! Main plus for a tablet is browsing canonrumours forum when you have downtime or are bored! ;D

Cheers Graham.

 

[candc]

Re: What android phone to get for 6d/70d remote control?

I would also recommend a tablet for the larger screen size. I use an older toshiba thrive which is nice because it has a sd card slot.

 

[Marsu42]

Re: What android phone to get for 6d/70d remote control?

I would also recommend a tablet for the larger screen size. I use an older toshiba thrive which is nice because it has a sd card slot.

Hmmmyes, thanks for the information so far, after looking at the prices a (used) decent tablet seems to be easier to get than a decent phone. My preference would be a model with full sd card slot and the ability to run CyanogenMod, the latter excludes the Tosihiba mentioned...

http://wiki.cyanogenmod.org/w/Devices#type=%22tablet%22;cmversions=%2210.2%22,%2210.1%22;

Same question here: The Canon remote app runs on models just fine, as long as one of the supported Android versions is on it?

 

[jdramirez]

I bought a pre-paid android phone for my daughter to use as a pda for $40. I've seen some that are less than $100. If you don't talk much, this might be a good option because I believe there were some plans that you use to pay by the day.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00D98ER5E/ref=s9_simh_gw_p107_d0_i1?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-3&pf_rd_r=0XN4AGAS744HY1B1AXZY&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=470938811&pf_rd_i=507846

If you use the above cable, you can use it as a wired shutter release... There are options.

 

[xvnm]

The Google Nexus 7 is an excelent tablet, and the price is great. It may not be THE cheapest one, but I bet anything even slightly cheaper will be a lot worse:

http://www.google.ca/nexus/7/

 

[Artifex]

I can't really tell which is the best choice, but I have got one advice: Stay as far away from HTC as possible!

 

[bleephotography]

The Google Nexus 7 is an excelent tablet, and the price is great. It may not be THE cheapest one, but I bet anything even slightly cheaper will be a lot worse:

http://www.google.ca/nexus/7/

I've used the iPad and Nexus 7 with both the 6D and 70D and they do work wonderfully with either camera, but I will say that the Nexus doesn't look nearly as nice in realtime; it's quite pixelated and the delay seems more pronounced. However, the iPad is also much more expensive! I also agree with captain, I'll use my iPhone more often simply because it's always with me, but the extra surface area of a tablet really makes a huge difference in selecting your AF targets.

 

[dexstrose]

I use my iphone 5 and my first gen ipad. They both work well, even on the first gen ipad. The bigger screen is nice, but for convenience, the phone is a best option for me cause I have it all the time and small and compact.

You check on ebay deals? I see that they have several android tablets for an inexpensive price.

 

[Marsu42]

You check on ebay deals? I see that they have several android tablets for an inexpensive price.

No, I didn't check that because given the gazillions of different phone/tablet versions and configurations I didn't know what to look for (yet) - but this thread is really helping, so keep it coming ... I won't go for an iWhatever though because I want an Android I can root and an os (Linux) I understand

But from what I've read there are differences with running EOS remote, i.e. older or slower phones stutter or are less smooth when displaying the remote picture?