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Large phablet for photo storage?

R

robgendreau

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Jul 13, 2008
3,471
339
I had hoped that the iPhone 6+ might be handy to take on trips for photo storage and viewing in the field. The large size (64-128GB) would mean a lot of storage for big photo files, and I could use some of my apps for editing. And it would still fit in a camera bag, unlike the iPad.

But alas, Apple isn't interested in my needs :p . No way to get the photos from an SD card.

So. Anyone recommend a non-cellular phablet about the size of Apple's new one, with both a ton of internal storage, and SD card connectivity? It would really help. For example, I lost a lot of nice shots because I had goo on my sensor, which would maybe have shown up while reviewing on a phablet, but didn't show while reviewing on the camera's LCD. Be so easy to just copy over while eating lunch on a log on a hike or whatever.

thanks,
Rob
 
robgendreau said:
I had hoped that the iPhone 6+ might be handy to take on trips for photo storage and viewing in the field. The large size (64-128GB) would mean a lot of storage for big photo files, and I could use some of my apps for editing. And it would still fit in a camera bag, unlike the iPad.

But alas, Apple isn't interested in my needs :p . No way to get the photos from an SD card.

So. Anyone recommend a non-cellular phablet about the size of Apple's new one, with both a ton of internal storage, and SD card connectivity? It would really help. For example, I lost a lot of nice shots because I had goo on my sensor, which would maybe have shown up while reviewing on a phablet, but didn't show while reviewing on the camera's LCD. Be so easy to just copy over while eating lunch on a log on a hike or whatever.

thanks,
Rob
Click to expand...

Hey Rob,

First of all, a phablet is a very expensive way of doing what you want. Is the iPad mini so big that you can't do whatever it is on that instead?
Secondly, Apple has a connector for an SD card. http://store.apple.com/us/product/M...7dbec45a72b549fe61c044f16e2e38c26e148b1f79553

Wow. Sorry for the long link, I didn't realise it would be quite like that!

Alex
 
Some small tablets aren't that expensive; an Asus Memo Pad HD 7 at 32GB is less than $150; bigger than I need and probably won't copy from SD cards though. Galaxy Tabs are more expensive, and can read from OTG adapters. Might be a better choice than a Mini, but still $$ and too big.

Might look at some cheap knockoffs since all I need really is copying from SD card and a viewer.

And no, that Apple adapter won't work. If it did, the 6+ would be the bomb.
 
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I have an EyeFI card. Too slow, too clumsy. Wifi uses considerable camera juice as well; I'm not sure if reading from a SD card uses less on the other device than wifi, but maybe. Might work for some for occasional viewing, but 25GB of photos is agony. And it doesn't show thumbnails from my camera's RAWs, so the other device would have to generate them.

The other device is similar to other photo vaults; the issue is that there isn't an acceptable viewer in those. Some have displays that are worse than my old point and shoots.

I'm currently looking at an Asus MeMo HD7. Not the best, but $150. Can expand internal memory to 64GB which would more than get me back to the car, and if rooted can use an OTG adapter to read SD cards so I could copy over. But it's still kinda big at 7" screen.
 
There are options from both Nikon and Canon, I am unsure about other camera makers though, which are apps to load on your tablet or phone, that allow you to send just the jpeg through for immediate viewing. Apparently, not too slow using your existing wifi card, with the smaller file size being sent. You are bang-on about the wifi chewing through batteries though!

For editing, I'd go the SD card reader, already mentioned, it's what I do. Lightroom Mobile has become my starting point on my iPad and all edits are automatically synced with the iMac at home for me to look at larger and continue on with from there. So I'm rating, key-wording and editing on the train ride home.

I don't use wifi when I am capturing, just for focus and composition checking before capture on a nice large screen. The let down for me is that Canon still haven't made their app for an iPad, it does the annoying 2x thing, but it's still more than enough detail for viewing at 10x magnification for me to get my focus absolute before hitting the shutter button.
 
The idea was to still use your phone as the viewer, and the hard drive as a storage/offload. That was why I pointed to a WiFi drive. I am assuming you always carry your phone, though.

I have not had the experience with Eye-fi killing batteries using Nikon D7000 and sometimes in Sony Nex VG20 (though to be fair I use the biggest battery in the Sony). Perhaps it is a question of model and/or setting?

Is it slow? Well, yes moving large RAW files across a network is slow. Faster networking is going to be more power and less battery. Of course, if you are just looking for goo on the lens, shoot RAW+JPG and set the card to only send the JPG.

If either of these methods do not work for you, apologies. I am not trying to force a new workflow onto you, just trying to help.
 
Hi,

Not wanting to get into the whole iOS vs Android thing here. I prefer iOS, use Android for work (IT Monkey).

Android is compatible with USB on the go. With a £5 USB OTA pigtail, you can connect a USB card reader and then pop in the SD card.

So based on this, any Android device running 4.x of the OS would help here. Further, choosing wisely will allow you to make use of expandable storage in the device. I have a Galaxy Note 8 (used for handwriting) and I can pop 64GB Micro SDs in and out of it so when one runs out I can swap in another.

Granted I operate in a write once read seldom world so your mileage may vary.

Apologies for polluting our hallowed ground with the Droid word...

Ken.
 
robgendreau said:
And no, that Apple adapter won't work. If it did, the 6+ would be the bomb.
Click to expand...

Really? I had one and used it with my iPad mini no problem.

As an alternative you can get dongles that plug in to cameras these days and broadcast their own Wifi. Kinda like an EyeFi card but more reliable. Download the relevant app for whatever camera make you have and voila!
 
robgendreau said:
Some small tablets aren't that expensive; an Asus Memo Pad HD 7 at 32GB is less than $150; bigger than I need and probably won't copy from SD cards though. Galaxy Tabs are more expensive, and can read from OTG adapters. Might be a better choice than a Mini, but still $$ and too big.

Might look at some cheap knockoffs since all I need really is copying from SD card and a viewer.

And no, that Apple adapter won't work. If it did, the 6+ would be the bomb.
Click to expand...

I'd be weary of cheap knockoffs. I have one for a very special purpose task and sometimes I want to pluck my hair out when dealing with it. They find a way to mess with you, they always do.

kingalexthe1st said:
Really? I had one and used it with my iPad mini no problem.

As an alternative you can get dongles that plug in to cameras these days and broadcast their own Wifi. Kinda like an EyeFi card but more reliable. Download the relevant app for whatever camera make you have and voila!
Click to expand...

Works with an iPad, but not with an iPhone (unless you jailbrake it). And it's quite limiting with an iPad too:

1) Photos/videos HAVE to be in a folder called DCIM, and have to have 8 character file names. It works fine if you just use the SD card from a camera, but if you give your card to a friend to put some photos on and they mess it up and put it in a different folder - tough titties, you're all out of luck and won't see the pix.
2) The copying is one way only. You cannot copy photos from the iPad onto the card.
3) You cannot access any other files other than photos/videos.

All of the above can be solved by jailbraking though.
 
Another option might be portable wireless storage, I use a 64GB SanDisk Wireless Flash drive. Works great, they even make a media drive that has an SDXC slot in addition to 64GB internal storage.
 
kingalexthe1st said:
Really? I had one and used it with my iPad mini no problem.
Click to expand...

I was asking about this, as I wrote in the OP, because the kit doesn't work with iPhones, esp the 6+.

Thanks kenoh for the tips on OTG. Seems that some devices have a micro USB for charging that can be used as a OTG USB port, but only with rooting or developer modes or the like. That's the case with the MeMo HD7. Seems like a decent idea though; I've seen some older Galaxy Tabs for less than $150 that would probably work great. Being able to copy, review, and write to a removable microSD would be great.

Someone also recommended a Winbook from MicroCenter; nice screen, regular old USB 3. That would be terrific, and although the apps lag it could be useful for some other stuff I do. In the $180 range.
 
Old Style

When working I used an Epson 7ooo storage and viewing unit. That is(and its friends) no longer made which kind of points to your problem. The market has moved on from that ape of equipment in favour of laptops etc..

Used to be plenty of photo storage/viewers but no more :-(

A 'heath robinson' solution may be your only resort.
 
"Heath Robinson" was cool; hadn't heard that before; thanks :D

I thought for sure there'd be a simple device to show and/or store photos from a card, kinda like a photo frame with storage. Nope. There are still a few things like the Epson, but the screens are lame. I wouldn't even be surprised if Apple completely drops SD import on coming iPads. Sigh.
 
Hi.

Nope USB on the go works without rooting or developer mode. I use it as a method on my works Samsung Galaxy S3 standard ROM no tweaks. Use it on Galaxy Note 8 again stock ROM no funny stuff and also Nexus 5 phone stock ROM. As of android 4.2 it has been standard feature. Mounts and unmounts in the storage settings. If you try to access protected areas of the filesystem, you need root like any other linux based device. You however won't be doing that, so no need for rooting or any of that jazz.

None of them need rooted or developer mode.

You will likely want to buy a more user friendly file explorer app though these are cheap.

:)
 
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kenoh said:
Hi.

Nope USB on the go works without rooting or developer mode. I use it as a method on my works Samsung Galaxy S3 standard ROM no tweaks. Use it on Galaxy Note 8 again stock ROM no funny stuff and also Nexus 5 phone stock ROM. As of android 4.2 it has been standard feature. Mounts and unmounts in the storage settings. If you try to access protected areas of the filesystem, you need root like any other linux based device. You however won't be doing that, so no need for rooting or any of that jazz.

None of them need rooted or developer mode.

You will likely want to buy a more user friendly file explorer app though these are cheap.

:)
Click to expand...

Also the USB on the go solution works for USB flash drives too.... And pretty much any file type... Copies both ways...

The 2 Samsung devices just open their in built file managers. For Nexus I have Nexus OTG file manager app. Easy peasy...

And there is Photo Mate R2 for raw edits. Not explored to much so offer no warranty on this one being any good.
 
Last edited:
kenoh said:
Also the USB on the go solution works for USB flash drives too.... And pretty much any file type... Copies both ways...

The 2 Samsung devices just open their in built file managers. For Nexus I have Nexus OTG file manager app. Easy peasy...

And there is Photo Mate R2 for raw edits. Not explored to much so offer no warranty on this one being any good.
Click to expand...

Thanks guys; I guess I shouldn't have based my opinion on the HD7; I guess the OTG issues are peculiar to it. An older Samsung looks like the most cost effective option
 
robgendreau said:
Thanks guys; I guess I shouldn't have based my opinion on the HD7; I guess the OTG issues are peculiar to it. An older Samsung looks like the most cost effective option
Click to expand...

The key is to find a device that has the USB Host Mode drivers installed in the ROM. As of version 3.0 of Android, OTG support was included. However, until Ice Cream Sandwich was released, they were hit and miss whether the vendors included them in their build or not.

As of version 4.2 I think the vendors pretty much gave in and stopped taking them out so more devices support OTG if they have the 4.2 or later release of Android.

Either way a quick hindernet search will yield an answer on it.

Hope this helps.
Ken
 
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